By Fr J.C. Pieris –

Fr J.C. Pieris

In the chaotic political scene today, we do not have any politician/s who present a vision for the future of the country, any plan to get there and the ability to motivate the people towards it except the NPP leadership. The speeches that the TIN president delivers are formless and meaningless dribble. The SJB has really nothing to say. The president has preempted all that the SJB would have said.

So, we have only the vision and the plans of the NPP for a future Sri Lanka. Listening to them, especially Anura Kumara Dissanayake, I find it interesting that he visualizes not just a political change in the country but insists on a renascence of the whole population, the whole country. He wants a re-birth, a new beginning, a revolutionary upheaval that will eradicate the present ugly, criminal, evil culture from society and change the thinking, behavior and attitudes of the people to a culture of human eminence; in short, a system change.

This did not happen overnight. AKD’s thinking (and I suppose of the NPP too) was progressively becoming broader and more universal, embracing everybody who desires good governance, justice and prosperity, without leaving anybody outside their reach. What they are aiming at seems to be a sort of cultural revolution without the violence and the destruction of the notorious Mao’s cultural revolution. And this seems to me is the FELT need of the country today. All thinking, sensitive and good Sri Lankans feel this way.

The Catastrophe 

Let me explain this in the current context. The catastrophe did not happen instantaneously like a tsunami or an earthquake. It began with JR in 1978. As time passed the venality gained momentum. It reached the peak with Gotabaya; agriculture ruined, treasury emptied, dollars stolen, economy in shambles with people dying in unending queues. Sri Lanka failed and fell flat on its face, a bankrupt country unable to pay its debts; but the corruption and thievery continued without any sensitivity to the plight of the vast hungry majority of the country. A good example is the health sector and Keheliya who advocated undertakers and funeral parlors for the people dying of his either unavailable or adulterated or fraudulent medicines. The kowtowing acolyte RW of the Shylock IMF has taxed the poor to such an extent that the pound of flesh is given away with blood skin and bones added. And with a parliament of baboons kakistocracy reigns supreme.

The Catalysts

Even before the election of Gotabaya there was much dissatisfaction with the status quo and people were trying to organize an alternative to it. Various groups were formed. The undefined vague need was best articulated by the Vinivida Foundation. Their autochthonous constitution would have clearly eradicated the venal ugly culture. But neither their party was allowed to be registered nor was Nagananda allowed to contest the presidential election. All the 225 in the parliament were frightened of him and stopped him in his tracks. But his thinking was a good catalyst for change. Even today and by the very people who were against him, his emphasis on the sovereign authority of each citizen (paramadipathya) is mouthed. Willy nilly they are forced to mouth it to look like they are relevant.

Secondly, the aftermath of the unimaginably tragic Easter Sunday massacre was a catalyst. The relentless search for the ultimate killer, the brains and the authority behind it, made not only Catholics but all the people keenly aware of the need for a radical change from the murderous evil culture. Five years on Malcolm Cardinal Ranjith and the CSR (Centre for Society and Religion) will not allow the search to fizzle out.

Thirdly, the queues, the cost of living and unemployment made an angry people desperate for change.

Finally, the creation of the NPP, a concrete Grand Alliance of Good People, with a broad, all-inclusive vision, kicked off a chain reaction to the present ugly heartless governance.

The Catharsis

The year 2022 will be remembered for a long time to come and will be added into the history books of Sri Lanka. The pent-up frustrations, anger and the urgently felt need for a better country boiled over and the now famous “Aragalaya” was the catharsis that defined the new Sri Lankan politics and culture. The evil men, the Rajapaksa clan was thrown out literally symbolizing the cleansing of our beautiful country. The catharsis took place. The Aragalaya gave the country a vision of a united people in search of good governance and good living. The NPP is still riding the crest of the Aragalaya wave, making their own the values that emerged in the Gotagogama: Nirpakshikatwaya, Nirprachandathwaya and Aadaraya. The 9^th became a defining date of the Aragalaya months from March to July. No politics nor, in fact, economics or social behavior can be done hereafter in Sri Lanka without reference to the Aragalaya and the values that emerged from it.

The Way Forward

The NPP dream of a cultural revolution, the renascence of a whole country and all its people is not easy, but it need not remain a dream for it is the dream of all the good, thinking and sensitive people of the country. I think Shakespear, as usual, hit the nail on the head when he said: “There is a tide in the affairs of men, Which, taken at the flood, leads on to fortune. Omitted, all the voyage of their life is bound in shallows and in miseries. On such a full sea are we now afloat. And we must take the current when it serves, or lose our ventures.” The NPP seems to be quite aware of – On such a full sea are we now afloat.

As AKD repeatedly says – This is not the work or the responsibility of one man or even of a group like the NPP. The youth, the majority of them, will take to this exercise like ducks to water. But the seniors, many of them who have been acclimatized to the corruption of Pohottuwa venality will find it difficult, but not impossible, to make the change. For AKD challenges the seniors to their face telling them how they elected convicted murderers (Choka malli), ‘Kappan” thugs (Prasanna Ranatunga) and train chain-snatchers (Rohitha Abeygunawardana) to the parliament. There is something wrong with people, especially the seniors, who could elect such muck to the supreme assembly of the people. Changing the attitudes of the people is the work of all, especially of the leaders of the religions, communities and villages. We must strike our breast and say “Mea culpa”. Then positively turn towards correcting the mistakes we have made and spread the good news that we are now marching to a different drum; the drumbeat of Aragalaya and the NPP. The dream and the hope of all the good people.

The Hope and the Dream.

There are three things in a human being that never stops from the birth to the last moment; heartbeat, breathing and hope. Like the heartbeat and breath there is no life without hope. This year is the Year of Hope. We are going to change this failed fallen and humiliated country. We shall change it to the one we always dreamed. A completely new country with people who have new values and attitudes diametrically opposed to the values and attitudes of the present ugly rotten regime. We hope for a complete upheaval politically, culturally, socially and economically where the least and the last will have their dignity secured and will live without fear of facing the next day. It will be a sort of cultural revolution, a system change, in fact, a paradigm shift; certainly not easy but there is no other option either.

Aragalayata Jayawewa!