Asanga Abeyagoonasekera
“Heroes are our guides in our journey towards freedom. Their lives and
history are what makes our goal firm….let us light the fire of ambition
in our hearts on this holy day,” said Prabhakaran, the ruthless
terrorist leader of the Liberation Tigers of the Tamil Eelam (LTTE) in
Sri Lanka. Such words were content to his Heroes Day speech on 27
November, 2001. Eight years later, the incumbent Sri Lankan President
Mahinda Rajapaksa defeated Prabhakaran’s deadly military machine. This
military defeat saw the decline of the idea of regional autonomy or the
Tamil Eelam – win previously deemed impossible.
The eradication of the scourge of terrorism and barbarity in warfare is a
tall task. The recent Peshawar attacks stand testimony to this.
Violence against the innocents continues, even as we stepped into a new
year. As the New Year begins its important to think about the world we
have created; the killing of innocent children was disgraceful. As the
most intelligent of species on our planet, the brutalities of our past
and present make it evident that the time to strengthen a culture of
values and protect our social fabric from the scourge of brutality, is
now.
The Peshawar massacre is not alien to the South Asian or Sri Lankan
cases. In Sri Lanka, the LTTE terrorists massacred innocent children
when those children were asleep in remote villages. Sri Lanka won its
battle against terrorism by sacrificing many lives, but it is not
removed from the larger struggle of the world towards defeating
terrorism. Terrorism in anywhere should be addressed and defeated. The
priority of the world’s agenda for the next decade should be to create a
safe world for its inhabitants. Without this, economic and individual
prosperity would be a difficult task.
When political systems fail to adjust to change, social instabilities
may occur. The incumbent Sri Lankan president continued the political
system with nearly 100 ministers introduced by the former president. The
opposition campaign targets corruption and lack of good governance in
the present regime. The importance of establishing the independent
bribery commission and other commissions could be considered because
they are the fundamentals in a democracy – and need strengthening.
Loss-making government institutions have to be revived and strengthened.
Meritocracy has to be introduced in all levels of governance. Instead
of making ad hoc decisions, foreign policies must be formulated after
incorporating research inputs instead of making ad hoc decisions. All
these areas need development to achieve the $7500 per capita income by
2020.
In the build-up to the 8 January presidential polls, the political
landscape has been volatile. Political crossovers have exceeded the
maximum threshold levels. While it appears that these decisions were
made to improve people’s lives, it is worth questioning as to whether
decisions to switch sides were made with the consent of those who
elected them. People vote for their representatives looking at their
policies and political affiliations. How could elected representatives
change sides without the consent of the very people who elected them to
office? This crossover of politicians is a way of plundering votes and
should not be encouraged as it will further deteriorate the political
culture; a trust deficit with the political system is building among the
people.
On 8 January, these very people will elect their new president.
Different polls predict different outcomes but concur on the likelihood
of a very small margin. This author believes that even if the joint
opposition candidate, Maithripala Sirisena, wins, he will miss the
country’s target for two reasons:
Firstly, due to the coalition he has built with the former president and
many others. In the event of an electoral victory, once the euphoria of
the polls ceases, such a cocktail of political cultures will find it
difficult to establish a common ground to work together to take the
country forward.
Secondly, dismantling the system of the Executive Presidency. The
promise of the removal of the executive presidency in 100 days is
promising but the strategy afterwards is vague and unclear. After the
proverbial 100 days, voters will find themselves being led by a
different leader than the person they have trusted their vote in. The
current opposition’s post-election strategy is limited in its pragmatic
capacity.
President Rajapaksa, who surgically removed the terrorist tumor by an
invasive surgery – a task his three predecessors failed at – will still
carry more weight. The ongoing run-up to the polls is a necessary
eye-opener to President Rajapaksa. The present government, despite its
strengths, needs to commit to strict rules to tidy the country’s
political culture and introduce better governance.
George Orwell's 1945 classic, ‘Animal Farm’, where the animals decided
to rebel against the farmer and restore a new and better order, is a
good example of today's political climate. What Orwell tried to
demonstrate in his book was as to how easily political dogma can be
turned into malleable propaganda. It is therefore important to
understand the changes we wish to bring to our system, and the risk of
political instability if we do a total system change.
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