28 March, 2024

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A Brave President, A Benumbed Nation

By Sarath de Alwis –

Sarath de Alwis

I know that I have a highly inconvenient habit of speaking what I consider to be the truth rather than saying what may be expedient at the moment.” ~ Yevgeny Zamyatin, Letter to Stalin 1929 

On Tuesday 17th March, President Gotabaya Rajapaksa concluded his address to the nation with a forthright fearless statement. “This country, that’s yours and mine, is secure today.”

He exuded Confidence. Confidence makes a leader to go forward with faith. The leader’s demeanor dispels doubt amongst officials. The President in the statement embodied courage and sincerity. 

He was wrong of course. There is more to national security than contending with separatist terrorists and suicide bombers. Surveillance of religious fanatics, political dissenters and blabbering civil activists is not the same as discovering, observing, controlling and containing communicable microorganisms. 

Natural outbreaks of unknown disease pose challenges to national and global security. They undermine national economies, international trade and travel and, public health. Such outbreaks undermine people’s trust in their governments. Biosafety and Biosecurity are different disciplines. Bio safety is about protecting humans from germs. Bio security is about protecting germs from humans so that humans don’t infect other humans.  

I have said it before. I will say it again. I did not vote for Mr. Gotabaya Rajapaksa. I do not want him to get a rubber stamp parliament at the next parliamentary elections. I would be happier if he does not get a parliamentary majority at all. An efficient no nonsense executive president with the patience of a Marcus Aurelius is too much to hope. Last I heard, hoping for accountability from an elected President was not unpatriotic or treasonous. 

Although I question his purpose, I do not doubt that he is a purposeful president. We must appreciate his sincerity. We must comprehend the source of his confidence. 

In these scary uncertain times, exploring the source of his courage and the fount of his sincerity  is the  point of departure of this essay. 

After his address to the nation, on 18th March, the President made some consequential remarks at an official strategy meeting.  

“As a country which did not go through a lock-down even during the 30-year war, there is no need to go for a lock-down in the face of the COVID-19 pandemic. The country needs to function.’

As Defense Secretary under President Mahinda Rajapaksa, he reminded the gathering, he was able to bring the war to an end without shutting down any area.

We managed to defeat LTTE terrorism unlike other countries in the world. Other countries may have the best medical facilities, but we managed to cure infected people with our efforts.’

The gazette declaring COVID-19 as a quarantinable disease under the Quarantine and Disease Prevention Act was issued on March 20th.

At the time of writing this essay, the government has extended the police curfew until 27th March. We don’t look for the light at the end of the  tunnel. We don’t know the length of the tunnel. 

When he said that the nation was secure, the President was earnestly erroneous and felicitously fallacious. Bio safety of the nation was seriously breached. Our Bio Security was severely undermined. 

President Gotabaya Rajapaksa is not the first head of state to miscalculate the ferocity of the spread and to misjudge the scope of the e horror that the COVID-19 pandemic would unleash on a global scale. 

Xi Jinping the President of China was ahead of him.  

On 31st December 2019, the Chinese President heralded the new year by delivering the longest speech he has made since he attained supreme power as President for life. 

Xi Jinping dismissed pro-democracy protests in Hong Kong and asked the great people of China to look ahead for challenges and opportunities in 2020.

He promised, they would win a decisive victory in eliminating poverty. He called it a milestone significance in realizing the first centenary goal. 

He carefully avoided reference to the mysterious pneumonia reported by health officials in Wuhan in Hubei province. As he was speaking, the Chinese government was alerting the World Health Organisation. The people of China were in the dark. 

Xi Jinping wouldn’t allow some odd pestilence in Wuhan to unnecessarily worry the people of China. 

The baffling new pneumonia virus had been noticed by Li Wenliang a self-effacing ophthalmologist at the Wuhan central hospital. On the App WeChat he discussed the virus that intrigued him, with some of medical school batchmates. Around seven patients were infected with an unspecified corona virus. It reminded him of the Sars virus. 

This innocent exchange on WeChat landed the poor eye doctor in serious trouble. The local police questioned him and reprimanded him for his curiosity that was professional to him but inconvenient for the all-powerful party apparatus. 

He went back to work and contracted the unknown virus himself. 

