5th Column

My dear AKD sahodaraya,

I know you are the person everyone is talking about these days (or rather, the ‘common enemy’ of all other political parties). I am not writing to you about that, but because of what happened at a recent television discussion that has become the talking point after what one of your other sahodarayas said.

It is true your colleague was opposed by two ‘pohottuwa’ chaps who are not the brightest stars in the sky. That, they displayed in good measure. Their language, threats and uncouth behaviour gave us an idea of their level of intelligence. That is the hallmark of being a ‘pohottuwa’ MP. We weren’t surprised.

So, that is not what I want to write to you about. What I did want to write to you about, and what surprised us, were the remarks of your colleague when he was confronted with the fact that the rathu sahodarayas were responsible for violence, including murder, during the horrible events of 1989.

He smirked and said rather smugly that ‘some robbers and rapists did die’ during that period, as if to suggest that this is an acceptable way to deal with them. Now, many want to know whether your sahodaraya was reflecting the views of the ‘maalimawa’ or whether he was stating his own opinion.

AKD sahodaraya, those who remember those days recall them as a dark time. There were gruesome killings by the government of the day as well as from your side. Thousands died, some for them for the crime of just being a rathu sahodaraya, others for the crime of simply doing a government job.

There is nothing to gloat about what happened then. We have all moved on as a nation. In an ironical twist, at the next big election, you, the modern-day representative of the rathu sahodarayas, are likely to contest the son of the person who spearheaded the operation to crush the rathu sahodarayas then!

That will be a battle of the ballot and not the bullet, as it was 35 years ago. That is as it should be. When you were asked about what happened then, you have said they were not events the rathu sahodarayas were proud of. You have also said that those incidents should never have occurred.

You have also pointed out that, since your party entered the democratic mainstream after Satellite came to power 30 years ago, you took every possible step not to resort to violence, no matter what provocations you have been subjected to. That is indeed an achievement you can be proud of.

That is precisely why your colleague, sitting at that discussion and smilingly saying ‘some robbers and rapists did die’ has sent alarm bells ringing. While you may be keen to project the ‘maalimawa’ as being non-violent, this makes us wonder whether everyone in your new party shares that view?

Your colleague on the panel that day is no minion in your party, or else you wouldn’t have sent him to represent you. He has been in the limelight before, when he questioned Namal baby’s electricity bill. Surely, he must know that robbers and rapists are punished by courts, not by mobs or political parties.

People are confused, AKD sahodaraya, because one of the reasons why you are asking them to vote for you is to restore law and order in the country after seeing the rule of law being manipulated to suit the needs of certain people. How does arbitrarily punishing robbers and rapists fit in with that?

We agree that there is a massive wave of support for the ‘maalimawa’ now. Credit must go to you and to your team for the hard work that you have done to get that support. However, I hope you realise that not all those who support you, do so because they believe in your political ideology.

A significant number of them are supporting you this time because they are disappointed and disgusted with the Blues and the Greens and their offshoots, the Light Greens and the Maroons. In the end, it may well be these ‘floating’ voters who will help you to get over the 50 per cent mark.

Many of those voters also have concerns about the ‘maalimawa’, not because they don’t trust you personally but because of the rathu sahodarayas’ violent past. That is why, after listening to your colleague, they will wonder whether you could revert to your past ways and have second thoughts.

You wouldn’t want your team to act as if they have already won the election but some of them do. As they say, there can be many a slip between the cup and the lip. Or, as you like the pithy Sinhala idiom, you wouldn’t want to produce seven pots of milk, only to add a bit of dung into it, would you?

Yours truly,

Punchi Putha

PS: There is all this fuss about your debate with Sajith. It is good if it happens, but most of us realise that it probably won’t. If by some miracle it does, you will be lucky to get a word in after he starts talking. And, whatever language you debate in, please take a dictionary with you, AKD sahodaraya!