Our former newspaper, The Daily News, which this columnist left 27 years
ago, is conducting a competition to name the Seven Wonders of Sri Lanka.
That's quite a good thing with 'a large number of prizes amounting to
over Rs. 3 million' in addition to weekly prizes for those who name the
seven most popular places in the country. For old time's sake, we
thought of offering advice on the subject as well as naming our own Sri
Lankan Wonders as a kind guideline for Daily News readers.
Our suggestion is that the competition should not be confined to the
'most popular places' because there are many wonders of the world and in
this country too, not confined to places only. The subject should be
open to names of places, people and things. The guideline given below
will provide the reasons.
First Wonder of Sri Lanka - MIHIN LANKA
My choice of the First Wonder of Sri Lanka is that so-called budget
airline named Mihin Lanka. The wonder about this airline is that no one
seems to know whether it exists or not. It has no planes and has not
flown anywhere for quite some time. Its highly paid executives who
created this wonder seem to have flown away elsewhere. Besides having no
planes now, the two that had been leased earlier have been seized by the
owning airlines because of non-payment of lease. Mihin Lanka owes the
Petroleum Corporation millions, it has been said.
All this is 'juicy stuff'- as journalists say - for the Guinness Book of
Records but there is a little cost involved: A sum of Rs. 3.52 billion
in the red in just one year of operation. We pointed out in an earlier
commentary that 10,000,000,000 loaves of bread (500 loaves per person at
the current going rate) could have been fed to our starving masses who
are now so weak that they can't even say 'paaang.'
But good things, such as records in the Guinness Book, do not come
cheap. As further qualifications we say that it is the biggest white
elephant in the 60-year post independence history of the country and all
this money is from the pocket of poor people who have to pay even for
their water.
Second Wonder - MAHINDA PERCY RAJAPAKSE
The Second Wonder of Lanka is the man - without whose dedication,
patronage and commitment, the First Wonder would not have been possible.
Our choice for the Second Wonder of Lanka is Mahinda Percy Rajapakse who
has many more things under his belt than Mihin Lanka. His achievements
are well known but as a citation for the second place we mention the
following in brief: His latest achievement is that as President and
Finance Minister the country now leads Asia in the rate of inflation at
30 per cent.
Rajapakse as a world personality is in the class of: Fidel Castro, Hugo
Chavez, Mahmoud Ahamedinejad, Robert Mugabe, Evo Morales and Kim Il
Jong. He has told the mighty Yankees, our former colonial master Great
Britian and the 18-nation European Union and their minor cohorts where
to get off. 'Hands off Lanka,' is his clear message. These colonialists
and neo-colonialists may have done the dirty on us by getting Lanka
kicked out of the United Nations Human Rights Council, but who cares?
Lanka stands firm on par with Cuba, North Korea, Iran and Venezuela as a
leading Third World nation. The European Johnnies are trying to bring us
down by cutting off concessions given to exports, mainly garments.
Thousands of workers will be thrown out of their job these European
Johnnies say. Who do they think we are? A bloody nation of tailors?
We can develop as a nation eating ala, bathala, manioc and have for
desert pure Hambantota buffalo milk with honey. For leisure we can all
read the Mahinda Chintana.
Third Wonder - RANIL WICKREMASINGHE
Our choice for the third slot is a man who appears to be the permanent
Leader of the Opposition, Ranil Wickremesinghe. He, at the last moment,
snatches defeat from the jaws of victory.
Where Wickremesinghe is concerned our advice to readers is to drop him
out of their list if they are to get any prizes from Lake House.
Wickremesinghe is anathema to those who are now running Lake House to
the ground. If you mention his name your entry will end in the WPB. It
was only the other day that one Johnny-come-lately to the media
announced that no Lake House journalist can criticise the government.
Criticising the government is a crime but praising Wickremesinghe is
tantamount to treason for the Rajapakse hangers on. So try some other
person, place or thing for this slot.
Fourth Wonder - VELUPILLAI PRABHAKARAN
The Suriya Theivam, Sun God, Velupillai Pirapaharan who is responsible
for more than 65,000 deaths should be considered for this slot or even a
higher slot. He is known as a reputed guerrilla fighter, military
strategist and mass killer but in our estimation his greatest forte is
diplomacy.
