{"id":50500,"date":"2015-12-25T16:54:22","date_gmt":"2015-12-25T23:54:22","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/?p=50500"},"modified":"2015-12-25T16:55:18","modified_gmt":"2015-12-25T23:55:18","slug":"the-abundant-promise-of-sovereign-privilege-rise-of-the-yaha-yugaya","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/2015\/12\/25\/the-abundant-promise-of-sovereign-privilege-rise-of-the-yaha-yugaya\/","title":{"rendered":"The abundant promise of sovereign privilege – Rise of the Yaha Yugaya :"},"content":{"rendered":"

By Lucian Rajakarunanayake\u00a0Courtesy Island<\/em><\/span><\/h2>\n

MPs to have a new goal in politics – Rs. 20,000 for each day in Parliament \u2013 News item.<\/p>\n

“Looks like the New Year will bring buckshees of cheer for MPs”, said Yahavadana.<\/p>\n

“Did you ever think of Sri Lanka being a breeding ground for millionaires\u2026 or even billionaires, by the pack?” asked Yahakeliya. “Hope you are not trying to get back to recent history\u2026haven\u2019t we heard enough of those people with so much political bounty, whose files are too thick to move at the various commissions of inquiry?” said Yaharatne.<\/p>\n

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“This is nothing to do with tales of fraud, corruption and nepotism, which was the stuff of the year that is just coming to an end\u2026it, is the rapid spread of democracy,” said Yahavadana.<\/p>\n

“How does democracy produce millionaires or billionaires by the pack\u2026I\u2019ve never heard of such a thing\u2026 surely we are in not a land of oligarchs such as Russia or Ukraine\u2026.look, even the United States that must be having the largest number of millionaires, don\u2019t produce them by the pack.; so how come we can do so. And India, with all its millionaires, has not yet thought on those lines,” said Yahadenuma. “We have our own traditions, why should we follow others? Now don\u2019t get me wrong\u2026 it is all part of Maithreeya\u2026of abundance for the chosen few\u2026that is the essence of Yahapaalanaya or Good Governance. It is what the people voted for one year ago. Do you remember that campaign as it was coming to its highest pitch in late December,” asked Yahakeliya.<\/p>\n

“I do remember the campaign. But I don\u2019t recall anything being said about producing packs of millionaires or billionaires,” said Yahavadana.<\/p>\n

“Look at it this way. The Budget was passed with a two-thirds majority. So we obviously have the money. Don\u2019t you think that getting such a huge majority is a call for generous thanksgiving\u2026thanksgiving of the five-sixth type,” said Yahadenuma.<\/p>\n

“May be, but the votes came from Members of Parliament, the representatives of the people\u2026.what has that got to do with any pack of million or billionaires?” asked Yaharatne.<\/p>\n

“You must understand the new trend in politico-economic thinking. We have moved away from the time when the people\u2019s representatives were given huge bribes of political office to keep the Family Tree in power, with every branch weighed down with loads of corruption,” said Yahapavula.<\/p>\n

“You mean we will soon re-open the political doors to corruption?” asked Yahakeliya.<\/p>\n

“I think you should get your vision tested, if you think we have closed any doors to corruption. It is certainly thriving and making inroads into so-called good governance with great ease. What is now lined up is not giving political bribes to MPs. That is old hat. What is planned is on the maithree pipeline is to recognize the full worth of the representatives of the people who sit in the supreme legislature. It is the best acceptance of the sovereignty of the people,” said Yahavadana.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\"\"“You are talking in riddles. What has the sovereignty of the people have to do with breeding millionaires or billionaires?” asked Yahakeliya. “Just think of this great new plan to pay a member of parliament Rs. 20,000 for being present at each sitting of the House. It is a 400 percent increase in what they get now as the sittings allowance\u2026in addition to their salary. Don\u2019t you think it is a yahamalla of great value?” asked Yahavadana.<\/p>\n

“Do you think the people will let this happen?” asked many.<\/p>\n

“How do you think the people can stop it, if Parliament passes it? Anyway, what can the people do to stop Parliament from passing this? It is already widely discussed in the corridors of the House. They see it as a new recognition of the people\u2019s sovereignty,” said Yahadenuma.<\/p>\n

“Do you think the Joint Opposition, or whatever it is called, will also vote for it?” was the query by Yahapavula.<\/p>\n

“C\u2019mon, they are MPs – voted by the people\u2026they are all members of the House \u2013 the August Assembly. This bumper bonus per sitting of the House will be considered part of Parliamentary Privilege. Who will oppose such privilege,” asked Yahakeliya.<\/p>\n

“Whether a privilege or not, it is certainly not what they told the people when asking for their votes. No one said a word about raising the sitting fee. They were only trying to creep in there for the power, profit and privileges already available,” said Yahakeliya.<\/p>\n

“You don\u2019t have any idea of the working of democracy in Sri Lanka. What is practiced is not what is promised. What is promised is not what is intended to be practiced\u2026.this a ball game of sovereign profit, won through the sovereignty of the people,” that was Yahadenuma.<\/p>\n

“Where do you think the money will come from?” asked a yaha-chorus.<\/p>\n

“You can be sure it will be from the people,” was Yahadenuma\u2019s reply.<\/p>\n

“I see a big catch in this,” said Yahabuddhi.<\/p>\n

“What is the catch?”<\/p>\n

“It looks like the best way of keeping MPs from going to their electorates and working with the people\u2026They will want to be present at every sitting\u2026” said Yahadenuma<\/p>\n

“Yes, but there will be no conditions on how they behave in Parliament to earn the extra millions. They will just be as they are\u2026some shouting, some jeering, some rough and even dirty language, even a fisticuff or two\u2026but all that\u2019s part of the sovereignty of the people. What more can you expect from these torch bearers for democracy,” said Yahabuddhi.<\/p>\n

“I think there will be more to follow\u2026such as free chopper rides for those who do bother to go to their electorates\u2026transferable duty free import permits on all personal goods for self and family\u2026 that is the rise of people\u2019s sovereignty,” said Yahadenuma.<\/p>\n

“Looks like it will be Hail, Maithri all the while, with a new and costly page of history being written\u2026describing the Yaha Yugaya in this Dhammadeepa.<\/p>\n

“Hail, Hail” they all said, raising glasses that had no cheer in them, in keeping with the rising spirit of maithreeya.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

By Lucian Rajakarunanayake\u00a0Courtesy Island MPs to have a new goal in politics – Rs. 20,000 for each day in Parliament \u2013 News item. “Looks like the New Year will bring buckshees of cheer for MPs”, said Yahavadana. “Did you ever think of Sri Lanka being a breeding ground for millionaires\u2026 or even billionaires, by the […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[12],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-50500","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-forum"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/50500","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=50500"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/50500\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=50500"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=50500"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=50500"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}