By Vishwamithra –

“In a time of universal deceit telling the truth is a revolutionary act.” ~ Unknown

An unusual calm has settled on an otherwise chaotic landscape. The anxious are tense; the weak are in fear of the uncertain and the optimists are waiting for a brighter day. The political atmosphere is changing by the hour. Rumors tend to be more accurate than what is being spilled out by the mainstream media. Sensationalism is once again dominating the headlines. A land that was daydreaming that better days are yet ahead is waking up to a potential nightmare.

The nightmare that is threatening to disturb the sleeping is the one that one thought as an impossibility about one year ago. The chances that Ranil Wickremesinghe and United National Party (UNP) would come into form a coalition with Sajith Premadasa and the Samagi Jana Balavegaya (SJB) were slim to none a couple of years ago. But the pressure that Anura Kumara Dissanayake and his National People’s Power (NPP) impacting on the status quo led by a potential UNP/SJB combination is immense. That pressure has assumed a new dimension after the ‘Gahenu Eka Mitata’ (Women together) program was launched by the National People’s Power.

Nevertheless, there is no certainty that AKD as President or the NPP as a parliamentary majority would win at the next elections, whichever is held first. Those daydreamers are continuing in their wild chase of a Ranil-Gundu (Ranil’s trick). In fact, Ranil may have succeeded in such ‘trickonometry’ a couple of decades ago, in a different era, in a different setting. The social media has changed the trajectory of public opinion in a very drastic fashion. It has not only added more than a couple of measures to the alacrity in which such information and misinformation and disinformation travels, it has also changed the complexion of the game by reaching hundreds of thousands more readers and consumers of such information. At the same time, the influence of the qualitative validity of information by making it available in more than a few channels through which this information travels has turned the information technology upside down and inside out.

The Smartphone is no more a luxury; its use in day-to-day social, economic and political transactions has made newspapers, television channels and radio stations obsolete and near-archaic. Politicians cannot get away with white lies or blatant falsehoods. The worry that the non-NPP politicians are wrapped in today is somewhat akin to the painstaking journey home of the man with a sackful of snakes. If he stops half way, he will be stung by the snakes and if he takes it home his wife would be the victim (maga hitiyoth tho nasi, gedera giyoth ambuwa nasi)!

At the same time, the visible signs of a certain NPP victory could also be a part of a daydream. The old JVP (precursor of NPP) was a victim of the same exhibitionistic tendency that the NPP is adopting today. Rohana Wijeweera was the pioneer, executioner and the unfortunate victim of political exhibitionism. His mass rallies too attracted hundreds of thousands of listeners; his audiences could not be matched by the old UNP or the old SLFP. There was no person who could match Wijeweera in mob-oratory. Yet when the votes were counted, Wijeweera ended up gaining only a couple of hundreds of thousand votes, less than 5% of the total polled. Numbers, arithmetic coupled with fear of the unknown collectively claimed their victim, Janatha Vimukthi Peramuna. Both Ranil and Sajith are praying for a repetition of that history; whether they will be satisfied this time also is yet to be seen.

Yet listening to AKD these days is a therapy. Forget about his delivery and the mastery of the vernacular; the substance is way ahead of any politician who is living today. Bordering on deeply philosophical arguments, AKD has clearly captured the attention of the young, middle-aged and old, all together. His address to the youth is highly advanced not only in the narrative; the profound substance it contains surpasses any standard yet established by any living politician. By being so acutely deep, AKD succeeds in displaying his assessment of the average audience. Never doubting its sharpness and intelligence to absorb and analyze current issues, AKD drives home one singular point that he does not underestimate his audience even to a negligible extent. That in itself is a trait of a man who possesses a balanced mindset and an immense space to accommodate the common man.

Instead of trying to reach the common man through his narrow and mundane outer layer, AKD at all times attempts to reach the very core of every man and women who is listening to him. Underestimating your fellowmen is a cardinal sin. Most of our politicians fall into that inglorious lot that thinks that they are better and more prudent and equipped to understand and resolve multifaceted issues. By resorting to speaking at a higher level and in a more erudite degree, AKD renders an equal space and room to the average Appuhamy, Natarajah and Mohamed. If the common man cannot understand, he will go home and ask his daughter or son who is in the University to explain the complicated and complex issues about which AKD spoke in simpler language. His knowledge on matters grows and the admiration for AKD doubles. The simplicity of the common man is indeed more simple than simplistic.

In the same vein, one cannot understate the deviousness and mastery of electioneering skills of Ranil and his cohorts. When all the chips are down, Ranil might resort to the dirtiest of dirty tricks and try to prevail. He would rather go out of office as a ceremonial President than a defeated Presidential candidate. That is why one cannot rule out Ranil negotiating with Sajith; he might think that such a combination would deliver the Presidential election to the candidate of that combination. Ranil’s dream would be to be the candidate for President and he may offer Premiership to Sajith, that is if they prevail at the elections. Sajith might fall into Ranil’s trickonometry.                        

Our political culture is rotten; from top to bottom the degree to which our national character is being consumed by a disease; a disease of unconstrained greed and egocentric indulgences; that is usually the hallmark of a degenerating nation. The people have been subjected to humiliating serfdom to an elected government and the resultant effects are abhorrent. Their apathy has ultimately taken its toll; the collapse of our national economy and its pervasive feel took a stranglehold on the daily lives of our men and women. Wherever one looks, he sees  degenerating values and warped definitions of comforts and luxuries. Those who are primarily responsible for the rot that set in are still at large and ironically they are equipping themselves to contest elections. Those who suffered at the hands of these dirty politicians are presumably waiting to teach them a lesson, they say. But such an action will not happen automatically; nor would it be the final solution for the countless issues that confront the people.

Ouster of the sinners should not be the last step in the process of nation building. Nation building requires much more than mere vengeance. While holding accountable those who sinned by being severely involved in the destruction of our national character and political culture is a must before taking stock of the situation prior to finding lasting solutions to the numerous problems we face, shaping the mindset of our people and prepping them for  a short-term austere demeanor on the part of our brethren is an integral part of the total cognitive and mental process. Those who get elected must place the same trust in the same degree that the people placed in those who would be elected. Mutual trust cannot be foreclosed.           

Deshabandu Tennakoon cannot remain our chief law enforcement officer. Convicted criminals cannot hold ministerial portfolios, nor should they be allowed to nominate themselves for parliamentary elections. A system change cannot accommodate compromises. Yes, it could be merciful when justice is meted out, but such compromises cannot be allowed to be interpreted as weak response to a national demand.

Ranil Wickremesinghe, if found guilty of being even remotely involved in the infamous ‘Bond-scam’, then he must face the consequences. The wheels of the government machinery must turn and they must turn most ruthlessly and efficiently in the direction of ‘good governance’. Equality before the law, one hundred percent accountability as well as governing transparency must be the foundation upon which new methods of government rest.

Political game-playing cannot replace inefficient and incompetent governance that has been ruling our country for the last seventy six years. Expectations are running high; demands are raising their thresholds beyond all precedent. Normalizing of bribery, weaponizing of governmental powers to punish those who hold a contra views must stop, never to commence again.

In other words, political trickonometry is no substitute, nor should it be an alternative to substandard governing principles as were manifested in the last seven decades.

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