In the following two weeks, the Wuhan hospital authorities claimed that matters were well under control. 

But viruses are not deterred by despotic presidents. Unchecked the virus spread with the speed and consistency that nature intended for it.  

On 20th January President Xi finally and publicly acknowledged the outbreak. The virus should be resolutely contained, he decreed. 

Please note. These Presidents big or small are very resolute in what they do. 

On 23rd January Wuhan was placed in a lockdown. On 26th January Sri Lanka established our own task force to combat the virus. 

We discovered the Chinese lady infected with the virus on 27th January. She was admitted to the IDH and recovered fully. 

Our lady Minster of Health, daintily oblivious to the impending load of crap that will soon hit the fan, gave her a bigly big kiss and she left the island on 19th February. 

Sri Lanka had expressed its solidarity with China in its hour of discomfort. Sri Lanka did not know the peril, the big brother of road and belt fame was really in.  

Back in China the Covid-19 virus followed its own dynamics. Wuhan the epicenter of the pandemic is known as China’s Detroit. It is home to hundreds of auto parts suppliers.  On 12th February, Germany confirmed two  cases of coronavirus infections  in the southern state of Bavaria. The two new cases of coronavirus infections were detected among staff at an automotive plant in the Starnberg district west of Munich. 

A Chinese employee of the auto parts maker Wabasso had  tested positive for the virus upon returning to China following a visit to the headquarters near Munich. The employee apparently infected several German colleagues during the visit. That is the problem with the virus. It is carried by people who do not show any signs of the infection. 

In Wuhan city, corpses lay unattended on pavements. The Guardian newspaper refers to a woman on a balcony of a luxury tower block striking a gong and crying to the heavens “My mother is dying, rescue me!” 

Li Wenliang the ophthalmologist was by this time lying on his deathbed. He was a loyal party member. That did not stop him from doing what he thought he must do. He spoke about the official failure of the state to impart essential and vital information about the virus to the public. 

He told the Beijing based journal Caixin something that will outlast the horrid memories of the pandemic as one of the unscalable summits that the free human spirit could reach in the last reflexes of a dying brain. “A healthy society cannot just have one voice.” 

Tyrants can dream of neatly arranged societies that will work to a dead beat. But a vibrant harmonious human experience must have a ‘plurality of voices’ and not the single croak of a tyrant. 

I am 77 years old. I have undergone coronary bypass surgery ten years ago. A recent angiogram has shown two blocks which the good doctor with the reassuring name ‘Vivek’ says could be managed by medication. 

My pendulum swings. Unless it comes to a pause I would like to live, to see my bright grandchildren finish university in particular ‘Bins’ who will attend Cambridge next year. With great patience I explained to her that we should not hold Cambridge responsible for GL. Just as Pandemics, aberrations happen to visiting  fellows of Cambridge as well.  

I don’t wish to be asphyxiated by Covid-19 induced pneumonia. So, I scrupulously observe the lockdown. There is plenty to learn on the internet. 

Two medical anthropologists Marcia C. Inhorn of University of California, Berkeley and Peter J. Brown of , Emory University, Atlanta, Georgia have produced a paper in 1990 under the ambitious title -The Anthropology of Infectious disease.

Though lengthy its introductory remarks should earn the attention of the average perceptive mind. 

Diseases caused by infectious agents have profoundly affected both human history and biology. In demographic terms, infectious diseases-including both great epidemics, such as plague and smallpox, have devastated human populations from ancient to modem times. 

The lives claimed by unnamed viral and bacterial infections have claimed more lives than all wars and other natural disasters. 

In the face of such attack by microscopic invaders, human populations are forced to “adapt to infectious agents on the levels of both genes and culture. As agents of natural selection, infectious diseases have played a major role in the evolution of the human species.” 

Infectious diseases have also inspired or rather provoked cultural transformations. 

Human groups have often unwittingly facilitated the spread of infectious diseases through culturally coded patterns of behavior or through changes in the crucial relationships among infectious disease agents, their human and animal hosts, and the environments in which the host-agent interaction takes place. 

The paper written in 1990 has anticipated the plight of the Chinese ophthalmologist in Wuhan and our lady Minster of Health who reached out to President Xi Jinping with her brave ‘kiss and tell’. 

