Gift horses and their bellies

Friday 11th February, 2022

Someone has, in his wisdom, called the government’s questionable deal with the US-based New Fortress Energy Company over the Yugadanavi power station and LNG supply, a gift horse, which should not be looked in the mouth. This has been the government’s assessment of the disastrous deal, which poses a serious threat to the country’s energy security, among other things. But the discerning Sri Lankans are aware that in a world where there is no such thing as even a free lunch, no gifts come without strings attached thereto, and there cannot be gift horses as such.

The New Fortress deal, however, may be considered a horse of sorts. It, in our book, is a Trojan horse, which should be ‘looked in the belly’ instead of the mouth, so to speak.

Like the ancient Greeks who sent a crack commando unit hidden inside a wooden horse they gifted to the Trojans, who had offered fierce resistance, the New Fortress ‘gift horse’ could be part of a sinister strategy to further the geo-strategic interests of some foreign powers at the expense of this country.

Sri Lanka has been wise enough to reject a ‘gift horse’ offered by the US—the Status of Forces Agreement (SOFA)—which would have allowed American military personnel to operate here. Powerful nations know more than one way to shoe a horse, and Sri Lanka should be careful. How India used a peace accord (1987) to make this country cough up an oil tank farm may serve as an example.

The Trojan war had a tragic end because nobody in the city of Troy cared to look inside the wooden ‘gift horse’ left by the crafty Greeks. Sri Lanka must not make that mistake. Each ‘gift horse’ must be thoroughly ‘looked in the belly’, be it Chinese or Indian or American, if trouble is to be averted.

Cops and crooks

Public Security Minister Sarath Weerasekera finds himself in an unenviable position. President Gotabaya Rajapaksa said, in his Independence Day speech, that his government did not seek to please everyone in carrying out its duties and functions. But Weersasekera has had to please everyone in the government where police appointments are concerned. Some ministers have complained to the President against Weerasekera; they are upset that they have not been able to have their favourites appointed as the Officers-in-Charge (OICs) of the police stations of their choice.

Show us a cop who is in the good books of politicians, and we will show you a stooge in uniform. Politicians who want to manipulate the police to compass their political ends never like good cops. One of the reasons why the rule of law has collapsed in this country is the subservience of high-ranking police officers to the political authority. Political crooks have malleable cops appointed as the OICs of the police stations in their strongholds so that they could reign supreme.

There is no reason why politicians, especially the ruling party ones, should worry about the OIC appointments if they and their supporters abide by the law.

The appointments, transfers and promotions of police personnel are best left to the Police Department and the National Police Commission. Politicians should not have a say in them. Government politicians who are demanding that police officers of their choice be appointed as OICs in their areas have proved they are a bunch of crooks.