By Amila Muthukutti –

Amila Muthukutti

I am still of the opinion that the profile of the candidate list presented for the forthcoming general election by the National People’s Power (NPP) is not that strong, so that they can meet the set benchmark. That is why; I raised this concern through the articled titled “should we lower the bar, so that less qualified juniors from NPP can jump over?” However, in practice, we are in the process of making “the change”. When it is a process, we are not able to stop at one step and take a rest or turn back. We must move forward. Hence, despite my constructive criticism against those who made candidate list for respective districts, I will go with my decision to vote for NPP at the forthcoming general election, due to four factors. Here are the four factors.

1. Party Leadership

Alexander the Great said that an army of sheep led by a lion is better than an army of lions led by a sheep. Unfortunately, we do not even have an army of lions led by a sheep. However, the party – the National People’s Power is headed by a lion. Hence, a rare sheep does not matter for now. We all kept our faith in president Anura Kumara Dissanayake at the last presidential election over changing this bankrupt nation. Like Deng Xiaoping who abandoned communist policies and introduced radical economic reforms into China, Anura Kumara Dissanayake has also nicely and strategically transformed his party from Marxism to current neoliberal policies. Therefore, I would like to introduce current president of Sri Lanka as a neoliberalist, even though international media introduced him as a Marxist leader, when he won at the last election.

As we have no fear or doubt regarding the leadership of the party and the country, in my opinion, we should vote for the NPP at the forthcoming general election. He has set an example that the political culture of this country can positively be changed by maintaining zero violence during the post-election period.

2. Political Stability

When the executive president does not get the support from the legislature, it causes political instability, leading to economic instability. Currently, Sri Lanka is not in a position to absorb any kind of strong internal or external shocks. Consequently, voters should make sure that the majority of the parliament will be comprised of the same party from which the president is elected. We can recall how political instability led to economic issues, when Chandrika-Ranil and Maithripala-Ranil clashes happen. Hence, we do not want to see any other Prime Minister representing completely different political party working with president Anura Kumara Dissanayake. Please, don’t be mistaken, this is not about SJB leader Sajith Premadasa. As he should be worried about his opposition leadership more than Premiership. My views in that connection was published under the titled “Sajith’s opposition leadership at risk”.

3. Ugly Heads trying to raise

Even though the common man of this country wanted lots of old and ugly fellows to be removed from politics for years, it did not happen. The sole reason was that the power was just exchanged from one party to the other. Maithripala Sirisena took significant number of politically ugly fellows who were defeated at the general election into the parliament in 2015 through the national list. It is with this kind of culture that the common is helpless. Nevertheless, with the victory of the president Anura Kumara Dissanayake, lots of ugly faces have voluntarily removed themselves from politics. It has made some people watch even news on TV channels.

If we take a step back or if we are weak, they are ready to raise their ugly heads again, this time even harder. Therefore, we as voters have a great responsibility to continue the process. When a political party comes to power, two other parties automatically get power. One is business people who financially supported and the other is bureaucrats who pave the way for fraud and corruption. Several days ago, a youth was arrested, just because of the fact that he recorded a defender vehicle involved in an accident near Wariyapola, which led to police allegations that he was obstructing their duties. The defender SUV, allegedly belonging to former minister Lohan Ratwatte, was in an accident on the Anuradhapura-Padeniya Road causing significant damage to a bus halt and the vehicle. After the incident, the IGP has issued a circular clarifying that videotaping police conduct in public places has not been barred in any law of the country. Therefore, the heads should inform about this to all the officials that come under their purview. This kind of reaction could not have been seen if Vijitha Herath was not the Public Security Minister. Hence, we need that to continue.

4. The last resort

The question I had before the presidential election was “if not NPP, who else?”. Both political camps ruined this country from time to time for the sake of ruling this country. Then, people disillusioned with the existing political system had no choice other than NPP. This is its continuation. Even for this general election, if I will not vote for NPP, who else can I vote for? Therefore, I will. My views of the NPP as the last resort under the titled in Sinhala ”I experimented my last hope over this country”. Obviously, this is not only mine, but also lots of people’s last hope over this country. If NPP fails, we will all fail. Therefore, we never let them down.