At the outset I said that point of departure of this essay was to find the source of the courage and the fount of the sincerity of the president when he said those memorable words “This country, that’s yours and mine, is secure today.” His courage comes from the delusion that the war victory against the LTTE has no parallel in military history since Homers ‘Iliad’ and Vyasa’s ‘Mahabharata’. 

His sincerity is the ‘Stupor’ inevitable with untrammeled authority. 

The Romans had a phrase for the predicament: Quis custodiet ipsos custodes? Who guards the guardian/guardians? The 19th Amendment was a feeble attempt. The President is not pleased with it. 

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Latest comments

  • 12
    13

    I think, Mr. Sarath De Alwis’s proposal of DO NOT GIVE A MAJORITY GOVT LOOKS REASONABLE. It looks Mahinda Rajapakse and Pohottuwa crooks have USURPED THE GOVT. POHOTTUWA THIEVES already have fooled and have recruited rural bhikkus to work for the crooked gang. Pohottuwa has so many other plans which will implement every thing of MAHINDA CHINTANA AANDUWA. Pohottuwa MAFIA organization will not work for Sri lanka. They might go for even the modified MCC-COMPACT. People have to get ready.

    • 10
      2

      I don’t know you Sarath. The words of wisdom you always pendown, though I may not agree with you always is prophetic at certain times. The deep meaning hidden between words is challenging to be unravelled. We are living in sad times. The part played by the religious leaders especially the robed (I wouldn’t call them Buddhist as I am a Bhuddist myselfthough with nothing to do with priests) is sickening if not frightening. Take care of yourself as we need journalists like you. A rear breed indeed. Give courage to bright young grandchild.

    • 1
      2

      JD,
      we were overestimated by BYYAS to the world calling us as ” upper middle income class country” But the brother duo now kneels before the neigbouring country leader and the IMF asking debt payment concessions.
      :
      First we should be clear who we are ? Are we equally powerful nations like Israelis ?

      Or
      We are an another hungry nation on this earth that are filled with stupid people that may know nothing but struggle to their day today life.

      Even CUBANs would not overestimate them, though they are cornered by their ideology.

      Our people (Rajakashe led groups) behaved as if we are so called pseduo powerful folks… SHAME on Rajakashes.

  • 5
    16

    The Swiss Pastor(infected) was taken to Jaffna by police. It is not media’s word; it is the dedicated Slap Party Governor Charles’ statement.

    Certainly these criminals are the bravest.

    Long live the Wildlife Sanctuary and its species The Sinhala Buddhist Intellectuals.

    • 9
      1

      Perhaps it was the police that has orgainsed the gathering for the people to listen to the pastor and also now hiding those who attended the gathering who knowingly spreading the virus that each of them could be carrying. Think again racist.

      • 0
        4

        ” Think again racist.”
        Friend,
        I tried. But Northern governor is Christian. She is a Slap Party candidate. She is saying if King start an investigation she will reveal some info about the police’s involvement. The Swiss patrons are saying Pastor in known for money racketeering. Those are facts prevent me from thinking.

        Now you Think again racist.

        • 0
          3

          If the Northern Governor is a party candidate she should have resigned by now as the Western Governor. Now new Governor is being appointed to the Western province.

          This urin person is like a rabid dog.

          • 1
            1

            Latha did you mean to say this ” Moothira” person. Can you clarify.

            • 0
              0

              Latha doesn’t know whether it(Latha) is a man or woman. Then how would it going to recognize if it is Moothiram or Theertham. In her Balangoda Veda Buddhism, if she drinks something she thinks it is Theertham! If she didn’t get it, it is Moothiram.

          • 0
            0

            Latho,

            Become serious; first use a good name for you, instead of some hanky panky deal on the nick name. You are not ready accepting that you are a male or female. Then why worry about urine? Urine or feces for an uncivilized Balangoda Veda Sinhala Buddhist, I am proud of my pure Chenthamilzhil name. All borrowed Balangoda Veda Buddhist Language names are only second to that. Shame for the Balangoda Vedas, after living on this earth for 30,000, could not developed have a language for them. Borrowed from Tamil is 40%; Pali 30%; Sanskrit 20 %; all other modern languages 10%. In that condition, do you wear clothes? Rally? For what?

