AS to what really plagues … Sri Lanka even after it defeated terrorism and entered the group of middle-income nations, has been a topic discussed at many [forums]. …

While mismanagement of the economy and the rise in the crime rate have often been attributed to the country’s economic woes, the ever-intensifying direct link between power and theft … has often been cited as the latest tragedy of the nation.

A thought-provoking session of … the Colombo Forum [the other day] concluded that theft in Sri Lanka is now identified more with the powerful than the destitute.

It was observed that while an overwhelming majority of the nearly 1.6 million citizens who still survive below the poverty line avoid resorting to theft when starving, a sizeable percentage of those with political power engage in some form of theft. The latter may include the use of force to deprive others of their basic rights, misappropriating of public money, drug smuggling, bribe taking [and] misuse of state property. …

The forum no doubt was a Eureka moment for … Citizen Sri Lanka.— (May 5)