As Sri Lankans brace themselves for 5-hour power cuts and line up for essential commodities at yet another queue, we hear that the President after visiting the Railways workshop in Ratmalana has ordered a commission to look into staff problems. In Parliament, some opposition members flourished flash lights inside the exceedingly well-lit Chambers, to protest […]
As Sri Lankans brace themselves for 5-hour power cuts and line up for essential commodities at yet another queue, we hear that the President after visiting the Railways workshop in Ratmalana has ordered a commission to look into staff problems. In Parliament, some opposition members flourished flash lights inside the exceedingly well-lit Chambers, to protest power cuts. Government MPs erupted in fury and claimed that their security has been seriously compromised as the torch batteries contain elements used for explosives. If you have been thinking that the Sri Lankan Parliament looks increasingly like a playground filled with petulant, spoilt bullies and that we are being governed by a set of leaders who seem to be occupying an alternative reality, you may not be very far from the truth.
There is enough data to show that Sri Lanka is in the throes of an economic crisis of unprecedented proportions. Dangerously low foreign reserves, mounting debt payments, sky-rocketing inflation, increasing fiscal and trade deficits – you name it, and we are experiencing every indication of a severe economic crisis. But let’s be clear on the causes: the crisis we are experiencing is a direct result of poor decision making by our political leadership over several decades. Decisions that led to an excessive reliance on imports for our survival, heavy borrowing and speculation in opaque financial markets; an unrealistic and ad-hoc local tax regime, preposterous levels of corruption and waste. The crisis was inevitable – the global economic downturn as a result of the COVID pandemic and spectacularly irrational and damaging policy decisions particularly in the agriculture, financial and energy sectors simply precipitated the crisis. But it is important that we recognise that these damaging decisions are not simply incompetence and sheer stupidity – they are wilful and deliberate and a direct product of our current political culture.
The decision to ban chemical fertilisers was an attempt to save dollars. Possibly, President Gotabaya Rajapaksa was encouraged to do this by being fed myths about the harmful effects of chemical fertiliser. It is now evident that he also does not have the smallest clue about agriculture. But, the decisions that followed – importing untested organic fertiliser for instance, belligerent statements from members of the Government on their determination not to reverse this policy and claims of success of the policy show a leadership unable to admit failure (and thereby correct itself), a culture of ego massaging in corridors of power, complete insensitivity to the hardships of people and an inability to listen to reason. At a more sinister level, this is a deliberate effort to force people off agriculture and their lands and profit off their misery.
Years of moving away from conventional lenders to borrowing from financial markets was influenced by the need to escape loan conditions, scrutiny and oversight – essential for facilitating massive corruption. Ad-hoc changes to tax policy were made to gain electoral benefits plus to allow cronies to benefit. The idea that printing money, easing taxes and low interest rates would pump money into the economy is standard economic thinking. Yet, how do you keep an economy ticking during a global pandemic when people are in lockdown? Standard economic thinking does not work in such a context. However, if your idea of a healthy economy is a stock market boom, the decisions of the Governor of the Central Bank become clearer.
Environmental as well as economic concerns suggest that Sri Lanka needs to systematically shift towards renewable energy. But this policy was not pursued. When it was clear that an energy crisis was looming, the government refused to face facts. Instead, the crisis was managed (or rather hidden) by excessive use of hydro power, thanks to a particularly good monsoon season. Now, with water levels dropping (predictably) plus lack of dollars to purchase fuel, we are looking at a serious crisis in the power sector. Naturally, the burden of power cuts is being disproportionately experienced with VIP neighbourhoods spared the worse! For many years, the rest of the country had to pay the price for Colombo’s excessive energy demands and now, even at a time of phenomenal crisis, the country’s powerful, well-heeled, and well-connected citizens can continue their lives of privilege. Never mind that thousands of schoolchildren preparing for exams are literally in the dark. Never mind that farmers who are reeling from the fertiliser fiasco are now also having to deal with increased threats from elephants due to non-functioning electric fences. Never mind that thousands of small and medium entrepreneurs – who make a significant contribution to the economy – are being put out of business.
What we need to remember is that the particularities of the crisis we are facing are a direct consequence of a corrupt, wasteful political culture and a pack of powerful decisions makers who are not simply incompetent, but who are only interested in looking after their own. Many of them live in bubbles, protected by their minders who only let them hear what they want to hear. After entering direct politics myself, I became quickly aware of how easy it was to enter this bubble. Sri Lankan politicians achieve a celebrity status that is completely unnecessary. They automatically enter a world of privilege and preferential treatment ranging from Police who salute you to access to a life of luxury, if you so choose.
