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Will Lanka answer the trumpet call or swallow the betel juice mocktail?
View(s):Tomorrow morning we will awake to perform a task that goes beyond the call of duty. We, the sovereign people of Lanka, will be called upon to decide the nation’s future. But unlike elections past, tomorrow’s general election will be momentous.
We shall not be engaged in merely voting into Parliament a group of 225-members to serve as our representatives for a term of six years. Nay, our actions will have far greater impact than that and the consequences will be far more lasting. What is at stake is the long term future of Lanka itself. Upon our decision will rest the fate of this nation and her future existence as the thrice blessed isle of our dreams and hopes or as the god forsaken land of our nightmares and terrors.
Though the duty is profound, the issue is simple. For the past 38 years no visibly coloured line has marked the divide of the political philosophies of the two main parties. Thus we are not being asked to decide between capitalism and socialism. As a result the economic policies of either party have more or less been the same.
Apart from the plethora of promises made in the respective manifestoes of both parties no compelling reasons exist to choose one instead of the other.
Except for one issue that dominates each public debate and monopolises every private discussion and must bear gravely on the crucial decision we must make: The issue of corruption.
The question is whether we will stay steadfast in our determination to cleanse the hallowed House of the People’s Representatives of the soot and grime that had blackened its walls for so long; and clear the murky air of the odious decadence that had fogged its environs? If we are so resolute in our purpose, the time has arrived to act; for tomorrow we will have in our hands real power coming through the ballot of the franchise to forge from the prevalent chaos a New Order based on justice, equality and transparency as a vital element of good governance.
Such an opportunity to transform a nation, to lift it from the sewers and place it once more on pristine ground for the citizenry to walk in dignity and tread with pride seldom knocks on a people’s door twice; and if we don’t heed the deafening bang now we may never hear it again.
By voting for the tainted we shall be giving three hearty cheers and full consent to institutionalise corruption in Parliament as a permanent embodiment of grotesque aspirations. We will be letting the gangrene of corruption set in further and doom Lanka and thus unknowingly but inevitably doom ourselves in the end.
At every rally, at every press conference, at every media interview the stock defence is parroted that a man is innocent until proven guilty by a competent court. It has also been used to justify the grant of nomination to those tainted with corruption on the basis that they have not been convicted.
But do we really need convictions as the only acceptable proof of their guilt to deny these wretches our valued vote?
When we know the paltry pecuniary status of some of the members presently contesting; how they came without the wherewithal to even afford a decent pair of shoes and now find them owning palatial houses, owners of properties in high priced fancy Colombo areas, sending their children to the US for foreign education; and when we know that all this multimillionaire lifestyles are not possible on a ministerial or MP’s salary and no explanation is forthcoming as to how this sudden massive wealth was accumulated, what possible conclusions can we but draw than that of sordid corruption?
Don’t you think that party leaders have impudently taken liberties with our intelligence and have arrogantly assumed we will vote for anyone they put forward? They still think we are the voter buffaloes they thought we were in January this year. If that’s the mentality before wining, imagine the megalomania should they triumph?
Well, tomorrow it will be our turn to show them where to get off the bus. Tomorrow when we decide who deserves our vote, we are not convicting any candidate on the basis of some allegation made and packing him off to prison. That is a matter for a judge and jury in a competent court. We are only required to judge for ourselves whether those who have so conducted themselves in a manner that has invited such a barrage of corruption allegations to their door, are fit and proper men and women, worthy to represent us in Parliament and decide what’s best for us.
Would we entrust our money to the known swindler down the road or our lives and our children’s lives to the notorious thug in the neighbourhood even though they haven’t still been convicted in a court of law? If we wouldn’t, then shouldn’t we also follow the same prudent policy and not vote for politicians whose corrupt reputations precede their entrance?
So what will it be? Will Lanka choose to answer the trumpet call of the elephant or swallow whole the betel juice mocktail in the proffered chalice? Whatever party we choose to vote for we should ensure that we do not vote for tainted candidates on the list, already convicted in the supreme court of our conscience. Though a few maybe comfortable having rogues and despots ruling them, they should consider whether their children and descendants will like to live in a country where perversities have been politically institutionalised, where communalism has been turned into a creed, where corruption rules the roost.
We are only caretakers of this land and when we vote we should vote bearing in mind that the consequences of our acts today will visit our heirs in the future. Or else the curses of our progeny will follow us beyond the grave.
Over six hundred thousand sacrificed their lives in the American Civil war to secure the Union of American States and safeguard the liberties and rights of the individuals, including slaves. Tomorrow we are not asked to shed blood to safeguard the revolution for just governance. Only to mark a simple cross on a ballot paper at a nearby polling booth. So let us brace ourselves to perform this simple yet profound duty wisely for our own sake, for our children’s sake and for Lanka’s sake. Let us avow that we shall not roll back the dawn.
