Sri Lanka needs to be BETTER than this.
Sri Lanka, for all of its convulsions for the last , is meant to be PROUD democracy.
It is NOT China, Egypt or some tinpot African dictatorship. I was disappointed to read about this. I though ‘we’ (though I gave up my Sri Lanka citizenship 35-years ago) had put media censorship behind. [More on that in a second.]
The ban on Facebook was during the latest spate of violence against the Muslims. The Government, rightly or wrongly, believed that Facebook posts were inciting the troubles. They had declared a 10-day State of Emergency, so everything, including closing down Social Media was game.
Ceylon/Sri Lanka and ‘State of Emergency’. I remember them well though my life there, 1953 – 1967 was during a relatively peaceful time!
Following the wildly and widely successful ‘Schools Takeover‘ [i.e., forced nationalization] program, Prime Minister (Aunty) Sirimavo Bandaranaike and her then favored henchman, my adoptive father, mounted a ‘Newspaper Nationalization’ program. My Adoptive Father, a conflicted fish as I came to learn, had a strong socialistic streak. He was all in favor. I remember though that unlike with the ‘Schools Takeover’ (where they was no dissent within the circles we moved), he got got a bit of pushback from friends and family. He used to argue vehemently that we needed it for the good of the country. Thankfully that program never came to be. I think Aunty B. ceased to be P.M.
So, let’s not try and revisit past ghosts.
I worry that this is the INCREASING Chinese influence on Sri Lanka.
If I was still Sri Lankan I would do whatever I could to make sure this didn’t happen again.
Last Google Doodles:
Check Category ‘Sri Lanka’.
