In comparison to Kotelawala, our Sinhala Buddhist entrepreneur Sakvithi looks like a juvenile delinquent, and that is how the government should treat him. We should invite him back, forgive him for his sins of omission, and then ask him to play a constructive role in rebuilding the economy nearly wrecked by the likes of Kotelawala.

And in the future, we must keen a very sharp eye on businessmen (including bankers) who are not Sinhalese by race and not Buddhist in faith. If they don’t fulfill these essential criteria of patriotism, they cannot be trusted and must not be allowed to reverse the gains of our patriotic forces and the Sinhala Buddhist kingdom now being restored after 500 years of colonial rule which ended only in 2005.

Xenophobia is an intense dislike and/or fear of people from other countries. It comes from the Greek words ξένος (xenos), meaning “foreigner,” “stranger,” and φόβος (phobos), meaning “fear.” The term is typically used to describe a fear or dislike of foreigners or of people significantly different from oneself.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Xenophobia

As long as you guys believe that this country belongs only to Sinhalese…there will never be peace!

“Patriotism is proud of a country’s virtues and eager to correct its deficiencies; it also acknowledges the legitimate patriotism of other countries, with their own specific virtues. The pride of nationalism, however, trumpets its country’s virtues and denies its deficiencies, while it is contemptuous toward the virtues of other countries. It wants to be, and proclaims itself to be, “the greatest,” but greatness is not required of a country; only goodness is.”

SYDNEY J. HARRIS

I would go as far as to say that Buddhist clergy should be held above suspicion at all times, and all public or media criticism of the maha sanga should be outlawed. Buddhist patriots should lobby Parliamentarians to introduce new laws protecting Sanga’s good name similar to Lèse Majesté law of Thailand where the king is above and beyond any criticm in any forum or media.

All successful Sinhala Buddhist businessmen should watch out against these forces who are relentlessly at work to mislead, corrupt and ultimately destroy them. The Sinhala Buddhist government of Mahinda Rajapaksa should ensure that the Buddhist economic power is not diluted in this manner. The government should adopt Boomi Putra style policies as in Malaysia. And go easy on failed businesses if they are owned by Sinhala Buddhist people.

Besides, the current governor of the Central Bank is seriously tainted with corruption charges over pyramid schemes under GoldQuest. He has been directly implicated in police as well as CB investigations on this scheme which robbed tens of millions from gullible and greedy Sri Lankans. See, for example:
http://www.thesundayleader.lk/20060723/spotlight.htm

There is a Sinhala saying – horage ammagen pena ahanawa. Roughly translated, it means asking the thief’s mother for clues about the theft/thief. This best describes the current situation! Say no more…

I do find, buried within the content, a call for a more regulatory role in the arena of advertising and a media that is ‘more responsible’ and/or discerning. At least, slightly supervisory.

The responsibility of media and the lack of it is an age old debate. And the many changes that the field had undergone and will continue undergo should demonstrate that consumption should be doen with vigilience. This is in no way a call to abdicate resposibility as media professionals.

There is so much said about ‘trade puffs’. People do have a reasonable understanding that often advertising tends to be unrealistic and dramatic.

As for the duped victims, I wish they had the comon sense just to verify the legal status of the institution before investing hard earned money. Like most others, I did feel the Pramukha Bank saga served as an eye opener.

As for regulation, I strongly feel that the Central Bank has acted irresponsibly for years, even after being cautioned by the Committee on Public Enterprise that some 80% of the so called finance companies being illegal!

I do hope there could be some collective action against the CB that has failed the people with adequete warning and speedy action. The Governor of the CB did undertake to take pursue legal action against such institutions within two months before COPE and he has acted in breach of his duty.

I didn’t mean to suggest a divide of ‘good’ journalists and ‘bad’ advertising: I realise things aren’t so black and white in the real world. I’m also not advocating controls on advertising, which is an old debate I’d rather not get into. What I really want to see is greater discernment at the audience end. If we consider media purely as a market product, they are the consumers and the age old advice ‘Buyers beware’ still applies here. But many Sri Lankans seem to suspend their judgement and common sense when consuming media. Mainstream media (MSM) products and outlets are still being treated with an awe and reverence – perhaps a relic of a bygone era when some progressive media (e.g. the old Lankadeepa newspaper) did play truly transformational roles in society?

In my view, none of the MSM products today deserve this uncritical acceptance, and hence my fervent wish that we improve our media literacy. We can’t really expect this drive to come from within MSM establishments or those in the politico-military-religious complex who manipulate the people’s media illiteracy. It is left to civil society and the precious few public intellectuals.

As you know, I have been talking and writing about new media for some years, and I entirely agree with you on the blurring of old divides and their inevitable disappearance. The question is how long it will take. The Digital Natives (under age 30) are already riding this wave and they are significant in numbers. The others will slowly cross this digital divide between old media (MSM) and new media, but at least where Sinhala language media are concerned, I don’t see this happening in a hurry. Our Sinhala MSM have many content producers and gatekeepers who perfectly fit the known descriptions of mediasaurus (media dinosaurs): for instance, some believe that alien UFOs can be a threat to national security (and write editorials on this); frequently mix up United Nations and United States; and fear that the whole world is out to screw innocent little Sri Lanka! I can’t wait to see the new media wave wash away these deadwood that still produce Sinhala MSM (print and broadcast) consumed by millions. My own guess is it will take at least several years: even the old dinosaurs took a while going extinct!

Finally, I don’t expect MSM to fizzle out and disappear completely; the smarter ones will adapt. Hence my wish to see better journalism of a truly independent and investigative kind, carried out in the public interest, confronting the oppressive state or advertising pressures when necessary. The formidable challenges we face in Sri Lanka call for all the courageous MSM journalists AND committed citizen journalists we can find. We need them to form a protective bulwark against pervasive corruption, crony capitalism of the JKH kind, well organised scams (Sakvithi only the latest) and other assorted evils that threaten to tear apart what little is left of our social fabric and battered economy. The combined efforts of MSM and citizen journalists may not completely stem the spread of this rot, but they can help hold the wolves at bay while civil society gets its act together to advocate more fundamental legal and policy reforms.

On new media, ICTs and Sri Lankan media, see also my blog posts:
http://movingimages.wordpress.com/2007/04/29/press-freedom-in-the-digital-age-seeing-beyond-our-noses-and-tummies/
http://movingimages.wordpress.com/2008/05/03/who-is-afraid-of-citizen-journalists-more-than-you-think/

What the Internet and media such as this very publication show us is the future of media, a future different from the old paradigm based on scarcity. When there are thousands of choices the concept of editorial control goes out the window. The implicit assertion that “good” journalists should ensure that “bad” advertising is not carried in “their media” makes no sense in the new paradigm. There can be no control when anyone can publish (think of all the scams that land in your email box every day). There will be nothing called “my media.” There will be no alternative to caveat emptor, simple common sense and intelligent consumption of messages. Good and bad lie in the eyes of the beholders, mostly.

I realize your comments have some relevance still where the Sinhala and Tamil reading audiences are still limited to old media. But life changes faster than we think. Would be nice if you engage with the emerging present rather than flog the dead horse.