Columns

It was Karl Marx who famously said in the Eighteenth Brumaire of Louis Napoleon that history repeats itself first as tragedy and then as farce. Even a cursory look at Sri Lanka’s political scene in the last couple of years shows that Marx was correct. Never has the country’s politics degenerated into an utter farce in such a short time.

Sri Lanka, despite all the highfalutin phrases that politicians used to describetheir new method and style ofgovernance,has increasing become ungovernable as the yahalapana promised four years ago turned into nopalanaya in one month or so.

Never in the country’s post-independence history has Ceylon/Sri Lanka ever faced such gridlock as has happened in the last few weeks turning this wonder of Asia into a comedy of errors.

Now the country’s legislature has been turned into a battle ground with anything that is moveable being hurled at The Speaker and the two sides, both claiming to be the legitimate government throwing abuse and fists believing that pugilistic prowess is the answer to the prevailing chaos.
It was President Sirisena’s precipitous and ill-advised conduct (and unconstitutional some claim) that let slip the dogs of war turning Sri Lanka into an international disgrace.

It was said some time back that President Sirisena had once been shortlisted for a Nobel Prize, probably the Peace Prize. It seems the Nobel Prize committee had recovered from the faux pas it made when it awarded the prize to President Barak Obama even before he could do anything that would deserve turning Obama into a Nobel laureate.

Somebody must have beaten some sense into the collective heads of that committee for nothing was heard about Sirisena’s nomination. Readers might recall how the committee and thousands of others were misled by the saintly appearance of Myanmar’s Aung San Suu Kyi who had launched a non-violent struggle for democracy and human rights and was awarded the Peace Prize in 1991.

Today those same persons who once hailed her as a champion of democracy and confronted the military junta that ruled Myanmar have dismissed Suu Kyi for aiding and abetting the military men and the un-buddhistic Buddhist monks responsible for instigating others to kill and maim the minorityRohingya people.
The one time heroine is today a pariah in the eyes of the world that was deceived by Suu Kyi whose hunger for power has overcome the principles she supposedly stood for earning the respect of people near and far.

The moral of the story is that if you swallow what politicians tell you then do so with a large dose of Epsom salt.
Sri Lanka might not have made its way into the long list of Nobel laureates. But then it has surely found a place in the Guinness Book of Records. The record that allowed Sri Lanka to stamp its name there is the kind of politics that Marx would have labelled farce.

Throw your mind back to the heady days of 2015 when a “rainbow coalition” set out to topple then president Mahinda Rajapaksa and a clutch of family members and associates. And the man they chose to challenge the leader was one of the president’s own colleagues who only a few days earlier had dined with him.
One of the principal parties that threw its weight behind Sirisena was the UNP led by RanilWickremesinghe. There is no point mourning today that Wickremesinghe was made prime minister when he had less than 50 party members in parliament.

Wickremesinghe’s appointment as prime minister was not the result of Sirisena’s large heartedness. It was a quid pro quo for the UNP’s substantial support for Sirisena without which Rajapaksa’s opponent would never have made it to the top, promising to turn his back on the presidency after a single term.
One does not have to remind the Sri Lankan people of the welter of promises that Sirisena made on election platforms while castigating the Rajapaksa government, pledging to dismantle the centres of corruption and to bring the corrupt to justice.

Given the ideological, policy and cultural differences between the UNP leadership and the Sirisena-led SLFP one suspected that fissures would appear before too long. It was after all a marriage of convenience, not a marriage of true minds.

While political pundits and a cabal of constitutional panjandrums are busy trying to unravel the mysteries of our basic law, making confusion even more confounded, the populace watches our leaders engage in rhetorical battle with diminishing sympathy for those they sent to the legislature.

Sri Lanka is not the only country in the world confronting crises that threaten to tear society apart. Here in the UK, Prime Minister Theresa May is fighting on two fronts over her plan for Britain’s withdrawal from the European Union.One day last week two more of her cabinet ministers resigned over disagreement with May’s negotiated plan for ending the relationship with the EU.

As I write this I am also watching the David Dimblebyprogramme “Question Time”. The first question fired at the panel of politicians and press was how long they thought Prime Minister May would last as Tory prime minister.

“Till this time tomorrow,” one panellistassertedconfidently while others had other ideas.
At least the British people and their representatives in parliament know who their prime minister is and which government is in power. The same cannot be said of Sri Lanka. We have the luxury of two leaders both claiming to be prime ministers though one was sacked by the president he helped instal in office and another appointed by the same president who in a previous avatar had denounced the leader he just made prime minister.

Sri Lanka now has not only two prime ministers but also two governments and multiple ministers and probably two ministers claiming salaries and perks for the same job.

In the meantime public officials are looking to the left and right not knowing whom they should serve, if they serve anyone at all.
Take one case which exemplifies the utter chaos that prevails. Last week the media carried a news item that KapilaChandrasena a former CEO of SriLankan Airlines was appointed the airline’s chairman. Chandrasena was severely condemned by the Weliamunaboard of inquiry into Srilankan shortly after the yahapalana government came to power. The inquiry even said Chandrasena and the airline’s then chairman should be charged for several acts that cost the loss-making airline more losses etc.

An ongoing Presidential Commission into SriLankan Airlines and Mihin Lanka is hearing evidence under oath from senior employees of SriLankan which once again exposes dubious dealings of Chandrasena.

While this is going on, the new government that the President installed appointed the same Chandrasena who according to evidence before the commission has violated numerous rules and regulations while he was CEO, had now been appointed chairman of the same airline.
This must have shocked the aviation and tourism industry for the next day another individual was appointed chairman. As though this comedy was not enough to generate a good laugh, a day or so later still another person was named as chairman.

So this loss-making airline has had three chairmen in three days. The compilers of the Guinness Book of Records must be having their eyes peeled on Sri Lanka where records are tumbling by the day. The question is who is the dolt who first named Chandrasena as chairman? Is it the same person who made the subsequent appointments? Or are there more dolts in positions of importance such as the cabinet?

That is not all. The country’s legislature has been turned into a three-ringed circus. Unfortunately the public has been shut out of the galleries. Otherwise this is the place to visit to watch daily spectacles.

Let us admit it. Our own daily spectacles might not provide the grand drama of Roman gladiatorialcontests in times of peace. But seeing some people’s representatives receiving a blow or two must surely warm the cockles of the hearts voters who would like to do the same to their representatives but cannot.

But if the Treasury likes to make some money by selling entrance tickets to watch such pugilistic mayhem there would surely be queues forming outside to witness the Sri Lanka spectacles, never mind who is at the receiving end of the punches.

When the House of Commons meets to take a vote on the Brexit plan there will doubtless be acrimonious exchanges and back stabbings as some vote against their own party leader.

But all this is done in civilized ways and without money changing hands along with allegiance. Some months ago MPs adopted a Code of Conduct that was intended to bring discipline and respectability to the elected.

Obviously that was a futile exercise. It might be useful if candidates seeking election prove their ability to read and write. This might not stop the fisticuffs. But at least they will be able to read the code of conduct, not that it will do much good.