Thankfully, the culture of the political movement I represent places many restraints on entering this bubble. It taught me how essential it is that the choice of entering this bubble or not is not left simply to the good sense, ethics and integrity of individual politicians but that there is a culture and system that prevents you from doing so. And that this is only possible if the party or movement you represent insists on a code of ethics, conduct and restraint by which you are expected to abide. But imagine those who have lived in this bubble for so long that they no longer even know what is outside? What do you do when the bubble normalises corruption, wastage and privilege? And it is not only those politicians who live in these bubbles – it includes their families and their cronies. How can we expect such leaders to be anything but completely out of touch and therefore to make decisions that are detrimental to the welfare and wellbeing of the majority of people?
It is important, we realise that this is the political culture we currently inhabit and that is the main cause of the crisis we are experiencing. Citizens need to demand a change of this culture and of the way in which politics is conducted currently. Instead, for the longest time, we have been told that changing people – pinning our faith on individuals, will effect change. Worse, we have been told to reject politics and politicians and to find our solutions individually or outside the system. We need to recognise that the solutions also need to be found politically because societies need to be governed and we need to elect people to govern on our behalf. What we need is the right kind of politics and the right kind of politicians who can govern on our behalf. But that can only happen if as citizens we are organised to demand such a change and to hold our elected representatives accountable.
It is so essential that we learn the lessons that are being taught to us during this time of crisis and that we understand our own culpability. This time the crisis the country is experiencing will spare a minority. Very few of us can afford to be disinterested. Hence, each one of us has a part to play in getting us out of this crisis and on the long, hard road to recovery. An essential aspect of that, in fact a precondition must be the end to the era of corrupt, wasteful and privileged politics. The era of the armchair critic (and Sri Lanka is blessed with many!) must end – it is time for people of this country to take charge of their politicians and their own destinies.
By Harini Amarasuriya
මෑතක දී යළිත් හිස එස වූ මාධ්යකරුවන් ඉලක්ක කරගනිමින් සිදු කළ පහර දීම් මෙන්ම ලංකාවේ පුරවැසි අයිතිවාසිකමක් වශයෙන් ආණ්ඩුක්රම ව්යවස්ථාවෙන් පිළිගත් භාෂණයේ නිදහස සහ අදහස් ප්රකාශ කිරීමේ නිදහස සීමා කිරීමට නීතිය ක්රියාත්මක කිරීමේ ආයතන අයුතු ලෙස භාවිත කිරීම ජාතික ජන බලවේගය ලෙස අපි දැඩිව හෙළා දකිමු. මාධ්යවේදී චමුදිත සමරවික්රම මහතාගේ නිවසට එල්ළ කළ ප්රහාරය සහ […]
මෑතක දී යළිත් හිස එස වූ මාධ්යකරුවන් ඉලක්ක කරගනිමින් සිදු කළ පහර දීම් මෙන්ම ලංකාවේ පුරවැසි අයිතිවාසිකමක් වශයෙන් ආණ්ඩුක්රම ව්යවස්ථාවෙන් පිළිගත් භාෂණයේ නිදහස සහ අදහස් ප්රකාශ කිරීමේ නිදහස සීමා කිරීමට නීතිය ක්රියාත්මක කිරීමේ ආයතන අයුතු ලෙස භාවිත කිරීම ජාතික ජන බලවේගය ලෙස අපි දැඩිව හෙළා දකිමු. මාධ්යවේදී චමුදිත සමරවික්රම මහතාගේ නිවසට එල්ළ කළ ප්රහාරය සහ අපරාධ විමර්ශන දෙපාර්තමේන්තුව විසින් සමාජ ක්රියාකරුවෙකු වන ෂෙහාන් මාලක මහතා අයුක්තිසහගත ලෙස අත්අඩංගුවට ගනු ලැබීම අපි හෙළා දකින අතරම එය ප්රසිද්ධියේ ප්රතික්ෂේප කරන්නෙමු.
