Exits and the dilemmas they spawn

In the second week of June, the Yahapalana Government dispatched several high ranking loyalists to the UK or else instructed those who happened to be in that country or were planning to visit for other business to lobby UK citizens of Sri Lankan origin against Brexit.

Harin Fernando, Harsha de Silva, Rosy Senanayake, Dayasiri Jayasekera, Dilan Perera and Susil Premjayantha are reported to have done the canvassing at the time. The majority of voters (51.89%) voted in favour of Britain exiting the European Union. The exit was formally written into law on January 23, 2020.

At the time, with Brexit impending, Ranil Wickremesighe, then Prime Minister, was reported to have said that Sri Lanka should look East. Specifically, he outlined long term plans to forget stronger ties with Asian countries (China, India, Japan and Korea). He spoke of fast-tracking ETCA (Economic Technology Cooperation Agreement) with India and Free Trade Agreements with the aforementioned economies.

It took Brexit, then, for the darling of neoliberalism in Sri Lanka to ‘see’ the neighbourhood. Fast forward to 2022, Ranil Wickremeisnghe, now President, ‘shockingly’ resorted to rhetoric that was almost a throw-back to the policies of the United Front government of the early 1970s. He has eased off that kind of stuff since, understandably so given a long standing fascination with neoliberalism which, in current circumstances, requires repeating the mantra ‘IMF is God’ and following relevant precepts.

From Day One it has been a case of wanting to get money from wherever in order to make people feel things are better. ‘IMF’ has been thought of as a means to secure further loans and attract investment on account of a relatively rosier picture of general economic health. The first is essentially about adding to the debt burden and getting deeper into a default cycle. The latter just doesn’t work that way. The government just doesn’t have any solid, sustainable plan to sort out the foreign exchange problem.

The focus instead has been on political viability and, on the economic front, ticking ‘IMF Boxes.’ Among them is a condition on restructuring domestic debt. Problem: local banks are saying ‘no can do.’ And why should they, anyway? They are not obliged to bail out governments.

What are the options, then, if the boxes remain unticked? China.

Wait. Julie Chung won’t be happy about it, right? The lady might think that it’s time for Wickremesinghe to exit! Perhaps this is why presidential pretenders like Patali Champika Ranawaka has adopted an unusually US-friendly position.  Perhaps this is why the pro-US Al Jazeera calls him a ‘dictator.’ That’s the first salvo of vilification and discrediting. Expect more of the same. ‘Unless,’ is the word unsaid followed by the do this and do that of arm-twisting.

Right now, there’s a tightrope to walk. A fine line. On the one hand, the government is unable to tick certain IMF boxes. On the other hand, Chung shouldn’t be displeased. Something has to give. Or, put another way, something has to be given. The devils have to be appeased. SOFA? MCC? Don’t be surprised, folks; this is a battle for political survival and not economic recovery, alleviating miseries or a plan to get the country out of a rut and ensure it doesn’t slip back. It helps when you are ideologically happy embracing such servility and facilitating such outright plunder. Bottom line: whatever it takes, never mind the people, the resources, who gets short-changed, who gets enslaved, what gets looted, the potential pillage etc.

All this is framed by the question of legitimacy. We have a legally appointed president who has a serious legitimacy deficit. Right now he’s dependent on numbers provided by a party that has severely discredited itself since the 2020 election and a few who have reneged from parties such as the SJB and SLMC. Naturally, he would prefer to be a president elected by the people and not their representatives. Thereafter he could stir the coalition soup to obtain the consistency required for political stability. Easier said than done. He does have the advantage of an opposition that’s not only divided by confusion, not to mention the fact that it is composed of groups and parties led by ego-maniacs who themselves stand discredited in the eyes of the people. All that, later. What of the here and now?

