Hooliganism, privilege and sanctity of sanctuaries

Over the past week media -both traditional as well as social media- has been focusing on the ugly incident which took place at the world famed Yala sanctuary on the 23rd of this month.   

The story of a number of rich young men, breaking a plethora of laws which governs the parks, in plain sight of authorities still continues. The crime was committed in the presence of those expected to keep the parks safe for the denizens who inhabit those jungles.   

It (crime) was first reported on social media. Had the media not broken the story, the antics of those ill-mannered men who believe they are immune to rules and regulations which govern our land, would have been proved true and the ‘incident ignored and gone unnoticed. 

 
Thanks to some civic-minded people the ‘incident’ received the wide and adverse publicity it deserved. The wrong doers have now been brought before the Courts of Law. It is our fervent wish that the full force of the law is brought to bear against these uncouth people. The first question that comes to mind however is, why this rowdy bunch were not immediately taken to task.   

When an ordinary citizen attempts to feed the animals, if a park ranger is around he immediately warns the visitor concerned that he/she is in breach of rules and regulations governing actions of visitors to the sanctuary.   
So how was it possible, the idiots who drove their privately-owned monster vehicles into the park violating rules and regulations by driving at a high speed, possibly endangering wildlife, honking their horns with gay abandon within the precincts of the park not apprehended?   

How is it that the guides who accompanied these particular ‘guests’, failed to warn them that their antics were disturbing the animals and subjecting them to stress? Why did they not inform their superiors of the ongoing crisis?  On Wednesday the media exposed the reason for the lack of action. According to the ‘Island’ of 27 October, one of the culprits was the son of a top ruling party parliamentarian. The report went on to add another miscreant also happened to be the nephew of a minister whose name or ministry was not mentioned.   
And thereby hangs a tale.   

Even in this day when the country is facing a grave financial crisis and is indebted to to the tune of US$50 billion or more, the rich and privileged -sons and daughters of politicians responsible for bankrupting this country- continue to act in disdain of the law.   Today, fuel is restricted to a mere 20 litres per vehicle... The monster luxury vehicles in which the errant sons of powerful fathers and uncles were driving consume far more fuel than vehicles an ordinary middle class Lankan uses to go to work and back. Yet the 20 liters is scarcely sufficient to get to places of work and back.   Is there a special allocation of fuel for the offspring of politicians and their kith and kin?   

Where, and how did this group of ignoramuses get their fuel from?   
Today members of the fishing community still find it difficult to purchase sufficient quantities of fuel to put their boats to sea. The sons and daughters of families engaged in the fisheries trade are unable to have two square meals a day. The frequent protests the community hold, attest to this fact.   

In addition to providing protein supplements to the local diet, the Export Development Board reveals, the total export volume of seafood and fisheries products was 28,771metric tons, which brought in US$81.3 million in foreign exchange earnings. Today authorities are finding it difficult to provide adequate fuel to support an industry which brought in US$81.3 million. But apparently there is no shortage of fuel if one is the spoiled son, daughter, nephew or niece of a politician.   

The sale of excess fuel to the culprits need to be investigated, their vehicles need to be seized and the licenses of those responsible for providing fuel in excess of the limit cancelled.   

This in reality, is a crime against humanity committed on hardworking citizens, by the offspring of the rich and privileged. They seem to believe they can continue acting with impunity because of their political connections.  The full force of the law needs be brought against them. Only then will this type of people understand they too are subject to the law.   

In the UK when then premier Tony Blair’s son was apprehended for reckless driving, he was detained by police, produced before a magistrate and only thereafter released to his father.   
O tempora, o mores... will we ever learn.