The Land We Lost To The Political Prostitutes & Comics
Lakmal Harischandra
I am feeling lost and so is my dear nation, still failing to realize the sheer folly of entrusting it to those who are not fit even to manage a wayside shop, let alone this ‘Pearl of the Indian Ocean’. A coalition of disparate parties has crumbled into disarray with dirty political games being played; sadly in the name of democracy. With the latest political crisis, country may well be re-entering the era of deep fracturing of polity, a climate that bred authoritarianism and all the attendant ills of the past . I am not a professional writer; but in my desperation and frustration, I chose to express my thoughts and also thought of exhorting my fellow countrymen to rise up against this prostitution of our political process and corruption of our political culture by cowboys and comics. Those at the grassroot levels are watching the unfortunate developments with gaped mouths and anxiety. Shouldn’t we ask the pertinent question; ‘Why have we become a nation which cannot manage itself both productively and efficiently, when comparatively many in the region are whizzing past us?’
Many democratic experiments have been failing in Sri Lanka. We have lost many historic opportunities given in a platter, since Independence in 1948. Fast forward, we have almost come to the end of the tether, after having voted in a bunch of misfits yet another time. Today, it is thus a shame that we have been compelled to bear the ill-consequences of our own follies, saddled with a crack President who is more appropriate to head a comic house, 2 ‘Prime Ministers’ ( one being corrupt to the core and other being inefficient to the core), a parliament of baboons( at least that is how baboons are described in a group in the English language), a pack of thieves, rapists, betrayers, cheats, frauds, low grade unprincipled turncoats who will sell their souls in return for pennies and illiterates who have less qualifications than a peon in a government office. A Professor once said that many of those representing us in parliament are fit to be in old age homes and sanctuaries. O Tempora! O Mores!
Past seventy years, Sri Lanka which was once stood tall as the Pride of and premier league of Asia, a country LQY of Singapore wanted to take as a role model, has now being relegated to the lowermost levels and on the fast track to being a Pariah State. Worse of all, the rowdy political class has brought indelible divisions of racism and communalism among our people, and using them to stay or come to power. I think the Sri Lankan Cricket team is most representative of the degeneration of standards of politics in Sri Lanka. What sort of country are we going to inherit to our next generation? At a time where Trumps are making a mockery of Western style of democracy, Modi is allowing Maha Baratha to stoop to cheap racist politics, Sirisena through his stupid weak brand of politics/ Mahinda through his insatiable greed for power/ Ranil through his inefficiency and selfishness to cling to power at all costs have managed to precipitate this constitutional crisis and a setback for democracy in Sri Lanka, making it a laughing stock of the world.
For how long can we allow these sucker types to be in charge of our country and bleed the nation to death? For seven decades, we have been voting in and voting out greens and blues or combination of both in turns, all of whom have been sucking the nation dry through corruption, inefficiency, racism and petty politics. Who allowed them to sell Sri Lankan assets without people’s consent, on the guise of executive and legislative power in a democracy? (Sri Lanka became the first nation to fall victim to the Chinese debt trap laid in the name of infrastructure building, leading the country to build a series of white elephants) .Who allowed them to sell their vote in parliament in return for a pot of gold? Who allowed them to help themselves with massive perks in the form of houses, luxury vehicles and security as well as unbelievable free amenities and pension? Why cannot these frauds be brought to book as promised? Where are the massive money pots being offered as bribes for ‘jumping MPs’ emerging from? Aren’t they worthy of investigation? Why aren’t those who give fairy tale promises and forget after elections to be made to account like in other fields? Why can’t we bring in a system where our public representatives are elected based on acceptable levels of education and political literacy? Why did we allow leaders of this country of 21 million to become venal and self-serving? Why are we allowing foreign governments to interfere in domestic politics and throw all diplomatic protocols to the wind? These are but some questions people ask ; but unfortunately they still want to be spectators without being part of a wider movement to set this rot right and ensure cleaner and efficient system of politics.
