5th Column

My dear Maco, Professor Hoole and Nalin,

I thought I must write to you this week as there appears to be a lot of discussion about the general election and what you are doing about it, what with different people trotting out different arguments, some wanting it held as soon as possible and others wanting it postponed for as long as possible.

First though, I think we need to thank you for deciding to postpone the election which was scheduled for late April. Had we gone ahead with that election, we would have topped the 1000-mark with corona virus infections with several hundred deaths. Your decision helped prevent such a disaster.

Of course, there was the correspondence before that, between you, Maco, and Gota maama. Maco wanted him to ask the big court for an opinion. Gota maama told you categorically that he wouldn’t do that. He said it was your job to fix a date for the election and he wouldn’t interfere with that.

So, you went ahead and decided on a date in June. I am not sure whether Gota maama will be pleased with that. He – and Mahinda maama, even more than him – want that two-thirds majority desperately, and they know the best way to get that would be to have the elections as soon as possible.

Dear Maco, Professor and Nalin, we know that in the next few days you will again have to decide about the date of the election – and whether it can be held in June. We also know that there is a lot of pressure on you to hold an election so that a ‘constitutional crisis’ can be avoided.

This week, those in the opposition tried writing a letter to Gota maama and they got the same reply that you did, Maco. Gota maama told them that the opposition was trying to use the coronavirus as an excuse to postpone elections and that there was no ‘emergency situation’ in the country.

It is true that the opposition, which is in disarray right now, will get some time to regroup if the elections are postponed. Still, can we hold a free and fair election when you need a curfew pass to go to buy your groceries? Or, do we want a 1988-type election, where only a few people are able to vote?

What I find unusual about all this is that a few weeks ago, when the number of infected persons was less than a hundred, there was panic everywhere and the country was under ‘lockdown’ and a curfew. Gota maama should take all the credit for that. That is probably why we averted a total disaster.

But now, we are detecting new cases by the dozens every day, the number of cases has increased six-fold and entire camps are being quarantined, yet we are being told that it is all “under control in general” and the curfew is also being relaxed. Don’t you think that is unusual, Commissioners?

Also, around the world, it is the medical experts who are advising their governments but here in our land, all the major decisions are being made by the military or a ‘task force’. Then, why is it that wherever there is a task force, it is headed either by an officer from the military or by Basil malli?

Even within the medical profession, it is strange that the loudest voice and the strongest advice comes from their trade union – while their physicians, epidemiologists, infectious diseases specialists and the professional bodies that represent them are hardly taken notice of, even when they dare to speak.

So, some are beginning to wonder whether the stage is being set so that elections will go ahead, virus or not. Are we heading towards a situation where someone says, ‘we will have elections and get a two-thirds majority’ even if it means sacrificing a few thousand lives to the corona virus?

We heard that there were arguments among you too about the new date. Maco, it was said you wanted an earlier date. That is what it might have been if it hadn’t been for the intervention by you, Professor. You even took to the media to claim that the Commission was in fact a ‘one man show’, Professor.

There is nothing wrong in having strong opinions and engaging in robust discussions about them as long as there is transparency and a sense of fair play between each other. After all, it is better to have an independent Commission than not have one at all – and I hope you will remain truly independent.

Therefore, in the days to come, dear Maco, Professor and Nalin, I hope you have the courage of your convictions to separate fact from fiction, proper process from propaganda and arrive at a fair decision. After all, even Gota maama agreed that setting the date of the election was your job – and yours alone!

Yours truly,

Punchi Putha