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10th January 1999

Blues seeing red today

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My Dear Solomon,

Even though you have passed into the Great Beyond, I thought I must write to you this week when all of Paradise is "celebrating" your birth centenary in grand style.

The celebrations are led by Satellite, your worthy daughter and I have no objections to birthday bashes and a hundredth birthday party at that. But, Solomon, more than forty years after your own party isn't it sad that they all have to rely on your name to gain some mileage?

Of course, when you founded your party, Solomon, you must have had great ideas about democracy.

I am not quite sure how you would feel about those ideals now, Solomon, especially since your party's leaders for those forty years have been only you, your wife, son and daughter.

Even Satellite, the good little girl that she is, still uses your name (and not her mother's maiden name) along with her married name, just to make sure that everyone knows who's who she is.

Then Solomon, every now and again, Satellite talks of the policies that you initiated way back in 1956. The "B policies" everyone calls them. But the irony is that your daughter is now presiding over a government that apparently seeks to undo everything that you did.

Take, for example, all those institutions you nationalized in '56. You took them away from the colonial masters and vested them with the people.

I don't know whether you would be happy or sad to know this, Solomon, but Satellite is taking most state institutions owned by the people and selling them, one by one, to overseas corporate giants - a different kind of colonial masters of the present era.

Then, take the "Sinhala Only" policy on which you came to power in 1956. That slogan is a dirty word today. In fact there are some people who blame that slogan and you for today's war but what I'm trying to show you is that even here, your Podi Duwa is trying to make the Sinhalese and Tamils as equal as possible with her political package - certainly the opposite of what you tried to do with your 'Sinhala Only' cry!

And this is why all this bothers my small brain so much, Solomon. Perhaps you, with your great wisdom could help me. My question is simple, really.

On the one hand, they hail you as the man who started a social revolution in 1956. They say that everything you did was very, very good for the country. And then, today they do exactly the opposite of what you were doing!

So, please tell me, Solomon, if what you did was so good, and if what they are doing now is the opposite of that, does it mean that what they are doing now is bad? And if not, why?

Of course, Solomon, I must also give credit where it is due. So I must say that your good wife tried, to the best of her ability, to continue your policies. And that's probably why she lost badly in '77 too!

And, anyway, wherever you are, I'm sure you must be having a good birthday bash because you have the likes of DS, Dudley, John and JR for company.

Sadly though, it is rarely that we get the likes of you in our House today. Nevertheless, Happy Birthday!

Yours truly,

Punchi Putha.

PS: We would dearly like to know what your opinion is about your only son. As for us, we think that some day, he will return to the party founded by his father and take charge. After all, the blues have never known a leader who was not a 'B!'.


Rajpal Abeynayake's Column

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