            Your only concern is proving that M/s Charles is not a Slap Party Candidate. Well, you don’t mind to put your words on her mouth, never mind she wants it or not. Thanks for having accepted that it was police spread the Corona in North, without contesting. But Some other Modas like to contest it! Poor………

            By the way why did you compare Muzammil with Charles? Whether she would kick on your butt for lowering her self-respect to that level or not, where did I write that M/s Charles is standing for election in this election. I wrote she was selected as the governor to North by Slap Party. Read only the English, not propagate your dreams out my writings.

            • 0
              0

              Malleiyuram

              You have borrowed a whole language from India. Not only that almost every thing. Do you were clothes? I did not say about Muzammil I said about Sitha Arambepola

  • 5
    1

    Razor blade in the hands of a Monky.

    • 2
      2

      I agree; there is nothing worse than in the hand of genocide murders a pandemic viral infection.

  • 9
    11

    The President is doing a fantastic job. Obviously in this case it’s a matter of learning on the job.
    I tremble to think of what the previous lot would have done. And I thank God they got kicked out.
    The tool is now requesting parliament to be convened to discuss the virus. What for, to waste more tax payers money.
    Well done Mr President, the people are with you.

    • 1
      0

      Didn’t Ranil’s Yapalanaya team, including Mangala, Tilak, Deal Dasa, Rajitha… et al saved the Royal Family and Rapist Army from UN electric Chair? If the Old King was brave, why did he ran out of Temple Tree House with one foot slipper on Jan, 9th, 2015 AM? Is there no time to run out of a Palace for a King? Listen, even Dom Juvan didn’t run out of palace! He took the Portuguese servant girl and in return gave the kingdom for them. (I don’t want to write the rest-still she refused to sleep with him for him to have a child)

  • 2
    4

    you started with something about GR and went around wuhan then came back to SL. a confusing article. better to put it clearly what u have in mind. he is wrong. he wanted to keep the country open. but now compelled to close down. but some of your comments are scholarly , i admit.
    -Dayal

  • 4
    3

    Coronavirus is a lottery for Mahinda & Co. provided the asteroid fails to crash on the Earth on 29th April

    • 2
      2

      ” provided the asteroid fails to crash on the Earth on 29th April “

      I would think that would be another sweep for the Yaka family. Any disaster is an election win and or a “help fund”.

  • 3
    2

    Double check mechanism ensures safety and correctness.
    Hence having president and prime-minister from different Hues is ideal and is a gem in the constitution.

  • 1
    1

    This comment was removed by a moderator because it didn’t abide by our Comment policy.

    For more detail see our Comment policy https://www.colombotelegraph.com/index.php/comments-policy-2

  • 2
    8

    A superb essay of rational, moral intervention.

    • 1
      0

      If Castro preaching, who a man slept with 35,000 women, is moral intervention for thero, then what else would not be?
      Old Royals were praying Idol of Thero until his praised enemy, Community Denesh, got the Foreign Affairs Ministry.

      Pathetic soul, Thero.

  • 9
    2

    Sarath. as I had mentioned even now Lankans see GR as better only because of inept and impotent RW/MS. The same old excuses as before. So and so stole less than other. This guy killed more than other guy. It is never about who is good , sincere or honest. Who is that person who really wants to serve people than self, family or party. When will this mentality change ???Will it change at all ??? It has been the same for past seventy years and in my opinion it will not change at all. Have anyone noticed in 20 or so million people Lankans only had father/son, uncle/nephew, Rajapaksa brothers, and husband/wife and daughter to lead Silly Lanka. A country of stupid immoral fools.

  • 10
    12

    Sarath,

    Indeed the war victory against the LTTE has no parallel in modern military history. Check what military historians have written about it without blabbering. Sarath thinks readers are morons. He quotes presidents Gotabaya and Shi but very careful not to quote anything from those so called modern, plural Western societies that these buggers venerate such as Italy, France, Germany, UK, USA who got really f****d not because of China, but because of sheer stupidity in handling the pandemic. Now they have to deal with piles and piles of dead bodies. They had enough information to act but they did not. Sarath thinks he can save faces of his venerable West by blaming that Chinese worker who went from China to Munich for creating havoc in the West. He wouldn’t have attempted it if he really read and understood the paper written in 1990 under the title -The Anthropology of Infectious disease. Sri Lanka really need a stable govt especially during this period and not an achcharu like yahapalanaya brought by Sarath and his ilk. Only SLPP and Prez Gotabaya can provide such stability within the current set up.

