Sri Lanka It's Happening

June 30, 2004

In sinhala there is a proverb that can be loosely translated to say "being gored by a bull after falling from a tree". Somewhat akin to the english proverb "out of the frying pan into the fire". That seems to be the fate that has befallen some 4,000 victims of scammers.

Sri Lankan authorities alwasy believe that "water takes the path of least resistance", thus instead of going after the organizers of the scams they are chasing after a victims. According to the central bank some 4,000 of these victims may have violated an ancient exchange control regulation.

This reaction is in line with the belief held by the generall public that there are three systems in this country. One for the poor, one for the mega rich and politicians and another for everyone else.

When a poor man is arrested he usually dies while attempting to escape from custody. In some cases they die while trying to jump out of windows in upper floors. Occaisionaly the poor man may have been in a drunken stupor at the time of arrest and fell and banged his head against the floor.

Politicians and the super rich can embezzle millions of dollars (not rupees dollars) and no one speaks a word about it. The press may occaisionally make a noise but bribery and corruption at the highest level is no longer newsworthy.

Posted by raditha at June 30, 2004 5:34 AM