By Vishwamithra –

“The learner always begins by finding fault, but the scholar sees the positive merit in everything.” ~ George Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel

Sri Lanka is a small country. A population of just above 22 million and area of 25 thousand square miles do not speak about a massive country that needs 50 Ministers, State Ministers and Deputy Ministers. Yet that is where Sri Lanka has been traveling to and from. In our first Cabinet which consisted of fourteen (14) Ministers including the Prime Minister who held the Ministries of External Affairs and Defense, every member was foreign educated except two. Prime Minister DS was educated at St. Thomas’ College which was located at the time in Mutwal (Gal Palliya as it was known then) did not go beyond the 8^th Standard. The other person whose education was totally local was that of JR Jayewardene. JR was educated at Royal College Colombo and Ceylon Law College. He  later started his law practice under HV Perera K.C., the foremost civil lawyer in Ceylon.

Yet DS managed to navigate through a highly educated, Colombo-based upper middleclass men who respected and sometimes feared DS’s aura and his very domineering personality. As a brand new Independent state, Ceylon had graduated from the State Council days to a Soulbury Constitution. The Soulbury Constitution provided a parliamentary form of Government for Ceylon and for a Judicial Service Commission and a Public Service Commission. Minority rights were safeguarded by Article 29(2) of the Constitution. It was a different country, different constitution and totally different political culture. The education standards in the rural country was hardly worthy of mention. The big cities dominated the land. The best educated men and women emerged from Colombo, Jaffna, Galle, Kandy and some other semi-big cities such as Matara, Gampaha, Ratnapura and Kegalle.

It might sound quite absurd to compare the respective Cabinets of yesteryear with the one that was sworn in just a couple of days ago. Yet some mention should be made as to the validity of each Cabinet, especially the relatability of them to the relevant electorate of each era. Paper qualifications apart, the astuteness that was displayed by the Cabinet members and their being almost one hundred percent devoid of palpable corruption is noteworthy indeed. For those who hailed from upper middleclass backgrounds may have played a critical role in such a governmental make up, yet the very esteemed stature the then Civil Service enjoyed also must have played somewhat a decisive part in the public conduct of those Cabinet Ministers of the fifties and sixties.

However, the 1956 general elections changed that to very seismic degree. With the dawn of the Common Man’s era, power baton was passed from the privileged class to the underprivileged and the negative effect this transformation had on politics in particular and on society as a whole, continued even up to date. The real challenge before the NPP Cabinet of Ministers is even more daring in the field of financial integrity on the part of each member of the new Cabinet. Numbers are exorbitant; government tenders have crucially deviated from the olden days and the deals now being transacted are way above those one has never even guessed.

Financial integrity is the main issue. Those who voted Anura Kumara Dissanayake as President and MPs to Parliament on a scale none could imagine did, in fact, exercise their right to rid the country once and for all of the corrupt and dishonest politicians from dabbling in politics anymore. How successful that would be is anybody’s guess. They say that every man his a price. The challenge before AKD and the NPP is to rise above that price. Their private and public conduct must be beyond question. No compromise could be reached on that subject. Yet when the governing machine begins its suspicious run, trying to reach an unreachable goal would be well taken by the electorate. The voter will not only be careful about the politicians themselves, they will question every move made their families too. Here and there might be a bad apple; but that apple should not be allowed to remain in the same basket. It must be taken out and destroyed. Would that be possible? Once again, that is the challenge. AKD’s address to the new Cabinet is indeed like a lecture delivered by a professor to a set of brilliant students in his lecture hall. How many would adhere and how many would stray is yet to be seen.

Coming back to the new Cabinet members, Harini Amarasuriya being retained as Prime Minister is a very laudable and a strategic move. Prime Minister Amarasuriya has lent a whole lot of validity and credibility to the NPP; especially among those who dwell in the big cities and of English-speaking genre. Her magnetism does not reside in any rhetorical orations or being fluent in the English language. Her simplicity is her forte and she has exploited that simplicity to the maximum, not only in the NPP election campaign, but also in the calm and poise she has shown, more often than not, in the well of the house of Parliament. Being placed in charge of the Ministry of Education, Harini has broken a record. She is the first woman Education Minister Ceylon has had. Our younger generations would be well served by Harini being at the top of the Education pyramid, which some have gone out of the way to describe as a mafia of its own. Armed with charm and simplicity, she would disarm any rival with ease and will be a very respected Minister by the education administration in the country.

Next comes Vijitha Herath. He is our new Minister of External Affairs. Herath is the second in command in the hierarchy of the JVP/NPP ladder. Although he is the second in command, he has never ever shown any arrogance or cockiness which is usually attributed to men in high places. Always very easily available to any person in the Party, Herath is one person who has understood the real function of politics: instead of making enemies, Herath has always made friends. Seemingly intelligent, Minister Herath hails from a culture that always looks pure and crystal clear. Very deliberate in his speeches and other pronunciations, Herath emanates a personality that is rich in substance and style. His repertoire would undoubtedly stand in good stead when he negotiates many a difficult geopolitical matter, whether it’s with China, India, Bangladesh or Pakistan. He can make many doubters wrong in the coming months.

However, what must be mentioned without fail is AKD retaining the Ministry of Finance. One sure thing that comes to anyone’s mind is whether he would have the fully focused mind to administer the Ministry of Finance and its affiliated departments and commissions. If he finds that his Presidential duties demand more of his time, the natural development of such a dynamic would be that he would nominate a Deputy/Junior Minister to run the Ministry of Finance. Such relegation of powers from the Ministry of Finance could have serious negative consequences.

One other name in the Cabinet that deserves special mention is that of Sunil Handunheththi. Handunheththi is an extremely articulate politician. In the heat of the moment, he might make many a slippage, but governance is not usually administered in the heat of the moment. He usually uses a lot of facts and figures but the voter cannot eat facts and figures. As Minister of Industry and Entrepreneurship Development in the new government he too has an era-defining job. If his practical know how and common-sensical approach is applied to the new Ministry he has now, he can make wonders, without of course, treading the failed policy of Marxian industrialization doctrine of the then Soviet Union.

The rest of the Cabinet comprises of all newcomers. Being a newcomer is not a disqualification bu the susceptibility to failure is much larger than for an experienced hand. When the country has been let down by all experienced men and women, suffering an unforced error by a newcomer is hardly a matter of concern for the voting public. Whatever that is absent in the new Cabinet, scholarship is not one of them. And all that scholarship, barring a very few, comes from our rural country.

*The writer can be reached at vishwamithra1984@gmail.com