5th Column

My dear voters,

I thought I should write to you because a majority of you will be making your way to polling booths at the end of this week to mark that all important cross on a ballot paper. Many seem to consider this as the most crucial election in Paradise since the British gave us independence 76 years ago.

We have had 8 such elections before. Some of them have been when part of our country was not under our total control. One election saw a candidate, Gamini, being assassinated. The next election saw a candidate, Satellite, nearly being assassinated. Hopefully, next Saturday will see a peaceful poll.

This election is special. It is the first election since the ‘aragalaya’ two years ago. That is because local government polls were not held after someone said, “there is no election, even if there was an election, there is no money”. It is also the first election after a President resigned and fled the country.

During the ‘aragalaya’, the masses were shouting ‘Gota go home’. They said they didn’t want ‘all 225’, and asked for ‘system change’. Gota maama has gone home and we are not deciding on the ‘225’ at the end of this week, but we may see the results of the clamour for ‘system change’ at this election.

Many see this as a tussle between Uncle Ranil, Sajith and Anura sahodaraya and say this is the first time we will have a three-way contest. Young Namal maybe annoyed that he is not a ‘main’ contender, but still, this is the fifth election in a row that there is a Rajapaksa family member on the ballot paper!

If that is not consolation enough for Namal, he can take comfort from the fact that no one with origins in the Green party has won this election for the past 35 years, not since Sajith’s father. Namal should also be thankful if he doesn’t earn the ‘Mr Three Per Cent’ tag at the end of this election.

For most of you, dear voters, it will be a difficult task. Among the three ‘main’ contenders, one camp wants to maintain the status quo, the other seems to suggest that they too want to maintain the same system but under a different leader. The third party wants to change both the system and the leader.

If you are one of the ‘69 lakhs’ who voted for the ‘pohottuwa’ at the last elections, you must be thoroughly confused. Most people in the ‘pohottuwa’ are now with Uncle Ranil. Some of them are with Sajith. A few continue to be loyal to Namal. Choosing from them can be a challenging task.

You will also have to keep up with the news on a daily basis to work out who is in which camp. Why, Thalatha was with Sajith and the telephone camp at the start of the campaign, now she is with Uncle Ranil. Not to be outdone, Geetha pledged her support to Uncle Ranil first, now she is with Sajith!

You should also not think of policies and principles of the people in each camp. That will confuse you. For example, people who shouted loudly against privatisation are in Uncle Ranil’s camp while political enemies such as Arjuna and Thilanga, Champika and Rishad are bedfellows in Sajith’s camp.

In keeping with these paradoxes, the team offering to restore law and order is also the same team that staged two insurrections in the past. They have become serious contenders this time. That is not only because of their commitment to their cause but also because every other established party is in ruins.

You are told by some that this is not the time to experiment and that you should just ‘go with the flow’. Then there are arguments that you should look at not only the candidate but also the better team. Others tell you it is time for ‘system change’ to end what they call the ‘76-year curse’.

What we saw at the last two elections is that most of you voted against someone rather than for someone. The majority of you voted for Aiyo Sirisena to get rid of the Rajapaksas. Not having learnt your lesson, you voted for a Rajapaksa to return, so you could get rid of ‘yahapaalanaya’.

If you choose one of the ‘main’ candidates, you will have to either hold your nose to avoid the stink from one camp and vote for them, block your ears to shut out the empty promises from the other camp and vote for them or close your eyes and vote blindly for the third camp, not knowing what is in store.

You waited for this since the ‘aragalaya’. So, without complaining later, visit the polling booth early on Saturday, mark a preference vote if you wish and accept the result on Sunday, be it ‘Puluwan Sri Lanka’, ‘Semata Jayak’ or ‘Rata Anurata’. Remember, every country gets the government it deserves!

Yours truly,

Punchi Putha

PS: In the next few days beware that promises will be made, ‘scandals’ will be exposed, dramas will be staged and fake news will be broadcast. We hope the campaigns do not run out of gas, that a new leader will be your call to make and that the final result will be what points us all in a new direction.