VIEWPOINTS

WHEN NEW PLANETS HOVER OVER OUR HORIZON

Wijith DeChickera watches the skies above to read the stars over an indebted nation under the clouds of corruption and a taxing regime

As we prep for elections, it behoves ‘incumbents in power’ and ‘aspirants to service’ to look back as they look ahead – on behalf of people whom they claim to represent. These are people who look forward to far better representation on the way ahead en route to the next five years.

It behoves old incumbents in power to look back to the struggles of the aragalaya and ask if the lessons of people’s sovereignty have been truly learned. Is Sri Lanka’s apala kaalé (‘unpropitious time’) over yet? Or as is suspected, has the citizens’ popular bloodless revolution only served to entrench the old guard in a bloody-minded establishment?

It behoves new aspirants to service to look ahead to a time when new brooms may well sweep into power, and ponder if they have both the ambition and ability to govern. Or has been customary, will people fed up with cronyism, corruption and incompetence decide – as they have done in the past – that ‘better the known devil than the unknown’?

The ‘known devil’ has been the bane of our polity from as far back as less than a decade after independence from colonial subjugation and servitude.

Time and again, the electorate has been – or chosen to be – held hostage by one self-serving party (1956 and 1977), coalition (1994, 2005 and 2015) or grand coalition (2019) of vested interests vying for votes.

There needs to be greater courage and foresight exercised by all of us this year, if we are to break free from the shackles of our self-induced bondage to petty party politics.

That is a consummation devoutly to be wished as has become evident in the half-century or so that an ‘80-20 rule’ of sorts applied to preferential governance ethics to the detriment of our national interest.

This means the majority (80%) of voters who want clean governance are hamstrung by a sizeable minority (20%) who comprise the swing vote catering to a patron-client system, which skews the electoral equation and five-year aftermath of results, time and again.

The 80 percent of the electorate apparently yearning for such an ethos willingly overlooks ‘small-scale corruption’ (there is no such thing, in reality!) in 20 percent of instances.

Where a handsome (in truth, ugly) bribe; pulling strings attached to the old boy network; or party, personal or political affiliations shift the goalposts or tilt the field for those unable, unready or unwilling to play ball along the rules of the game being played.

This too is the bane of people who yearn to break free from the all-embracing systemic and endemic corruption seducing our society to the dark side, but shying away from honest scrutiny of self and one’s stakeholders.

So yes, courage and foresight, as well as integrity, are the needs of the hour as the political stars align in fresh intriguing constellations. As LMD once affirmed: ‘The beauty of a nation lies in the integrity of its people.’

First, the polls ahead will be a proving time for the United National Party (UNP) and its one-man show. Whether or not the incumbent president is popular enough (or legitimate besides, having not been voted in; but rather, elected by a parliament bolstered by the previous regime) in the public perception may prove to be academic – if the corporate consensus that ‘he is the best man for the job at hand’ prevails in town as much as city.

Second, the positioning of the Samagi Jana Balawegaya (SJB) as a team capable of doing the same job as Sri Lanka’s present oligarchic governors comes as no surprise, given its more democratic milieu compared to the authoritarianism of the UNP. But it does prove that the SJB presents itself as a kingmaker in these elections as its gift of coalition partnership is not to be dismissed lightly.

Third, the National People’s Power (NPP) – much as it would like to go it alone – would no doubt prefer to take the expedient route after its past ‘serial abandonment at the altar’ by wary voters and look to joining hands with the SJB to pose a serious challenge to the UNP–Sri Lanka Podujana Peramuna (SLPP) juggernaut, which will have all the agency of state power to secure its primacy at the hustings ahead of the presidential poll.

How this constellation of contenders will coalesce in a milieu where top of mind are cost of living in plain sight over hidden corruption, domestic indebtedness trumping national debt restructuring in the hearts of homemakers and their children, and job security in a taxing year (universally painful pun intended) remains to be seen.

At a time we reflect on 76 years of lessons unlearned and hearken to the next 24 until Sri Lanka’s centenary of independence, the needs of the hour may well remind us that the fault lies not in our political stars but ourselves.

So well may all eyes turn to a panoply of young, vibrant, independent and hopefully clean candidates stepping up to the plate.