{"id":107644,"date":"2013-09-26T01:38:17","date_gmt":"2013-09-25T20:08:17","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/?p=107644"},"modified":"2013-09-30T20:18:12","modified_gmt":"2013-09-30T14:48:12","slug":"of-aspirations-referenda-and-realities","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/of-aspirations-referenda-and-realities\/","title":{"rendered":"Of Aspirations, Referenda And Realities"},"content":{"rendered":"

By Malinda Seneviratne<\/a><\/span> –<\/strong><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>

Malinda Seneviratne<\/p><\/div>\n

Politicians and political parties don\u2019t go before the people with a single promise, they offer bags of goodies.\u00a0 Voters don\u2019t think collectively. Some vote for one promise, others for another.\u00a0 Typically, also, they vote for one thing and get something that was not promised nor envisaged.\u00a0 And then there\u2019s the \u2018by default\u2019 factor that dominates voter thinking; people vote against parties and candidates and they often go for lesser evils.\u00a0 Consequently, we get winners and losers, with the former manufacturing \u2018mandate\u2019 according to whim and fancy.\u00a0 So it has been and so it will be, be it local government elections, provincial elections or major national elections.<\/p>\n

The focus, naturally, will be on the Northern Provincial Council Elections, being held for the first time.\u00a0 Given that this is the second time that the Tamil National Alliance goes before the people of the province, the results could be read in terms of gains and losses.\u00a0 More importantly, this election will be colored also by TNA rhetoric which includes the resurrection of the chauvinistic Vadukkoddai Resolution<\/a><\/span> that painted the unattainable as possible spurring Tamil youth to armed insurrection.\u00a0 It also all but buried any faith the Sinhalese may have had in Tamil parties like the TULF as decent, reasonable and honest partners in discussions on grievances and aspirations.<\/p>\n

For these reasons, a landslide win for the TNA will be read as a vote for Eelam by that party and other intent on carving a separate state as well as spoilers who desire political instability in Sri Lanka.\u00a0 A lesser result would be read by those opposed to the TNA as evidence of a divided Tamil polity.<\/p>\n

A TNA win, even by a small margin, can and will be read as a verdict on the Government\u2019s post-conflict strategy. The Government could respond (to a defeat even by a large margin) as indicative of how deep seated Tamil chauvinism really is or call it \u2018international conspiracy\u2019; few would purchase the latter though.\u00a0 There will be a blame-game too in such an eventuality with Douglas Devananda<\/a><\/span> emerging as the Fall Guy, not without reason.\u00a0 He was, after all, an \u2018investment\u2019 that did not deliver.\u00a0 His head could roll.<\/p>\n

How the TNA defines \u2018mandate\u2019 post-election is left to be season.\u00a0 How the TNA reads result will have to wait.\u00a0 Who got in and by what margin will tell a story of relative strengths of the constituent parties of the TNA.\u00a0 It may also indicate the importance or otherwise of other factors such as caste.\u00a0 There could be post-election crossovers; we have seen after all how \u2018that\u2019 exacted an outcome that was not expected the moment the results were released in the case of the Eastern Provincial Council.\u00a0 There will also be comment on the performance of the UNP, JVP and the DNA.\u00a0 Voter turnout will be factored in and interpreted.<\/p>\n

One thing is assured. Everyone will claim victory of one kind or another.\u00a0 One thing is clear.\u00a0 The Government has scored one victory: after liberating the Tamil people (many of whom would vote against the UPFA) from the tyranny of the LTTE, after releasing some 12000 or more terrorists subsequent to rehabilitation, after re-settling close to 300,000 IDPs, it has held an election for these very same people to elect the representatives of their choice.\u00a0 There\u2019s nothing even close by way of equivalent anywhere in the world.\u00a0 Granted that the UPFA\u2019s election campaign amounts to gloss-removal and conceding that the decision to hold elections may have been prompted by other pressures and not love for democracy, the fact of holding an election needs to be acknowledged and applauded.<\/p>\n

What of the people, though?\u00a0 As in any other election, post-election is about kings (electors) being enslaved to the interpretations of the crowned (elected) as well as the grandmasters of political commentary whose principal edge is the ability to turn molehill into mountain and vice versa.\u00a0 The Northern Province, whatever the breakdown, will become or rather continue to be the political football that the rest of the country has been, for rulers, would-be rulers and king-makers both local and international.\u00a0 There will be flag waving and hurrahs, debating points and finger-pointing, pandering to the lowest common denominator too.\u00a0 In the end, all that will count is what tangible benefits accrue to the voters.<\/p>\n

Let the winners have their moment, as they very well deserve all things considered.\u00a0 Let them re-define mandate as per ideological predilection and political convenience as they probably will.\u00a0 But let them all, winners and losers, ask themselves once in a while \u2018What have I done and what has my party done to make life better for the people?\u2019<\/p>\n

There are no child-abductions in the Northern Province. No cyanide capsules. No landmines.\u00a0 No restriction on livelihoods (except by Indian poachers). Troop withdrawal and removal of Army Camps has been slow but nevertheless steady.\u00a0 There is electricity. There will be trains that go beyond Killinochchi.<\/p>\n

Let us hope things get better and opportunities for betterment not squandered on the altars of pride, ego, deception, myth-mongering and one-upmanship.<\/p>\n

*Malinda Seneviratne is the Chief Editor of \u2018The Nation\u2019\u00a0and his articles can be found at\u00a0www.malindawords.blogspot.com<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

[…]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":22,"featured_media":105560,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[3,46,8],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-107644","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-colombotelegraph","category-constitutional-reforms","category-editorial"],"yoast_head":"\nOf Aspirations, Referenda And Realities - Colombo Telegraph<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/of-aspirations-referenda-and-realities\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Of Aspirations, Referenda And Realities - Colombo Telegraph\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"[…]\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/of-aspirations-referenda-and-realities\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Colombo Telegraph\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2013-09-25T20:08:17+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2013-09-30T14:48:12+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/09\/Malinda-Seneviratne-150x150.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"130\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"135\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"COLOMBO TELEGRAPH\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"COLOMBO TELEGRAPH\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"4 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/of-aspirations-referenda-and-realities\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/of-aspirations-referenda-and-realities\/\",\"name\":\"Of Aspirations, Referenda And Realities - 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