but indi to be fair this hook up culture is there eveywhere, in america at least it’s called networking. When i was in Uni i had to good fiends of mine who were two years older than me, come graduation time they were both looking for jobs. One these guy was a an econ/ maths double major with a near 4.0 GPA good social skills great work ethic etc.., the other guy while having nice disposition and all was an academic flop I mean he basically flunked out of econ and barely graduated as a philosophy major. both of these guys applied for the same job at Merill Lynch, guess who got the job. It was the under qualified dude. why, because he knew a VP there. This wasn’t any run of the mill job it was 75K + 75K bonus job. And this wasn’t an isolated incident these type of things are fairly common

Corruption and the hook ups are the norm of the da. It is how you color it. Have you ever wonder what lobbying in the west? Why BP is still smiling after such a disaster? There is an art to everything we do and how we do it. One thing the east, at least developing countries can learn from west is how to hide the corruption. Just like the cars, it is the refinement that stands out.
President got some credit for liberating the country from LTTE, I hope he uses it wisely. But again this being a Buddhist country, “One could only help others, if one is in a position to help” basically you got to help yourself first! Age old philosophy.

Agree about America. Job market, politics, television etc all have this nicely rigged system. However people don’t complain so much. They must be doing something right (or wrong).

Current situation with Rajapakses clan sucks, but let’s take a look at the context. Since British gave us freedom, few dozen families have always been running the highest levels in our country. One big happy family with Colombo connections got used to managing everything, including politics, economy, and even, bless their hearts, NGOs. They got all the perks and decided who else will get a little taste of the pie. Ranil and Chandrika generation is still carrying this ancestral burden, well past the expiration date to do any good. To them Rajapakses were like the village cousins, to be seen but not heard, and who knew their place when they come visiting.

But with Mahinda in power now, Sri Lakans may be slowly realizing that “elected royalty” are better than “inherited royalty”. Although that itself is a bold step forward in terms of democracy, it has upset a good number of very capable people who are left outplayed and outsmarted at their own game. And they all want back in the game ,one way or the other, and rules or no rules. Sadly those who cry now about nepotism benefitted from the rigged system for generations, and why should we trust them now.

To balance things out we need a real political opposition that can raise a genuine stink instead of the sham we have now under Ranil an Co and the ethnic opportunists. Until that happens I also think the country may be better off for a while under the uppity Mahinda clan than it would be under the old and jealous Colombo crowd.

The writer is trying to portray that only in Sri Lanka this business of nepotism happen. Even in the developed west, there is no difference. How the politicians squander the economies is not big secret. The Bushes in the USA, Mulroney’s in Canada, Thatcher’s in England all had their families had a hand in the pie. Then Blair in England who lied to the ground on the Iraq affair is you calling democracy. However, all the resources wasted in the 30 years of war in Sri Lanka, the corruption took place in arms procurement has not been a secret. When Gotabaya formed a State Institution to deal with arms procurement not to the liking of Arms Dealers we knew the Rajapakasas were against some of the mightiest opposition to fight the war. One can imagine when they went into the extent of extracting otherwise redundant Army Officer as the new Army Commander just 11 days of his retirement. This officer also had been in the Army for the 30 sordid years fighting the war or sitting on his ass. However, the whole difference was made by the political leadership. If a trusted Army Commander can create this mayhem, what is wrong with Rajapaksas to appoint loyal people to vulnerable positions anyway? After all the wrath of bad results also should end up on Rajapaksas now they have grabbed most of the influential apparatus in the Sri Lankan government.

[...] This is partly a function of ‘why not, I’m the man’, but it’s also how things operate in a low-trust society. Like a good Mafia don, Mahinda can’t trust the basic loyalty of anybody besides his family. So that’s who he puts in charge. And they presumably do what he wants them to do…………. READ MORE [...]

One way it is good that the Rajapksas have taken the most important ministries and also the money making institutions of the other ministries under thier wing. It is better for only three people to rob but at the same time show some good results than handing over the kitty to 50 cabinet rogues who would nothing but while away the the time untll the next elections.

Over 100 ministers of the last government , what have they achived??? A few months ago Nimal Siripalas posters all over the island for bringing in un matched glory to the country for being appointed to some dubious international forum, but.. according to the new minister, the Health ministry is such a sorry state. The CTB , although Dulles claimed he could perform miracles, in shambles today. CPC is a disaster and Fouzy, a disaster himself, thankfully now in disaster management. Tourism minstry which should have been on the ‘starting blocks’ when the war ended to promote Sri lanka overseas , still trying find a proper slogan after Nandana Gunathilaka threw the well planned marketing plan ‘ Sri Lanka, small miracle, to the dustbin as it said ‘small miracle’ , for him the world should be BIG’. These are the clowns and the court jesters who were taking SL towards second Singpore!!.

So far the Rajapksa Bros have proven their worth by winning the war and also keeping India happy. If they could perform atleast resonably well than the ‘mother of all achievers’ Chandrika Kumarathuge, Sri Lankans could have a smile in their faces.

i think the question should be whether they are brothers of MR or not but rather are they capable and suitable for the job. From their actions so far gota and basil have showed that they are the most capable and suitable people in the country to do these jobs. n u cant blame president for not having enough competent people at his disposal!

Hey Indi, the Big Brother network is everywhere, more so in the developed world where the money exchanged for political and business favours far dwarf those of our island nation. It’s corruption anyway but covered in ‘white’.

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1282361/Duchess-York-Shamed-Fergie-seeking-bigger-divorce-payout-Andrew.html?ITO=1490

The link above is one of many!

This post unfortunately reflects badly on you. I dare to say that the most dangerous kind of man is a black man who thinks he’s white. If you live in a country dude first learn it’s main languages. Read the ‘Guttila Kawya’, read Sri Lanka’s history, not in a English translation.

Stop it dude. You are doing more harm to yourself than anything else. And showing why even young UNPer don’t have any idea of how Sri Lanka works.

The bitching is tiring now dude.

These comments are just ridiculous. True, JFK appointed RFK as Attorney General. And I know for fact that in the US, journalism is all about networking. But the complete disregard to the rule of law..hah.