Divorce to Davos!

Given the international standing of Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe, the reclamation and restoration process had been put on steroids 

Saturday, 6 February 2016

Just over a year ago Sri Lanka had all but divorced herself from the rest of the world. She had tightened a seat belt and was on the fast lane cruising at 100 mph down ‘Harare Street’ – final destination – ‘Mugabeland’. The only land on the face of the earth that has a profusion of “zerophiles” – a people forced to love and adore the never-ending zeroes boldly reflected on their absolutely useless currency.

If not for the political changes that took place subsequently in Sri Lanka, its nationals too would have had the not-so-pleasant experience of personally seeing, touching and smelling crisp Rs. 10,000 bills hot from the press duly signed by Mahinda Rajapaksa as the Finance Minister and of course the inimitable and irresistible Ajith Nivard Cabral as the then Governor of the Central Bank of Sri Lanka.

Given the international standing of Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe, the reclamation and restoration process had been put on steroids

Anyone with common sense would doubtless acknowledge the stinging if not debilitating reality that could have consumed all and sundry if people had extended another mandate to perpetuate the supposedly benign and gnostically-tapered “Chintanaya” mantra. A former lawyer turned message merchant and businessman along with his coterie of eccentric ad-men and women summoned all advertising skill and courage necessary to embellish a war-winning President but failed to get him elected. There is a lesson for students of marketing here – if your core is weak, no amount of uproar will restore.

8 January 2015 came and a new President was enthroned. Just over a year Sri Lanka had once again become an integral part of civilisation. She is being welcomed all over, promises to engage and restore economic ties from nations who were once good friends continue to coalesce. It’s indeed poignant to note the number of countries we had unintentionally ignored not being fully cognisant to ensuing ramifications. Being adequately cerebral and sagacious is a sine qua non for an astute politician.

Given the international standing of Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe, the reclamation and restoration process had been put on steroids. True patriots work for the wellbeing of the people and not their families. We are not surprised that for the first time in history a Sri Lankan political leader had been invited to attend the exclusive Davos meeting. This may be anathema to Mahinda Rajapaksa and his company. Regardless they would go on their professed journey to obfuscate and discombobulate until dates for the next general election is publicly proclaimed.

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