The raging civil war, the ongoing peace process, the attitude of the younger generation, the give and take necessary for the co-existence of the people, provide much food for thought of the educated people. Straight, and not crooked thinking has to be applied in the analysis of the problems involved in tiding over the current crisis.
Sri Lanka, a former paradise of the Orient, has been caught in the grip of a civil war and has suffered immensely in the loss of manpower and materials. The malfunctioning of the body and mind of the nation, taken as a whole, can be traced to the failure of the aggregate performances of the political, religious, social and economic sectors of the country during the past five decades or so. The interactions, currents and under currents which operated in these sectors, have produced adverse repercussions on the harmonious co-existence of the heterogeneous population of the land.
The ill-winds were fanned by opportunists of these sectors to manoeuvre themselves to positions of pomp and power. The ailment of the nation was discernible from the time the island acquired independence from the British yoke in 1948. Some sections of the people were lulled by the hocus-pocus of the opportunists. However, the malady has been developing over the years and now we are being pushed closer to a state of disintegration of the healthy economic and social base that is necessary for the co-existence of the communities. Therefore, unless the narrow minded and partisan interests and mere vote catching stunts are overtaken by the public interest at large, and reason prevails over emotional and sentimental tendencies, for the purpose of defusing the crises, the prospects of peace, order and good government are meager.
The folk, who were eking out a living in the villages bordering the war zones, have become easy prey to the depredations of the marauding militants against the State. Most of the surviving villagers have become refugees dependent on charity. These villagers initially provided the buffer for the prevention of the havoc of war spreading to the fairly well-to-do residents in the urban and suburban areas. Valuable manpower resources of the Security Forces, on the one side, and of the militants against the State, on the other side, have been lost. If this trend is not arrested soon, the nation would be in dire straits; the number of refugees would swell and overflow to foreign territory and further doses of charity would have to be begged from the affluent nations. The other adverse consequences are too numerous to be mentioned here. Is there a sense of shame in us? Let us not be basking any more in our pride and arrogance.
It is of paramount importance that the Government and the Opposition should now condescend to sink their differences and arrive at a common stance to tackle the crisis of the time: a cessation of open political hostilities is necessary. The two major parties should abstain from vying with each other on irrational issues. Any differences should be discussed in camera for settlement. After all, the people gave the verdict at the last elections. There is no further need for the Government party to flog the dead horse. Therefore, it will be politic for the President and her Ministers to exercise extreme care, tact and restraint in their public utterances. The Opposition Leader and his team mates should reciprocate in the same coin. This is a fervent appeal to the parties concerned. Perhaps, the hurly-burly of political rivalry can conveniently re-commence in (say) three weeks before the nominations for the next General Elections. Where there is a will there is a way.
There should be no turning back from the ongoing investigations of the commissions probing the crimes, corruption and other malpractices. If bad eggs are found in due course they should be thrown out. Any person found guilty should be appropriately dealt with, irrespective of his political leanings or other status.
The number of MPs and Provincial Councillors is too much of a financial commitment for a small country like Sri Lanka. There are Ministers at the centre and Provincial Ministers and hosts of Security Personnel around them. Active consideration should therefore be given with a view to pruning drastically the number of MPs and Provincial Councillors because their overall performance so far leaves much to be desired, especially after giving due consideration to the present despicable plight to which the people have been driven. Unless they earn their keep it is a waste to continue them. Duplication of activities and wastage of resources should be put down with a firm foot. The practice of legislators encroaching on the functional areas of the administrators should not be tolerated. As it had happened during the past regimes, swarms of henchmen, sycophants and lotus eaters dance attendance upon many politicians in the higher level. Also as a brought forward from the past, the class of persons feathering their nests has survived to enjoy heavenly bliss on this space ship Earth, while the lesser mortals are struggling like "dumb, driven cattle", a phenomenon readily observed in rickety public transport.
A proposal for creating a Second Chamber has emanated from some minority groups, probably for insulating themselves against step motherly treatment. Their concern is appreciated in view of what had actually happened arising out of racial and religious discrimination. However, the setting up of a Second Chamber will not only increase the expenditure from the public purse but will also lead to friction and mischief, with recourse to action in the Courts as evidenced by the increase of litigation after the establishment of the Provincial Councils.
