Sri Lankan President Maithripala Sirisena received wide publicity from international media for controversial remarks he made about Latin American singer Enrique Iglesias who performed in Colombo, last week.
While criticising the show as "indecent" and "uncivilised", Sirisena went on to say that the organizers of the show should with whipped with toxic stingray tails' over the behaviour of female fans.
Sirisena's remarks were widely reported in countries such as the US, the UK, France and India minutes after they were made at a school prize giving ceremony in Ampara.
Leading wire services and media organisations that reported the Sri Lankan President's remarks included BBC, AFP, Daily Mail, NDTV and Sky News.
International media explained the Sri Lankan President's remarks as follows,
"Whipping with the tails of stingrays was reserved for hardened criminals in medieval Sri Lanka and is used as a popular idiom for extreme punishment of wrongdoing.
There was no immediate comment from the local organiser, Live Events, a company co-owned by Sri Lankan cricket stars Kumar Sangakkara and Mahela Jayawardene.
In conservative Sri Lankan society, public displays of affection, even among married couples, is frowned upon. Police are known to have arrested courting couples for kissing in public parks or sea-front promenades."
Without stopping at that, the Sri Lankan President also explained the pricing formula of the tickets sold at Enrique's show.
"The musical show lasted only for an hour. Prices of its tickers ranged fromRs. 5000 to 50,000. Those who paid Rs. 5000 were served Beer, those who paid 20,000 were given Arrack and those who paid Rs. 30,000 were given Brandy. This is the power of liquor. This is how they are trying to protect our culture," the President remarked.
"Some people may criticise me talking about these issues. But I am a Sinhala-Buddhist. It's my duty to talk about these matters," he said