ෂෙහාන් මාලක ගමගේ මහතා අත්අඩංගුවට ගත් අපරාධ විමර්ශන කොට්ඨාසයට අනුයුක්තව සේවය කරන්නේයැයි කියනු ලබන පුද්ගලයින් එකී අත්අඩංගුව සිදු කළ ආකාරයේ අත්තනෝමතික බව හමුවේ ජාතික ජන බලවේගයේ අපි විමතියට පත් වීමු. පෙර කී නිලධරයන් ගමගේ මහතා අත්අඩංගුවට ගැනීමට පෙර සිය හැඳුනුම්පත් පෙන්වා අනන්යතාව තහවුරු කර නොමැති අතරම ගමගේ මහතාට ඔහුව අත්අඩංගුවට ගන්නා හේතුව පවා දන්වා නොමැත. ජීවිත සිය ගණනින් අහිමි කරමින් තවත් බොහෝ පිරිසක් මානසික කම්පනයකට ඇද දමමින් සුවහසක් අහිංසක ජීවිත රැසකට මුළු අනාගතයක් අහිමි කළ පාස්කු ඉරිදා ප්රහාරය පිළිබඳ යුක්තිය ඉටු කරවා ගැනීම වෙනුවෙන් සටන් වදින පුද්ගලයන් දිගින් දිගට ම රජයේ තාඩන පීඩනවල ගොදුරු බවට පත් වන්නේ ඇයිද යන්න වටහාගත නොහැක්කකි. සමස්ත දේශයම මේ කුරිරු ප්රහාරය පිටුපස සිටින සැබෑ මහමොළකරු සොයා ගැනීමට නීතිය බලාත්මක කරන්නා වූ රාජ්ය ආයතන කෙරෙහි දෑස් දල්වා බලා සිටින මෙවන් මොහොතක අපරාධ විමර්ශන දෙපාර්තමේන්තුව සහ රජයේ සියලු අංශ විසින් යුක්තිය ඉල්ලා සටන් වදින හඬ නිහඬ කිරීමට සියලු ප්රයත්න දියත් කිරීමේ වෑයමක නිරත වෙමින් සිටිනු ලැබේ. සාපරාධී නොසැලකිල්ල සඳහා චෝදනා ලැබූ ඇතැමුන් ආණ්ඩු පක්ෂය තුළම සිටියද අපරාධ විර්ශන කොට්ඨාශයේ උකුස් ඇස යොමු වී තිබෙන්නේ, පූජ්ය සිරිල් ගාමිණී සහ සමාජ ක්රියාකාරියෙකු වන ෂෙහාන් මාලක ගමගේ වැන්නවුන් කෙරෙහි වීම අභාග්යයකි.
ආණ්ඩුක්රම ව්යස්ථාවේ 14(1(අ. ව්යවස්ථාවෙන් ශ්රී ලංකාවාසී ජනතාවට ලබාදී ඇති භාෂණයේ නිදහස සහ අදහස් ප්රකාශ කිරීමේ අයිතිය සීමා කිරීම සඳහා ත්රස්තවාදය වැළැක්වීමේ පනත සහ දණ්ඩ නීති සංග්රහයේ 120 වැනි වගන්තිය වැනි ඉතා දරුණු නීති දිගින් දිගටම භාවිත කිරීම අපි තවදුරටත් හෙළා දකිමු. ත්රස්තවාදය වැළැක්වීමේ පනත, දණ්ඩ නීති සංග්රහයේ 120 වන වගන්තිය සහ සිවිල් හා දේශපාලන අයිතිවාසිකම් පිළිබඳ ජාත්යන්තර සම්මුති (ICCPR) පනතේ විධිවිධාන, යම් තැනැත්තෙකුගේ මූලික පෞද්ගලික නිදහස මෙන්ම නීතියේ නිසි ක්රියාපටිපාටියට ඇති අයිතිය සහ සමානාත්මතාවයේ හා නීතිය ඉදිරියේදී සමාන ලෙස සැලකිල්ලට ලක් වීමේ අයිතිය අහිමි කිරීමේ මෙවලම් බවට පත් වීමේ භයානක ප්රවණතාවක් අපට නිරීක්ෂණය වී ඇත. පෞද්ගලික නිදහස සම්බන්ධ කාරණාවලදී අධිකරණ නිලධරයන් හුදෙක් පොලිසියේ අතකොළුවක් බවට පත් වෙමින් සමාජ ක්රියාකාරිකයන්ට විරුද්ධව ත්රස්තවාදය වැළැක්වීමේ පනත භාවිත කිරීම සිහි බුද්ධියෙන් යුතු කිසිදු ප්රජාතන්ත්රවාදී සමාජයකට කිසිසේත් අනුමත කළ නොහැක. මේ සා අයුරින් දැනටත් ශ්රී ලංකාව තුළ භාවිත වෙමින් පවතින 2007 අංක 56 දරන සිවිල් හා දේශපාලන අයිතිවාසිකම් පිළිබඳ ජාත්යන්තර සම්මුතියේ ඇතැම් විධිවිධානවලින් එක්සත් ජාතීන් විසින් මුලින්ම මෙවැනි සම්මුතියක් බලාත්මක කරනු ලැබීමට පාදක වූ මානව අයිතිවාසිකම්වල මූලික මූලධර්ම පවා නිෂේධනය වනු ඇත.