Maybe the most serious issue is that a politically beleaguered leader just doesn’t have the space to develop a solid, pragmatic and sustainable plan of action. Tossing out a date (2048 in this case) just isn’t enough. Ranil Wickremesinghe’s government is like a bunch of specialist bowlers batting on a minefield and attacked by unforgiving bowlers while being surrounded by the sharpest fielders ready to pounce on edges produced by each and every false stroke. And no one to cheer either, for it is, for all intents and purposes, an ‘away match.’

The world has changed a lot after Brexit. The West is in decline; only the West doesn’t want to admit it or else just don’t believe the writing on the wall. Wickremesinghe knows this though. Ranawaka knows it too but probably thinks the bad days are still far away — therefore it’s a warm enough embrace to achieve political ambitions.  Wickremesinghe is in the hot seat, not Ranawaka. Right now he’s struggling to appease those who seem to have run out of patience and at the same time is wary of considering the obvious alternatives.

There’s one thing he can do though: address the larger and most worrisome issues at hand. What’s the plan? What’s the plan to fix the foreign exchange crisis? What’s the plan to encourage industry even as you implement austerity measures? The industries have to compete in a global economy. They have margins to worry about. Why not engage with them? Coherence. That’s probably a good thing to be framed by at this point. The sheer lack of clarity on all matters will not help.

And it would be good to revisit the post-Brexit thinking. There’s some distance from thought to action, but Wickremesinghe did get it right in 2016. There were no other options then. There are none today either. Could work, subject to the non-negotiable condition of the national interest informing all engagements.  He’s a tad poor on that. Indeed, he’s not alone there. All major political parties and their leaders are equal to him in this regard. Or worse.

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Laughing at Dayasiri or ourselves?

On Wednesday evening at Sooriya Village, while speaking on relationship-education, vulnerabilities of children, especially girls, in cyber space, what can be done, what is being done and what should be done, Hans Billimoria asked a question from the audience.  ‘Did you get Sanath’s video?’  He pointed to several men and each of them said ‘yes’.  He went on to talk about consent.  Respect.  Knowledge.  

Had Hans asked ‘Did you get Dayasiri’s video?’ or else ‘Did you get that disce amuta disce discarde video?’ the chances are that everyone would have said ‘yes’.  I am pretty sure that Hans could have then proceeded to talk of hypocrisy, arrogance, ignorance, elitism and misplaced notions of self-image.  If he wanted to.   

Salivation.  That’s what it is all about. In both instances.  There’s nothing to dissect in the eyes-wide-open, jaw-dropping, tongue-hanging-out thrills sought by whoever it was that posted the first video and of course whoever passed it around.  The Dayasiri video is different.  That’s Dayasiri Jayasekera, Minister of Sports.  

Dayasiri mispronounced the Latin in the Royal College motto.  He also dropped the ‘Esto’ of the Thomian motto ‘Esto Perpetua’.  He stumbled.  He struggled.  He was reading a prepared text and perhaps the Latin parts were written in Sinhala.  Maybe there was a typo.  Maybe it was hand-written and maybe poor handwriting was what made the Minister of Sports struggle the way he did.    

It’s all over social media.  And it has generated a lot of comment.  ‘He should have made sure of the pronunciation,’ is a point many have made.  True.  As a public figure and one with quite a few years of experience, he should have known better.  ‘He could have spoken in Sinhala!’ some have observed wistfully.  Should have, under the circumstances.  Then of course there are those who are tickled to death by the whole affair.  

They laugh at Dayasiri’s mispronunciation.  They ridicule his ‘poor English’ (what’s ‘rich English’ by the way?).  Some even claim that the missteps, the struggles, the language-butchering and being unprepared are all indicative of general incompetence.  

Who are we laughing at, really?  Did those who laugh at Dayasiri on account of him not doing his homework, also laugh when other politicians messed up?  Did they laugh at Mahinda’s gaffes and pretend they didn’t hear Ranil’s howlers and vice versa as per the ‘prerogatives’ of political loyalty?  Is it only language-related screw-ups that they laugh at?  I mean, when it comes to politicians jumping the gun, dropping bricks and murdering the queen, do we laugh out loud for certain gaffes, polite cough at others and feign deafness at yet others?  

