Witch-hunts

Apologies, but Menika cannot shed one single tear, even a croc one, when the former President bemoans the fact of a witch-hunt against him and his family members.

He accuses the government of trailing him and his family with revenge and yes, that horrid word, jealousy and thus the inquiries and arrests and those to come. He paints himself and his extended family, more so his atomic family, as lily white and the blame is all on the government and the institutions set up to inquire into hundreds of shady transactions effected within the past ten years and see that justice is done.

Shady is too mild a word to describe the horrendous amounts of money involved in money laundering et al. He has complained thus at meetings at the Abhayarama Temple and at the entrance to the Sri Dalada Maligawa in Kandy, much to the consternation of Menika and her kind who feel these places are sacred and not to be sullied by political speeches which are poisonous and hate impregnated.

We realise the truth of the old adage: no smoke without fire. So instead of trying to paint himself innocent of any malpractices, the ex-Prez should hold his peace.

Missing gold

Crimes were galore. On Wednesday, March 9 in Parliament, a question was raised about 150 kilograms of gold confiscated from Tamil people in the North and in the possession of the LTTE, taken over by the army to be handed over to the Central Bank.

Hand over they did, but 40 kg is unaccounted for. Eighty kg was returned to owners, which everyone applauds; 30 kg was given to the Central Bank. Where oh where is the remaining 40 kg? Of course rumours have been throttling the grape vine about who got the gold.

Which reminds this feline of the immediate aftermath of the 1983 conflagration in Colombo where Tamil homes were targeted and goons attacked Tamil people. A Tamil servant she knows secretively brought gold jewellery to sell and sell cheap. Menika could not bring herself to buy anything, sorely tempted though she was.

Arguments went back and forth in her mind. “If you don’t buy, someone else will. This jewellery will never go back to the rightful owners.” And the voice of conscience shot back: “There’s blood on these pieces. Women may be mourning their loss. Gold jewellery is even more precious to Tamil people than to the Sinhalese. It’s often their life’s saving and daughters’ dowries.” Mercifully for later peace, nothing was bought. Thus greed to grab as is obvious in the present gold story is hard to comprehend.

Another nadir of behaviour

This cat commented in her Sunday mewing in this column on the disgraceful behaviour, nay reprehensible and totally condemnable behaviour of those at the open air concert at Galle Face Green on February 4 as they voiced vociferously and disgracefully their non-appreciation of the singing of Danno Bundunge by world famed opera singer Kishani.

Kishani Jayasinghe-Wijayasekera herself wrote to the Sunday papers of March 6 to say she forgives those who expressed derision and even hate at the manner of her singing this song. It is venerated but not a Buddhist song like Bakthi Gee. It mentions the Buddha, Arahats and Anuradhapura but it is not a holy rendition like the recitation of a Buddhist Sutta.

Kishani revealed she had received 500,000 emails, mostly hate mail. She itemised the worst three, signed off by women.

This was deplorable. This cat commented only on the booing at the Galle Face Green. Now Kishani reveals there was so much hate and curses conveyed to her via email. We surely are a sick nation. But this feline defends her sex. She is sure the worst hate mail was from half crazy males who hid cowardly by signing off as women.

Base feelings

Menika titled this piece ‘Witch-hunts’. She dealt with the fact of the former Prez using this term with qualifiers such as ‘revenge’ ‘vengeance’. She used the plural. Why? Because she has in mind a real witch-hunt that is taking place now. A motorcyclist with a pillion rider rode into a vehicle from the Ministry of Mega Polis of which Patali Champika Ranawaka is Minister. This feline is not going into the whys, wherefores and who’s guilty in this case. Those are strictly for the police and later the courts. But she is so annoyed and derisive that she wants to comment on one issue. Udaya Gammanpila and his crowd are on a witch-hunt true and improper. They are out for Minister Ranawaka’s blood in the way of having him accused as perpetrator of the hit and run accident at Rajagiriya.

They shout that the police have to arrest him. And why this pseudo-righteousness, this wanting to show they are so law-abiding and want justice for the motorcyclist (though he plowed into the vehicle) and see that law is upheld

Is it for the sake of justice and the country? Not on your life! They shout since they cannot bear to see a former colleague doing so well and guiding a very important ministry.

Ranawaka is a bright star that shot far ahead of the clods in his former party and clique. And those left behind cannot stomach it. They seem unable to contain their frustration and envy. So they pretend good citizenship and witch- hunt the young and clever Minister.

Oppose for the sake of opposing

Another irritant to this cat is that the so-called Joint Opposition opposes everything the government tries to do or is forced to do.A headline in a newspaper of Thursday March 10 screemed: Tax increases: Joint Opposition to move no–confidence vote. Even a cat-brained individual such as yours truly knows the government and thus the country is drastically cash strapped and the economy is in dire straits. Something has to be done. Borrowing was gone into but payment with interest stares the borrower in the face. So taxes are to be upped and mostly of those who can well afford to pay higher taxes.

The Joint Opposition berates this move. They waste Parliamentary debate-time and thus cause chaos. We have read of instances where the opposition and government combine to undertake measures that are necessary.

Britain is one such country. But no; our bigoted Joint Opposition, whose thrust is to disrupt good governance, shouts nays and instigates chaos totally unnecessarily. May their protests boomerang on them!

- Menika