True, his organisation has been proscribed as an international terrorist
organisation in all the countries that matter. His propaganda and
collecting agents are being hounded by governments of those countries
but he has been able to get those countries to do exactly what he wants:
come down hard on the Sri Lankan government in their efforts to crush
him. America has banned the export of armaments to Lanka, Britain has
passed financial strictures and the European Union is threatening to
impose drastic trade sanctions that will cripple the Rajapakse
government.
Velupillai has been able to get Western governments to do exactly what
he wants without even asking them. No doubt Rajapakse & Co. helped by
thumbing their noses at the Western potentates.
Velu has shown that diplomacy is the art of getting things done without
even making a request for it!
Fifth Wonder - ROHITHA BOGOLLAGAMA
Fifth on our list is a man who has outshone Ferdinand Magellan who
circumnavigated the globe, Christopher Columbus who discovered America,
intrepid sailors such as Vasco Da Gama and travellers like Fa-hien, Ibn
Batuta and our own former foreign minister, the late A.C.S. (All
Countries Seen) Hameed. Our nominee for the Fifth Sri Lankan Wonder is
Rohitha Bogollagama, our Foreign Minister. The chap has outshone Hameed
and is going round and round the globe for reasons best known to
himself.
Some say he wants to save the country, refurbish its image, etc. He
proudly points out that at the last vote at the UN, Sri Lanka polled 102
votes and got kicked out of the UNHRC. Never mind whether we were beaten
by countries like Pakistan which was down in the dumps in recent times -
being suspended from the Commonwealth - but Bogey argues that we still
got more than 50 per cent of the total number of votes. Never mind if
that was insufficient.
Will Sri Lanka score many more diplomatic victories like this with Bogey
in place? May be, it is victories like this that makes Bogey go round
and around. The old song goes, 'Money makes the world go round and
around.' It costs quite a lot of money to make Bogey go round and around
say the Foreign Ministry chaps.
Sixth and Seventh Wonders - SANATH JAYASURIYA / SUSANTHIKA JAYASINGHE
Ours is a toss up between the Master Blaster Sanath Jayasuriya and the
Golden Girl of the track Susanthika Jayasinghe. The exploits of these
two are too well known to be repeated. On the issue of who should be on
top we leave it to Sports Minister Gamini Lokuge (who seems to favour
Sanath) and former Sports Minister S.B. Dissanayake, who backed Susie
all the way
Jayawewa!!!
ago, is conducting a competition to name the Seven Wonders of Sri Lanka.
That's quite a good thing with 'a large number of prizes amounting to
over Rs. 3 million' in addition to weekly prizes for those who name the
seven most popular places in the country. For old time's sake, we
thought of offering advice on the subject as well as naming our own Sri
Lankan Wonders as a kind guideline for Daily News readers.
Our suggestion is that the competition should not be confined to the
'most popular places' because there are many wonders of the world and in
this country too, not confined to places only. The subject should be
open to names of places, people and things. The guideline given below
will provide the reasons.
First Wonder of Sri Lanka - MIHIN LANKA
My choice of the First Wonder of Sri Lanka is that so-called budget
airline named Mihin Lanka. The wonder about this airline is that no one
seems to know whether it exists or not. It has no planes and has not
flown anywhere for quite some time. Its highly paid executives who
created this wonder seem to have flown away elsewhere. Besides having no
planes now, the two that had been leased earlier have been seized by the
owning airlines because of non-payment of lease. Mihin Lanka owes the
Petroleum Corporation millions, it has been said.
All this is 'juicy stuff'- as journalists say - for the Guinness Book of
Records but there is a little cost involved: A sum of Rs. 3.52 billion
in the red in just one year of operation. We pointed out in an earlier
commentary that 10,000,000,000 loaves of bread (500 loaves per person at
the current going rate) could have been fed to our starving masses who
are now so weak that they can't even say 'paaang.'
But good things, such as records in the Guinness Book, do not come
cheap. As further qualifications we say that it is the biggest white
elephant in the 60-year post independence history of the country and all
this money is from the pocket of poor people who have to pay even for
their water.
Second Wonder - MAHINDA PERCY RAJAPAKSE
The Second Wonder of Lanka is the man - without whose dedication,
patronage and commitment, the First Wonder would not have been possible.
Our choice for the Second Wonder of Lanka is Mahinda Percy Rajapakse who
has many more things under his belt than Mihin Lanka. His achievements
are well known but as a citation for the second place we mention the
following in brief: His latest achievement is that as President and
Finance Minister the country now leads Asia in the rate of inflation at
30 per cent.
