The Land Of Short Political Memories
Emil van der Poorten
Immediately after I coined the title of this piece I was struck with its inadequacy in the matter of describing the Sri Lankan “reality.”After all, it seems that political memories are not simply short, they appear to be non-existent most of the time.
Take the continuing discussion in the electronic and print media of politicians, particularly in the matter of their being placed in a position to dictate the fate of the vast majority of Sri Lanka’s citizenry.
You have what passes for Sri Lanka’s “first family” in the matter of politics, the Rajapaksa’s. The most prominent of these is Mahinda who, literally, wielded power of life and death over most of us and, if circumstantial evidence is to be believed, didn’t hesitate to demonstrate that po
wer and authority. A very interesting tidbit here is the fact that, on more than one occasion, an anecdote has been trotted out when, thanks to his intercession, the life of one who was being “white-vanned” to a final resting place was saved. The simple reality of a relationship with murderous abductors/killers seems to have escaped those making “objective” assessments of this episode in our recent sorry history: if you have a congenial enough relationship with the worst criminal elements in the country aren’t you a part of the problem rather than a part of the solution?
The foregoing is but one head of a Hydra-headed monster called complicity that Sri Lankans either fail to see or, more logically, choose not to. That attitude towards actions than are considered completely unacceptable in any society calling itself civilized, is the stage on which our political tragi-comedy has been performed, seemingly, since the time of that most cynical of Constitutional documents was brought into existence by J.R. (“Yankee Dick”) Jayewardene.
Take for instance the other names that are being bandied about as candidates for the most powerful positions in this country, if they aren’t already in them.
One thing that is forgotten about Ranil Wickremesinghe when his active supporters display their loyalty to him and the party he leads is the fact that he was, if an unobtrusive one, one of the premier and most consistent supporters of all that Yankee Dick stood for; not the most liberal or democratic of principles as anyone claiming to be even slightly objective would have to admit.
In the matter of dynastic politics in the ranks of the United National Party (UNP) you have the only son of a past President from that party whose assassination was greeted by the (joyous) lighting of firecrackers that I was witness to while visiting my homeland from North America where I was then domiciled. There is a certain irony that that man’s son is now held in quite high esteem in some UNP quarters and is allegedly the favourite of a very powerful electronic media outlet which has for a long time conducted a vendetta against Ranil Wickremesinghe and his supporters in the current government. “Byzantine“would be an accurate description of this corner of Sri Lankan politics. While maintaining an aura of loyalty to the UNP, this man plays his share of petty politics a part of which resulted in the resignation of a recent, widely-respected head of the Wildlife Department because he wasn’t permitted to act in the best interests of the real residents of the Yala National (Wildlife) Park, bending essential rules to accommodate the jeep-drivers who are more of a menace than an asset to the operation of that facility. When push comes to shove, this man continues to display the political cunning of his father, sans the vision that the father displayed, however flawed it might have been.
Then there is the current Speaker of the House of Representatives who, some would have us believe, is a candidate for elevation to the ranks of the saints for simply adhering to Parliamentary procedure. This is the man who led seventeen of his UNP colleagues across the floor to provide Mahinda Rajapaksa with the numbers to visit upon this country the most violent of administrations through exercising the might of numbers to make more draconian the already-draconian constitution of this country. Oh! But you say, “He saw the error of his ways, and returned to the fold.” Even if that contention is accepted, he did so after irreparable damage was done to the political fabric of this country and leaving behind his seventeen acolytes to continue the mayhem with the Rajapaksa Royal Family. And Sri Lankans can’t see these facts that have been staring them in the face for so long? Or is it simply a 21st century instance of a collective Nelsonian blindness? Pardon me, but I tend to lean to the latter explanation.
