How do they have the nerve to carry on? – It is the people who are so servile - there is no shame

Sri Lanka today is served by a Government that just does not seem to get anything right, are unable to take the responsibility for any wrong doing and are happily day dreaming in a world where its subjects too seem either to be too apathetic or so servile, that they are capable of accepting any nonsense as sense.

The cost of living is sky rocketing and there is not even a murmur. The state has slapped increased duties on basics such as sugar and dhal as well as garlic just last week and it passed by without even a whimper! So what gives? We Sinhala people are behaving like a frightened cowed down exasperated but impotent race that has permitted an effective dictatorship to emerge uncontested for fear of further reprisals by a heavily militarized state machinery, that does not tolerate dissent.

When it comes to international pressure to seriously enact the recommendations of the LLRC it is seen as an LTTE plot by the Diaspora. Even the demonstrations by the University students are ALSO seen as an LTTE plot. Yesterday’s visit by the Indian Foreign Minister was placated by the promise of 13plus going further than the original 13, but does one think that after he has gone they will do anything about it? NO is the simple answer to that. It is the way the game is played.

Hot on the heals of the plastic crate fiasco, which after the 15^th reintroduction is a flop as the state will not dare challenge the transporters, the state is merely resorting to cartoon ads to persuade people to buy only food transported in plastic, something the consumer, the one who reads the paper has no clue about.

Then earlier there was the abortive private pensions’ bill which was withdrawn due to outrage, and a very slimy EPF amendment bill was passed yesterday, with hardly a debate or chance for the public to study its contents. This was done as the Private Universities Bill had to be shelved, due to student backlash, only to be brought back at a future date to an unsuspecting Parliament and Public.

The really unforgivable event lately was the A level results fiasco, that has completely shattered any confidence that the students and their parents had on the efficacy of the A level results. Now all are questioning the results and the Z scores, with the opposition clamoring to do away with the Z as an anomalous calculation that is not transparent as no one knows exactly how it is calculated, more so due to the significant variation that has emerged. The President who has washed his hands off this and walked away reflects the real state of the country where ONE man takes credit for the positives and the same man walks away from all the negatives leaving them all to his hapless and unhappy ministers to shoulder.