Rajapakse as a world personality is in the class of: Fidel Castro, Hugo
Chavez, Mahmoud Ahamedinejad, Robert Mugabe, Evo Morales and Kim Il
Jong. He has told the mighty Yankees, our former colonial master Great
Britian and the 18-nation European Union and their minor cohorts where
to get off. 'Hands off Lanka,' is his clear message. These colonialists
and neo-colonialists may have done the dirty on us by getting Lanka
kicked out of the United Nations Human Rights Council, but who cares?
Lanka stands firm on par with Cuba, North Korea, Iran and Venezuela as a
leading Third World nation. The European Johnnies are trying to bring us
down by cutting off concessions given to exports, mainly garments.
Thousands of workers will be thrown out of their job these European
Johnnies say. Who do they think we are? A bloody nation of tailors?
We can develop as a nation eating ala, bathala, manioc and have for
desert pure Hambantota buffalo milk with honey. For leisure we can all
read the Mahinda Chintana.
Third Wonder - RANIL WICKREMASINGHE
Our choice for the third slot is a man who appears to be the permanent
Leader of the Opposition, Ranil Wickremesinghe. He, at the last moment,
snatches defeat from the jaws of victory.
Where Wickremesinghe is concerned our advice to readers is to drop him
out of their list if they are to get any prizes from Lake House.
Wickremesinghe is anathema to those who are now running Lake House to
the ground. If you mention his name your entry will end in the WPB. It
was only the other day that one Johnny-come-lately to the media
announced that no Lake House journalist can criticise the government.
Criticising the government is a crime but praising Wickremesinghe is
tantamount to treason for the Rajapakse hangers on. So try some other
person, place or thing for this slot.
Fourth Wonder - VELUPILLAI PRABHAKARAN
The Suriya Theivam, Sun God, Velupillai Pirapaharan who is responsible
for more than 65,000 deaths should be considered for this slot or even a
higher slot. He is known as a reputed guerrilla fighter, military
strategist and mass killer but in our estimation his greatest forte is
diplomacy.
True, his organisation has been proscribed as an international terrorist
organisation in all the countries that matter. His propaganda and
collecting agents are being hounded by governments of those countries
but he has been able to get those countries to do exactly what he wants:
come down hard on the Sri Lankan government in their efforts to crush
him. America has banned the export of armaments to Lanka, Britain has
passed financial strictures and the European Union is threatening to
impose drastic trade sanctions that will cripple the Rajapakse
government.
Velupillai has been able to get Western governments to do exactly what
he wants without even asking them. No doubt Rajapakse & Co. helped by
thumbing their noses at the Western potentates.
Velu has shown that diplomacy is the art of getting things done without
even making a request for it!
Fifth Wonder - ROHITHA BOGOLLAGAMA
Fifth on our list is a man who has outshone Ferdinand Magellan who
circumnavigated the globe, Christopher Columbus who discovered America,
intrepid sailors such as Vasco Da Gama and travellers like Fa-hien, Ibn
Batuta and our own former foreign minister, the late A.C.S. (All
Countries Seen) Hameed. Our nominee for the Fifth Sri Lankan Wonder is
Rohitha Bogollagama, our Foreign Minister. The chap has outshone Hameed
and is going round and round the globe for reasons best known to
himself.
Some say he wants to save the country, refurbish its image, etc. He
proudly points out that at the last vote at the UN, Sri Lanka polled 102
votes and got kicked out of the UNHRC. Never mind whether we were beaten
by countries like Pakistan which was down in the dumps in recent times -
being suspended from the Commonwealth - but Bogey argues that we still
got more than 50 per cent of the total number of votes. Never mind if
that was insufficient.
Will Sri Lanka score many more diplomatic victories like this with Bogey
in place? May be, it is victories like this that makes Bogey go round
and around. The old song goes, 'Money makes the world go round and
around.' It costs quite a lot of money to make Bogey go round and around
say the Foreign Ministry chaps.
Sixth and Seventh Wonders - SANATH JAYASURIYA / SUSANTHIKA JAYASINGHE
Ours is a toss up between the Master Blaster Sanath Jayasuriya and the
Golden Girl of the track Susanthika Jayasinghe. The exploits of these
two are too well known to be repeated. On the issue of who should be on
top we leave it to Sports Minister Gamini Lokuge (who seems to favour
Sanath) and former Sports Minister S.B. Dissanayake, who backed Susie
all the way
Jayawewa!!!
