By Emil van der Poorten –

Emil van der Poorten

It has been a considerable time since I’ve had occasion to use the expression that constitutes the title of this piece. However, better late than never!

That said, what is the “enough” in this instance.

The “enough” is the acceptance of those who were guilty of monumental corruption of a varieties of brands ranging from the simply fiscal – theft from the public purse – to depravity and the support of depravity as part of the policy of the late unlamented Rajapaksa rabble.

I am as, I am sure, are people of this country very tired of the specious excuse trotted out that some of what went before needs to be overlooked or, at least, punishment for such put on the back burner until the larger mess is dealt with. Unfortunately, that “back burner” is beginning to look like some cozy fireside on a cold, wintry night in the Arctic.

I have, previously, referred to the fact that there has been at least one instance of a major Rajapaksa pandankaraya being elevated to the upper echelons of a Major medical institution. That was no mere “foot soldier.” That was one of the “movers and shakers” during what is going to prove to be the darkest time in this nation’s recent history. We are talking here about an active participant in an attempt to distort part of this country’s recent history and assist in the concealment of what could amount to war crimes and crimes against humanity. And, please, dear god, don’t tell me that people of his ilk were “doing their job!”

Now I keep hearing consistent rumours of appointments being made by the Ohey Palayang government which are akin to putting Colonel Sanders in charge of some Sri Lankan chicken house, the inhabitants of which are, guess who? Us, the citizenry of this country!

With little effort these people who supped, lavishly, at the Rajapaksa table of pomp and privilege are being placed in positions where they are expected to be moral arbiters for the rest of us! This is nothing short of obscene.

I have, in columns past, made reference to personal and “old school” affiliations kicking in despite track records that leave something to be desired. That particular bandwagon continues to accept more and more of the same. Where is it going to end and when is it going to end?

The people of this country are sick and tired of the repetition of the manthram that we have to tolerate some of the less-than-lily-white in the interests of the greater good of this blessed land. Hogwash! This has become an exercise in looking after the same privileged group irrespective of their political affiliations of the past that were based not on any adherence to political theory or belief system, but on simple greed.

Nobody in their right mind expected this or any other government, even if it claimed that its priority No. 1 was to clean out the Augean Stables, to perform such cleansing overnight. However, what we have seen is not simply some slack-assed reaction to the problems of morality that we faced but what is increasingly beginning to look like a continuation of what got this land into the moral mess that was Rajapakistan in the first place.

There are two other political realities that this lot have missed or chosen to ignore.

The first is that cornering rats and not dispatching them is not wise. The thieves and murderers that victimized Sri Lanka for far too long need little goading to realize that they have a choice: “hanging together” or hanging separately. The fervor with which these discredited have clung to the Rajapaksa satakaya is only too evident even to those whose interest in politics is but cursory.

The only hope for economic and, perhaps, physical survival outside the Crowbar Hotel for the toadies of the Rajapaksa Regime lies in a return to power of their Maximum Leader. That is the simple reality.

Perhaps, an even more dangerous outcome to what is happening today is a violent overthrow of the Maithripala/Ranil (MR2) government by a citizenry breaking under the burden of not being able to keep their kith and kin from starvation. The tip of that particular iceberg has already been visible in the unrest among workers and students and very suspicious “explosions” of large power transformers. We could be faced with something that ranks with previous insurrections in its ferocity and destructiveness, without even the masking of that chaos with some claimed adherence to what an icon such as Che Guevara stood for. As far as Sri Lanka’s reputation as some bastion of Buddhist thought and principle……………………………

In the hinterland of Sri Lanka the problems of city-dwellers is multiplied with traditional sources of “garden food” disappearing and the wherewithal to make good that loss at the local food store not being available. The long term problem is malnourished, under-performing adults. The short-term problem could well be hunger with people simply not having the means of assuaging that hunger.

Coming full circle: the pandering to the remnants of a regime – Mahinda Rajapaksa’s MR1 – could well sound the death knell of what little hope there is for this country to regain a place of respect internationally and begin the process of re-building a nation that has been devastated by a banditry posing as government. Get rid of these people now because they are nothing but a Fifth Column waiting to return to the trough to which they, until January 8th 2015, had more than ready access.