5th Column

My dear Citizens of what used to be a Paradise,

I am writing to you now with profound sadness and at a time of great crisis, the type of which we have probably never seen before, even though we have had two insurgencies, a 30-year war, a tsunami that killed thousands and a pandemic that brought us to a standstill.

It is ironic that it is the same people who saved us from the scourge of terrorism who are responsible for the plight we are in today, with power cuts, shortages of goods and high prices affecting every aspect of our daily lives. Yet, they were only given a second chance because they ended the war!

What we are seeing today is you, dear Citizens, taking to the streets to vent your anger against those who rule us, even without the instigation of political parties. That is because your lives have been affected to a significant extent without ‘basic’ necessities such as electricity, gas, fuel and food.

Many experts saw this crisis coming. They warned those who rule us. Those warnings were ignored. We still retain a Central Bank Governor who told us that printing money does not cause inflation. People are now wondering whether we would have been better off with Mahendran than with Cabraal.

We also have a Finance Minister who talks more about kaputas hitting planes than about people dying in ‘polims’. The country is in its worst economic crisis in living memory but Basil maama is silent. Why, he may even tell us one day that the Finance Ministry was not his, like that house in Malwana!

When you chose Gota maama for the top job he said he was the ‘weda karana apey viruwa’, our hero who works for us. Now, he says ‘api thamai hondatama keruwe’, that he has done his best and that he didn’t create this crisis. With prices rising daily, he is now the ‘hondatama wedi karana apey viruwa’.

We had unpopular leaders before. In the late ‘70s, due to the hardships people faced, Mrs B was subjected to much abuse. At the end of JR’s rule there were posters saying ‘JR maramu’. When Preme was killed, some ate ‘kiribath’. Still, no one stormed Rosmead Place, Ward Place or the Sucharitha.

What we saw at Mirihana on Thursday was sheer anger at one family holding 22 million people to ransom. No political party was involved. That is even more significant. To call it the work of ‘extremists’ shows how fantastically out of touch our rulers are. That is why they are so hated.

While we should blame those now in power for our predicament, dear Citizens, you must be careful about what you do about it. Non-violent protests are needed but what happened at Mirihana shows us that those protests can often be used as an excuse for those in power to become even more autocratic.

While you, dear Citizens, have shown your anger, those opposing the rulers haven’t shown any clear path either. They pull in different directions. Young Sajith wants a presidential election. That is not due yet. Anura sahodaraya wants us to give him a chance. He hasn’t told us clearly what his plan is.

We lament about the Greens and Blues fooling us for 70 years. Now, those with the ‘saatakaya’ have acted true to their colour – they have marooned us. So, when you protest and agitate, it shouldn’t be change for the sake of change. See what happened to us for getting Nandasena instead of Sirisena!

Citizens, this is perhaps the best time to make it known that you want the ‘system’ to change because merely replacing a ‘sena’ with a ‘dasa’ or a ‘nayaka’ or even a ‘singhe’ will not make much of a difference. That is what we have been doing for three quarters of a century and look where we are.

The slogan ‘go Gota go’ is easy to say and sounds great but you must remember that in this battle, you are not cheering your school team at the big match. If Gota maama goes, according to the Constitution, Mahinda maama becomes the boss and Basil maama will be the PM. Do we really want that now?

This system with its ‘manaapa’ votes also allows MPs to stay in Parliament forever, no matter how corrupt they are, once they make a ‘name’ for themselves. This Parliament has many MPs first elected in 1989 who never left since then. Previously, voters booted out the likes of NM, Colvin and Felix!

If you are to get out of the mess you are now in, Paradise needs change. Its President and MPs should be accountable for what they do. Maybe we should also review the promise Aiyo Sirisena made to do away with the Presidency, which he conveniently forgot about soon after assuming office.

Think about all this, dear Citizens of Paradise. The protests you stage and the anger you show will send an important message to those who are blinded by power, that they cannot go on in this manner and that their days are numbered. So, your protests must continue but maybe in a more effective way.

Dear Citizens, the old slogan ‘march separately but strike together’ may no longer useful. It is now time to march together and strike together. Everyone agrees we didn’t get the government we deserve. Now, we hope that we at least get the opposition we deserve. We haven’t got that. Not yet, anyway!

Yours truly,

Punchi Putha

PS: We heard another protest is being planned for today, dear Citizens. If so, ensure that it is peaceful and that it won’t give those in power a chance to blame you. It also needs to send a clear but effective message. There is no point in going near Gota maama’s home and saying, ‘Gota, go home’!