{"id":64902,"date":"2012-12-15T19:07:01","date_gmt":"2012-12-15T19:07:01","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/?p=64902"},"modified":"2012-12-23T00:09:28","modified_gmt":"2012-12-23T00:09:28","slug":"ali-baba-and-the-forty-thieves-from-where-do-sri-lankas-problems-emanate","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/ali-baba-and-the-forty-thieves-from-where-do-sri-lankas-problems-emanate\/","title":{"rendered":"Ali Baba And The Forty Thieves: From Where Do Sri Lanka\u2019s Problems Emanate?"},"content":{"rendered":"

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

\"\"<\/a>

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

I have, during the time I have written for this and other publications sought to differentiate between problems and symptoms, the deliberate refusal to make this differentiation being one of those things that bedevil and bemuse those of us who try to observe and comment on affairs Sri Lankan.<\/p>\n

I think that, rather than pursue this futile exercise, this Sunday I will revert to what I did many moons ago in Montage magazine and seek to trace some of the more vexatious issues facing the people of this country to their source.<\/p>\n

Let\u2019s join the dots and see where they take us, shall we?<\/p>\n

In the matter of the disappearance of law and order and their replacement with a dog-eat-dog, devil-take-the-hindmost culture where do our dots take us, assuming of course that they have not been picked up by 21st<\/sup> century scavengers much like the bread crumbs that Snow White left behind her in a different age!<\/p>\n

We have several members of our legislatures who have had charges for capital offenses either held in abeyance or, worse still, dropped completely.\u00a0 I believe, in fact, that there are at least two members of our national legislature who were charged with capital offenses who have not so much as had to make a court appearance for several years now.<\/p>\n

Why is this and who is providing them with this kind of protection?<\/p>\n

We have had massive frauds, running into billions of rupees where there has been no investigation done or, as in the case of the largest of these in Sri Lanka\u2019s history, the issue disappeared completely from public view, never to be heard about again.\u00a0 This is the scam where a huge sum of money was \u201crefunded\u201d to businesses and individuals who had not paid it in the first instance!<\/p>\n

Why did this happen and who gave the orders to drop the investigation?<\/p>\n

In last week\u2019s column, I referred to justice ignored and justice delayed in the matter of horrendous murders and rapes.<\/p>\n

Who is responsible for the sins of omission and commission in these instances?<\/p>\n

The invasion of the Dambulla Mosque<\/a><\/span> and the threat to the Hindu Kovil<\/a><\/span> near it were matters of religious persecution without precedent in this country.<\/p>\n

Why has nothing been done about these matters and who has given orders that this inactivity should prevail?<\/p>\n

There has been a scandalous explosion in \u201ctreasure hunting\u201d and there has been no progress made in apprehending the thieves who are robbing national archaeological treasures or destroying them at will.\u00a0 Anecdotal evidence suggests, very strongly, that these are not \u201crogue elements\u201d of the security forces but those with a significant level of \u201cprotection\u201d from those wielding power in this country.<\/p>\n

Particularly given the mammoth security forces still in uniform in this country, why haven\u2019t at least some of them been deployed to apprehend and bring to justice those causing irreparable cultural damage to Sri Lanka?<\/p>\n

The response to every new scandal, such as at the Stock Exchange has been to keep hiring new heads, presumably in the hope of finding one who will, rather than act in an honest, ethical and competent fashion, dance to the tune of the powerful manipulators of that body and countenance the misappropriation of public funds from such as the Employees\u2019 Provident Fund (EPF), Employees\u2019 Trust Fund (ETF) and the National Savings Bank (NSB).\u00a0 Who was responsible for the appointment of Mr. Karunaratne (and for his resignation) and who placed Nalaka Godahewa in his place and has thereby placed the seal of approval on the misuse of public funds inclusive of Mr. Godahewa\u2019s absolute rejection of the term \u201cmafia\u201d that Mr. Karunaratne used to describe manipulators of the CSE?<\/p>\n

Who is responsible for appointments to the various national sports organizations which seem to do little but promote individuals with Royal connections, hand out lucrative broadcasting contracts to private companies led by some of those handing out the contracts to begin with and, in a variety of other ways, damaging the reputation and the future of Sri Lanka sport and those who participate in it?<\/p>\n

Who has placed the seal of approval on the \u201csporting extravaganzas\u201d that Sri Lanka has indulged in?\u00a0 Who okayed the delegation of baila dancers and ladies in waiting (for what, you might ask) who went to the Caribbean for the vote on who was to get the Commonwealth Games when every mother\u2019s son knew it was going to be the Gold Coast in Australia?\u00a0 Why was Sri Lanka Cricket bankrupted in order to build and maintain the Hambanthota Stadium, resulting in our players not being paid for months on end?\u00a0 As for Sri Lanka staging the Asian version of the Monaco Grand Prix, at night no less, let\u2019s just leave the question and the Lambhorginis parked for now.<\/p>\n

Who was responsible for Roshan Goonetilleke getting an \u201cextension\u201d of his term as President of the Sri Lanka Rugby Football Union when his singular achievement was presiding over a violence-filled season which peaked when a player discharged an assault rifle on the field?\u00a0 Rest assured that mine is not the only voice of criticism of this man\u2019s tenure. \u00a0On assuming office, his successor stated very simply that Goonetilleke\u2019s reign was a lesson in how NOT to run a sports body!\u00a0 In fairness to Mr. G., however, it might well have been that he was too pre-occupied building a holiday home in a World Heritage Site to give rugby his undivided attention.<\/p>\n

It seems that everything from the passage of the single worst piece of legislation in the history of this nation \u2013 the 18th<\/sup> Amendment to the Constitution \u2013 to the attempt to impeach the Chief Justice has been rushed through at breakneck speed in order to satisfy the Ruling Family in this country.<\/p>\n

How about even a minimal sense of urgency being applied to stem the wholesale destruction of the Miracle of Asia and its very fabric?\u00a0 Or is that like asking Ali Baba and the Forty Thieves to take an oath of poverty?<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

[…]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":22,"featured_media":49743,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[3,8],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-64902","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-colombotelegraph","category-editorial"],"yoast_head":"\nAli Baba And The Forty Thieves: From Where Do Sri Lanka\u2019s Problems Emanate? - 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\/ali-baba-and-the-forty-thieves-from-where-do-sri-lankas-problems-emanate\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Ali Baba And The Forty Thieves: From Where Do Sri Lanka\u2019s Problems Emanate? 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