මෙම අත්අඩංගුවට ගැනීම් සියල්ලෙහි අත්තනෝමතික, නීතිවිරෝධී” ද්වේශ සහගත මෙන්ම පීඩාකාරී බව අපි තරයේ හෙළා දකින්නෙමු. මේ සා අයුරින් යම් තැනැත්තකුගේ පෞද්ගලික නිදහස අහිමි කිරීම යනු 1994 අංක 22 දරන වධ හිංසා සහ වෙනත් කෲර, අමානුෂික හෝ නින්දිත සැලකීමකට හෝ දඬුවම්වලට එරෙහි වූ සම්මුති පනතේ සඳහන් කර ඇති වධ හිංසාවට ලක් කිරීමේ ක්රියාවට සමාන බව අපි වැඩිදුරටත් සලකන්නෙමු. එහෙයින්” යම් නිශ්චිත කාලයක් තුළ තාවකාලිකව ධුරයක් දරන හුදෙක් දේශපාලනික බල අධිකාරිත්වය තෘප්තිමත් කිරීමේ අරමුණින් කටයුතු කරනවා වෙනුවට නීතියේ පරාමිතික හා නෛතික රාමුව තුළ සිට කටයුතු කිරීමට නීතිය ක්රියාත්මක කරන්නා වූ සියලු නිලධරයන්ට අපි ආරාධනා කරන්නෙමු.
සීසීටීවී අධීක්ෂණය සහිත සුරක්ෂිත වටපිටාවක් සහිත මාධ්යවේදී චමුදිත සමරවික්රම මහතාගේ නිවෙස ඉලක්ක කර ගනිමින් එල්ල කළ සාහසික සන්නද්ධ ප්රහාරය සිදු කළ ආකාරය විසින් අප සියලු දෙනා තැති ගන්වනු ලැබ ඇත. මොන යම් හෝ දේශපාලන හස්තයක සහාය නොමැතිව අහඹු ලෙස පැමිණි සන්නද්ධ පිරිසක් මෙවැනි සාහසික ක්රියාවක් සිදු කිරීමට පෙළඹෙන්නේ නැති බව අපගේ විශ්වාසයයි. මෙම සිද්ධිය සිදු වන්නේද ජාතික ජන බලවේගයේ ගම්පහ සමුළුව ඉලක්ක කර ගනිමින් සිදු කළ බියගුළු ප්රහාරයට සම්බන්ධ සැකකරුවන් පොලිස් භාරයෙන් පැනගොස් යනුවෙන් ඊනියා ප්රකාශ බිහිවූ වාතාවරණයකදීය. පොලිසියේ සහ මෙරට නීතිය ක්රියාත්මක කරන ආයතනවල පාලනයෙන් ඔබ්බෙහි සිට ක්රියා කරන යුද හමුදා බලඇණිවලට සමාන බලයක් සහිත සන්නද්ධ බලකායක් හිස ඔසවන බවට මාධ්යවේදී චමුදිත සමරවික්රම මහතාට එල්ල කළ ප්රහාරය අනතුරු හඟවයි. මෙය ජාතික ආරක්ෂාව කෙරෙහි බලපාන්නා වූ බරපතළ තර්ජනයකි.
එබැවින්” අප ශ්රී ලංකා රජයෙන් ඉල්ලා සිටින්නේ, ප්රජාතාන්ත්රික හරය ආරක්ෂා කිරීමට බැඳී සිටින ලෙසත්, මෙරට පුද්ගලයන්ගේ සහ පුරවැසියන්ගේ මූලික අයිතිවාසිකම් ආරක්ෂා කරන ලෙසත්, ජාතික ආරක්ෂාව තහවුරු කර නීතියේ ආධිපත්යය අනුගමනය කරන ලෙසත්ය. එසේම තවදුරටත් රාජ්ය පීඩනයට එරෙහිව අප විසින් දියත් කරන අරගලයේදී අප හා අත්වැල් බැඳ ගන්නා ලෙසත් ප්රජාතාන්ත්රික හරයන්, භාෂණයේ නිදහස හා අදහස් ප්රකාශ කිරීමේ අයිතිය මෙන්ම ජනයාගේ මූලික අයිතිවාසිකම් සියල්ල ආරක්ෂාකොට එලෙසින්ම අනුගමනය කරන බවට තහවුරු කිරීමට යත්න දරන දේශපාලන ගමන්මගට දිරියක් වන ලෙසත් සිවිල් සමාජ, සිවිල් ක්රියාකාරීන්, නිදහස් මාධ්ය ආයතන ඇතුළු සියලු ප්රජාතන්ත්රවාදී බලවේගයන්ට ඇරයුම් කර සිටිමු.
