My dear Anura sahodaraya,

I thought of writing to you when you are analysing the results of last week’s local government polls, though you must be really tired after criss-crossing the country campaigning, rushing off to Vietnam and then returning in a special flight- which you were keen to tell us was arranged by that country.

You put in a tremendous effort and time into this election, possibly at the expense of more important affairs of the state. You even said you would think ten times before funding councils held by other parties because of possible corruption. Some argued this statement amounted to an election offence.

Harini sahodariya put the icing on the cake, telling us to ‘shape ekey’ have a quiet word with friends even after campaigning ends. That earned a lot of criticism because voters expect a higher standard of conduct from the ‘maalimaawa’. Did careless words cost you votes, I wonder, after seeing the results?

Yet, I suppose congratulations are in order because, whatever said and done, the ‘maalimaawa’ did win the election, winning the most votes in 265 councils. The ‘telephone’ chaps came a distant second and the ‘pohottuwa’ didn’t win a single council. The less said about the Greens and Blues, the better.

What is funny is that, listening to people from all these parties- including yours, Anura sahodaraya- all of you claim to have ‘won’ this election when in fact the reality is that all of you have lost. You can say you won in public, like Tilvin sahodaraya did, but at least in private, I hope you think otherwise.

Tilvin sahodaraya conveniently compares this with the last local council election seven years ago when the ‘pohottuwa’ won a lesser number of councils and a lower percentage of votes to show how good you are. Still, you must realise that your vote has fallen by eighteen per cent in just six months.

At least behind closed doors, I hope you and your colleagues are asking yourselves, why? If you want to know, there are many reasons. You came into office with so many promises and expectations and your colleagues promised to make sweeping changes, some of them within the first twenty-four hours.

Recent events suggest that while you may hold the highest office in the land and have a two-thirds majority in Parliament, government departments and the Police are carrying on regardless. It seems that although you have all the power you need, you have absolutely no control over the bureaucracy.

Apart from your colleagues having a simple lifestyle, abandoning motorcades and mingling with people which is great, nothing has happened. They take no salary but also seem to do no work! There are no major changes. The corrupt and the criminal are still free. The latter are killing even more.

Your team said the killers of Lasantha and Thajudeen will be punished, that the masterminds of the Eater attacks and the Mig deal will be behind bars soon and that Mahendran will be extradited. These cannot be done in six months but you can’t even send a letter to Mahinda maama to leave his house!

Then, you promised that the PTA will be repealed, an Independent Prosecutor will be appointed and a new Constitution will be enacted. The first two could have been done by now. When JR changed the Constitution, he did it within a year or so of assuming office. You haven’t even got a draft yet!

Apart from the sense that “nothing is happening”, your colleagues are economical with the truth or just ridiculous. The rot that set in with Ranwala continues with Nalin, Nilanthi, the two Sunils, Aruna, Wasantha, Jayakody and now Saroja to name just a few, leaving Lal and you to do damage control.

Anura sahodaraya, I feel part of your problem is that the first-timers you picked haven’t really met expectations. JR picked Lalith and Satellite picked Kadir and though new to politics, they made their presence felt. Is it time to shuffle the pack and also get new faces, maybe through the National List?   

I don’t need to tell you the danger that is lurking in the background. You polled sixty-one per cent at the last election. It meant that some who were part of the ‘69 lakhs’ and some who voted for the ‘telephone’ party five years ago were so fed up that they took a chance and voted for you last year.

What last week’s results- where the ‘pohottuwa’ vote rose by six per cent and telephone party’s vote increased by four per cent- show is that these votes are now slipping back to their ‘original’ camps. If you don’t keep your promises and if your colleagues keep on being liars and jokers, more will follow.

History may repeat itself. The party that polled 3 per cent at the last election, the ‘pohottuwa’ can win the next election just like you did last year. Remember, we got rid of the ‘R’ clan once, only to vote them back four years later. Don’t worry about Sajith though, he will be Opposition Leader for life!

Yours truly,

Punchi Putha

PS- The next test Anura sahodaraya, is the provincial council election. That voting system is less complicated. If you keep at least some of your promises by the time those polls are held, you might recover. If you don’t and lose ten per cent of votes every year, you will be at ‘seeyata thuna’ by 2029!