Dayasiri was tripped by pronunciation.  It was not Sinhala.  It was not English.  It was Latin, a dead language!  Around the same time Ranil Wickremesinghe talked about an ඉරටු තියෙන කොස්ස (literally ‘a broom made with coconut husks but [also] with ekels).  He should have said ඉදල (ekel-broom). Dayasiri’s error was mild in comparison.  But Dayasiri continues to be ridiculed, while the Prime Minister’s obvious unfamiliarity with the Sinhala language hasn’t prompted much comment. 

Are all those who laughed and/or still laughs at Dayasiri perfect in their English and in their Latin?  Does it make those who are good in English feel better when someone shows language incompetence?  Is English synonymous with ‘smart,’ ‘wise,’ ‘clever,’ etc for such people?  

Is English-acquisition a defining and important feel-good factor in their lives and is it this that is being affirmed in a roundabout way by Dayasiri’s little word-trip?  Is this a fallout of Puswedilla or is Puswedilla a product of all this or rather a piggybacking on this elitist language trip?  Is it just that psychological hangup that makes some people call others godayas or yakkhos or, in recent times, bayyas?   Is it a chip on the shoulder that prompts people to laugh at and ridicule mispronunciation, perhaps because they believe that mimicking the elite in this way would give them access to elite clubs?  

In the mid 1970s, I listened to a talk given by my father, Gamini Seneviratne, at an event organized by an organization of English teachers.  He was asked to speak on ‘The language of administration’.  I remember him mentioning the Dutch, the Portuguese and British and the languages these colonial powers used in administering the island.  His argument was that it is best to use the language of the people in the matter of administration.  During the Q&A session a lady asked a question. I can’t remember the question, but I still remember her interjecting something that seemed strange to me then but which I later understood was a product of a common malady among English speakers in Sri Lanka.  She caveated her question with the following: ‘We, the elite.”  I remember my father brushing her off with what can only be described as kindness: “If that’s your self-image, there’s nothing I can say.”  

I also remember my father giving a lift to English language educationist Douglas Walatara, who said with good humor, ‘I don’t think you really believe what you said Gamini.’  ‘I do,’ my father said quietly.  

Self-image is the big story that’s missing in the splash over Dayasiri mispronouncing Disce aut Discede.  And it is about two sets of people: those who think they are ‘elite’ (on account of English competency) and those who think they could get membership to elitist circles by a) laughing at those who mispronounce, and b) taking issue with the ‘Sinhala Buddhist Other’ that is the bugbear of English-speaking ‘elites’ at every possible turn.  

A lot of people would have smirked when Sanath’s video was released.  They were, in liking and sharing, disrespecting themselves.  There are many who laughed when Dayasiri slipped.  The truth is that Dayasiri just missed a step; those who laughed didn’t realize that they had been floored long before Dayasiri took the mic.  And in the end, they all laughed at themselves, Kumar De Silva was spot on when he made this observation a couple of days later.  Dayasiri was Dayasiri.  Those who laughed at him appear to have some problem who who they really are. 

See also:  The true meaning of "Disce aut Discede"

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Political Round-up Aug 5-12, 2012

Gota fires aces in Colombo, Karunanidhi eats humble pie

With elections for the Eastern, Sabaragamuwa and North Central Provincial Councils less than a month away, the main political parties have stepped up their respective campaigns.  While the ruling party holds an obvious edge by dint of incumbency, a flurry of activity by contenders was apparent during the week, less on the ground than in word and froth designed as media-bait, naturally. 

The week also saw more twists and turns in education crisis pertaining to Z-scores, errors in the A/L Combined Mathematics paper, trade union action by academics, contentions about budgetary allocations, university admissions, threats of boycotting A/L paper marking, FUTA-JVP tie ups and non-academic staff cashing in on the confusion by threatening action of its own.  