  • 9
    9

    Thank god GR is in the driver seat!! If the previous lot continued another 300 would be dead already !

  • 11
    1

    Part 1

    A Brave President, A Benumbed Nation
    Sarath:

    1) On Tuesday 17th March, President Gotabaya Rajapaksa concluded his address to the nation with a forthright fearless statement. “This country, that’s yours and mine, is secure today.”.

    *** How can it be secure when all the foundations of Democracy are being eroded. There is no Rule of Law. One rule for one rule for another. He himself was elected by Default as he is still an American Citizen and not entitled to stand although the Judges some out of fear and some through Loyalty claeared him to stand.
    2) He exuded Confidence. Confidence makes a leader to go forward with faith. The leader’s demeanor dispels doubt amongst officials. The President in the statement embodied courage and sincerity.
    *** Confidence is different from Arrogance . How can he be confident when he is on Death Row for another 9 years and 8 month . He cannot achieve anything on the World Stage. Just read the Judgment of the Californian Judge

    • 7
      8

      Kali, another remnant of the LTTE diaspora! Majority of Sri Lankan people elected President Gothabaya Rajapakse in a democratic election. Specially elected without the votes of your LTTE supporting kith and kin. Yes there is a temporary problem with the rule of law especially “thesavalm” which must be binned.
      Arrogance is needed when dealing with people like you. President GR was not elected to achieve in the world stage but to serve his motherland and his people. President GR and the people of Sri Lanka do not give a shit to the judgment of the Californian Judge.

  • 7
    2

    Part 2

    3)Natural outbreaks of unknown disease pose challenges to national and global security. They undermine national economies, international trade and travel and, public health. Such outbreaks undermine people’s trust in their governments. Biosafety and Biosecurity are different disciplines. Bio safety is about protecting humans from germs. Bio security is about protecting germs from humans so that humans don’t infect other humans.
    *** Professor you are wrong . Let me tell you why “ Biosafety provides policies and practices to prevent the unintentional or accidental release of specific biological agents and toxins, whereas biosecurity provides policies and practices to prevent the intentional or negligent release of biological materials or the acquisition of knowledge. Why would you want to protect Germs from Humans. Are you advocating Gotha will protect Corona Virus from the LTTE.
    4) As a country which did not go through a lock-down even during the 30-year war, there is no need to go for a lock-down in the face of the COVID-19 pandemic. The country needs to function.’
    *** I take issue with this one. How can anyone say there was no Lockdown during the 30 yar war. Lockdown is when you are locked inside your own home not knowing when the lightening will strike. Let us look at the evidence.
    a) Tamils were prisoners in their own home from aerial bombings living in bunkers.
    b) Knock on the door by the army and loved ones being taken away never to be seen again . Finally as President he has said where they are in “ Paralogam”.
    c) Even now there is no respite from White Vans.

    • 5
      8

      Kali, wrong again
      Sri Lankans were all prisoners in their own homes from LTTE terrorist goons (your kith and kin) for 20/30 years.
      Remember how members of the same family moved separately to avoid death and destruction by murderous LTTE terrorist dogs! (your kith and kin)
      White vans, yes majority of van are white in colour! it is your mind that is dark.
      Sri lankans eradicated LTTE terrorists but some still lurk abroad,

  • 10
    8

    Sarath, you and your cohorts are nothing but slaves of the western world. See the coronaviorus spread in Italy, Spain, UK, USA! In Italy coronavirous patients, waiting for treatment are on the streets. Learn and appreciate what President GR and his cabinet has done to stem the tide of coronavirus. The president, the health service, the armed forces, the police, wholesalers, retailers have and are doing the greatest thing men/women can do. Serving their fellow human beings at the risk of their own lives! There are shortcomings when battling a situation unheard before but these are to be expected. The need for a stable government is evident to everyone except people like you who supported the 19th amendment! What exactly have you or idiots like you, done except criticise and blabber. Put your money where your mouth is and donate the money you earn to help eradicate the virus.

