Maithri’s ire
Posted on February 21st, 2017

Editorial Courtesy The Island

Politicians are a peculiar lot. They think no end of themselves and never own up to their lapses. Of them, one may say, with apologies to Bernard Shaw, those who can, do, and those who can’t, bash the media. Politicians who are capable of living up to people’s expectations can be counted on the fingers of one hand. Hence, we often have most of those at the levers of power venting their spleens on journalists to cover up their failures which are legion.

Yahapalana leaders seem to believe in their own false propaganda. Having failed to make good on their election promises, they are now trying to have the frustrated public believe that the situation is peachy-keen, but the media are all out to paint a bleak picture of it.

President Maithripala Sirisena has recently faulted the electronic and print media for ‘negative reporting’ and ‘attempts to increase their ratings or circulation at the expense of the government and its development programme’. He is entitled to his opinion, but the messenger should not be blamed for the message.

The government has, under its control, a publishing house, television channels and radio stations to praise its leaders; its propagandists, credit where credit is due, are doing an excellent job with no heed for their credibility where singing hosannas is concerned. So, why should the government leaders worry about the independent media which tell them what they don’t want to hear?

President Sirisena needs to be told that the media cannot be expected to report on the Moragahakanda reservoir being flooded, on a daily basis. Ceremonies to launch road construction projects are held frequently, but no road has got built so far. The yahapalana leaders, before the last general election, promised the people of Kurunegala a Volkswagen factory, but that has become pie in the sky. Crafty local businessmen are making the most of the government’s yen for dollars to tide it over and putting various crooked deals through. Some of them have already obtained vast extents of state-owned land for a song on the pretext of launching mega factories to bring in foreign exchange.

The yahapalana leaders also took the youth for a ride before the last two elections by pledging to create one million job opportunities. The cost of living has gone into the stratosphere. A coconut sells at Rs. 85 and a kilo of rice at Rs. 100.00 or more. Only the super rich can afford the luxury of eating rice with pol sambol three times a day! Corruption is rampant among government politicians and their bureaucrats. Sri Lanka’s ranking on the global Corruption Perception Index 2016 has dropped to 95 from 83 in 2015. The government is all out to cover up the biggest ever financial fraud in the country—the Central Bank bond scam—and this may be the main reason for the sharp drop in the country’s corruption perception index rankings. Officials are hounded out of their jobs for exposing mega rackets. The recent sacking of Chairman of the state-owned Lanka Coal Company, Maithri Gunaratne, is a case in point. Such an intrepid official would have been rewarded in any other country for blowing the lid off a mega racket and trying to save a great deal of public funds. Ruling politicians menacingly heap abuse on upright state officials like the Auditor General in public in a bid to intimidate them. Nepotism continues and police steer clear of government politicians and their backers. No media organisation worth its salt can ignore the seamier side of yahapalanaya.

If the government fulfils its pre-election promises to bring economic relief to the masses, eliminate bribery and corruption, restore the rule of law, create one million jobs and launch development projects then the media will be without anything negative to report on. They will be left with no alternative but to write sunshine stories and President Sirisena will be able to watch TV, listen to radio and read newspapers without seeing red.

4 Responses to “Maithri’s ire”

  1. Lorenzo Says:

    A good leader MUST read LANKAWEB.

    That is enough to know what goes on in SL.

    Other news outlets are just BUSINESS. They can be bought over for money.

  2. Ananda-USA Says:

    President “Aiyooooo” Sirisena is living in LA LA LAND!

    The country is burning down, the central bank and treasury is being looted in broad daylight, cost of living is bursting through the roof, the currency is depreciating fast, and most importantly, a New Constitution to DISMANTLE unitary sovereign Sri Lanka into a patchwork collection of ethno-religious Bantustans is being crafted by a Kalliya of para-gathi foreign puppets and separatist minorities, without any input from the majority Sinhala Buddhist community!

    Meanwhile, Aiyooo Sirisena the PANA-NATHI JANA-PATHI is preaching homilies on good governance to foreigners and laying foundations for roads, reservoirs, factories ad infinitum ad nauseam that are never built and don’t have a hope in hell of ever being completed by a bankrupt government that has wasted and looted all of the nation’s money paying itself!

    This COMEDY will soon come to a SCREECHING HALT when the fed-up citizens rise up and throw these crooks into prison and restore a New PATRIOTIC GOVERNMENT!

    The Yamapalanaya GOONS should prepare their exit plans, and safe refuges in the foreign countries of their puppet-masters who are singing hosannas to their “good governance”! This Yamapalanaya seems more and more like the EMPEROR’S NEW CLOTHES every day!

    The citizens of Sri Lanka don’t believe any of that STINKING CRAP anymore! GET READY for the great exodus!

  3. Kumari Says:

    Lorenzo, Lankaweb is not available in newspaper format. Therefore, the Rookadaya has no access to this.

  4. Lorenzo Says:

    Not so Kumari.

    He reads his FACEBOOK page (this page updated by so and so) everyday.

    He hangs on the internet for a few hours every day clapping over posts on his FACEBOOK page and reading CONGRATULATORY comments on it. Little he knows those are written by his OWN media team.

    He thinks SL people are VERY HAPPY and cannot understand WHY all electronic and paper media cannot appreciate it!!!

    I feel sorry for him.

    (MR was in the SAME well. So war Sirima in the 1970s.)

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