Most of us are aware of the video clip that did the rounds on the Internet, showing a man organising a protest in the form of vehicle drivers sounding their horns, against a road closure for a VIP convoy to pass. The response was very strong (for the request to sound the horns) and this should be taken as a warning by the government that the average citizen has had enough, but the result has been the arrest of this young man. He has been subsequently released on bail. I was horrified to read that the alleged miscreant had been warned that this was not Australia, (where this young man had spent some time in and recently returned from) and he should behave in accordance with the laws of Sri Lanka! If this is the way the people in charge of rectifying wrongs think, is it a wonder that we will NEVER reach the status of even Singapore, let alone Australia? Oh, We KNOW that this is not Australia! It is not even the Sri Lanka of the 1970s and certainly not the Ceylon that was described as the Pearl of the Indian ocean in the 1960s. Let’s not even go to pre-Independence or back into the realms of our 2000+ year documented history. It will NEVER ever be anything other than the doomed banana republic and failed state that it is and has become due to the stupid, idiotic, and disgusting thinking of the majority of people holding positions of power and with the ability to shape society. The self-centred, non-forward-thinking desire to preserve their own jobs at all costs and make as much money as possible regardless of ethics and principles that have been the cornerstone of thinking ever since independence from the British. Without change we will NEVER progress! What we should do is to protest and stand in the way of VIP convoys and see if they dare to shoot or baton charge us, after all a lone man has stood in front of a battle tank due to his commitment remember? That unforgettable picture from the protests in Tiananmen Square in China! Then again, we are not people who care that much for our rights or for what is going to happen to the future of our country, are we? We just believe in voting people in who sell us the biggest lies and tell us how many freebies they are going to give us and then whinge and moan when they cannot deliver what we knew they couldn’t deliver in the first place. Talking of politicians, I can see a big fuss being made about the anticipated arrest of a minor politician. This “boy” is the very person whose first naïve response to the Easter suicide bombings was that his father had told him not to go to church on that day due to a rumour of a pending attack! Are these the people we are going to entrust the future of our country to? If this person––and I use this word with respect to my editor, for should I use the words I want to, a lawsuit may result!––was aware of the possibility of such an occurrence and all he did was not go to Church and possibly warn his direct kith and kin, where has his sudden love for the people of this country come from? How can it possibly be justified or believed? I will tell you now that the protest, if and when this politician is arrested, will outweigh anything that is done on behalf of the outstanding young man who tried to protest against the deprivation of the basic human rights of his fellow citizens including the RIGHT to use a public highway and go about their business during peacetime. Yes, SIR in Australia there are heads of state of much higher rank than those who visit banana republics, but the roads are never closed and the general public inconvenienced. Even if they are, notice is given, and people are advised to adapt their schedules accordingly. What elected government has the right to operate with no regard for the very people who they are supposed to serve? The very people who voted them in! A nondescript black man with a dubious reputation and character was idolised and his murder at the hands of the Police in America sparked off worldwide protests and started a movement for black lives and how they matter. A very real case of a young man who knows a better life and wants to make a difference in his home country will be ignored and cast aside into the rubbish heap of contemporary history of this once Pearl of the Indian Ocean. In fact, we are told he has apologised, no doubt at the behest of members of his family who are looking at survival rather than idealistic behaviour. After all, it is easy for those of us who live in real democracies and not “demockeries” to preach from our positions of relative safety. Something that yours truly is constantly told!
When we either reach the level of failed states such as Ethiopia, Zimbabwe, or Afghanistan of becoming a colony of China with the possibility that the visitor who the roads were closed for becoming the new Viceroy, we will realise what happens when “GOOD MEN DO NOTHING”!