Drought and issues of fuel quality brought the CEB and CPC into focus during the week, again with CEB workers discerning opportunity to exploit and win demands. 

Most of these issues have spilled over from the previous week.  What was different was the three-day ‘Defence Seminar 2012’ on the theme ‘Towards Lasting Peace and Stability’ focusing on reconstruction, resettlement, rehabilitation, reintegration and reconciliation’ held at the Galadari Hotel, Colombo and attended by more than 300 delegated os academics, administrators and military personnel from 43 countries. 

Secretary, Ministry of Defence, Gotabhaya Rajapaksa briefed the participants on all that has taken place subsequent to the routing of the LTTE, pointing out that the defence establishment had effectively been transformed into a protecting entity.  He said that a planned phasing out of military presence from the former combat areas is in effect and said that while some troops will remain in strategic locations, their presence will be non-intrusive. 

Rajapaksa also took opportunity to correct misconceptions held by the General of the much-maligned Indian Peace Keeping Force (IPKF), General (Rtd) Ashok K. Mehta who  quoted unnamed sources to counter the government’s position on de-militarization.  General Mehta also asked if the Government was ready to pardon the 383 ex-LTTE combatants.  Rajapaksa had to detail the process of screening and the pains taken by the Government to rehabilitate, empower with skill and reintegrate ex-terrorists whose fate would have been far from happy had the war continued, and who may very well have participated in numerous crimes against humanity at the bidding of the terrorist leadership.  Earlier, the intelligence chief of the IPKF, Col. Hariharan had acknowledged that the Indian military had suffered from a woeful lack of understanding on ground realities, blaming ‘civilian intelligence operatives’. 

The Government’s efforts both during the conflict and afterwards came in for high praise from President of India’s Janata Party, Subramanian Swamy.  He condemned the many moves to impose from abroad a solution and insisted that proposals must emerge indigenously after full democratic consultationnn with all stakeholders, none of whom will have veto power and adopted by the Sri Lankan Parliament. Swamy also met with President  Mahinda Rajapaksa to discuss issues of reconciliation. 

After returning to India, Swamy asked Chief Minister J Jayalalithaa to visit Sri Lanka to ‘help foster Sinhala-Tamil’ reconciliation while taking jibes at DMK chief M. Karunanidhi for going ‘bankrupt’ on ideas on the Sri Lankan Tamils issue. 

A visit by Jayalalithaa to Sri Lanka at this juncture will promote reconciliation and foster India-Sri Lanka bonding, he added.

He warned Karunanidhi against any talk of ‘Eelam’, saying it would attract action under Indian Penal Code including abatement of secessionist forces against Sri Lanka, which ‘is a friendly country (to India)’.

Meanwhile, External Affairs Minister, G.L. Peiris, in his presentation, blamed ‘external interference’  for the deal in reaching a political settlement.  He urged those who are currently working with various Tamil groups abroad should revisit what they did during the time the LTTE was a formidable militarily presence in the island.  He also noted that had there been no concern for civilian lives, the LTTE could have been defeated much earlier.

Karunanidhi and Eelam-backers in Tamil Nadu stumped

Meanwhile efforts by Tamil Nadu politician Karunanidhi to whip up Tamil nationalism to serve narrow political objectives by hosting a pro-Eelam meeting ran into trouble following a ban imposed by the police. The Indian Home Ministry had also urged the front organization used by Karunanidhi, Tamil Eelam Support Organization (TESO) to remove the word ‘Eelam’ from their activities.  Chief Minister Jayalalitha put her professed Eelam-need on hold, refusing to give permission for the meeting ‘in the common interest of Chennai residents.  Moreover, Karunanidhi was effectively snubbed by the TNA, among whose movers and shakers are those involved in feeding the worst elements of Tamil communalism and pushing them to the point of taking arms in order to carve a separate state.  The constituent parties of the TNA have declined invitation to attend with only the left firebrand Wickramabahu Karunaratne, dependent on fringes of the main opposition for political relevancy, expressing willingness to take part. 

