5th Column

My dear Green Man,

I thought I should write to you because all that fuss about the big race is now over. Gota maama won quite convincingly and, although many thought that it would be a close contest, Sajith only came a distant second. It is that time when everyone is asking what the Greens should do next.

After Gota maama formed his government, you had to leave Temple Trees. Green Man, did you realise that while you are the person who has been the PM of Paradise the most number of times, five in all, you were also unable to serve even one of those terms in full. That says something, doesn’t it?

After the big race, there was even some speculation that you would try and stay on as PM until the next election because Gota maama cannot sack you. Had you tried to do so we wouldn’t have been surprised. Saner counsel seems to have prevailed and thankfully, you packed your bags and left.

Then we heard that you wanted to return to your familiar position- that of Leader of the Opposition. Since taking over that job twenty-five years ago, you have held that job for almost twenty of those twenty-five years. Who knows, you might even be the world’s longest serving Opposition Leader!

Since Sajith’s defeat, there has been a lot of finger pointing about who was to blame for the loss. It is also quite obvious that a group opposed to him- those with strong bonds, who even queried his ‘O’ level qualifications- are trying to say that he has had his chance and must now give way to others.

Having been in this game for four decades now, you must surely know that Sajith’s loss is not all his fault. In fact, most will agree that, had someone else run the race for the Greens- and there are no prizes for guessing who that would have been- they would have polled far less votes than Sajith did.

You also know better than anyone else that Sajith was not given the support that he needed. It took the threat of him contesting by himself to get him the nomination because someone else was thinking of running for a third time, despite the entire country knowing that this ‘someone’ didn’t stand a chance.

With all this in-fighting among the Greens, and Sajith’s nomination being delayed, Gota maama had a head start over him of over a month. Sajith’s campaign was reduced to about fifty days. The results suggest it wouldn’t have made a difference anyway, but it shows how disorganised the Greens are.

After Gota maama took over, we heard that there is another tussle- this time, for the job of Leader of the Opposition. We heard that you still want it desperately. Green Man, are you seriously thinking of leading the Greens until 2025, when you will be seventy-six years old, like another Mahathir?

You might say Mahinda maama is seventy-four now and has just taken his oaths, so why not you? I hope you realise, Green Man, that the two of you are like chalk and cheese. He has had the top job twice; you have run for the top job twice and lost. Dare I say it, your popularity is not the same as his.

You may also remember that, after the Greens suffered a debacle at the elections in 1970, Dudley stepped aside and allowed JR to become Leader of the Opposition, although he remained leader of the party. JR transformed the party and the rest is history, history which you can learn from, Green Man.

We have also seen the disintegration of the Blue party recently. Only its skeleton is now left, thanks to Cheerio Sirisena. Come the next general elections, the chances are that it will get wiped out in much the same that the Old Left did. The remaining few will be queuing up to join the ‘pohottuwa’ chaps.

Do you want to see the Greens also disintegrate in that manner? Already, there is talk that if you don’t allow Sajith to take over, his supporters will start their own party. That is what Mahinda maama did when Cheerio Sirisena tried to marginalise him from the Blue party- and look where they are now!

When your political journey began over forty years ago, you were among the youngest MPs in Parliament. Now, you are one of the oldest. You had some good times but you didn’t deliver when it mattered most. Sadly, your lasting contribution seems to be presiding over the downfall of the Greens.

If the Greens become irrelevant like the Blues, that will be a disaster. That is not because we like the Greens more than Blues or the ‘pohottuwa’ chaps but because, whichever party is in power, we need a strong opposition. The least you can do is to allow the Greens to become a force to be reckoned with.

To do that, the Greens need to change. That can only occur if there is a change at the top. You can be stubborn and stay put as you have done in the last twenty-five years or make way for a new leader. That will determine not only your future, but that of Paradise too. Now it is time to go, Green Man.

Yours truly,

Punchi Putha

PS- If you do retire, I hope you won’t do what Cheerio Sirisena is doing and opt to remain in politics. As you might feel quite awkward and unappreciated in Paradise after retirement, you could always seek refuge in Switzerland- just make sure that you take the officer granting you the visa with you!