“…while wide publicity was given to Yoshita joining the navy with the sycophantic media carrying banner headlines on the President ‘donating’ and ‘gifting’ a son to the navy in November and December last year, in order perhaps to use him as bait for more recruits, it was not two weeks into his training that Yoshita, with none of the previous publicity hindering his progress, was surreptitiously shipped off to United Kingdom to follow a two year course in Dartmouth.

A spokesperson for the navy confirmed that Yoshita Rajapakse left the island to complete a two year course in Dartmouth. That means he will not see any fighting in the north and east for that period contrary to the hype generated through the media for political purposes.”

http://www.tamilcanadian.com/page.php?cat=527&id=4733

Your predictions were right. It seems that Yoshitha has already been shipped off to Blighty.

He himself will rule for 12 years and by the then the son should be ready. If he is not, a caretaker fron the family will keep the seat warm until the sons are ready.

One son will probably then hand over to the other.

I have been raeding a bit about Saddam Hussein’s background and Rajapakse seems to be shaping up on similar lines. Saddam was a deputy ruler for about a decade in the 1970’s and he then ruled for a further 20 as absolute ruler until depsosed in the American invasion. His brothers and half brothers plus an extended family/clan ran the country.

However, I personally, am moved to admire the patriotism of the Brits when it comes to such activity and ceremony and how their royalty has also served in the military etc. While it glorifies the military and military solutions, and for that reason I wouldn’t mind seeing an end to the practice, maybe we can admire patriotism in itself.

If so, then where Sri Lanka needs to head is not for Sri Lankans to admire British patriotism and the practices of its royalty, but to admire the Presidents’ family and what happens here in our own country.

In that vein, I think what his son is doing is admirable.

If some Sri Lankans have to serve in the Army simply due to poverty, thats wholly unfair. Conscription, which is the model chosen by so many countries in similar situations would be the way to go forward.

If you feel you won’t fit into a Sri Lankan army where the majority are rural Sinhala-speaking rough-necks, well at least you will get a reality check as to who the majority of this country is, and feel more agreeable to accept your position as a minority in this country.

Justmal I didn’t understand your response. Were you saying that its okay for rural folk to be cannon fodder and not middle and upper class Colombo folk? If so at least your being honest about not wanting to be cannon fodder, so I can respect that.

It’s an unnecessary move for Sri Lanka. We aren’t Israel or Korea. Far from it.

Bringing it in will be true destruction for society here.

Course not. You’d have to come back and fight those nasty Tamils you hate, eh?

It’s quite obvious now that the government believes in a military solution, at least as far as the East is concerned. Perhaps they want to completely clear the East, go for provincial council elections, and then have negotiations on the North.

One thing that must also be remembered is that the biggest opposition to conscription comes from within the military itself.