ජාතික ජන බලවේගය
2022.02.16
Attorney-at-Law Sunil Watagala Two persons responsible for egging the Gampaha Conference of National People’s Power are currently under arrest. While inquiring into the matter based on the revelations made by the two, it has come to light that behind all this there’s an individual or a group responsible for the entire attack. This is a […]
Two persons responsible for egging the Gampaha Conference of National People’s Power are currently under arrest. While inquiring into the matter based on the revelations made by the two, it has come to light that behind all this there’s an individual or a group responsible for the entire attack. This is a criminal offence. This has fulfilled all the fundamental principles of criminal law. This is an attack planned by an organized group. What are the measures the IGP has taken so far? At least the Police has not even taken a valid statement. Sri Lanka Police should find the chain of evidence pertinent to this attack. The Police has the ability to reach each and every coupling in this chain. The Police can inquire into the telephone calls and watch CCTV footage. However, it seems no attempt has been made to use such resources.
Two letters have been produced by Prasanna Ranatunga addressing the President and IGP requesting an immediate inquiry into the matter concerned. It’s like the thief running all over the place asking to catch the thief and that was what I thought. However, we have a question as to why so much delay in recording a statement when a cabinet minister has requested an inquiry from the President. Photographs of pertinent persons of this attack have been released. One who joined the attack is Mahagedara Vijayaarachchige Ranmal Asitha Kumara Wijerathna (prior name – Gabriel Rathmal Asitha Kumara) Second person is Ananda Bandara from Gampola. One person can be seen in photographs related to Avant Garde Company. This organized group has direct connections with the Avant Garde Company. The chairman of the Avant Garde company is one of the closest friends of the President.
Today, Minister Ramesh Pathiwara says that this was planned to embarrass the Government. What we say is that a group from the personal security institute of the closest friend of the President is the one behind this attack. Therefore, we say that the Government has direct involvement in this attack. The President should conduct an inquiry into this matter. We have the right to expression as enforced by the Constitution. This is an attempt made out of sheer jealousy over the increasing public attraction towards National People’s Power. Suspects are in custody. The Police can continue the inquiry. We can remember the Ambepitiya murder. The gun was fired by another person. Ultimately Potta Naufer is the one who was sentenced to death as he was guilty of abetting the crime. Therefore, the actual respondents of this egg-throwing incident are not those who came with 5000 Rupees. The true respondent of this is the one who abetted this attack. The President should intervene in this matter. If the true respondent is not revealed, there’s no doubt that the Government has a hand on this. And, we stay alert on the inquiry.
This incident is not an ordinary egg attack. It isn’t merely a common attack on an opponent with egg and tomato. There is a serious situation behind this. Those arrested people have testified that this was directed by Prasanna Ranathunga. At the same time, the preliminary investigations have revealed that one person involved in the incident is related to Avant Garde. What is this Avant Garde company? It’s a mercenary force that maintains the rental weapons of the three-armed forces and the police in this country. This company has all sorts of weapons like T56, AK47, T81 machine guns, sub-machine guns which are similar to what our Sri Lankan forces possess. This is a paramilitary force as well. There were many criticisms towards this paramilitary force. Therefore, its businesses were handed over to the Naval force. This company has all the retired Major Generals, Navy Commanders and soldiers, a well-trained army. Then what is the danger about it? If this incident was not caught, what could have happened next.
This is not an ordinary security firm. A paramilitary force with weapons. This should have equal or more discipline than the army. The army is responsible to the government. Who is responsible for this paramilitary force? The chairman himself of this institution has made several allegations to NPP leader Mr Anura Dissanayake, JVP. The challenges have been made. The insulting statements have been made. Who is responsible for a paramilitary force led by such a person? The Ministry of Defense issues the license to such paramilitary companies to carry weapons. Even though it is a security firm, the Ministry of Defense issues the permit. If the people of Avant Garde are attacking a party convention, are they doing the work of the licensed company? The Sri Lankan people, media and the Ministry of Defense should seriously think about this.
Nissanka Senadhipathi was the messenger for releasing Ranjan Ramanayake. MP Geetha Kumarasinghe also asks Senadhipathi to take messages to the President. It shows the relationship between Nissanka Senadhipathi and the President. If so, the President must conduct an inquiry about this. The serious issue here is whether the bombs will come next. Ordinary people remember the recent incidents in the past. If these things are done to political parties, what will happen to ordinary people? Therefore, the police should carry out a proper investigation. Need to take telephone call details. Need to investigate the CCTV footage. Need to find out about the people who dealt with these suspects. The police have the ability to investigate these. That’s the way the real culprit can be identified. There are plenty of examples of crime investigations.
