National Day celebrations were rushed through this week almost like an afterthought.
Held at short notice, the powers-that-be must have waited till the uncertainty of the Presidential Election was over. Many got their invitations for the event on the morning of the celebrations in Kandy.
Would it not have been great if the event had been held this year in Jaffna, in recognition of the fact that we were after so many years of strife, able to celebrate as one country? Maybe, next year.
This week's celebrations took place in the backdrop of a bitterly-contested Presidential Election and the subsequent accusations of vote-rigging.
The Elections Commissioner came out to say that the election was perfectly in order, by a happy coincidence on the same day that the Joint Opposition held a protest rally in Colombo to complain that the election was rigged.
The Opposition had shown the Elections Office some marked ballot papers it claimed to have found partly burnt. In a wishy-washy explanation the Commissioner promised to "look into the matter" while issuing a second certificate that the poll was fair. And, having only the other day said that he wished to retire from office, announced that he, rest assured, would be there for the next election as well.
What is baffling, as baffling can be, is his hitherto uncontradicted statement that the Joint Opposition also wants him to continue.
While in many ways, the conduct of this Government is beyond comprehension, often the conduct of the Opposition is beyond redemption.
Its by-the-way excuse for boycotting National Day celebrations in Kandy is a case in point.
The United National Party (UNP) General Secretary was quoted giving the reason for the party's boycott as the "harassment" of supporters of the common Opposition Presidential candidate.
Independence back in 1948 was won on behalf of the people of this country largely by leaders who were in the UNP. The party is proud to make this claim. The "harassment" excuse pales into insignificance when considering the significance of February 4 in the history of this country.
One might have had a degree of sympathy had the Opposition taken up the position that the Presidential election was rigged and the legitimacy of the Head of State and Head of Government to take the salute on behalf of the nation was in question; but the opposition could have complained while complying. National Day is not to be diluted to a parochial political function.
Speaking at the celebrations, the President called for unity, as he often does. Quoting Independent Lanka's first Prime Minister D.S. Senanayake, he said, "The meaning of freedom is to curtail sorrows and enhance happiness." The President's intentions may be well-meaning, but clearly he has miles to go before he can rest.
Some of what he says sounds so empty in the face of the grim reality of what we see in Sri Lanka today. For instance, his grand call to rid the country of corruption must not become a national joke.
We now proceed in the next few weeks to the next election, the Parliamentary General Election.
There is general consensus that the existing electoral process leaves much to be desired; that the PR (proportional representation) system introduced 20 years ago has thrown up some scoundrels as representatives of the people, both at national and provincial level.
The PR system has its merits in that it gives political parties a fair nation-wide representation; the old (British/Indian) system had an imbalance in representation because a party can win most seats by very small margins and still end up having a 2/3rd of Parliament in its bag - leaving out representation for as many as 40% of the voting population.
The German model of half the new Parliament under the PR system, and the other half on the old-system, has been much talked about, and nothing else.
The Election Commissioner was to remark this week that there are no gentlemen left in politics today.
There is more than an element of truth in that, but then again, who stamped the rubber-seal of approval on all the fraudulent elections that have taken place all these recent years. Who said that the Wayamba provincial election of 1998 was "successfully conducted" and certified the winner when the result was daylight robbery of the people's franchise?
Moaning and groaning about one's personal difficulties while issuing certificates that these elections were "successfully conducted" will get this country nowhere.
The last Parliament failed the people in its duty to reform the electoral system for which there was some consensus among the political parties represented in the legislature. There was neither the political will nor the inclination to do so. They wanted the status quo to remain; the same system that breeds inter-party and intra-party hatred and back-stabbing; the same system that throws up some of society's dregs into the country's apex chamber.
Sri Lanka is probably not alone in this decline. The British public, for instance, have got to know what level of scum they have elected to their Parliament. But at least there are efforts at rectifying this downward trend.
Political parties will now be engaged in the selection of their candidates for the forthcoming election. Today's winners must have the three basics; 1) money bags 2) thugs 3) the state machinery or some other means to bulldoze their way to office.
As we have often said, political parties are the biggest bribe-takers in the country under the euphemism of 'party contributions', and the prospective law-makers, the biggest law-breakers.
And so, onto the next election to elect our representatives! |
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