It has to be borne in mind that we are living in a fast changing world and that our conceptions of right and wrong require revision and adjustment to keep pace with the needs of the situation. There has been a population explosion despite the endeavours of family planning propaganda. There has also been an explosion of ideas boosted by the facilities offered by the mass media and communications. The aspirations, outlook and philosophy of the younger generations have been influenced by the changes in the social and economic conditions and by the often repeated commercial advertisements, which are of a kind different from what the elder generation was nurtured in. There has in effect been a metamorphosis. Crimes and robberies, which are mainly due to the frustrations of the unemployed and under-employed sections, and the frequent rises in the cost of living, are on the increase: the law abiding average citizens are living in fear. The younger generations are not inhibited by the cock and bull stories told by some priests in their preachings or by the scenes of molten metal being forced down the throats of sinners cast in a hell as depicted in temple walls.
The major trade unions are earnestly requested to voluntarily refrain from strike action during the civil war period or for at least (say) the next three years. This will be tantamount to sacrificing a right for the sake of the nation. The strikes recently launched in the medical and power generating sectors have had a terrorist effect on the economy of the nation and the middle and low income groups who are living a hand to mouth existence.
The above sets out frankly and squarely, without mental reservation, some salient facts, which focus the stark reality of the circumstances that have led to the current trials and trauma of the people. The people are suffering in silence and many of them are often cursing the administration and government, on which they fondly pinned their hopes at the last elections so that they might be rescued from the plight they had been landed in. The people are however still confronted with the monster of terrorism and other adverse forces.
The efforts of the President in giving the necessary initiative and drive and in supervising, controlling and admonishing her team mates, are duly appreciated. She has been entrusted by the nation with a Herculean task that no other citizen has ever been called upon and compelled to undertake in the present history of the nation. Inspired by the essence of the good qualities inherited by her from her distinguished parents and her late husband, and her own fortitude, she is quite equal to tackle the task. While being ever conscious of the gravity of the situation, she has to act with equanimity and without any fear or favour of her being returned or not for another term of service. In this regard it is vitally necessary that the majority of the citizens should support her to the hilt and extend their fullest co-operation for fulfilling the onerous mission undertaken by her. Action without delay is necessary, for "time and tide wait for no man".
It is on record that one year after his landslide victory in 1956 SWRD Bandaranaike was in the process of formulating an alternative Parliamentary model suited to Asian countries. From 1932 onwards he was vehemently opposed to the blind emulation of the Westminster model. The case for a suitable Asian model was presented by him to an Indian audience when he addressed the Indian Council of World Affairs, New Delhi, on December 1957.
After explaining the workings of the British two party system, he went on to observe that, "where there are many parties divided on ideological lines, political, economic, racial, religious and linguistic and so on, we cannot hope at an early date to get two parties to divide on purely political lines. Then in such situations there must be modifications, I think, some modifications where all Members of Parliament, whatever their party may be, to have some share in executive work, although the majority party will naturally have the major share. In my country we experimented with it for more than ten years with what we called the Executive Committee form of government".
Under that system, he went on to explain, "every Member of Parliament, both back-benchers of the majority party as well as the Opposition Party shared the executive work, and you avoided that bitterness and sense of frustration that is liable to develop not only among the Opposition Parties but even the back-benchers of the government, who feel perhaps that the only function they are required to do is merely to go there and vote. Unfortunately we gave up that system. I was personally against giving that system up".
Explaining further he continued, "this form of government does not destroy the party system. Parties can exist within it - it happened in my own country and there was not much emphasis laid on the Party as a Party, but on the general work of the country".
He stressed the need of clearing up the machinery of government to meet the needs of modern times. Under the mere external trappings of democracy, the spirit of democracy may fade and under a facade of democratic forms, Asian countries will swing uneasily from one extreme to the other - from full state control to unbridled individualism. He believed that between the Right and the Left and adaptation of the Executive Committee system would provide the Middle Way - "A movement from the Right and Left towards the Centre and the world would become stabilised on some lines of Democratic Socialism".
SWRD Bandaranaike maintained this position consistently from 1932 when as a back-bencher he spoke up for the Executive Committee system: in 1957 when he addressed an Indian audience on "Democracy in Asian Countries" and finally in 1959 in his Memorandum to the Joint Parliamentary Select Committee on the reform of the Constitution.
A.H. Karunaratne,
Panadura.
More letters to the editor - Ethnic conflict and inaccurate expressions * Whom are we to believe?
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