The fact that the police are asleep without even taking a statement means that the police is under influence. The Inspector-General of Police and other police officers should remember that they are paid by the public money. The police should also remember that governments will not stay forever. If not, they should remember that they may have to roam around the courts. The egg is just the beginning. Beyond this, anything could happen. These groups should be responsible for everything that happen after this. No matter how close Avant Garde Mudalali is to the president, there should be an impartial investigation.
There is no trust in the police, that justice will be granted. The use of thugs in Sri Lankan politics has existed throughout history. With the creation of the executive presidency, the underworld was used. It happened from J.R. time. Army officers were used. Artists, scholars, civil society activists and journalists have been attacked by thugs if you can remember. Today a different situation has arisen. A paramilitary force has been created to carry out all kinds of dirty work that politicians want without the use of the police or the army and without getting dirty hands. This is a dangerous situation. This is also a threat to national security.
Can a Tamil man or a Muslim man maintain a paramilitary force without modern arms, and even without statistics on weapons? If such a business is started, what kind of objection will take place if such a license is given when a Rajapaksa is not in power? In an army, if a soldier is given a weapon, he is responsible for the bullet used in that weapon. Even, there is a number for the weapon of a relevant soldier. A situation has arisen today where a paramilitary force is being maintained by giving arms to a group of undisciplined people who are not responsible to the country. It’s scary. It could be started with an egg. We can be the target. But where does this stop?
In the past, thugs were maintained by MPs and ministers. Ministers and MPs maintained the thugs to carry out the thuggish activities wanted by the President and the Prime Minister. Today that situation has changed and several businessmen around the President are carrying out this work. The opportunity has arisen for several businessmen to rule the country by giving the President a huge power and 2/3 majority in Parliament. One of the businessmen maintains a paramilitary force. This is a threat to the very existence of democracy in the country. A threat to the people’s right to hold an alternative opinion. Therefore, this incident should be investigated not because of an attack on the National People’s Power but because of an attack on the people. Also, the public has a right to know about these people.
As I write this column this week, I can hear Air Force jets flying past my home as they practise for Sri Lanka’s 74th Independence Day celebrations. My social media feeds are replete with robust debates on the meaning of independence and the ‘right’ way to celebrate. Certainly, it feels odd to celebrate our independence […]
As I write this column this week, I can hear Air Force jets flying past my home as they practise for Sri Lanka’s 74th Independence Day celebrations. My social media feeds are replete with robust debates on the meaning of independence and the ‘right’ way to celebrate. Certainly, it feels odd to celebrate our independence at a moment when everything from our food to energy security is compromised and our dependence on others – be they countries, multilateral institutions or foreign investors, is at its highest.
There is no doubt that Sri Lanka is facing an unprecedented moment in her post-independence history at this time. Our political landscape is unstable, the economic situation is dire and we appear to be drifting mindlessly from one crisis to another. Never before have we felt so abandoned by our leaders or felt so little confidence in their ability to pull us out of the hole into which we are rapidly sinking. So what do we do?
We can fall into a morass of despair and cynicism and plan to migrate – but not all of us have that choice. For many of us, either through choice or circumstances, Sri Lanka will remain our home. Perhaps this is a moment where rather than waiting for others to provide solutions, we, as citizens of this country, take control of our own destinies.
Of course this is easier said than done. Theoretically, and indeed as guaranteed in our Constitution, sovereignty lies with the people. We elect representatives to exercise legislative, judicial and executive power on our behalf. Yet, in reality, our relationship with elected representatives does not reflect this constitutionally guaranteed principle at all. In practice, the relationship is one between a privileged class of rulers and loyal, submissive subjects. This is maintained through both the trappings of power as well as its performance.
A few days after my entry into Parliament, a seasoned politician told me: “Don’t be too humble. If you don’t throw your weight around a bit, you won’t be taken seriously. Don’t forget this is Sri Lanka”. Now what does this really mean? It suggests that the favoured or expected disposition of an elected representative in Sri Lanka is not someone who looks and acts like any other citizen. Rather, what is expected is someone who sets himself or herself above other citizens, someone whose image reflects power and authority over others. In other words, someone who throws his or her weight around as I was advised.
