Minister Bandula Gunawardana has threatened the media for criticising the price of gas, saying that any criticism of it is tantamount to criticising the Supreme Court, which ruled on the mechanism determining gas prices.

How convenient? The President took Dr. P. B Jayasundera on a pleasure expedition on the heels of a damning judgment on the latter by the Supreme Court and a pending bribery investigation and showed a whole lot of respect for the judiciary. And respect for the judiciary is invoked in a thuggish fashion, when the public agitates for executive/legislative review and action on the gas price mechanism.

What nonsense is this? The public is told to read Victor Ivan when the Supreme Court rules against the great and the good, but when the judgments of the Court are convenient to the great and the good the public is told abide humbly by them.

Corporate leaders show nothing but contempt for small shareholders and consumers; and the leaders of the government treat the public as if it were the slave of their bidding. The country has become the home for the depraved.

Until we choose to take the citizens of the country seriously, there will be no respect for any institution or organization in the country.

Purnima de Silva
Colombo 5