By Arun Kumaresan –
Arun Kumaresan – Air Vice Marshal (Ret’d)
The only thing strong enough to tear apart Sri Lanka is Sri Lanka itself and we have seen it starting but now it is up to us to stop it. That’s what the crisis is all about that engulfed us, post 26th October. It’s time to wake up from the deep slumber; we are in. May we ask ourselves; who is in the entrance of the hell? As now it is all of us. This is Sri Lanka and we Srilankans deserve very much better as citizens who have cherished and enjoyed a functional democracy spanning over 70years.
This is not about Maithripala Sirisena, Ranil Wickremesinghe, Mahinda Rajappaksa nor UNP. SLFP, SLPP etc etc. Neither, it is about Sinhalese, Tamils, Muslims Burgers etc etc nor Buddhists, Hindus, Christian & Islamic faithfuls, Non conformists, Atheists, LGBTQs, Bramachariyas etc etc
This is a battle for the soul of Sri Lanka to preach the need for our political leaders to promote decency and act with moral integrity. There is an urgent need for all of us to come forward in unison to reset the moral compass of our nation and we have to do that; both now, immediately and urgently.
We need Srilankans, who are authentic, who don’t bully or belittle other people, who treat people with dignity and respect and who simply tells the truth to come together. Truth is truth & it is nothing but truth. Honesty is honesty & it is nothing but honesty. Morality has a well defined line between the ‘right’ and ‘wrong’. That threshold does not shift due to our legitimate passions to our race, religions, political ideology or any beliefs. Morality does not have special preferences, liking or dislike for any of the above
The forces of hate and terror have descended on our political scene, going after people for their political belief, the race one belong or their religion. We Sri Lankans, have to recognize that words matter; hate and terror divide us. Sri Lanka is so much better than this. Yes, we are so much better than this. We know that sometimes it feels like these days like anger and hatred and viciousness overwhelms us. Unfortunately, our leaders who have to set the tone and dial down the temperature, restore some dignity to our national dialogue of good governance (yahapanaya) are now acting in opposite. That is disgraceful. It is up to us -we the Srilankans; each and everyone one of us who have the power to change to join together and resolve to challenge our leaders acting in contempt and deceit.
Yes, we are never going to be able to eliminate the bigots, political mafias and cults; but we should rise to challenge them without allowing them to hold us in ransom. They’ll continue to be vocal, but may we who believe in morality make one thing absolutely clear that we shall make them smaller and smaller minority. This nation has to change and we should make that change to happen.
Be optimistic and time has come to act now and act fast to reset the MORAL COMPASS of SRI LANKA. ( Courtesy;thoughts of Joe Biden; former US Vice President)
Ajith / November 10, 2018
I agree 100% with the author. It is time for People to command and get rid of all those ills we had for past seven decades. Enough is enough. We need complete change. We should stop all those illegal practices. We have the power to destroy those evils. People Power. We need to set the rules and conditions on them. We do not allow them set rules on us. Nationwide liberation struggle should start.
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Native Vedda / November 10, 2018
Arun Kumaresan
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“Yes, we are never going to be able to eliminate the bigots, political mafias and cults; but we should rise to challenge them without allowing them to hold us in ransom.”
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They are indeed a noisy minority.
As long as the voters are naive, who are usually persuaded by lies, myths, expectations (unfulfilled for decades), blind loyalty to a party or person, …………. nothing will change. Same old crooks, bigots, racists and war criminals have been elected by the voters, resulting in more of the same.
The voters cannot see beyond the racial divide.
MR commands great deal of support (despite his clan’s violations of every law and human decency), not because he concluded the war against LTTE but because he taught a lesson to Demelas, a lesson they will never forget for another 2500 years.
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He will continue to enjoy support even from the so called educated, ……………….simply because the people/voters who support him, being Sri Lankies cannot see beyond their nose.
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kolla / November 10, 2018
What is wrong in a general election ?
Is a Parliament(UNP) elected 4 years ago, the UNP which lost the last Provincial elections ( February 2018) country wide so badly, the UNP leader who has been rejected by the voter more than 20 times, morally superior !
This is nonsense. The 19 amendment was drafted by a sitting UNP MP.As to expected from a half baked UNP man,the amendment is full of contradictions and confusions
Asking the voter is the most democratic thing to do.Go for a General Election !
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Arun / November 10, 2018
As per the rule book ; if one chucks whilst bowling and takes a wicket ; it is deemed not out. Here too there is a rule book ( constitution ), which set out the criterion on how and when to go for an election. When that is not followed the life of the parliament remains – NOT OUT. We should earn to play the game as per the constituion.
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rbh / November 11, 2018
Mr. Arun
All Are playing book cricket they own constitution adopted It’s the right to make the wrong choice, Cricket in stadium has reference if out is given and correction in time of error
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Ajith / November 10, 2018
Kolla,
First of all try to tell the facts right. The February election is not provincial election. it is local government elections. In this election, SLFP did very badly compared to UNP. SLPP is not SLFP. IF you use the same argument. President should go first and Presidential election should happen first. Which is more democratic?
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chiv / November 10, 2018
Arun in my opinion Lankans have had more than enough chances to correct the moral compass which they conveniently ignored for known reasons. Just like our politicians we have 45% deplorable people who not only treat them as demigod but fully agree with their devious agendas in screwing the country. The rest are caught up in apathy, selfishness, jealousy and resentment. Lankans have had only Senanayakas, Bandas, JR/RW and rajapaksas to pick since independence. That goes to show where the moral compass is set within our people.Changing leaders without a change in mindset of citizens will not solve the malady.Look at the midterm results in US. People did not get carried away with Trump just because they have more money or employment. They clearly rejected him for dividing the country based race,religion,sex among many others.During the economic recession they picked Obama (first black) who helped with the recovery which would have been otherwise impossible.
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Theja Cooray / November 10, 2018
Fully agree with the author.
Time to get rid of all 225 disgraced criminals of the last Parliament & get a completely new set of politicians to turn the country around .
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K.Pillai / November 10, 2018
It took us seventy years to realise that the magnetic compass is not working properly. Explains our drift. Are we are at the bottom of the world? The icebergs are melting fast and quite a part of Lanka may be under a meter of salt water.
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Our politicians created a ‘divide’ and then exploited this to enhance their wealth.
The silver lining is the dawn of the line of thought “We have to reset our moral compass”. Enough is enough.
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Unfortunately we are in a situation where we are left with only bad leaders to choose from. For a start let us choose the better baddy.
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Hadeniya / November 11, 2018
While agreeing with the writer that moral standards are the root of the problem, the fundamental challenge will be for the country to first appreciate how far morals have declined and for how long. Corruption has become so widespread throughout society. There is a role for the country’s religious and educational leaders to take the initiative starting with the younger generations.
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