  • 5
    6

    Kali, wrong again
    Sri Lankans were all prisoners in their own homes from LTTE terrorist goons (your kith and kin) for 20/30 years.
    Remember how members of the same family moved separately to avoid death and destruction by murderous LTTE terrorist dogs! (your kith and kin)
    White vans, yes majority of van are white in colour! it is your mind that is dark.
    Sri lankans eradicated LTTE terrorists but some still lurk abroad,

    • 6
      3

      Sinkala Lanka

      You dont get it do you . It was your CRIMINAL president who said that even in the 30 years there was Lockdown.
      Are you telling me your Country is Free. NO man NO you elected a Foreigner ( Sinkala DIASPORA) who is not entitled to Rule. LTTE were our Freedom Fighters thrust on us by your rtality . He is in the eyes of the World ( except 52% but 46% to be precise) a THUG , CRIMINAL, CROOK, THIEF and a LIAR. But you all love him. Love is Blind. He is on DEATH ROW. Man answer me how can you be free when you are the Scum of the World even Corona Virus wont touch you untouchable .

    • 5
      3

      Sinkala Lanka

      What is your CRIMINAl doing. He is a LIAR and that is what he is doing . Lying to you just like China. Corona originated in China and up to 30,000 have died and China is forced to lie and say only 3000 died as the economy has colapsed. The figures you get from Western Countries are correct.
      The figures from China & Sinkala Lanka are lies. Gotha is doing Bugger All. You will believe him because you are a lover others dont because he is a LIAR

      • 1
        3

        Kali

        It seems your Psychiatric disorder got worsen but it is OK you are entertaining us. That is what most Tamils doing here.

        • 3
          1

          Latha ( Mankeshkar)

          Matchal I take it from your laughter that you work at Angoda Mental Hospotal and surrounded by your friends ( no doubt some are CRIMINALS like the Brave President) at this critical hour. . Just one question matchal

          ” Sinkalama nanunkal koodavara sammathma ” .
          Answers in a post card please.

        • 3
          1

          Latha just one more thing

          “but it is OK you are entertaining us. That is what most Tamils doing here”. You see anyone who calls Gotha names seems to entertain a tiny minority of Sinkalams like you or should I say Hindians

          • 1
            3

            Kali

            Most people think is what ever the task given to Gotabaya so far has done efficiently, eradicating Tamil terrorism, making Colombo city clean & beautiful. It seems SL is also good in eradicating Corona. We don’t care a cent what bankrupt, beaten Tamils say.

            What good Tamils have done. Self destruction to themselves and tried hard to destroy others.

            What I enjoy is what they say about us. All are rubbish.

            • 2
              0

              Latha

              Most people think is what ever the task given to Gotabaya so far has done

              First of all the Tamil Freedom fight was a reaction to Sinkala State Terrorism . So get that right first.
              As for achieving everything so why has Gotha become a Persona Gongrata. He cant go to any country in the World other than the Colonial Power India when summoned. Cant go to China with a Pichai Pathiram because India wont allow.

              Matchal what an ACHIEVEMENT by a man who is on DEATH ROW. Hope I have entertained you and you have burst into uncontralable Laughter. Have a break and have a Kit Kat.

              • 0
                1

                Kali

                When JR Jayawardena was President he was 82. Think what he did to the country. Completed five mega reservoirs, opened free trade zones & gave jobs to thousands, built New Universities, hospitals, built thousands of houses, gave scholarships to uni students, created new towns. Gave free school books, free uniforms to children.

                • 2
                  0

                  Larha,

                  JR invited the IPKF to come in under orders and destoyed the Country. In any case what has that got to do with Gothas Criminalty and his Ugly Duckling.

