Quote of the day by Chandrika Kumaratunga: 'Power is a joke, but it gives me the authority to do what I think I need to do for the country'

Quote of the day by former Sri Lankan president Chandrika Kumaratunga. When Chandrika Bandaranaike Kumaratunga sat down with Australian journalist Michael Maher in July 2005 for an interview on the ABC program Foreign Correspondent, her presidency was drawing to a close. Asked about the allure of supreme political office, Sri Lanka’s first female president brushed aside the notion that she was captivated by high status. It's always mesmerizing to study how powerful people of the world perceive power. And Kumaratunga said: "I'm a workaholic, I like to work. And I'm in this, not to fill my pockets like lots of others, or because the idea of power thrills me - I find it a joke.""Yes. I find power a joke - I laugh or I get very angry with it," she doubled down.Michael Maher was surprised and called the president a rare politician who does not like power and called it a joke. "I don't like it at all. The only thing that attracts me in power is that it gives me the authority and the possibility of doing what I think should be done for this country," Kumaratunga said.To evaluate this statement, one must look at the extraordinary personal tragedy and political inheritance that shaped her w...