Ugly side of the Executive Presidency

(March 06, Colombo, Sri Lanka Guardian) Not long before the French Revolution, we learnt in school, the members of the royal family of King Louis XIV of France practiced a very strange hobby for their exclusive pleasure.

This blue-blooded tribe reared a multitude of pigeons and these flocks of birds frequently descended upon the crops of the poor farmers and ate up the grains, the only source of food that satisfied their hunger. The loss was unbearable for the downtrodden who fertilised their farmland with their sweat and blood.

At the same time severe punishment awaited anyone caught chasing away or doing anything to hurt those marauding birds. The poverty stricken farmers had to undergo untold hardships owing to the sadistic past time of the inmates of the palace.

All this ended with the outbreak of the French Revolution. When the revolution was in top gear the heads of the royal bullies began to roll. The queen who poked fun at the hungry peasants to eat cake if they could not find bread also had to give up the ghost at the guillotine.

Dr. Mervyn and his thuggish underworld goons can be compared to the palace pigeons before the French Revolution. They could gate crash any top class hotel, high profile club, or any state institution as they wished and break the bones of those within to satisfy their violence-oriented minds. The long arm of the law cannot deal with the brood of thugs, as they are the darlings of the powers that be. Dr. Mervyn’s stunt at Rupavahini is a case in point.

Meting out justice in the style of King Kekilla is a subtle way of those in power to protect their favourites who misbehave in public or indulge in violent activities. The very people who were at the receiving end of the thuggery of Dr. Mervyn and his goons have been hauled up by the government for interrogation with a view to getting them punished.

It is also learnt that the news director of Rupavahini who was allegedly manhandled by the thugs has been given a punitive transfer.

Hunting down the innocent for punishment and glorifying the offenders purely for political expediency seems to be the side effects of the Executive Presidency. This repulsive system has to go once and for all if justice and fairplay are to prevail in this country.

- Sri Lanka Guardian