{"id":186101,"date":"2018-01-05T14:57:38","date_gmt":"2018-01-05T09:27:38","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/?p=186101"},"modified":"2018-01-08T17:26:32","modified_gmt":"2018-01-08T11:56:32","slug":"bondage-of-our-minds","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/bondage-of-our-minds\/","title":{"rendered":"Bondage Of Our Minds"},"content":{"rendered":"

By Sarath de Alwis<\/a> –<\/b><\/span><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>

Sarath De Alwis<\/p><\/div>\n

\u201c<\/span>Do you know, Prime Minister? The city is a funny place. If you spill the beans you open up a whole can of worms. I mean, how can you let sleeping dogs lie if you let the cat out of the bag?<\/em>” ~\u00a0<\/span>Yes Minister \u2013 BBC comedy.
\n<\/span><\/p>\n

I am travelling. Deprived of my PC, I write this missive cloistered in a booth in an Internet Caf\u00e9 in a rather sleepy place called Petaling Jaya near Kuala lampur on Thursday 5<\/span>th<\/sup><\/span> January. <\/span><\/p>\n

Not familiar with what are called hand held devices that require graceful swiping and gentle taps I am tapping away on an aged Acer PC. <\/span><\/p>\n

A personable Malay youth who calls me uncle helps me to get by with this contraption whose coy mechanism sneers at me with a pronounced enthusiasm. <\/span><\/p>\n

I listened to the Presidential Statement<\/a> on the Bond Scam<\/a> the day after it was made. The sudden demise of a cherished friend had driven me in to a state of gloom. <\/span><\/p>\n

A day later I called a friend in Colombo and made a perfectly reasonable statement. “I feel sorry for Ranil. The way it had to end. Who is tipped to be PM?,” I asked. <\/span><\/p>\n

“Yako Umbata Payinthyanda? Anna eya\u00a0 <\/span>kiyanawa Eyalu Isellma AG ta kiwee,” he responded.\u00a0(<\/span>Are you mad, you dimwit, Now he says that he reported the matter to the AG before the President did<\/a>.)\"\"<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n

Nearly an year ago, this writer described the predicament of the Prime minister in the Bond Scam as that of a person stranded up the creek with no paddle and worse, in a state of undress.\u00a0<\/span>It now seems that Ranil Wickeremesinghe does not mind his political nudity one wee bit. \u00a0 \u00a0<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

Our nation is really in peril. For the first time in our post interdependence history we have an administration headed by a Prime Minter who has lost all credibility. He is marooned in an island of obstinate detachment from reality. <\/span><\/p>\n

At this distance, this writer does not wish to dissect the observations of the Bond Commission. It is reported that the Bond Commission report has stated that the Prime Minister has observed procedural propriety in appointing Arjuna Mahendran as the governor. <\/span><\/p>\n

It is unlikely that the Commissioners have commended the Prime Minister for his astute choice of governor from amongst others who were equally competent and qualified. <\/span><\/p>\n

It is equally unlikely that Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe will accept responsibility for making Arjuna Mahendran the Governor.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

The 19<\/span>th<\/sup><\/span> Amendment has made the President a hostage of the UNP majority that is held in a leash by the UNP leader. <\/span><\/p>\n

The most practical measure that would force the UNP to dump its leader is to ensure the UNP defeat at the Colombo Municipal Elections on 10<\/span>th<\/sup><\/span> February. <\/span><\/p>\n

Azath Salley\u00a0must be made the mayor of Colombo. <\/span><\/p>\n

This stratagem has been foreseen by clever Ranil. He has a new defender in Faizer Mustapha who obviously wants to depoliticize the bond commission report.\u00a0<\/span>That too is understandable.\u00a0 <\/span>When the SLMC last entered in to a coalition agreement with the UNP to form a government in 2001, the principal condition the SLMC insisted on was to make his father Faiz Mustapha our high commissioner to the court of St.James. Aha! Time for paybacks! <\/span><\/p>\n

Mr. Faizer Mustapha PC and Cabinet Minister as reported in the Daily Mirror<\/em> the \u201cBond Commission had clearly said that there was no involvement whatsoever by Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe in the bond controversy.”<\/span><\/p>\n

He asked journalists at the SLFP weekly news briefing held at the party office whether a school principal would be removed when a student did something wrong simply because the principal admitted the boy to the school?<\/span><\/p>\n

No. The School Principal will not be removed \u201cwhen a student did something wrong simply because the principal admitted the boy to the school.\u201d <\/span><\/p>\n

But in this instance the School Principal has done several things which Faizer Musthapha PC has decided to bypass, disregard or just plain ignore. <\/span><\/p>\n

The School Principal Ranil decided that he will be the master tutor in Book Keeping with Mr. Paskeralingam assisting him. He also decided to conduct additional classes in Economics with Mr. Charitha Ratwatte getting down tutorials from the Millennium Development Corporation in Washington.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

He got down a special tutor from Singapore to teach us Monetary Theory and most importantly on Pareto desirability \u2013 the monumental contribution to Economics by the Italian Economist Wilfredo Pareto. <\/span><\/p>\n

Pareto-desirability does not decide between good and bad. It evaluates the world based on the state of the world at a given time.\u00a0<\/span>It observes no moral code. Goodness is defined according to a person\u2019s particular preferences, that is to say, when an individual is better off when achieving more of his or her preferences.<\/span><\/p>\n

Pareto-desirability ignores the world that pursues common good of the most number of people. Instead it opts for those alternatives in which your own preferences receive preeminence.\u00a0<\/span>Now, the Pareto system is relied on by Economists to analyze theoretical options but not in the real world economics where hunger is appeased, illnesses cured and the young are schooled. <\/span><\/p>\n

The tutor imported from Singapore has leaked question papers to his son in law.\u00a0<\/span>Now the Principal has told the Bond Commission that he distinctly told the new tutor that the school was out of bounds for the son in law. Yet the errant student and the conniving tutor had continued regardless.\u00a0<\/span>Their impudence was such that the Teacher had leaked the papers of the following year as well and this time with transcripts as well. \u00a0 \u00a0<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

When the scandal surfaced, this School Principal scoffed at those early protests and claimed that the matter was too complex, too theoretical and too academic for us the hoi polloi. <\/span><\/p>\n

When the Director of Education wanted the tutor removed, the Principal protested and claimed that only he, the Singaporean tutor and Charitha could teach this subject of Pareto optimality. He insisted that if his chosen tutor was removed, Charitha his other chosen tutor be assigned the task. <\/span><\/p>\n

Faizer Mustapha PC has every right to defend the school principal.\u00a0 <\/span>He can do it as a mouth piece wearing his wig and cloak. <\/span><\/p>\n

As a Cabinet Minister, when he tells the media not to politicize the Bond Commission report his hypocrisy insults us \u2013 \u2018we the people.\u2019\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

[…]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":86,"featured_media":185123,"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-186101","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-colombotelegraph","category-constitutional-reforms","category-editorial"],"yoast_head":"\nBondage Of Our Minds - 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\/bondage-of-our-minds\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Bondage Of Our Minds - Colombo Telegraph\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"[…]\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/bondage-of-our-minds\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Colombo Telegraph\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2018-01-05T09:27:38+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2018-01-08T11:56:32+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/12\/Sarath-De-Alwis-1-e1512361246986.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"200\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"248\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Sarath de Alwis\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Sarath de Alwis\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"5 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/bondage-of-our-minds\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/bondage-of-our-minds\/\",\"name\":\"Bondage Of Our Minds - 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