Your Sunday Times highlights for this week

Read this week's Sunday Times for your interesting articles including the "5th Column".

Among tomorrow's articles are:

- Thrice rejected supplier bids again with exorbitantly high heart medicine price 

- Also-rans on the sidelines in the local polls ground offensive

- Hurried Huawei smart board purchase: The 'why' and 'what behind a questionable process

- Online loans trap borrowers in cycle of unregulated debt

- Myths about alchohol price cuts debunked by doctors 

The 5th Column's full text is as follows; 

My dear Anura sahodaraya,

I thought of writing to you after listening to your 100-minute speech concluding the budget debate. As usual, you managed to hold the attention of your audience who listened to you without a whimper. That is despite this being a hectic week for you, what with the comings and goings of Deshabandu.

The other reason why I wanted to write to you is that today, you reach the six-month mark of your term of office. I don’t know whether you are aware of this, Anura sahodaraya, but you have ended one tenth of your sixty months in office. When you are at the top, time goes really fast, doesn’t it?  

After the publicity Deshabandu generated, you must be relieved that he is finally behind bars. He was causing a lot of embarrassment to you and your government. In what must be a world first, he must be the only Police chief of a country who was being hunted by his own Police force without success.

Some say Uncle Ranil appointed a Central Bank Governor who is not a citizen and an IGP who is not a registered voter. You can take some credit for creating an environment that allowed the  Attorney General and the judiciary to do what is right without having to think about political interference.  

Deshabandu may be behind bars, but I hope you realise that he has caused considerable damage to your government. For all the drama about his sudden appearance, he wasn’t found. He surrendered. People are asking why on earth the country’s intelligence services couldn’t find him for three weeks.

How is it that a man with an open warrant for his arrest appears in a courthouse, arriving in a luxury car? Is it that the Police didn’t know where he was or that they didn’t want to arrest him  because he was in a place that could not be reached? Alas, this does not reflect well on your government.

There are other problems too. Those in your government have a talent to make absurd remarks. One said a monkey deprived the whole country of power. The Speaker thinks his predecessor is still the Speaker. Someone said they were about to confiscate Deshabandu’s property but he owns no property.

Maybe the prize for the ‘best’ remarks go to Sunil deputising for public security. Not only did he hint that that Deshabandu’s whereabouts were known, after that court shooting he referred to his driver in a derogatory way. It was reported the driver resigned and many said the wrong person had resigned!  

So, while you may have more than a two-thirds majority in Parliament, over three fourths of them come across as incompetent, inefficient and inexperienced or a combination of all that. Even Nalinda is stuttering at Cabinet briefings and only so much distraction can be gained from producing ‘lists’.

There is also a growing sense that your government is only reacting to situations and not proactive enough. Even when something is done, it is often too little, too late. The ‘Clean Sri Lanka’ program appears to have been forgotten now. The gangland killings continue, with or without Deshabandu.

Your big promise was to catch the corrupt and the criminals. Namal baby, Yo baby and Daisy aachchi were questioned and paraded before cameras. This has a sense of déjà vu. Many wonder whether this is a re-enactment of ‘yahapalanaya’. Now, you do admit that Mahendran cannot be brought back.

You also promised a new Constitution and abolishing the Executive Presidency. No one talks about it now. Harshana says it will be done at the “right” time and not to anyone else’s timetable. We hope you can keep that promise. We heard this excuse from many before you and the change didn’t happen.

The task before you is not an easy one, but you also have all the powers of the top job and a two-third majority. So, people want results and not excuses. The IMF boss has said ‘ bravo’ to you for managing the economy so far but Uncle Ranil might call another media conference and claim credit for that too!     

In a fortnight, you have to lay the red carpet for Modi. The ghost of Adani is sure to linger over that visit. Even if Modi comes bearing gifts, you need to be wary. He is sure to demand his pound of flesh for the assistance he gave us when we were bankrupt and he bailed us out. He doesn’t forget.

The ‘maalimaawa’ meanwhile must face the local government polls in six weeks. You might still win in many areas but I hope you don’t think it is because your government’s performance has been great. The truth is that it has been mediocre but the opposition, divided and dispirited, has been much worse.    

Yours truly,

Punchi Putha

PS- The major problems with the main opposition party is that it is a ‘one man show’. Many feel if it was not so, it would have been stronger and carry more clout. In contrast, your party, if it is to remain popular, must remain a ‘one man show’. The moment someone else speaks, people just start laughing.