By Suranjith Jayasuriya –

Suranjith Jayasuriya

Mr. Silva, a recently retired public official wakes up as usual at the dawn of sunrise on this clear Sunday morning. As he regularly does, makes the short journey by foot to the nearest kiosk selling the Sunday newspapers. The fresh smell and the crispness of the paper is something Mr.Silva has always enjoyed. He would devour every single detail from the front to back during the course of the day. He usually takes home the Sunday Times and Divaina as he thinks it will cover the length and breadth of the weekly affairs and will give him contrasting perspectives. He is not easily swayed but forms an opinion based on his experience and likenesses.

This is the first week of December 2023. Both papers carry the headline of the major development of the previous day. President Ranil has made a major cabinet re-shuffle. Several of the heavyweight portfolios has changed hands. Harsha, Eran, Harin, Patali and several others have been assigned new subjects. Kanchana, Shehan and some of the young guns from Pohottuwa also see their subjects re-assigned. Mr. Silva is largely happy with the developments. The government group has a minority in the parliament but functions efficiently with the ad hoc support from the independents and the opposition. The IMF agreement is in full swing, and the general public have a positive sentiment of the economic outlook.

The current status-quo was the result of a one of the most defining post independent moments in the history of the country where a democratically elected president was chased off the country through a bloodless mass movement. The aftermath of that saw the re-alignment of the political forces under the leadership of Ranil. He was able to form a government with the untainted key members of the Sajith’s party and the young stalwarts of the Pohottuwa. This exercise saw Sajith and his lackeys confined to the opposition backbenches and more importantly the resignation of the head of the Rajapaksa clan from politics and the top corrupt layer of his gang sent to political oblivion. Anura is now the leader of the opposition with the tacit support of many. The likes of Lal Kantha are languishing in prison for inciting violence along with many from pohottuwa.

All this exists in the realm of fantasy concocting in my mid-size brain. I cannot help but lament for another foregone opportunity post ‘Aragalaya’ to make a major stride towards the path of prosperity as a nation. The same opportunity was missed in 2009 and again in 2015. Fast forward to the headlines in Sunday Times & Divaina on the 22^{nd of} September 2024, will not pave a way to the same opportunity.

The choice presented to the voter ahead of the presidential election is stark. There is the incumbent surrounded by rogues. He would be called an octogenarian before the end of the next term. Then there is the man professing to know everything, speaking a zillion languages and claiming he would tap into 10,000 world donors to build 10,000 schools just using his marketing skills on zoom. The only thing going for him is, some in his team are level headed and pragmatic. Finally, we have a charismatic leader with great oratory skills and have waged a long struggle against corruption and social justice. Sadly, he is saddled with an untested and unproven team with question marks over if they are up to the task.

The voter is presented with a ‘Hobson’s choice’ if you want to look at the scenario from the above point of view. In an election as important as this, it is important to have clarity in your line of thought and be able to have a simple choice. This election campaign hasn’t presented the voter with that clarity. In part due to the emergence of more than two major candidates. Hence, the voter is tasked with simplifying the choice themselves.

For the record the two best choices are, do we go with a team who we trust to eradicate corruption, reestablish rule of law and ‘drain the swamp’ as they say in America or do we go with a team to continue with the economic stabilization. The candidates representing the above choices are easily identified with the third not really representing any choice at all.

Sri Lanka is at crossroads and a complete reversal and a systemic/ structural change is required. It may come with short term pain. However, the voter should be courageous enough when they arrive at the polling station.