  • 1
    0

    Yesterday there had been a TV presentation about the agents of the supermarkets selling Vegetables via a visit to the buyer’s village. Take it with a pinch of salt.
    With avenues for income restricted or totally blocked by the curfew, how do the people pay for the food items these agents of the supermarkets bring?
    Forget it not, it was the private supermarket owners trhatbought the CWE and killed the CWE.
    People go to supermarkets not only to purchase rice, sugar, flour, carot ,cabbages dhal, salmon tins vegetables etc they also buy toiletries and few other items because the ordinary kade does not stock them. The particular brand of aerated water I buy is found in the super markets and one kade – I live in a developed suburb.
    Will the agents of the supermarkets visit the low income – slum- areas? I think not, they are too snobbish, I mean the owners of the super markets.
    Even among the middle class, with traveling restricted, how do they pay for the goods, if the banks are not accessible? Not everybody has credit or debit cards, will the super market guys travel around with the facility to pay by credit cards,Our people, my self included, do not trust the credit cards/ debit cards. Has any bank in Sri Lanka reversed an incorrect debit. I know of one Sri Lankan in Queensland who got a mistaken debit reversed.It involved an Austraian bank. In good old Sri Lanka mistaken debit is a one way trip for the customer. – refere news papers complaints section.This is the only country with a Bank that requested the seller of a land to present the sales deed before the sales proceed to accepted into a deposit into the sellers account.The money was to be paid via a Bank ” pay order”.

    • 1
      0

      Upai Wickramasinghe ,

      The whole world is in distress , rich or poor , powerful or weak .
      And all weather types as well . People are crowding at
      supermarkets as if there’s no tomorrow and exceptionally in
      some countries this situation is coming under control but super
      markets are facing some stock shortages everywhere due to
      worldwide lock down . Even the fittest will suffer under a
      circumstance like this and it is already happening . A country
      like Srilanka will have to suffer more just because of ” me only
      attitude ” they have chosen in times of national importance .
      I don’t blame them because it is a world phenomenon among
      people of similar conditions . In many parts of the world , many
      leaders and their policies are getting exposed when a calamity
      of this scale is unleashed . Luckily , easy governable social
      distancing is the best exit along with some cheap sanitary care .
      No medication , so all equal but must work hard to look after the
      downtrodden not only because of their economic conditions but
      also because of their weak conditions , they will catch the virus
      more easily and become the vehicle of carriers .

  • 3
    3

    This is a message for all Gotha Lovers

    Gotha is a Killer Virus more potent and Lethal than Corona Virus. In fairness to Coronoa it doesnt discriminate like Gotha. It infects everybody. Whereas Gotha Virus only infects Tamils , Muslims and anyone who Challenges him except Modi ( the only vaccine)

    • 1
      2

      Many viruses were buried at Nanthikadal. Some of the viruses carried white flags, others had cell phones. Some wore suicide bras. Hon. Gothabaya did an excellent job, disposing of this filth once and for all.

      • 2
        0

        Lester

        Gotha cant even raise a White Flag because he is Crippled.
        Man as a President he has not visited any Country not even China. He booked a Flight but India banned him from going. See who he takes orders from . The Colinial Master. What an ACHIEVEMENT.

      • 2
        0

        Lester

        Just one other thing. Another virus Gotha buried was his War Winning Four Star General SD who he dragged in his underpants splitting his Genitals. You might br right RW could have worn Genital Bras to fool it was Boobs. Gotha might have fallen for it because have you see his wifes. Man not very nice.

        • 0
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          Kali

          I have seen his wife she is beautiful. She is a humble lady we love her. Have you seen the ex Prime Minister of India? Very pleasant respectable character.

          • 0
            0

            Latha

            My cleaner is better looking than her. So I can imagine what beauty means to you. What kind of duckling are you. At last you are begining to admit after all and early pretences ( the entertaintment you said you enjoyed reading Gotha being ridiculed as a CRIMINAL, THUG , THIEF CROOK LIAR were all what I would call borne out of Virakthi.) that you are a Gotha Lover which I knew from the begining. Any more CRAP such as making Gothas U.ly Duckling into a Cat Walk material.

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              Kali

              Your cleaner is just only a cleaner whether she is a beauty or not but Ayoma Rajapaksha is the 1st lady of SR. Rajapaksha’s names are already written in Sri Lankan history while you are only an insignificant worm who are good to calling names to other people.

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      2

      Kali

      Hate venom is in your whole body. You will die of it very soon before Corona comes to you.

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        0

        Latha

        Pussy Cat this is shear frustration unable to counter argue. Entertainment has turned into pouring of Hate Venom. What next. Will it be Kodali Chop Chop & Chop.

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    0

    [edited out]
    If Sarath is genuine try once again with facts about how this Corona virus came to be in Wuhan in the first place, which by the way Sarath has completely and conveniently ignored.

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