Rajiva Wijesinha

“ It will be ironic then if the hot air pumped into the General leads to the flattening of Mr Wickremesinghe in the forthcoming Election. Willy Loman, with all his faults, was a more endearing character than Biff, and we can only hope that Mr Wickremesinghe will return to Parliament without any need to pander to the forces he helped to bring together to anoint the General as a common candidate. ”

“ Meanwhile it remains to be seen whether the comradeship of the elite in Colombo, which plumped for General Fonseka against all rational argument, will continue during the General Election. Doubtless the minorities amongst them, and the less chauvinist, will rally to Ranil, but I suspect there will be some, those for instance who saw nothing wrong with Cyril Mathew’s antics in the eighties, who will stick with the General. ”

“ Though this measure of self-awareness is not likely in Sri Lanka, Biff tells his father that his failure was due, not to spite, but because he had been filled with hot air. His father in particular, but others too, had made him think so much of himself, that he had built his life on a myth, unable to accept the fact that he was just an ordinary sort of guy. ”

“ That the General and his elite backers should have believed the West supported them is not in itself surprising, and they could have seen a community of interests that they could argue were not opposed to the national interest. ”