The UNP’s many headaches

The main opposition party, the UNP, embroiled in internal tug-and-pull, has found the going touch, trying to deal with disunity even as it fires salvos at the Government on a range of issues.    The party’s 66^th anniversary celebrations have been scheduled strategically for September 6^th, two days before the elections.

Speculation has been rife that two prominent UNPers were set to jump ship and it was whispered that disciplinary action would be taken against both who were planning, according to unnamed sources, to sit as independents in Parliament following relevant statements.  Outspoken critique of both the government and the party leadership, Dayasiri Jayasekera who was widely rumored to be on the verge of defecting has quashed speculation on the subject, however. He told The Nation yesterday that the story of his defection is a fiction spun by Ranil Wickremesinghe’s media mafia.  He said that a meeting in Kegalle that he was scheduled to addressed had been cancelled.  He added that the organizers of the Anuradhapura meeting had defied the party leader, saying that even if he (Ranil) didn’t attend, they wanted Dayasiri present.  The rebel MP also pointed out that he has cordial relations with President Mahinda Rajapaksa as well as UPFA MP Namal Rajapaksa, pointing out that they always speak with him when they meet him unlike the UNP leader who sometimes looks the other way.

Wickremesinghe, meanwhile, addressing party faithful in Kandy alleged that the Cabinet is the biggest mafia.  He has also gone on record to state that the Government is destroying the education system in much the same way that it wiped out the LTTE.  The UNP leader also proposed Parliamentary oversight committees to curb corruption.  Meanwhile, one-time Deputy Leader, Karu Jayasuriya who has been hoofed out of the party’s working committee, batting alone has accused the government of wasting the nation’s money, alleging that 14 more MI171 helicopters are due to be purchased. 

Meanwhile the allegation leveled by Minister of Heath Maithripala Sirisena that Wickremesinghe ‘spied for Chandrika Kumaratunga during the 1994 Presidential Election’ has caused ripples in the UNP with Wickremesinghe loyalist and General Secretary Tissa Attanayake demanding that Sirisena substantiate the claim.  Sirisena has stated that he is able and willing.  A public debate on the issue is now on the cards.

That however seems to be the least of Wickremesinghe’s problems for the Mt. Lavinia Court has ruled to suspend the amendment to the party constitution extending leadership to 6 years, following a petition by UNP Southern Provincial Councillor Maithri Gunaratne.  A notice has been duly issued on Wickremesinghe and 85 others in the Working Committee to appear in court.

Hakeem remorseful about ‘yellow-robe’ statement

Rauff Hakeem, the leader of the SLMC, a constituent of the ruling coalition but is contesting separately in the Eastern Province, has issued an apology to the Maha Sangha and especially the JHU for unsavory comments about ‘yellow robe terrorism’.  He confessed, ‘We have enjoyed the patronage and benevolence of the Sinhala people from the time of the Sinhala kings’.  Meanwhile the All Ceylon Jamiyathul Ulama requested Muslim politicos to avoid making statements that could cause disharmony among communities. 

From rata-perata to ratha-perahera

The JVP, in reduced circumstances following a second major split in the party and several resounding defeats, launched an atypical bourgeois-drive, literally, by organizing a vehicle-procession from South to North.   The party is due to kick off its official election campaign from Ratnapura. 

CaFFE the victor in fund-seeking war for monitoring?

As parties and candidates enter the last few weeks of the campaign, the Elections Commissioner has issued an ‘Election Code’ for them.   The Campaign for Free and Fair Elections (CaFFE) has welcomed this move even as it has reported that there had been over 100 violations by Tuesday alone.  The self-appointed monitoring industry, meanwhile, appears to be monopolized by CaFFE with fellow seekers of monitoring funds, PAFFREL and CMEV (Centre for Monitoring Election Violence) being conspicuously silent. 

