Editorial

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That's galling, from a government of the 'people'. Even though the government may not have alternatives and many choices when it is at the mercy of international market forces (and one might say, the international arms market), a remote reaction from a government of the people is as depressing as the rising prices.

Such insensitive reactions to the basic plight of the people are reminiscent of previous responses by similar dispensations. In the 1970s, when there were food shortages, the Prime Minister of the day went on record saying 'man does not live by bread alone.'

That was political insensitivity at its worst. Sadly, today there seem to be echoes of this remoteness, from at least some members of the People's Alliance. One young and not so bright member of the Alliance made an appearance on a recent Television talk show and made some remarkably puerile statements about the economic crisis. Among the gems thrown around was a statement that 'people should grow things like brinjals in their backyard, to alleviate the negative effects of a economy in crisis, without blaming the government.'

Brinjals and bananas are romanticized notions of how to get over a crisis, and though backyard gardening is quite stimulating, this Member of Parliament should have known that most urban workers simply don't have running water leave alone backyards. 

When a government gets this distanced from the people, its either a sign that the government has either given up trying, or has absolutely no ideas. The people are under no illusion that the economy is an easy business to handle, in the midst of a war and a renewed military crisis. 

But, a war doesn't mean that economic imperatives are laid in abeyance. Despite repeated state denials, it appeared (as was pointed out in some articles in this newspaper, which were NOT specifically contradicted) that the serial gas price increases were, in the most part, a caving into the monopolistic tendencies of a transnational giant. In this respect, it has also to be pointed out that aspect of the price hike was most forcefully articulated by only one Minister of government — Mr Batty Weerakoon — who seemed to say exactly what he thought of the trading practices of Shell Gas. 

So, while the government lost points on the economic front, last weeks events also clarified some aspects regarding the war and the continuing military crisis. The government's ostensible proposal (the government denies any such offer was made) to include the LTTE in an interim council has been forcefully rejected by the LTTE which has hinted that the offer amounts to something of a joke. This should indicate to several forces such as unctuous peace advocates that the quantity that we are dealing with is not so amenable to the romanticized version of peace that is concocted in this part of the land. 

It should convince foreign governments that are goading the country towards a negotiated peace that such a concept is fashionable and stylish in the abstract, but is difficult in the concrete. It also means that if the government has failed in the economic front, that it may have also been tilting at windmills and enacting a charade in the peace front.

The Political Column

Editorial/ Opinion Contents