5th Column

Your Lordships,

It is rarely that I write to you. I do so only when I feel that I absolutely must. If memory serves me right, the last time I wrote to you was five years ago. That was when Aiyo Sirisena tried to stage a ‘constitutional coup’, appointing Mahinda maama as PM until Your Lordships put a stop to it.

So, please pardon me for writing to you again but I do feel the circumstances warrant it. That is because Your Lordships are about to decide on the local government elections that were scheduled for next month. We have now been told they may not be held on that date but postponed ‘indefinitely’.

I am no lawyer but the best legal minds in the country are dealing with this case, so I won’t dwell on the legal aspects of this matter. I will simply offer you a layman’s viewpoint about the elections, what they mean to us and what could be done if we can’t hold them for whatever reason.

Your Lordships will appreciate that, after the events of last year that led to Gota maama fleeing the Palace, the masses desired an election. They wanted their voice to be heard when the final outcome of the ‘aragalaya’ was not what they desired.

That is why there is such excitement about this election. People know that it will not lead to a change in government. The most prestigious appointment it can probably change is the Mayor of Colombo. Still, they desperately want the election, because they want to send a message to the powers that be.

If I correctly understood recent news reports, some petitioned Your Lordships seeking an order for the elections to be held. Your Lordships didn’t do so because the new Maco, Nimal, gave you a solemn undertaking that it will be held. So, why give an order when you are told it is already being done?

Now, however, we are told it won’t be done. The Printer lady says she works only for cash paid upfront and not for credit, though her department and those conducting the election are from the same institution we call the ‘government’. She is worried she won’t be paid because the coffers are empty.

So, if I am reading this correctly, the solemn undertaking Maco Nimal gave Your Lordships is not valid now. Does that mean Your Lordships will consider giving an order for the elections to be held? Or, will nothing more happen, given that the matter has been heard of and been disposed of?

That is where this election appears to be heading, if you don’t intervene. You-know-who has told us how bad the economy is and how broke we are. If that is indeed the case and we can’t have elections until expenses are paid upfront, I am sure Your Lordships would also want that rule applied everywhere.

Your Lordships can order that no fuel is given to government vehicles, buses or trains, no electricity is supplied to offices, no medicine is supplied to hospitals, no examinations are held for students and no service is provided at all by the State – until they are paid for beforehand by their government colleagues.

Your Lordships can also order that ministers cut down on their perks. They can use their own vehicles with only 20 litres of fuel a week, pay for their telephone calls and forego their security. After all, if we are so bankrupt that we can’t afford an election, the first to sacrifice must be those elected!

That will be a fair solution. Then, we will save so much that we will be able to afford this election soon. As I can see, those are the only options we have: Either have the election as originally planned or get everyone to restrict expenses and provide services on a ‘pay first’ basis.

The alternative, Your Lordships, is too dangerous to even contemplate. If you don’t intervene now, you will set a precedent for anyone to ‘indefinitely postpone’ elections at any time citing the lack of money, paper, personnel or whatever else they can think of. That will end democracy in Paradise.

Being erudite and well-versed in the law and our recent history, Your Lordships  know that whenever major elections were postponed in Paradise – as Sirima did in ’75 and JR did in ’82, disastrous consequences followed. It took the nation decades to recover. We don’t need to repeat history, do we?

We are told another case related to someone asking to postpone elections will be decided this week. In a nation weary of the dirty tricks of its politicians, Your Lordships must know you are the last bastion of hope for citizens who don’t want this country to be at the mercy of selfish politicians ever again.

Yours truly

Punchi Putha

PS: 34 years ago, someone surreptitiously inserted an obituary for ‘Democracy’ in local newspapers to protest against the clampdown on the then opposition. Democracy didn’t die that day. We hope your verdict this Thursday will do the same and ensure that it lives to fight another day.