{"id":91660,"date":"2019-07-24T23:29:44","date_gmt":"2019-07-25T05:29:44","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/?p=91660"},"modified":"2019-07-24T03:33:47","modified_gmt":"2019-07-24T10:33:47","slug":"the-caesar-brutus-play-back-in-sri-lanka-politics","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/2019\/07\/24\/the-caesar-brutus-play-back-in-sri-lanka-politics\/","title":{"rendered":"The Caesar-Brutus play back in Sri Lanka Politics"},"content":{"rendered":"

Mario Perera, Kadawata<\/em><\/span><\/h2>\n\n\n

BETRAYAL\nis the key word of the Sinhala history from time immemorial, from that of the\nKings to the Diyawanna Oya assemblies. \nSuch betrayals facilitated foreign interference and foreign invasions of\nthis country. Even during the Duttu Gemunu-Elara war, Sinhala Generals led\nDravidian troops to battle, although Duttu Gemunu had clearly stated that his\nfight was for the Sinhala-Buddhist nation. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Examples\nof inmates of the royal houses plotting and overthrowing kings abound. The\nclassical example is that of Dhatusena and Kassyapa. The tragic result of such\nintrigue within the palace was the grip or hold the Tamils had over parts of\nthe country since the remotest times. Another element of alliances going wrong\nfor the country were the inevitable need our kings had for South-Indian brides.\nThat story which begins with Vijaya lasted up to the Kandyan Kingdom, paving\nthe way for a Dravidian to sit on the sacrosanct Sinhala-Buddhist throne. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

In\nmore modern times, intrigue and betrayals among the Sinhala opened the gates\nfor European domination of the island. Much has been written in these columns\nrecently about Don Juan Dharmapala. Realistically that name must not be used to\nidentify an individual. Countless Sinhala Don Juan Dharmapalas have left their\nmark on our history. While some stab in the back, yet others do so face to\nface. This latter phenomenon is called crossing over. Differently from the\nformer this is a show of open defiance. \nBoth however are invariably done for personal gain. The attitude is\nalways ME FIRST. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

How\nmany unpredicted cross-overs have brought down governments be it immediately or\neventually? Think of SWRD and Rajapaske crossing over\u2026of C.P.de Silva crossing\nover\u2026Of Dahanayake crossing over\u2026.Think of more recent times when MPs of one\nparty cross the aisle and even unashamedly cross back! Such somersaults was\neven done by Chandrika and Anura Bandaranayake, as well as the present speaker.\nHas the country benefitted from such stabbings, whether in the back or from\nfront? The present situation of our country will provide the irrefutable\nanswer.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The\npersonality of Don Juan Dharmapala has endured over the millennia.  Some are even now continuing to don that\npersonality \u2013 the personality that epitomizes dishonour, treachery, and\nbetrayal. As regards Sinhala rulers, the word betrayal goes hand in hand with\nback-stabbing. An unbelievable number of our kings died at the hands of their\nkith and kin. In his clash with the Cardinal, Sirisena evokes his own past\nwhich is tainted with DISHONOUR. Betrayal by back stabbing is inalienably\nlinked to DISHONOUR. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Evoking\nthis theme brings to my mind the death of JULIUS CAESAR and its aftermath.  When his closest friend and confidant BRUTUS\nstabbed him, the words of reproach Caesar uttered were ones of powerlessness,\ndesperation, and anguish: ET TU BRUTE. These three words summarize all that\nwent through the mind and heart of Caesar at that unexpected moment. ET TU\nBRUTE\u2026Can this be?  Caesar was asking\nhimself. HOW CAN YOU\u2026Brutus!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In\nhis speech, standing over the dead body of Caesar, Marc Antony playing to crowd\nsentiments calls Brutus \u2018honourable\u2019. Brutus<\/strong> is an honorable<\/strong>\nman\u201d he says. But the use of that word is sheer irony, as Antony<\/strong> is\nattempting to portray Brutus<\/strong> as ungrateful and treacherous, while\nadding \u2018so are they all<\/strong>\u2026all honourable men<\/strong>\u2019. The use of the\nword \u2018honourable\u2019 only highlights its utmost importance when attributed to\nrulers and lawmakers.  A modern Marc\nAntony playing to the gallery could well say with reference to Sirisena:\nSirisena is an \u2018honourable man\u2019. So are they all, \u2018all honourable men\u2019, all\nstanding to attention as the maze arrives and bowing to the Speaker (How nice\nand heart-warming!). Honourable? What honour for these backstabbing treacherous\nbetrayers of Diyawanna-Oya.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Sirisena,\nreplying to the Cardinal supports his claim of having a strong backbone, by referring\nto his dramatic act in 2015. But on that occasion did he act differently from\nBrutus as regards Caesar? The next morning when learning of what the modern\nBrutus did, Caesar Raja could well have said: ET TU SIRA!  If ever there was dishonor, betrayal and\nbackstabbing, that was it \u2013 the crossover of Sira, after enjoying a wonderful\ndinner with Caesar Raja. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

That\nnight, whether restful or restless is anyone\u2019s guess, Sira dreamt of the day at\nhand when he would occupy the seat of Raja, but not through his own power and\npopularity. He would do so with the help of others, accomplices of dishonor,\nbetrayal and backstabbing. Yes Sira, as Marc Antony so ironically said: you are\nan honourable man\u2026so are they all, all who were accomplices of your dishonor,\non both sides of the aisle. Such is the nature of the strong back bone you lay\nclaim to. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

And\nlater, as is the nature of backstabbers, he would turn against his saviours and\nredeemers, the ones who lifted him on their shoulders and placed him on that\nhigh seat of power. But those who promote backstabbing cannot claim immunity\nfrom being backstabbed. After the betrayal and backstabbing of Raja, Sirisena\ncontinued on his merry way betraying and backstabbing Ranil, and that after\nrepeated violations of the Constitution which he swore to protect and uphold.\nHow can any man, leave alone the President of a country with an age old culture\nand civilization, equate such shamelessness with a strong backbone? ‘O Judgment\n! Thou art fled to brutish beasts, and men have lost their reason\u2019.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Sirisena,\nif you really have the strong backbone you claim to have, you still have a\nchance to prove it: present yourself for re-election. With the strong backbone\nyou profess to have you can dare do so. But for all your strong backbone talk\nyou know you are doomed to fail, that your days are numbered. The writing is\nalready on the wall.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But\nyou still have a chance of showing your remorse for your dishonourable, shameful,\ncowardly, treacherous, backstabbing past. Stop overturning your shit bucket on\nyour head by referring to your strong backbone, and just do as the Cardinal\ntold you. Just GO. That applies to all the other \u2018honourable men\u2019 so\ndishonourably connected to your story. Just GO.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Mario\nPerera, Kadawata<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Mario Perera, Kadawata BETRAYAL is the key word of the Sinhala history from time immemorial, from that of the Kings to the Diyawanna Oya assemblies.  Such betrayals facilitated foreign interference and foreign invasions of this country. Even during the Duttu Gemunu-Elara war, Sinhala Generals led Dravidian troops to battle, although Duttu Gemunu had clearly stated […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":true,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[37],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-91660","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-mario-perera"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/91660","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=91660"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/91660\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=91660"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=91660"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=91660"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}