By the time you read this, you would have perused many pieces, no doubt, on the precarious state of the nation of late. The painful memories of April-May – Meethotamulla pitfall and the proposed appointment of a military panjandrum to curb, inter alia, a rising spate of civil unrest in our country, among other imbroglios – have been overshadowed by more recent events of alarming proportions.
With that said, the calibre and ethos of the egregious Cabinet shuffle cannot pass without comment – even from the ranks of Tuscany. “Size matters,” as the actress said to the bishop, but I’m not going to mention that… it’s obvious that these jumbo cabinets are here to stay for good… or for bad, or for ugly, and for worse – no matter what taxpayers say or critics carp about, quite rightly.
“Size might hurt you,” as the bishop said to the actress – and if you had watched a certain media channel’s reportage on it, and caught its group media director’s social media comment on it, you’d agree with him about the need to justify jumbo cabinets’ tax-money-spend. Carp and cavil we can or must, citizens!
The channel caught Cabinet ministers arriving at the Presidential Secretariat earlier this week… ahead of the Cabinet’s most recent attempt at musical chairs – and that senior journalist’s comments spoke volumes about the ongoing egregious spend of our monies: “You will be shocked to see how our politicians arrived this morning at the Presidential Secretariat for the reshuffle. Rising cost of living? Clearly not for these guys…” – The price tag on the ministerial vehicles ranged from the ‘lower-end’ Audi Q7s and Porsche Cayenne Ss (price-tag: Rs. 22 million apiece), through the 2013 Toyota Landcruiser valued at a ‘mere’ Rs. 27 million (someone’s minding the austerity budget, maybe), to the upper-echelon Mercedes S-Class and Benz GLS 400 SUV (both Rs. 35 million) right up to several BMW 7 Series super-luxury cars (Rs. 38 million apiece), and even a 2017 Toyota Landcruiser valued at a cool 40-million smackers.
Not that MR’s mandarins were any less austere than MS’s spendthrift Cabinet! But these are the ‘good’ guys… they say!
What ails the republic? (That old familiar feeling…)
Once upon a time, in the fairy-tale republic of never-was-Ceylon, newspapers would suffice to clue one in. Today, and yesterday for a decade or so, the state of the not-quite-Democratic so-nasty-Socialist neo-pseudo-Republic of Sri Lanka is demonstrably reflected by denizens posting on social media.
What else upsets your columnist? (Some fresh thinking-points, perhaps)
The old news that former Army Commander Sarath Fonseka – then Lt. Gen. now Field Marshal – is to take on the mantle of military supremo has already evoked mixed reactions in town hall and marketplace.
- Remain critically engaged, as some senior journalists (vide Namini Wijesdasa in sister print channels and social media) have taken it upon themselves. Where art thou, civil society/business chambers/professionals and academics, today?
- Respect dissent, difference, debate, dialogue. Extremists must not be allowed to dominate the headlines time and again, so shamefully as they do! Stop reporting them as if they were some superheroes wearing their underwear – like their underhand ideas and methods – on the outside.
- Relegate ‘war heroes’ with a Damocles’ sword of suspicion over their own heads to the backburner. Stop lionising suspect politicos!