Z-Scores, Univ Admission, FUTA and the HR crisis

The contentious issue of Z-scores and university admissions, coupled with union action by the Federation of University Teachers’ Associations (FUTA) continues to plague the education system and especially the universities.   FUTA has held meeting with Minister of Economic Affairs, Basil Rajapaksa and has expressed hope that outstanding issues will be resolved soon.  However, FUTA has found an ally largely blamed for violence and unrest in the universities, the JVP.  How this helps or detracts from FUTA’s profile is yet to be seen.

Meanwhile the Supreme Court has reprimanded the UGC for not implementing the judgment on Z-scores.  The UGC has offered that the university admissions process will be kept on hold until the Z-score dispute is settled.  Students who feel cheated on account of the revised Z-scores have sought redress in the courts.  The President himself has held talks with the Vice Chancellors on admissions in order to settle the issue once and for all.  However, the fact that a conclusive solution has evaded all parties has generated concerns that the problem will resurface next year.  Ranil Wickremesinghe has demanded that the Z-score model be abandoned, a suggestion which JHU leader, Patali Champika Ranawaka has likened to throwing the baby with the bath water, considering regional and disciplinary anomalies. 

The fact that errors have been detected in the combined math papers with the Examinations Department calling for explanations from the Mathematics Professor who set the paper and the strike threat by the non-academic staff in universities have cast shadows over speedy resolution.  Spokespersons for FUTA have also issued veiled threats about boycotting A/L paper marking. 

The silver lining to all this remains a cabinet paper that seeks to overhaul the human resources policy of the government.  If approved by cabinet and implemented would offer long term solutions to most of these issues and put a stop to ad hoc measures designed only to tide over difficulties which can very well exacerbate problems in the long run. 

  

Power cuts, CEB workers’ agitation and contaminated diesel

Politics is not only about political parties. Crises make for politicking as well as righteous agitation.  The power and energy sectors seem to plagued by mismanagement, unrest and irresponsibility.  CEB workers, reputedly among the better looked-after of the state workers, have through their unions threatened to strike if grievances are not addressed.  Minister of Power and Energy has talked tough in return, saying that no one has the right to use electricity as a bargaining tool.  These moves come in the wake of impending power cuts due to reduced water levels in the hydropower producing reservoirs and another albeit relatively minor breakdown at the Norochcholai coal power facility.

Meanwhile the issue of substandard fuel continues to inspire the exchange of barbs and deflecting of responsibility.  The subject minister Susil Premjayanth has stated that CPC standards are outdated.  Transport Minister, Kumara Welgama has lamented that SLTB could rightfully claim the Rs. 6.6 million estimated to have been lost courtesy of substandard fuel.  The CPC has vowed to take action against the guilty while Premjayanth contends that oil imports need to be probed by the Attorney General.  Former Chairman, CPC, business tycoon Harry Jayawardena meanwhile has exchanged words in the media with the minister about such probes.  The upshot of all this, sadly, is that the general public are in the dark about what really happened and what can be expected to happen.  The long term impact on the economy is something few talk about.  

[Published in 'The Nation', August 12, 2012]

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Local Government Elections and an unscripted post-mortem

Just desserts aside, transgression requires response from the Law

It was not a war worthy of making songs about.  There is nothing historic about it and it is certainly not anywhere close to the epic stand of the Sinhalese against the invader several centuries ago.    It was a home-and-home match.   At the end of this petty turf-war a prominent politician is dead along with several loyalists while the erstwhile other of the story is still in critical condition after having several bullets surgically removed from his head.

These are not the first politicians who have opted for gun-brandishing, bullet-spewing modes of being and operation and sadly and even disturbingly they are not likely to be the last for quite some time to come.  What is important to note is that the issue is not about who fired the first shot but that there were shots ready to be fired and fingers ready to pull triggers.  It makes it difficult for people talk about ‘the law’ or ‘law and order’. Indeed, it forces all of us to add a question mark after such terms. 

