Do they know it's New Year

Every year and for hundreds of years at this time of year, the majority of the people of this country have been invoking the Devas for a bountiful harvest.

It's not only in Sri Lanka but also in many other Asian countries that the traditional New Year which is linked to the agrarian economies of the past is celebrated. Many of these rituals are performed at terribly inconvenient times and sometimes taken to an extreme, often incompatible with the modern world -- but by and large, people still like to keep the traditions and customs afloat. Legitimate questions are, however, being asked -- where have all these rituals, performed according to the Punya Kalaya or the auspicious time, taken us -- especially in the past 20 years and more. The people and this country are once again in the throes of a heightened insurgency.

The LTTE has traditionally upped the ante in its terrorist campaign against the State just around this period. It refuses to allow the people of the country's two main ethnic races to freely use this time of year to exchange gifts, visits and hospitality -- something that has happened through generations past, down the ages, in peace and harmony. In times of civil strife, the focus tends to be only on divisions, but ask those of the elder generation and they will tell you nostalgically of the bonhomie that prevailed in the festive seasons past from North to South and East to West.

While the LTTE factor and the retaliation to this have been a dampener over the past two decades -- the way the people are living in the North and East -- and the number of troops on the roads in cities -- are indeed stark evidence that life must go on.

Not all things going miserably awry in this country can be placed at the door of the LTTE -- however convenient it may be to do so. While thousands throng the sacred Dalada Maligawa (Temple of the Tooth) in Kandy these few days to pay homage to the Buddha, one of the Mahanayakes or Chief Prelates of that holy site in Kandy has accused the lay custodian of the Temple of spiriting away more than 20 statues of the Buddha -- gifts from Thailand -- without the knowledge and sanction of the Chief Prelate as required by law, leave alone common courtesy. The lay custodian, no doubt, has produced an answer, but the incident amply demonstrates the degeneration of society. What, we may ask, has this got to do with the LTTE?

Some might place the blame on the 'democratisation' of the process of electing such people, with Government servants among others, given a vote and the attendant corruption of all election processes.
This, however, is the depths to which this country has sunk. Which brings us to the democratisation of the entire political process.

Rather than unite the people, our political parties have opted for the Government to sink their teeth into opposition parties in difficulties, and for opposition parties to kick a Government that has tripped and fallen. On whom is the responsibility of uniting the people? Fairly and squarely on the Government. Not merely by pick-pocketing some MPs; giving them ministerial positions and ensuring a working majority in Parliament; but doing a whole lot of more to ensure the wellbeing of all its people.

The Government will say that these must progress 'one step at a time' and that the main issue before it is the elimination of the LTTE, or to force the guerrillas by the force of arms back to the negotiating table.

Asking the people to repose such blind trust in such a call -- and to face all the hardships and dangers in the process -- must come from a Government that demonstrates a responsibility that is higher than the norm.

When you are calling upon the people to make the sacrifices that they are making now, and these are not just the people of the 'south' but the near million IDPs (Internally Displaced People) and those undergoing untold hardships in the Jaffna Peninsula, such a clarion call must come only from those such people can trust -- in defence and security/ in humanitarian relief/ in the handling of public finances/ and generally in good governance. How does the Government rate itself in these areas? Judged not by its hosanna squads, nor by its bitterest critics, but by the ordinary people.

The Government has but barely responded to months of protests that the people living in the Jaffna Peninsula were being sidelined and continue to face food and other shortages of essential items. In the East, especially in Batticaloa, the rains have flooded thousands of IDPs living in refugee camps making their already barely adequate living conditions more miserable.

This was an ideal opportunity to respond to their woes but the Government may have lost that opportunity without instituting proper relief programmes instead of flooding these places with consumer and other goods. After all, winning hearts and minds is half the battle won in any campaign against tyranny.

We would all do well to remember it's New Year for them too.