The Curse: Fox Guarding The Hen House

By W. Vishnu Gupta –MARCH 26, 2022

W. Vishnu Gupta

The reason for the “Failed and Bankrupt State” of Sri Lanka must be attributed to the actions of (225+1) charlatans and their predecessors of the parliament, specifically for legislative actions taken to dismantle the state and for robbing the state. Collectively they weakened and debilitated the state while empowering and enriching themselves. Also, part-1 of this article, argued that sinister political plans were initiated under four major schools of chauvinistic political thought: SWRDB, JRJ, NM (Trotskyists) and SJV (Federalist). SWRDB and JRJ have mastered the “Divide and Rule” policy and they were like Siamese twins in Sri Lankan corrupt and vile political culture. Though other two camps were less corruptive, they had different personal political agendas as much as remote from the interests of the citizens and were equally poisonous to the newly independent country of 1948. All the parliamentarian since 1955 have mastered the mandatory subject of political trickeries from the above four schools of thought and their actions are morally reprehensible. Sri Lanka is a state that begs for food, medicine, energy products and money to sustain the economy and feed nearly 90 percent of the population, yet none of them have the courage to admit that Sri Lanka is a Failed and Bankrupt state. The exchange rate for one US$ was around Rs.8 without FEECS until 1977, then under the JRJ government it was floated around Rs.15. At the same time Singapore dollar was floated around SGD 3 per one US$.

Year	Sri Lankan Rupees per One US$	Singapore Dollars per One US$
1975	12.62 (including FEEC)	3
2022 February	200	1.34
2022 March	300	1.35

The numbers do not lie, the above simple comparison shows how and what our political leaders and their hand-picked cronies have done to us. They have bungled our fiscal and economic affairs of the state, mismanagement, theft, and corruption are the only reasons for this incomprehensible devaluation and depreciation of our currency. What a tragedy, our young readers must know that a packet of rice and curry with a big piece of fish was sold at Rs.1, yes for One Rupee in 1975 at “LION HOUSE” Restaurant, Galle Road, Bambalapitiya, Colombo-4 and in other reputable restaurants in Colombo. Yet, none of the politicians are willing to accept the responsibility for the misery, hunger, unbearable cost of living, and hopelessness inflicted on our people. The corruption and the disempowerment of the state are the drivers of poverty and the failure of the state. The recent sarcastic comment made by RW confirms that the charlatans in the parliament has taken people for a mega ride since 1955, he said the root cause may be the arrival of Prince Vijaya and he has nothing to do with the collapse of our economy.

Corruption

One of the best definitions of “corruption” is given by Professor J. S.Nye: “Behavior which deviates from the formal duties of a public role because of private regarding (personal, close family, private clique) pecuniary or status gains, or violates rules against the exercise of certain types of private-regarding influence. This includes such behaviour as bribery (use of reward to pervert the judgement of a person in a position of trust); nepotism (bestowal of patronage by reason of ascriptive relationship rather than merit); and misappropriation (illegal appropriation of public resources for private-regarding uses)”

All judiciary officers high and low, including the attorney general and the members of the bar association of Sri Lanka must recite and understand the meaning of every word stated in the above definition. Some of the rulings made by some judges and the attorney generals seem to contravene the above definition. It is appropriate and timely, that responsible persons of the state pay attention to the allegations levelled against Sri Lanka. For instance, as previously stated, the annual report of the High Commissioner and the Secretary General at Forty-ninth session of the Human Rights Council confirms that “In the last two years, the independence of the judiciary, the Human Rights Commission and other key institutions have been eroded, and democratic space, including for human rights advocacy constricted.” All politicians, particularly (225+1) elected in 2015 and 2019 made Cardinal Malcom Ranjith to appear before the UNHRC and to seek justice for 2019 Easter carnage. It clearly signals that Sri Lanka is a FAILED STATE and where there is no credible judicial mechanism, but charlatans in the parliament, some due to ignorance and the rest due to arrogance refuse to accept their responsibility for forcing Cardinal Malcom Ranjith to present his grievances to the UNHRC in Geneva.

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