Politicians On The Rampage
Infographic by the Daily Mirror, click through for interactive.
The Daily Mirror has a neat interactive infographic, and by neat I mean horrifying (hat-tip, Abu). In a somewhat confusing display, it shows the 20 politicians arrested or charged in the first 6 months of the year. Some of the incidents are as minor as UNP politicians being charged with damaging the UNP headquarters. Some are as horrific as rape and murder in Tangalle and the abduction and serial rape of a minor… also in Tangalle.
Power corrupts, but even minor power, like being in the Pradeshiya Sabha, seems to corrupt pretty thoroughly. The fact is that institutions have eroded in Sri Lanka, and the President is part of this system where patronage and connections matter more than skill or position. From the top down politicians get away with murder and worse, and Mervyn Silva is a walking billboard for how far thuggery can get you.
The government says it wants no more rapists in the party, but then it reinstates the man charged with raping a Russian tourist and brutally murdering a British one in Tangalle. Duminda Silva, previously charged with statutory rape and assorted intimidation, remains in Singapore despite being involved in a multiple homicide. So that’s the message from the top, and it’s no wonder local government officials are treating their position as more like being made into the mafia than serving the public.
Posted on Wednesday, August 29th, 2012 in Politics, Sri Lanka.
Mohsin Hamid, author of How To Get Filthy Rich In Rising Asia, has a nice 
I’m happy to be featured in Echelon magazine’s 40 Under 40 feature, profiling young people who contribute to the economy in some way, mainly in business but also in terms of innovation and thought leadership. It’s an interesting article not just in that I’m in it (mainly for work on indi.ca and 
I won’t add too much commentary, but just read I guess. The youngest Rajapaksa, Rohitha (Chi Chi) has given an amazing interview to the 
In 2009 this strange character appeared on the Sri Lankan Internet scene, getting angry, flaming, trolling whatever. Then he started naming anonymous bloggers, posting comments as people’s kids, nasty stuff, for which I removed him from 
This government runs this country just like how a mafia would. Make no mistake about it.
Quite wrong. The people always get the government they deserve. The politicians are not imported from Mars. They too are part of Sri Lankan society. Sri Lanka is a backward country not because of bad politicians. Sri Lankan politicians are bad, corrupt, and inefficient because Sri Lankans are backward. Case in point: Mervyn Silva got 150k votes. The people who voted for this joker knew very well that he was corrupt and not a gentlemen. BUT he was still sent to the parliament. Duminda Silva is another example. People vote for thugs because they are backward, incapable of thinking logically or even use common sense for that matter.
Where is the like button? Spot on!
Maybe people vote for them because the politicians can use their thuggish behaviour to get things done? Lots of things in Sri Lanka depend on “who you know.” Things get done better and faster if you have contacts. Yes it is a sign of a backward society.
Things also get done when ballot-stuffing is a national pastime ;)
@RESISTANCE IS FUTILE
You are spot on. We have heard of the land of the lotus eaters. Sri Lanka is the land of the kiribath eaters, cracker lighters, teledrama and cricket match watchers, Jayawaywaa shouters, xenophobic rip-wan-winkles and weforgetintwoweeks Alzheimer’s victims…ALL ROLLED INTO ONE :)…there is also a saying that the fish rots from the head down. For the last 64 years people in Sri Lanka have been falling over themselves in their quest to vote for rotting fish as their leaders. All it takes to hoodwink these people are a few false promises, the reduction of essential food items the hand outs lavished upon them prior to elections and talking about the threat of the resurgence of the LTTE and ‘International Conspiracies’ to tarnish the image of the government and the country. :O
Our people are so dense, that none of them know that the reporting of the sentencing of Pahalagama Somarathana was also banned in local newspapers for obvious reasons. Click link to see picture and read article.
http://www.colombotelegraph.com/index.php/pahalagama-somarathana-sentencing-remarks-penetration-of-the-vagina-of-a-9-year-old-in-the-presence-of-the-buddha/