President’s noble example by disciplining his son instead of banning websites!

 

Sunday, 08 February 2015

Around a fortnight ago, we received a phone call in the night, saying that Lanka News Web and another website have once again been banned in Sri Lanka. The reason for the ban was the article we have published under the title ‘Daham Sirisena plays Malaka Silva’s role!’ which was related to an incident involving the president’s son.

After getting this call, our editorial members stationed in several countries got in touch with each other through skype, but there was no way of verifying the news, as the time was after midnight in Sri Lanka. To the laughter of others, a colleague in Germany said, “How easy it would be to ban webs than disciplining the son?” they said they would not be surprised if it is true, as they knew it to be a ‘temporary honeymoon’ only.

However, half an hour later, a colleague of ours in Sri Lanka reached us and said the website is accessible without any difficulty. That was a big relief for us. However, we expected an aggressive response to our news article, going by our experiences in the past with the Rajapaksa brothers.

Some time later, the news we received was quite surprising and unbelievable.

That is – somebody has brought the news article in question to the attention of president Maithripala Sirisena, who sent his personal bodyguards to the nightclub, where they went through the CCTV recordings and found it to be true. They informed the president about it.

Shocked by the incident, but not showing it, he summoned his son to him privately, pointed out to him the seriousness of the incident, gave him stern advice and sent him immediately from Colombo to the Polonnaruwa home. Later, he personally took steps to send the son for studies in England.

Speaking to his friends, the president said, “Sons of politicians in this country have played hell more than enough. I too, have such experiences. It is time to stop all that nonsense. Please, do not put things into Daham’s head and make him bad. That will be the biggest help done for me.”

After hearing this, former British home affairs secretary Jack Straw came to our mind. When his son was faced of a drug charge, Mr. Straw took him personally to police and supported the investigation. That is how humane, civilized societies act. Mr. president, this is the last opportunity to restore that in this country too. We firmly believe that you are the only person capable of bringing about that change.

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