All liars are not politicians, but all politicians are liars

By M.H.M. Faizer

“Lies, damned lies, and statistics“ is an expression that describes how statistics can be used to strengthen weak arguments and to manipulate public opinion in one’s favour.

An experienced finance manager may present a board paper to the board of directors on the current financial position of the company and will provide a future forecast for the next three years justifying a proposed capital investment. He quite consciously will not provide all the assumptions that he used in preparing the report on the current financial position. This kind of misinterpreted statement may be provided to give an optimistic scenario, for instance, so that the Board will approve the multimillion-rupee capital investment.

Similar things happen in politics, too. Many of our infrastructure projects and even medical supplies are highly inflated in terms of their capital cost and, moreover, justified by the so-called finance gurus via the preparation of ‘viable’ financial statements, including eye-cooling financial indicators such as the IRR, ROCE, etc. Such corrupt practices have almost become the norm. Hence the need for a change. Manipulations are far worse than lies! 

Do our politicians lie or manipulate? Almost all of them do. The governments in the past couple of decades have taken the masses for a good ride by manipulating public opinion. Generally, the citizens of Sri Lanka are well-mannered when it comes to their relationship with the domestic politicians in their electorates. They have an admirable capacity to restrain themselves when they confront a local politician in comparison to the citizens of India, Pakistan, and Bangladesh. Hence, the politicians find it quite easy to mislead the people. It was only in September this year that they used their intelligence to elect a third force into office. They were sick and tired of the lies and manipulations of the mainstream parties. It is not only that their lies and manipulations reached unacceptable levels, but the quantum of corruption carried out severally and jointly reached its climax, particularly at the apex levels. 

While the common masses were sick and tired of these unscrupulous politicians, they found sincerity and trust in AKD and his party. ‘Patience Pays’ was their realisation. 

Will they disprove my hypothesis—All liars are not politicians, but all politicians are liars? Will they have the positive motivation to uphold the truth despite all the obstacles they are sure to encounter in the next five years, starting from November 15 this year? AKD is not a Mahatma Gandhi nor Harini a Mother Theresa! I am confident that their determination to eliminate corruption is driven by a singular, compelling reason, and they have chosen to set a discreet example of exemplary attitude and behaviour. Nothing is impossible (Napoleon) if you have the knowledge, willpower, courage, energy, and passion for ‘Achievement Motivation’.

President Anura Kumara Dissanayake has the best oratory skills as compared to our previous leaders, though R. Premadasa came close. While communication remains an important and vital skill, what is more important is how good you are at acquiring confidence, competence, and commitment to maintain your excellent performance thus far achieved. It is important to reach consensus, compatibility, and congruence among your own party members so that the NPP remains a formidable force to secure the second term.

In politics, you need to possess another crucial attribute. Some of our previous political leaders had almost all of the “C”s mentioned above but failed to possess the most crucial attributes: honesty and integrity. Hitherto, the level of that ‘C’ called corruption was incorrigible and far too excessive. In recent times, not only the leader but his entire team was going lavishly on their “corruption shopping." However, there was one leader who, to be fair to him, was not corrupt but willingly allowed his team to do the corrupt shopping! Maybe he was caught in between Alibaba and the forty thieves! 

But the AKD and his team have demonstrated clearly and convincingly their passion for clean governance, and the people overwhelmingly endorsed their philosophy. They seem to be on the right path to inculcate a deep-rooted new culture of corrupt free governance at all levels.

All the very best for success and a safe political journey!!!

(The writer is a former Deputy Director General of the Board of Investment of Sri Lanka)