So is it surprising that our elected representatives function like the rules that apply to other citizens do not apply to them? Is it surprising that they consider the privileges of office as rights to be enjoyed at will? So deeply is this engrained in our political culture, that it is completely acceptable for spouses and progeny of elected representatives as well as their handlers to consider themselves part of this privileged circle. In fact, as far as the progeny are concerned, these are inherited rights and privileges that must remain within the family.
Whatever the Constitution may say about “freely elected representatives of the people,” the majority of our elected representatives consider their position in dynastic terms – a family inheritance. And it must be admitted, that as citizens, we too think of the suitability for election in similar terms: members of political dynasties are not expected to prove themselves suitable for office – all they need to do is express interest in the office and they are pretty much guaranteed the position.
Certainly, there are signs that this is changing. Recent public reactions to elected representatives indicate that people are waking up to their power and the need to hold leaders accountable. That is why this moment is so incredibly important: It is in times of crisis that we can start discussing and imagining new ways of being, new rules of conduct, a different political ethos. Because if nothing else, this moment should be showing us that whatever we have been doing in the past several decades has not worked. And people are certainly talking about change, about a different way of doing things, the need for a radical transformation of society. But the question is, how far from our comfort zones are we prepared to go? What exactly is the change that we want? I believe these are questions we need to seriously ask ourselves.
If we consider the most recent elections in Sri Lanka, 2015, 2019 and 2020 – both the Presidential and General Elections were conducted explicitly on platforms that called for change. And people responded to that call for change. Arguably, while the 2015 election was more about voting a regime out rather than electing a new leader and government, 2019 was explicitly about electing a new political culture. That was what was promised: A different political culture. The 2019 Presidential Elections as well as the General Elections in 2020 were won on platforms that promised a different leadership style, professionalism and discipline. Yet, not even two years into these promised changes, the President as well as the Government are rapidly losing ground. Public confidence in the Government has never been at such a low.
Rather than simply blaming those we elected, should we not also at this moment reflect on our choices? Although we wanted change, did we actually choose change? Can we expect a change from our elected representatives unless we as citizens are prepared to change as well? In my view, this requires us to re-imagine the kind of relationship we have with elected representatives as well as our ideas of leadership. Importantly, it also means that we recognise that the transformation we want requires our participation.
That what is required today is a massive collective effort – a movement to regain our independence, our sovereignty that we ceded to corrupt and incompetent leaders. We need to accept that the solution lies in institution building, finding common solutions, rather than leaving it to individuals. One of the most damaging legacies of neoliberal political culture is the idea that the individual is solely responsible for his or her wellbeing – that personal transformation is all that is required to achieve happiness.
If we learnt any lesson from the COVID-19 pandemic, if we are learning any lesson from the climate crisis, it should be that our salvation lies in taking collective responsibility, in building systems that work for all of us. This is not a total erasure of the individual, rather situating the individual in context, within a network of relationships and connections. What we need to work on are improving those relationships and connections; the systems and institutions that enable healthy relationships and connections.
If so, then the leaders we elect need to be those who believe in the idea of the collective. It is not about the leader who says ‘I am the best’ but one who is able to bring out the best in other people. It is about electing leaders who have worked hard to get to where they are rather than those who have taken their position as a birth right. It is not about those who talk about accomplishments but those who can also analyse an issue and provide a different perspective. Most importantly, we must elect leaders with whom we can have a relationship of mutual respect rather than patronage, who are willing to live like us, rather than those who expect homage from loyal subjects.
Let this 74th Independence Day be one where we free ourselves from the past. Let this be a moment where we truly understand that sovereignty lies with us, the people. And that with that sovereignty comes responsibility as well – the responsibility to choose wisely, to choose well and to hold those we choose to account.
By Harini Amarasuriya
විශ්වවිද්යාල අධ්යාපනය සඳහා තෝරාගෙන සිටින සිසු සිසුවියන් විශ්වවිද්යාලවලට අනුයුක්ත කිරීමේ නාමලේඛනය මේ වන විටත් විශ්වවිද්යාල ප්රතිපාදන කොමිසම විසින් ලබා දී නොමැති බව හෙළි කළේ ය. ලබන මාර්තු මාසයේ නවක විශ්වවිද්යාල ශිෂ්ය ශිෂ්යාවන් සඳහා පාඨමාලා ආරම්භ කිරීමට ක්රියා කරමින් සිටිය දී, අදාළ පාඨමාලාවලට තේරී පත් වුණු ශිෂ්ය ශිෂ්යාවන්ගේ නාමලේඛන අදාළ විශ්වවිද්යාලවලට ලබා නොදීම බරපතළ තත්ත්වයක් බවත් […]
විශ්වවිද්යාල අධ්යාපනය සඳහා තෝරාගෙන සිටින සිසු සිසුවියන් විශ්වවිද්යාලවලට අනුයුක්ත කිරීමේ නාමලේඛනය මේ වන විටත් විශ්වවිද්යාල ප්රතිපාදන කොමිසම විසින් ලබා දී නොමැති බව හෙළි කළේ ය.
