Editorial

24th January 1999

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Lesser of the two rogues

Supporters of the three-cornered contest in the Wayamba Prov-ince are clubbing each other in what is no less no more than a prestige battle.

Most definitely the outcome of the poll is going to be a signal to the rest of the country as to what the mood of the people is in Sri Lanka today — four years after the PA came into office with great hopes, high ideals and promises of what have now turned out to be a utopian dream. We know that no government in office can ever deliver the promises it makes on the eve of an election.

As if not being able to keep to the promises it made in 1994 is not bad enough, this government in what is transparently an act of panic is now promising universities in Wayamba, promotions for all police officers and compensation for Sri Lankan workers from Wayamba who were in Kuwait. Voters — with hope eternal in the human heart — often get suckered into these promises.

But for us, the more crucial issue in this election which we will see tomorrow probably in all its horrific gory, is whether the provincial council system works. Is it a system that was introduced shot-gun style in the aftermath of the forced Indian food drop over Sri Lanka in 1987 — a system forced down our collective throats to appease the aspirations of the militant Tamil youth or a system of local administration that works. Our studies which we continue from last week indicate that the PC system is an utter failure.

It is largely a power centre for political parties and a pocket borough for politicians and their favourites of the area. The SLFP and the JVP which opposed the creation of these PCs see it that way — so that is why they are contesting for council seats in a system against which they took to the streets in 1987, burning buses and getting shot at by the Police.

The culture of violence that the UNP was not shy to implement when it ruled is being perpetrated by the ruling party. To indulge in political thuggery one needs the underworld to be one's side. And that is why the ordinary peace-loving citizen of this country today has only the chance of a snowball in hell of expecting law and order to prevail in civil society and their day-to- day life.

The violent political culture today has thrown up only candidates willing not only to face bombs but use them. Thus the Hobson's choice of the voter is between "our rogue and their rogue or the lesser of the two rogues." Such a choice of the voter would complete the picture of a voting public. Thus in Ratnapura a man accused of political killing got the most preference votes at the local government elections. Those who were said to be corrupt under the UNP did very well at the next elections.

If some of the law makers are of dubious quality, so are some of those who are expected to maintain the law. Deputy Inspector H. M. S. B. Kotakadeniya confessed that some police officers, including Inspectors and ASPs, were hand-in-glove with the underworld. Then the government announces this week that all police officers will get their promotions. Something has to be rotten in the state of Sri Lanka.

Political Column

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