{"id":114377,"date":"2013-11-10T01:06:36","date_gmt":"2013-11-09T19:36:36","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/?p=114377"},"modified":"2013-11-14T14:17:47","modified_gmt":"2013-11-14T08:47:47","slug":"monkey-see-monkey-do-a-rural-version-of-the-national-scene","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/monkey-see-monkey-do-a-rural-version-of-the-national-scene\/","title":{"rendered":"\u201cMonkey See, Monkey do:\u201d A Rural Version Of The National Scene"},"content":{"rendered":"

By\u00a0Emil van der Poorten<\/a><\/span>\u00a0–<\/strong><\/strong><\/p>\n

\"Emil<\/a>

Emil van der Poorten<\/p><\/div>\n

If people think that urban models cannot be adapted to rural circumstances, I have an example that should dispel that myth quite conclusively!<\/p>\n

The whole business of \u201cFamilial Rule,\u201d with the active support of particularly less-savoury elements within the political firmament has constantly been thrust on the consciousness of the public of this country where probity and decency were considered the hallmarks of decent politicians in the years immediately following independence.\u00a0 Exceptions there were, even then, but that is precisely what they were, exceptions, and not the broad rule that they are today.\u00a0 In fact, what should have been exceptions have become completely a part of the ruling power structure that governs this country.\u00a0 Thieves, murderers, rapists and common-or-garden thugs have become part of the elite of Sri Lanka and at every level of government, it seems.<\/p>\n

In the matter of the rape and pillage of the financial resources of this country, the only difference in rural Sri Lanka<\/span><\/a> is that the sums of money changing hands and the books being \u201ccooked\u201d are not as considerable as they are where billion dollar construction contracts are involved.<\/p>\n

The pity of it is that the ingenuity exercised could be employed in the interest of those both delivering the schemes as well as those who are the victims.\u00a0 However, the insurmountable impediment to such a state of affairs is that it will run completely contrary to a culture without equal in the matter of corruption in this or any other region of the world!<\/p>\n

\"Backhoe<\/a>

Backhoe #1 at work with a dog seeming to ask \u201cMonawa Karannada?\u201d<\/p><\/div>\n

I have met and worked with a few people who, if they entered a room through a north door would not leave through the exit on the south side of the room unless they traversed the entire periphery of the room before doing so.\u00a0 The reason for doing this was not some eccentric need to check out the whole space but because they were, literally, incapable of going in a straight line.\u00a0 That seems to be the prevailing situation of which the Sri Lankan elector is a victim!<\/p>\n

The guys who run our lives are so crooked that they could moonlight as corkscrews in the busiest bar in the world!<\/p>\n

Recently, under active prodding by his mentor, the local Chief Politico hired the piece of equipment that seems a sine qua non in the matter of digging or moving any material on or immediately under the surface in the vicinity of roads \u2013 the ubiquitous backhoe.\u00a0 The first time was a backhoe owned, I was informed, by a buddy of the ruling politicos.\u00a0 I personally was entertained by the operator in a demonstration that raised very serious doubts about whether he should be behind the wheel of ANY vehicle.\u00a0 That, of course, was what little I saw of his activity because \u2013 and I have photographic evidence in support \u2013 the piece of equipment was emitting, literally, clouds of smoke that obscured it from public view!<\/p>\n

A considerable time after that \u201cgoing through the motions\u201d exercise, when the sole access for several dozen families was again impassable, I sent an email SOS to the address of the Senior Minister who is our MP, together with pictures of the devastation.\u00a0 This resulted in another piece of comedy when all of about five metres of roadside drain was cleared by yet another backhoe.\u00a0 This was arranged differently, I was informed. The services of a local heavy equipment \u201ctraining school\u201d were enlisted for the purpose this time.\u00a0 One or several of the trainees were sent up our road on a backhoe and, as a part of the training for which they (the trainees) pay, performed this task which would, employing one worker and one mamoty, have taken all of an hour!\u00a0 The information available to me suggested that the local body\u2019s books now reflect a payment to a commercial backhoe operator for several hours at commercial rates!<\/p>\n

Is it any surprise in these circumstances that money is allocated for various \u201cprojects\u201d each year, the year ends and very little, if any, of the work is commenced, leave alone completed?\u00a0 A little clue as to where the funds ended up might be the deficit that has to be bridged between the cost of an election campaign and the measly, official remuneration received by the successful candidate.\u00a0 \u201cSomeone\u201d has to pay the political piper and it is, inevitably, that amorphous entity: the \u201cpublic!\u201d<\/p>\n

This seems particularly bad in rural parts of this country because the people who live there appear to have resigned themselves to the fact that this is the way that things are and will continue to be done and that they will not ever have the power to change that state of affairs. \u201cMonawa Karannada <\/i>(What can one do)?\u201d <\/i>is the inevitable comment if one seeks to engage one\u2019s neighbour in a discussion on the subject.<\/p>\n

There has to be a breaking point in the tension that is building and the chaos that is accumulating.\u00a0 With a government that is determined not to permit the usual democratic opportunities for the governed to \u201cblow off steam\u201d that point will be reached.\u00a0 The question is when and its corollary is \u201cWho will the poor and dispossessed of this land turn on in their frustrated fury?\u201d\u00a0 I will repeat the obvious response to that question:\u00a0 it will be those without the protection of private militias to ensure their physical safety, it will be the middle-class of this land who have turned a Nelsonian eye towards what is obviously coming down the turnpike thinking, wishfully, that they will have something akin to divine protection from the marauding horde!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

[…]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":22,"featured_media":93580,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[3,46,8],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-114377","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-colombotelegraph","category-constitutional-reforms","category-editorial"],"yoast_head":"\n\u201cMonkey See, Monkey do:\u201d A Rural Version Of The National Scene - Colombo Telegraph<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/monkey-see-monkey-do-a-rural-version-of-the-national-scene\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"\u201cMonkey See, Monkey do:\u201d A Rural Version Of The National Scene - 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