Presidential Royalty on the rise

Sri Lanka has just achieved a world record. Its national Budget has been presented in Parliament by a foreigner. Yes, yes – A Dual Citizen. Are you sure this Budget is not really meant to help US President Joe Biden to get over his problems?

We must wonder whether our American/Sri Lankan Finance Minister agrees with a US federal judge who has said that “Presidents are not kings”.

That will depend on what his brother – until recently a US citizen, too – thinks of the Sri Lankan presidency.

Surely, he won’t be thinking of any monarchy or royalty!

What short memories you have. It was only a few days ago that President Gotabaya made that speech where he showed how he could get the military to hold a goviya down by the neck, and ask him to use organic fertiliser. As this Budget plan gets underway, the goviyas will have to wear special neck guards, and avoid the military as much as possible — to escape the President’s monarchic thinking.

The American judiciary may think that presidents are not kings, but the Rajapaksa presidencies are certainly the stuff of monarchic thinking and action. Let’s not forget that ‘rajakama’ is the Rajapaksa name, and the stuff of their governance.

There is always loud talk about Democracy in Sri Lanka. But that is the constant cover of monarchic thinking, which has turned our people-elected to Parliament to support the Rajapaksa Royalty.

Can we forget the 18th Amendment to our constitution, which gave Mahinda Rajapaksa more than a two-term presidency, and also paved the way for his Prince Namal to be the next President/King? The crossover or purchase of Opposition members of Parliament to support 18A was the play of royalty in a democratically elected Parliament.

The bigger play of Rajapaksa Royalty came after the democratic election of Gotabaya as President, which brought the 20th Amendment. This took away from the Constitution all the main aspects of democracy, from the appointment of judges, the independence of important commissions on handling public affairs, and the total control of administration by the Rajapaksa Royalty.

We are now in the yellow wave of this monarchy. While the Yellow robe of the Sangha has been known, honoured and respected for the teachings of the Buddha, there is now a yellow trail of the crooked, far away from Buddha Dharma.

The thinking on ‘One Country, One Law’ is led by a yellow robe with records of drunken driving, contempt of court, association with anti-minority violence, and yellow religious dominance.

This yellow stuff did give some pain of mind to the Minister of Justice. But some yellow amendments in a new gazette, has eased such pain, and kept the yellow judicial power in place.

The removal from the Courts of so many cases filed by the Attorney General and the Bribery Commission, certainly gives more satisfaction to yellow judicial power.

This spread of yellow has also reached the Chancellery of universities, with the robe chosen for the University of Colombo admitting lack of academic qualifications, but asking that President/Monarch Gotabaya be asked about that.

There is another yellow appointment to academia, that has strong connection with a so-called sacred snake – Nagaya – floating a glass bottle made in China, which brought new fame to the Kelaniya Temple, seeking to push back the traditional belief in the sanctity of this shrine.

We are now on the move to a new Rajapaksa Constitution. We seem to be the only country that has seen the benefits of a Covid pandemic to present a new constitution. How much of democracy will this preserve or destroy even further, to please the minds of the Rajavasala Pavula, is the concern of the public.

But who cares for such public concerns? Farmers and workers, clerks and officers, fishermen, carpenters, drivers, masons, and all others in Sri Lankan society must look forward with great hopes for a Constitution of Presidential/Royalty.

It is a Constitution where the family power of the Rajapaksas: Brothers – nephews, uncles and aunts, sons and daughters, will all have the power and glory of the Rajavasala – that Palace of Presidential/Royalty, which is the symbol Crooked Royalty to the whole world

After a foreigner presents the Budget in Sri Lanka, what more can these foreigners and foreign catchers demand from the Sri Lankan people? Make your royal guess.