Perpetuity of the forgetfully crooked

June 1, 2018, 10:36 pm 

"A man must get a thing before he can forget it." — Justice Oliver Wendell Holmes, Sr.

Are we now in a world where forgetfulness is the in thing, especially in politics and governance?

The Freedom of Forgetfulness came to light some months ago at the unravelling of the Perpetual Scandal on the Central Bank Bond Scams, when no less that a former Minister of Finance and Foreign Affairs, Ravi Karunanayake – admitted he could not remember getting paid millions for a Penthouse rent – from whom and how. Of course, there is evidence the millions came from Perpetual Treasuries or one of its associates. It is certainly an Aloysian Perpetuity.

That was a new height in the politics of the crooked. He will be remembered as the 'Ever Forgetful Ravi' – The Man with the Mathakayata Thitha, nothing to do with that 'Mathata Thitha’ propaganda line of the power drunk Rajapaksas.

"Forgetfulness is a form of freedom." – Kahlil Gibran

We now have another of the politically forgetful. The former Sports Minister, Dayasiri Jayasekera, well known for his political long jumping from the UNP in Opposition, to the SLFP in Government, and some time later to the Maithripala Sirisena- led Unity Government of Yahapalanaya. He is certainly one of the great forgetful, who gets a cheque for a million rupees, doesn’t know, can’t remember, whether it was a cash or crossed cheque, had it cashed by an employee, and quite proudly says he spent it on election campaigning. He too got this from Arjun Aloysius of Perpetual crookedness.

The catch in this mastery of forgetfulness is there is no record of such expenditure at the polls. Was it used to buy votes – which is corrupt, or to give drinks – milk or booze to those who came for one’s meetings? To transport voters to his meetings or the larger meetings of his party, the SLFP? Was it used to give scholarships to children of voters? Was it used to bribe officials? Total silence. The million rupee politico says it is common for candidates at elections to get such payments, contributions. Not a word about bribes, crooked payments, or political purchases.

And Dayasiri Jayasekera, now seated in the Opposition benches in parliament, says he did nothing to support Arjun Aloysius on the bond scam probe. It is not so easy to believe that a politician who gets money, a million at that, does not support the donor. But it certainly taints those 16 independent benchers in the Opposition. That is just by the way.

And we now have our only Field Marshal – none other than the former Army Commander, now Minister Sarath Fonseka, say he also received one lakh – a hundred thousand – from the same Aloysius – which by the way means a Famed Warrior. Did Arjun Aloysius give the one lakh because of the warrior fame of Sarath Fonseka, which fame sent him to prison under the Rajapaksa Regime? We know nothing on that. But, Sarath Fonseka says he did not use the lakh, but game it to two other candidates in the last General Election. What a fine and crooked political donation!

There is a foul political pattern emerging from these Perpetual-Aloysian contributions for Penthouse rents and electoral candidates, all politicians. It crosses party lines – Ravi Forgetful from the UNP; Dayasiri Forgetful - from the UNP – Sarath Fonseka Forgetful – contested from the Democratic Party, lost and came to the UNP National List. This perpetual money has a way of loading the already loaded.

Now we are told there are 118 others who have received this politically loaded money of the corrupt. Our parliament has 225 members - this 118 plus three (those who have already received perpetual cash) if in the House, means we have more than half of MPs Perpetual-Aloysius bound – with many more millions.

If those 118 names are revealed - and why not – can we hope to have a clean parliament any time in the approaching future? This looks like being a perpetual problem.

"Blessed are the forgetful, for they get the better even of their blunders." - Friedrich Nietzsche

The politics of forgetfulness is bad enough in the cash flow from the perpetual sources. But it looks like this forgetful trend – the Amathaka Nemma – is making its way into other areas of politics and governance too. President Sirisena has forgotten the 100-day programme of his own manifesto. He must have good reasons to oppose his coalition leader – Ranil Wickremesinghe. But he has wholly forgotten that he pledged to appoint him Prime Minister, once the Common Candidate won. And, the late Ven. Sobitha Thera was alike when that manifesto was releases. Is he moving to a different wave of the perpetual forgetfulness, not about millions, but about power?

Forgetfulness is clearly the name of the game – the Political Game. It is the big game of governance in Sri Lanka, underscoring the crookedness of both politics and governance.

We are moving on to the Perpetuity of the Forgetfully Crooked in Politics and Government.