SINK OR SWIM Trying to make sense of it all seems like a mission impossible, given the state of the state – albeit that there’s at least a glimmer of hope that the multiple crises we have faced in recent months will soon be manageable to some degree.

And if we’re to continue to abide by the constitutional process, then we may as well accept that the three main demands of the aragalaya have been met – and so peace seeking people’s fundamental right of living without the spectre of violence and disruption it causes to citizens from all walks of life (not to mention businesses that provide jobs for them) must be protected.

Let’s face it, if we continue to ask our politicians to ‘go home’ one by one, it will take 226 months to empty the house by the lake! So it’s time to get real about what we want and when we want it.

Instead, let’s ask members of the opposition to stop taking every opportunity there is to play politics and join hands, so that we have a truly all-party government and cabinet to tide us through these hard times, and hope that new names of calibre with unblemished track records appear on the ballot paper at the next round of elections.

Indeed, there’s an urgent need to reinstate the checks and balances that were part of the 19th Amendment – and for our politicians to be duty bound not only to declare their assets to the public but have them audited independently – in fact, this may dissuade the robber barons from seeking re-election!

Likewise, the process of investigating allegedly ill-gotten monies must begin even if the likes of the Stolen Asset Recovery Initiative (StAR) – a partnership between the World Bank and United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) – is likely to take years to complete on a case by case basis.

And last but not least, the call for real change applies to the people too – which is to practise what they preach by not playing politics, and not giving in to the costly business of bribery and corruption.

This may well be our very last chance so let’s make the most of it.

– Editor-in-Chief