Enough Of The Diagnoses, Bring On The Cure!

By Emil van der Poorten -August 23, 2014

Emil van der Poorten

For a long time now, writers focusing on Sri Lankan ethics or morality of some description have described, often at great length, what ails the body politic in this country.  I cannot, in all conscience, exclude myself from this lot.

However, now that we’ve seemingly plumbed the depths of the ocean of corruption and violence that is Sri Lanka today, isn’t it time that we sought solutions, no matter how minor or temporary, to our homeland’s predicament?

Let me take a preliminary stab at this task, as overwhelming as the issues facing us might seem.

Those who believe in the need for and, therefore, seek change to the status quo have, first, to escape from the brain-washing that has resulted in a belief that the other side of the current political coin, totally debased as it is, presents a means of purchasing our way out of the morass that it has bought us.  Suffice it to say that I believe that suggesting that the UNP of Ranil Wickremesinghe, Karu Jayasuriya and Sajith Premadasa is a real alternative to what the Rajapaksa Regime (RR) has visited upon us is to pay pooja to something that has already proved its value, or lack thereof, in spades.  After all, it was the J. R. Jayewardene regime that started the ball of massive corruption and impunity rolling and these, his unapologetic successors, have not, in any way, sought to distance themselves from that legacy.

For starters, we need leaders who are not already discredited by opportunistic political behaviour or who do not already have a track record of previous, current or sporadic collaboration of any kind with the RR.  If that sounds like some absolutist dictum, so be it.  To modify an aphorism that the RR is particularly fond of, “You are either for democracy or against it.”  There can be no half measures in that calculation and to seek salvation through those who’ve either ignored or equivocated on that score is just plain stupid.Read More