It’s not new, yes.  The ‘gun culture’ has a long history.   Indeed it is no small miracle that democracy, even in the reduced parameters within which it can be described, has survived despite the proliferation of guns among those who don’t have the license to carry them nor the heads to handle them. 

In the run up to the Colombo Municipal Council election, many parties and candidates vowed to keep the city clean.  The truth is that the city was getting cleaned even without a Council.  ‘Clean’ has other connotations and one of them has to do with eliminating criminality.  There is no point in beauty if the ugliness of mismanagement, corruption and criminality are not dealt with decisively. 

Few, if any, would have surplus sympathy to spare for victims of gang-warfare, which is how the incident is best described.  Those who take the law into their hands or deliberately leave the law out of it when it comes to dispute settlement or indeed prods the law to do their dirty work for them, are not deserving of the ordinary citizen’s tears.    The fact that the main protagonists happened to be seasoned politicians with experience at all levels of representation indicates how serious the problem is. 

The consolation, if it can be called that, is that the victims included the order-givers; usually it’s the henchmen who attack and kill each other, leaving bosses to have a good laugh and offer a camera-moment after the long day’s thuggery is done. 

Some blame turf-wars to the preferential voting system but that doesn’t explain everything.  The two persons concerned were not contesting. Their proxies were, however, and they were being used to see who had the great testosterone reserves.  It’s all spent now, though.  There’s little to show for the energy except a manifest absence of sympathy. 

For me, it emphasizes the fact that Colombo needs to be cleaned up, comprehensively.  The thugs come in all colours, shapes and sizes and are not averse to wearing whatever disguise suits the moment, even the garb of politician.  Colombo needs to be cleaned up and not necessarily in ways like this, where the worst elements clean each other up. 

Dayasiri Jayasekera made a point in Parliament the other day.  It was about gun-toting politicos and their henchmen roaming around Mulleriyawa.  He was unceremoniously evicted from the House.  He has every right to say ‘I told you so!’ 

Political parties survive assassinations, by and large.  Others step in.  Some actually benefit from the human losses suffered by parties as a result of such violence.  Jayasekera in the after-word made the easy but necessary point that only the near and dear suffer.  Whether or not these ‘near and dear’ have what it takes to spare a thought for the ‘near and dear’ of those attacked, maimed and killed by their newly departed or hurt ‘near and dear’ we really cannot say.  Institutions don’t have patience for that kind of thing. 

For me, only one thing matters.  The incident shows that the institutional arrangement is full of holes.  We cannot have a decent Colombo where key institutions that are responsible for law and order are porous.  The Urban Development Authority has done an amazing job, no one will dispute this, but the UDA cannot erase the kinds of blots that criminality leaves in its wake.  It cannot deal with guns and gun-toting thugs or politicians who think they have some kind of right to take the law into their hands.  Something has to be arrested and it is not just errant individuals. 

The one positive is that apart from this incident, election day was relatively peaceful and a far cry from those terrible and blood-drenched elections of the eighties and nineties (held during the stewardships of J.R.Jayewardena, Ranasinghe Premadasa and Chandrika Kumaratunga).  The United National Party won one local government body, the CMC, and lost the rest.  Not altogether unexpected of course, but it would certainly give that party a much-needed boost.  The JVP has gone from bad to worse in terms of performance.  The ruling party made gains in Colombo but these gains have to be read in the context of the natural advantages of incumbency (nationally) and the tweaking of election laws by way of misusing state resources.  The winners will celebrate, the losers will find something to cheer about.

In Mulleriyawa, though, there’s very little to cheer about.  The lessons are there to be learnt and they are not being touched by those who so badly need to be educated.  Dayasiri Jayasekera had a point, in the middle of all this.  Few were ready to listen to him.  Pity. 

[Courtesy Daily News, October 10, 2011]

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