ලබන මාර්තු මාසයේ නවක විශ්වවිද්යාල ශිෂ්ය ශිෂ්යාවන් සඳහා පාඨමාලා ආරම්භ කිරීමට ක්රියා කරමින් සිටිය දී, අදාළ පාඨමාලාවලට තේරී පත් වුණු ශිෂ්ය ශිෂ්යාවන්ගේ නාමලේඛන අදාළ විශ්වවිද්යාලවලට ලබා නොදීම බරපතළ තත්ත්වයක් බවත් පෙන්වා දුන්නේ ය. මේ නිසා දැනටමත් අඩපණ කර තිබෙන රාජ්ය විශ්වවිද්යාල පද්ධතිය තව දුරටත් අඩපණ කර දරුවන්ගේ අනාගතය සමඟ සෙල්ලම් නොකරන ලෙසට අදාළ බලධාරීන්ට මෙහි දී අවධාරණය කරනු ලැබී ය.
මෙයට මාස තුනකට පෙර විශ්වවිද්යාල සඳහා තෝරා ගත් සිසු සිසුවියන්ගේ නාමලේඛන අදාළ විශ්වවිද්යෘලවලට ලබා නොදීම හිතාමතා ම සිදු කරන්නක් දැයි සැකයක් මතු වන බව පැවසී ය.
ඊට අමතරව ප්රජාතන්ත්රවාදීව ක්රියාත්මක වන විපක්ෂයේ දේශපාලන කටයුතුවලට පෞද්ගලික ආරක්ෂක සේවාවලට සම්බන්ධ මැර කණ්ඩායම් යොදවා ප්රහාර එල්ල කිරීම බරපතළ තත්ත්වයක් බව පෙන්වා දුන්නේ ය. මේ වන විටත් සීමා කර තිබෙන ප්රජාතන්ත්රවාදී අවකාශය රාජ්ය ඇමැතිවරුන්ගේ පුතුන්ගේ මැදිහත් විමෙන් විශ්වවිද්යාල නේවාසිකාගාරවලට කඩාවැදීම දක්වා දුරදිග ගොස් තිබෙන බවට පෙන්වා දුන්නේ ය.
වර්තමාන ආණ්ඩුව ප්රජාතන්ත්රවාදය අභියෝගයට ලක් කරමින්, පෞද්ගලික, සංවිධානාත්මක අර්ධ මිලිටරි කණ්ඩායම් යොදවා විපක්ෂයට ප්රහාර එල්ල කරන බව අද (06දා) පැවැති එම මාධ්ය හමුවේ දී ජාතික ජන බලවේගයේ විධායක සභික මහින්ද රත්නායක පැවසී ය. තුනෙන් දෙකක බහුතර බලයක් සහිතව පිහිටුවා තිබෙන ආණ්ඩුව ක්රියා කරමින් සිටින්නේ, විසිවැනි ආණ්ඩුක්රම සංශෝධනය තුළින් ප්රජාතන්ත්රවාදය සීමා කර ලබා ගත් බලතලවලට අනුව […]
වර්තමාන ආණ්ඩුව ප්රජාතන්ත්රවාදය අභියෝගයට ලක් කරමින්, පෞද්ගලික, සංවිධානාත්මක අර්ධ මිලිටරි කණ්ඩායම් යොදවා විපක්ෂයට ප්රහාර එල්ල කරන බව අද (06දා) පැවැති එම මාධ්ය හමුවේ දී ජාතික ජන බලවේගයේ විධායක සභික මහින්ද රත්නායක පැවසී ය.
තුනෙන් දෙකක බහුතර බලයක් සහිතව පිහිටුවා තිබෙන ආණ්ඩුව ක්රියා කරමින් සිටින්නේ, විසිවැනි ආණ්ඩුක්රම සංශෝධනය තුළින් ප්රජාතන්ත්රවාදය සීමා කර ලබා ගත් බලතලවලට අනුව බව පෙන්වා දුන්නේ ය. එමෙන් ම ජනාධිපතිවරයා ප්රමුඛ ආණ්ඩුව ක්රියා කරමින් සිටින්නේ, ප්රජාතන්ත්රවාදය දඬුකඳේ ගසමින්, කිසි ම එල්ලයක් නැතිව යැයි චෝදනා නැඟී ය.
