As Delhi fumes over the rape and now murder of ‘India’s Daughter’, Sri Lankans may feel like we’re somehow better off. However, India has the 6 suspects under arrest. Last year, around this time, a British national was brutally killed at a resort in Tangalle and his girlfriend beaten. It wasn’t rape, but it was egregious violence, in this case against tourists, and a year later the suspects are out on bail and reinstated to the ruling political party.

Minister Mervyn Silva is widely despised in Sri Lanka, what for his thuggery, crude language and general air of corruption. Malaka Silva, however, if possible, is despised even more. He has his father’s violent and anti-social tendencies without actually doing anything that even vaguely resembles work. Both, however, are a major boon to the Sri Lankan media. Any time the Silvas say or do anything, you can be guaranteed that papers will sell and TVs will be on.

Malaka Silva and Rehan Wijeratne (among others) have been remanded for the assault of an Army officer. Rehan has told his side of the story to The Sunday Leader, which covers up their role in the assault (saying they were attacked first), but still shows the two political sons cavorting quite openly with underworld types. The Island also has an interesting perspective from G.A. Chandraprema, author of Gota’s War, who calls the Silvas ‘exterminators of the Rajapaksas’.

It’s funny cause, wait, it’s not funny. The police are supposedly looking for Malaka Silva, apparently with the same diligence that they’re tracking down Duminda Silva and Lasantha Wickremetunge’s killers. As you can see, on the day they said they were seeking him in connection to an assault on an Army major, he went to visit the Kapilavastu relics at Gangarama, which was under high security. Surrounded by cameras. And police. And, yeah, still looking.

After assaulting cops, a man at a nightclub and numerous innocents, Malaka Silva went of the radar for a while. This son of the already violent Public Relations Minister (I know) Mervyn Silva had fast acquired his own reputation for indiscriminate violence, usually against usually protected targets like police, other politically connected people and now members of the Army. This weekend Malaka and his crew, including other wayward political sons, beat up an Army Major, taking his official firearm and mobile chain.

Lately there’s been a spate of child killings in the news – a seven year old raped and killed in Kirulapone, a dead nine year old retarded boy found in a dirt pit in Kadawatha. There’s also been a horrific case of a 13 year old girl in Tangalle abducted and raped for days, including by local politicians and businessmen. What on earth is going on?

Most wars are civil, and most violence is domestic. I’ve had enough and more conversations about how bad domestic violence is and ‘what to do’. The latter phase, in Sri Lanka at least, is more of an impotent shrug than an actual question. But something can be done, as this article about Maryland shows.

A friend sent me a link to this school for an ancient Sri Lankan martial art – Angampora. I’d heard of it but lost track. It looks like they have an established school in Nugegoda, and a decent website. It seems very interesting. The practice was banned under the British, but it survived. Today a few people preserve and teach it (to the worthy), swearing by the Lord Buddha and Ravana to use their power for good.

Governments are almost uniformly disliked, because they suck. Their main selling point is that they suck significantly less than no government, or really bad government, but that’s a hard sell.

If I had a blogger idol it would be Han Han – Chinese super-blogger, race car driver, and all around dreamy guy. My friend is down from Beijing and he says China is a land of paradoxes. It’s both more free and restricted than you would imagine. I think Han Han is the riddle within the enigma. He’s recently written three essays, On Revolution, On Democracy, and On Freedom. They’re quite interesting.