The rapine of the republic
View(s):Yes, dear. It is just the type of piece you don’t quite appreciate interrupting your peace and quiet. Shortens the long weekend. That it does. However, it’s your republic, too. Perhaps you could and should care a lot more than you normally would – if you only saw the other side of it.
I do understand. You’d rather not see, hear, or speak. There’s a nice little drawing that illustrates this sorry state of affairs in any democracy. It’s called the Three Grave Monkeys. No see! No hear! No speak! But trees are falling soundlessly in our forest. Workers overseas are beheaded for the crime of being underage when ‘exported’; overenthusiastic about job offers made by unscrupulous agencies; and ill-advised by their ministering angels on what their pot-of-gold-at-the-end-of-the-rainbow job offer really entails. Women are being abducted and abused in broad daylight with no one to hear their screams. And the fairer sex is not all that is being raped in our fair land today.
We won’t go into the politics of it. You know as well as I do that something is rotten in the state when branches of government who really should behave better in the national interest arm-wrestle, get major twigs lopped off, and are thrown into the rubbish heap… or worse, the fire… where their worm does not go out forever. Read all about it, ye angels, and weep… even if you have to trawl the darkest, deepest, recesses of the web to get the gen – simply because the newspapers will no longer publish all the commentary that’s fit to read. Point is, unlike other polities who once claimed ignorance when the diabolical acts of their respective regimes were exposed, we Sri Lankans cannot claim indemnity of the usual kind. We were not merely following orders. We are led willingly like lambs to the slaughter. We feast with panthers of our own volition.
Is this dark enough? Or deep enough? Wait… Don’t go! Every silver lining has a cloud and vice versa. Can we please discuss the res and the rest of it like civilised human beings…
Let’s talk about liberty. There’s a lot of it going about these days. The executive takes liberties with the judiciary. The judiciary once took liberties with, er, aspects of the economy. The legislature has been taking liberties vis-à-vis the will of the people for far too long now to go unnoticed and under-protested. Every time our national independence day rolls around like some military juggernaut, there are far too many republicans for my liking crying, “O freedom, what liberties are taken in thy name…”
Let’s talk about independence. When was the last time you observed a business chamber, professional body, or academic institution take an independent stance and make an independent statement on the state of the nation and the plight of our people? Enough said… The rest is – as it has been for a while – silence.
Let’s talk about freedom. The cynosure in this respect is still the media. The supreme law may be shackled, parliament in thrall to the purple toga, and country ruled by a kitchen claque in which all the goodies in the cupboard come from one clique. But so long as facts are sacred and comment free, and scribes like me are still permitted to say our piece and not pay a high price, I will maintain that there is media freedom. So precious, this peace; so rare, this rapidly dwindling resource; so important to protect and safeguard its champions, practitioners, and advocates.
Now don’t get me wrong, dears. I’m no unpatriotic party-pooper or international conspirator. I was born here, bred here, bled here. And I love Sri Lanka, “a land like no other”, like no other can, will, or shall – simply because we love our motherland like we love our mothers… in quite unique ways… to each their own. In addition, I will be always grateful to the incumbent administration for ridding us all of the spectre of terrorism in their inimitable manner. Plus the perks and privileges of office do eventually filter down to the periphery. So given time, and in due course, I have no doubt that we will all have better roads; nice open spaces to walk in and wonder at; and the peace that passes all understanding.
In the meantime, I can point to plenty of other citizens in our dream land who are clamouring for better housing, better employment, better education, better justice; more grace and mercy for dissenters and dissidents, more tolerance and equality and acceptance for the cultural, social, and ethnic other; less crime, less corruption, less crippling cost-of-living; higher wages, lower redundancy; higher standard-of-living, happier quality-of-life; healthier attitudes to law-enforcement, life, liberty, and the pursuit of wealth, power, glory, fame, etc. which do not compromise the lives of our people and tarnish our reputation as a blessed isle…
Too much to ask? I don’t think so! And until we look like we have a decent chance at it, I’m off for a tad bit more of fasting and prayer at a little lamentation down the road…
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