Gone Are The Days Of Gentleman Politics
By Ishrath Zanoosey –February 15, 2018
Much water has flowed under the bridge, ever since, Sri Lanka gained independence from British Empire in 1948. Many political parties, from time to time, had contested at elections, as separate entities and some as coalitions. Winning party has had ruled the country as coalitions and also sometimes as a single party. Although, post independence Sri Lanka has made some astounding strides in certain sectors, overall progress and development of the country is at a low ebb. Compared to many other countries in the region, development has been lagging behind, due to a host of reasons.
Among other things, misuse of power, nepotism, embezzlement, bribery, corruption, infighting and the lack of any vision for the country are commonly seen at the centre stage of Sri Lankan politics. “Gone are the days of gentleman politics”. Sri Lankan politicians with vested interest, by hook or by crook try to come to power. Most of the time, these politicians, in the event they lose at elections, had been resorting to turncoat politics, and try in one way or another to cling on to power for their own vested interests. Many corrupt politicians, no sooner they clinch power, start exploring for opportunities to make a fast buck. Towards this end, they would keep no stone unturned to find ways and means to creep through any loophole they find in the rule of law.
During the past, intimidation and violence had been used in no smaller measure to avenge against political opponents, let alone abductions, disappearances and murdering of those holding alternative views. Above all, most of the power hungry politicians are hand in glove with notorious and infamous characters including drug kingpins. In most instances, they have had taken the law into their hands and had made money through shady deals. In the process, powers as an MP had been used to the maximum to cover up themselves from their past misconduct. They have plundered the country’s wealth by swindling money through misappropriation, soliciting commissions, bribes, and accepting kickbacks. In short for them, greed for money knows no bounds. If not for these corrupt practices, as a country, Sri Lanka would have reached the pinnacle of development in the region. Of late, this has been the bone of contention for the people of Sri Lanka. In this backdrop, day in and day out, fury of the masses has come to fore and is gaining momentum.This may sound somewhat weird but the fact remains, that this saga continues unabated in our country. This turn of events, seems to be the main impediment standing in the way of our country’s speedy development and happens to be the much talked about subject now in Sri Lanka.
Power tends to corrupt and absolute power corrupts absolutely. Having said that, naturally this is not always the case, as there had been many examples of patriotic and good visionary leaders of the past and even in the present. It is no secret that unlike in the present days, there had been very many good gentlemen politicians and philanthropists whose contributions towards the progress of our country had been steadfast and praiseworthy. Their kind of politics transcended party, ethnicity, religion, language, class or caste, up-country, low-country differences, or any of the many identities which divide our people. Yet, gentlemen of their caliber, now a days, are hard to come by. Of those who are corrupted, it is hard to distinguish whether the power corrupted the man or the men who were drawn to power were already corrupted.
On the other hand, majority of our voters, thus far are politically immature and live in their own dreamland of a fool’s paradise. By nature Sri Lankans like to be in comfort zone. Most of the poor daily wage earners, toil hard from morning till evening, to make ends meet for their living. But civically, they are short sighted and are likely to sway their opinion easily for various forms of bribes during election times. Average citizens are embroiled in their own household chores and don’t care two hoots about elections. In a way, our voters are to be blamed for the present political turbulence as the voters knowingly or unknowingly, have used their ballots to bring some political crooks to power time and again.