| The Thajudeen inquiry: Better now than never Why were UPFA’s Dilan and Gamman hell bent on keeping evidence buried?Why on earth was UPFA’s national list candidate Dilan Perera so incensed over the body of 28 year old former Thomian ruggerite Wasim Thajudeen being exhumed by the police on a court order to help them to investigate further and determine whether his tragic death was an accident as it was made out to be or whether it was murder in the first degree as it had been long suspected for the last three years?  DILAN PERERA: Tearing his hair out over exhumation What in heaven’s name moved him to take up arms against the Government and, short of issuing a fatwa, inveigh against them purportedly on behalf of not only the Muslims but also on behalf of the victim’s family for desecrating the grave of a Muslim. At a news conference held last Saturday at the SLFP headquarters he declared, “This is being done against the wishes of the family members. They are crying and imploring the government not to do this. They say it is against their religion. They say that it is an act of ‘haram’. They say, ‘Don’t exhume the body, we have no suspicions.’ Mr. Perera is no longer seeking his Badulla voters’ mandate again having lost his own Hali-ela electorate for the UPFA twice, once in last year’s Uva provincial elections and the other in this year’s presidential election. It was only due to his grovelling loyalty to his demi god Mahinda Rajapaksa that he earned the dubious honour of been included in the UPFA National List: the last resort of all politicians who have lost the confidence of their voters and fight shy of braving the hustings for the humiliation defeat will bring. Thus, unlike his other UPFA colleagues who are presently busy canvassing in their electorates, it seems that Dilan Perera has a lot of free time on his hands and can well afford to spend the long drawn hours of his languid day protesting against supposed violations of Islamic laws. In the circumstances it may have been reasonable for one to have assumed that he had volunteered to canvass the victim’s family cause and espouse their grief and protest. Alas, for his bad luck and ill timing, his supposed right to speak on behalf of the family of the victim and the Muslim community as a whole and his interpretation of the Islamic laws, together with his motives has been called into question.  GAMMANPILA: Plays Sherlock and calls it accident Thus the mystery as to whose interest he truly represented and why he nearly tore his hair out at Saturday’s conference over raising the victim’s remains from the grave deepened further when the victim’s family lawyer Mr Misbah Saththar issued a statement to the press on behalf of the family which was published on Monday in which he stated, “The exhumation of Wasim Thajudeen’s body is done in accordance with the appeal made by the family to see justice to his untimely demise.” Apart from putting paid to Dilan Perera’s claim that the family were crying over police exhuming the body and were satisfied there was no suspicion as to Thajudeen’s death, the family lawyer challenged him to reveal in whose interest he was making such claims. The family lawyer Saththar declared: “I, as the person who looks after the interest of the family and appearing in the case on behalf of the family, would like to question Honourable Mr. Dilan Perera as to whose interest he is looking after, is it the Muslim community or anyone else, when he makes a statement saying that ‘Thajudeen’s family does not want to relive their grief as exhuming the body of a Muslim is an act of haram’. I would also want to question him, as to whom he spoke to, in order to make statements on behalf of the family or Islamic laws. The family is very much interested in seeing justice meted out to Wasim’s tragic death.” On Tuesday came another extraordinary announcement from another UPFA Rajapaksa die hard Udaya Gammanpila who declared with certainty that the death was definitely an accident. What had gripped UPFA provincial councillor Gammanpila to don the ‘Pink Panther’ trench coat of Inspector Cloueseau over his purer than white national garb and boldly assert that Thajudeen’s death was an accident and not a murder also remains a mystery.
Apparently the airport bound witness had been in a mighty rush to catch his plane that he had not bothered even to stop and inquire whether any assistance was required but had sped by in the dark of night having only had a mere fleeting glimpse of a car that had crashed into a wall. But the question is was the car purposely crashed? That is what the CID officers are trying to determine especially after Thajudeen’s wallet had been found 150 yards away from the crash. That is why it was necessary to exhume the body to see whether the injuries sustained were the result of a crash or not. As for the other witness, the 911 caller, he had only seen the flames after coming out to the road to determine the cause of the sound. No one is disputing that the car burnt. The question the CID detectives are trying to determine is whether it was purposely set aflame. It is also surprising that Gammanpila, the double-crosser who betrayed Mahinda and joined Maithripala in December last year and then grovelled back to Mahinda’s feet within a week saying he had had an acute attack of conscience, should now, unasked, play Sherlock Holmes and deduce in the most elementary way, that Thajudeen’s death was an accident and not murder. The UPFA claim has been that the UNP has raised the issue of Thajudeen’s death at this time due to political reasons. But given the fact that mystery had shrouded his death and had remained unprobed for nearly three years under Rajapaksa rule, is it not far better that whatever the reasons maybe, it is probed even at this late hour than never? Had it been satisfactorily investigated by the Rajapaksa regime then, there would be no probe necessary to be done now for the UNP to make political capital of as it is claimed. Thus the Rajapaksa dominated UPFA has none to blame but themselves now. And, even if the UNP had instigated the investigation, it is the courts that ordered the exhumation. As much as the circumstances surrounding Thajudeen’s death are intriguing and people wait for police findings, isn’t it also baffling as to whose interest Dilan Perera was representing when he, against the victim’s family’s wishes, protested against the exhumation preferring instead the evidence to stay buried and the mystery of Thajudeen’s death labelled and sealed as an accident as it had remained for the last three years ever since the old Thomian’s untimely end around midnight on May 17th 2012. As Thajudeen’s sister Aisha Thajudeen said on Friday, “It took one and half years for the Judicial Medical Officer to discover the cause of death, and additional one and half years for the Government Analyst to deliver his report. Then there was no support for us. When it came up in January the case became very active, and I now have confidence in the CID. In the current political environment, and with the CID taking up the case, we know that something is going to come right.” Justice delayed may not necessarily be justice denied. For the deceased Thajudeen and his grieving family, it will certainly be justice at last. | |
Addressing a media conference, he claimed he had two eyewitnesses whose evidence could prove that Thajudeen’s death was an accident. One witness, Gammanpila said, was a person who was travelling to the Bandaranaike International Airport that night who had seen the accident while the other was one who had seen the flames when he had come out to see what had caused a loud sound. He had then called 911.
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