Dy. Minister Eran unhappy with his BMW !

by Sanjeevi Jayasuriya

One of the country's newest political bigwigs, Eran Wickramaratne, last week waxed sarcastic over the extravagant ministerial lifestyle that has emerged over the years.

"The political culture in Sri Lanka is such that we can no longer call ourselves a 'developing' country. Our politicians spend for more on themselves than their counterparts in the developed countries. As a Deputy Minister, I travel in a BMW whereas politicians in developed countries use public transport!" Mr. Wickramaratne, Deputy Minister of Highways, Higher Education and Investment Promotion told a business school convocation.

He was addressing the convocation of the National School of Business Management (NSBM), in Colombo on Thursday.

The transformation, people expected from the change of government is gradually taking place. We need to introduce reforms to make this a reality soon. We need to re-assess our way of life as politicians to ensure more benefits to the country, he said. Today's children have big dreams and are full of bright ideas. We need to support them to materialize these dreams and at no point should be a stumbling block. It is necessary to guide them to engage in new thinking and give them freedom under a watchful eye of their parents, he said.

Children today are the future of tomorrow. As politicians serving the country at present, we believe that educated youth will enter the political arena in the near future which is an important step towards ensuring socio- economic development of our country, Wickramaratne said.

It is necessary to create a different political culture, where those who enter politics put the country before self. It is also important to vote for politicians with a clean track record and it is the responsibility of the voting population to ensure the country is directed by a set of suitable law makers, he said.