Consolidation Of Power


Over the last few days the government has moved to consolidate control over both the military and the media. In the Army, the Chief Of Staff was changed and 12 officials have been forced to retire. The latter I got view a JNW news alert and I can’t find the info online. In the media, the Lanka newspaper was shut and just now reopened. Even people within the state media are under investigation for involvement in a possible coup. I don’t think there was ever a serious coup threat, especially from Sarath Fonseka, but who knows what fissures there are deep in the military. What remains is a highly militarized country under consolidated control. Who knows what will happen to the media.

This is not necessarily a bad thing, stability has long been the bane of the Sri Lankan state. What we have now is a wartime security and propaganda force being consolidated into the very workings of a centralized state. One wonders if they’ll ever lift Emergency now, or if this is just the state that has emerged.

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6 Comments »

2010-02-02 02:34:48

Man Indi, Your writing is like a toddler trying to learn to ride a bicycle. Either take one side or chose a middle path (aka get training wheels). How could a highly militarized state be good? unless all these exist only in your head.
What ever it is, you provoke me to think.
Media? have you seen the fox channel’s O’reilly rating? 3.5 mil people watch that crap everyday. I don’t give a dime to media either. These days I watch news to see the traffic reports and the weather, which is 90% of the time wrong.
What ever the is the case, what you have in Sri Lanka today, is better than what you had in 2009 February, when you were wondering “will this nice looking woman in front of me explode, now? “.
Take a deep breath, listen to Bob Marley and fight another day!, that is if you are a fighter.

 
Mahasen
2010-02-02 04:47:23

Indi, How is that you live in Sri Lanka and keep missing the Sri Lankan context.
You are so off th emark in political posts that it is often like reading an essay by a 16 year old who has a good vocabulory but has very poor analytical skills.
Machang, your cup has become too full that you are not learning anything new nor are you able to offer new insights to the situation. Painful, it is.

 
2010-02-02 08:49:02

I seem to be pissing both sides off, which is probably a good thing.

@magerate, yes, the point is to think.

 
backingthewronghorse
2010-02-02 09:44:01

Well that’s the job of a sleazy double agent who gets paid by anyone who will give him the time of day, isn’t it? You need to stop thinking you are this unique voice in Sri Lanka and piss off to some small middle class township in Toronto and disappear of the face of the Earth. Without your bullshit being propagated around the clock who knows what the really achieve.

 
V
2010-02-02 12:30:49

I wouldn’t put a coup past Sarath Fonseka. He seems to be a nasty sort of character.

Jana
2010-02-02 12:56:55

Agreed. That is the reason for the shake up. He is delusional but/and-therefore dangerous.

 
 
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