Lankan malady: Vote and forget!
View(s):Vote and forget’ … is how law academic and noted civil rights activist Deepika Udugama describes today’s so-called ‘civic conscious’ Sri Lankan citizen.
Mohamed Hisham, a young peace activist, put that in another perspective saying while citizens sought their right to basic needs like food, clothes, shelter and education, they were irresponsible in not acting responsibly. “I have written letters to parliamentarians on issues of national concern, even though I think it won’t work. That is my duty, my obligation as a citizen,” he says.
The two were among a group of panellists who discussed issues relating to ‘Citizens; their Rights and Responsibilities’ at the monthly meeting of the Sunday Times Business Club (STBC) on Monday. It was a Business Times (BT) poll on consumer issues relating to the recent furore over contaminated milk powder that prompted the discussion. In that poll, the majority of urban respondents said they were unaware of their rights as consumers while rural respondents said they had some knowledge.
Kandy-based Dr. Udugama’s description of the modern Sri Lankan as, ‘voting and then forgetting (no concern about what happens after that)” reflects the pathetic state of play in the country. On one side people are not aware of their rights and, even if they do, they are not exercising these rights for the betterment of society.
Both Dr. Udugama, head of the law department at the Peradeniya University and Chrishmal Warnasuriya, the youthful dynamo in the legal fraternity, spoke on the rights of citizens as enshrined in the constitution. Their key point: people are supreme in any democracy; representatives of parliament are elected to enact laws for the benefit of the people and all organs of the Government work on behalf of the people. This is the doctrine of public trust where the government and its servants are required to act on behalf of the public and is placed there for a specific period (decided by elections). “If we don’t like them (politicians), out they go,” said one speaker, reflecting on the power of the people.
Nevertheless how many Sri Lankans are aware of this doctrine? Even if they do, how many care to demand accountability from the people who represent them in parliament?
Panellists also stressed on the need for an education model where citizenship education – taught in schools in UK, Ireland, France, Spain, Finland, Norway and Indonesia is included.
Such education provides students with the knowledge, skills and understanding to become informed citizens, and be aware of their rights, duties and responsibilities.
One of the biggest issues today in the fight against, for example, corruption, is that while urban communities are concerned, it is a non-event in the village.
That is the case of any national issue. It is all to do with priorities. Villagers will fight for their rights on local issues – corruption by local politicians, unfair arrests by police or withdrawal of some agriculture subsidy. They will get onto the streets, block the roads or storm a police station if their fundamental rights have been violated.
But wider national issues like large-scale corruption, human rights violations, rising cost of living and abuse of power, don’t interest them. These are serious issues for the urban middle class and leads to discussions, symposiums, email protest campaigns, and recently, Facebook-driven protests.
However try finding solidarity on local council issues like garbage collection, more taxes but less maintenance of public utilities and infrastructure, or fighting against any unlawful arrest? There is no one to lead organised protest and action. Call it fear of the unknown, the white van calling or simple disinterest; urban residents just don’t organize together.
Thus while the urban middle class is strong on national problems and weak on local issues; the rural middle class is strong on local issues while national issues don’t matter.
Is a convergence of these two sets of views possible or will it be like Rudyard Kipling’s famous saying “Oh, East is East, and West is West, and never the twain shall meet?”
That’s why Colombo’s studious class, singing the hosannas of human rights and violation of civil liberties, are raising nary a word or a hand when age-old infrastructure is being bulldozed to make way for new development. Colombo’s beautification certainly looks nice; the Race Course has been restored to its old grandeur, the Independence Square is a great walking and jogging track and the green patch near Water’s Edge is a delightful sight. But is beautification a priority in the race for development? Does a larger segment of the population get enriched by these developments? Are urban folk raising their voices as responsible citizens should or do they belong to the “Vote and Forget” category?
For example while the Government says it is renovating the 100 year-old National Art Gallery and the John de Silva Memorial Theatre, there are concerns that it being destroyed to project the Nelum Pokuna theatre as the prima donna of Colombo theatre. The Nelum Pokuma is way out of reach and costly for many directors and struggling actors who rely on the much cheaper John de Silva theatre or the Lumbini Theatre at Havelock Town.
A group of artistes and academics on Tuesday told reporters that they feared that the only arts theater in the country is being destroyed and lamented the lack of public discussion and protests. There are also fears that the old Sri Lankan Broadcasting Corporation building, which many decades back housed the city’s mental asylum, is also lined up for demolishing.
If such happenings occurred in the village, there would have been strident opposition. Villagers won’t even allow a community centre to be destroyed without a protest.
Respect for one’s fundamental rights by the executive is one thing. But if citizens don’t even exercise their basic fundamental rights and responsibilities as provided for in the Constitution, and get out of the “vote and forget” mentality, then they have themselves to blame for a country that is fast sliding downhill on the democratic path.
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