By Helasingha Bandara –

Mahinda Rajapaksa is accused of perverting the accepted cultural and social norms in the country for grooming and protecting individuals who are corrupt, uneducated, unciviilsed and capable of committing any crime without hesitation or remorse. Only in Sri Lanka, particularly under MR administration, SB Dissanayake can get away having made such a distasteful comment regarding the former President Chandrika Kumaratunga. It has come from none other than the Minister of Higher Education who has been given the authority, responsibility and resources to develop younger generations of this country to be good citizens.

Ada Derana reported that Rosy Senanayake has stated SBD should apologise to the whole female population of Sri Lanka for the malicious remarks that he had made against a woman. “She has pointed out that the Minister had said Chandrika should be “put down in the ground, trampled, stripped naked and made to run along the streets.” He should not have made such a remark against any woman at all, famous or otherwise. Such behavior raises serious questions as to whether this person is suitable to hold public office. In the crony protection culture of Rajapaksa, it is unlikely that MR would force SBD to resign his Ministerial post or would condemn SBD in public. MR has duty by the nation to be exemplary. He should make SBD resign all government positions and expel him from the party and declare in public that he would not be taken back to government ranks under any circumstances.

Indeed SBD must have imagined putting Chandrika down, ripping her cloths off, making her run along the streets after raping her and finally killing her. If this is not believed to be the mindset of a person who personifies evil, then Sri Lanka may not be a place that humans inhabit. The despicable comment brings back the sad memories of what befell Premawatie Manmperi, the twenty year old beauty queen of the south in 1971. She was tortured, stripped naked, raped, shot and buried alive by Lt.Wijesooriya and his henchmen of the army and the police. Irrespective of her alleged political affiliation to the JVP, the brutal punishment meted out to the young girl was beyond all accepted norms of human civilization. (Ahasa Polawa nousulana aparadhayak). If I attempt to translate the Sinhala adage, it may read like a crime of such magnitude of which the burden,even the sky and earth cannot bear. A similar fate befell the LTTE TV presenter Isaipriya. Beautiful women have always been the target of depraved killers.

Translating his hatred towards chandrika into words SBD has unveiled the evil face of this government. His comment also implies what they would do to the opponents if MR wins this election. This is not the first time this Minister has drawn attention of the people of this country. He was alleged to have harassed Susanthika Jayasinghe, the most famous athlete Sri Lanka has ever seen, for rejecting his sexual advances.

Jayasinghe’s achievement in the field of athletics is incomparable. At international level she has won nine golds, 4 silvers and a bronze. Jayasinghe is the first and the only Asian to win an Olympic or world championship medal in any of 100 m, 200 m or 400 m sprint events. This is one in a four billion people. In 2000 she became the nation’s first Olympic medalist since 1948, when she finished behind Marion Jones and Pauline Davis-Thompson in the Women’s 200 meters. On the 5^th of October 2007 Marion Jones admitted to have taken performance enhancing drugs prior to the 2000 Summer Olympics, and Jayasinghe was later awarded the silver medal. The shoddy treatment that was meted out to her by this Minister and his ministry officials has to be condemned with contempt. A reader may wonder why SBD has developed hatred towards women-kind. A fair guess of a reason for that is that his sexual advances may have been repulsed by many females for his not very complementary physical appearance.

This government is full of individuals and families that commit heinous crimes against women. SBD’s son drew attention of the media as a women beater and he is also known for his violent behavior in night clubs. Malaka Silva has assaulted a foreign woman in a night club who refused his advances. Vidana Pathirana of this government raped another foreigner and murdered her boyfriend. One provincial councilor of this party has made a female teacher keel down. The List is endless because the MR regime tolerates them and in turn they are encouraged to commit more crimes on people with impunity. Even recently at a public meeting MR has said lads are lads regarding his own children in relation to the accusations that he misappropriates state funds to buy horses and helicopters for his children. Lads are forgiven for everything they do. The truth is that his children or the children of his colleagues are no longer lads but grown up men.

This government is full of criminals who hold very important positions. MR administration turns a blind eye and perverts the course of justice to protect those murderers, rapists, plunderers and criminals. Where is this country heading under the current regime?