STOP CORRUPTION! Sri Lankans woke up to a seismic wave on 22 September as the results of the presidential election filtered through on the airwaves. It is true that the winner now stands on the presidential podium by dint of 42 percent of the popular vote (or 5.6 million votes) being cast in his favour, despite a majority (58%) of the electorate marking their ballots in favour of others.

Be that as it may, the big picture is that Sri Lanka’s ninth executive president is here to stay – for a five year term at the very least – and his rise to power has been meteoric to say the least. After all, his party’s representation in parliament prior to the election was a mere three percent.

If nothing else, the president overcame the odds stacked against him with a promise to wage war against what we all know is a rotten and utterly corrupt system. Those who voted for him put aside fears that stem from the notorious past of the party he leads and with the call for ‘system change’ (a la the aragalaya) fresh on their minds.

His predecessor deserves every commendation for having pulled a nation on edge out of bankruptcy but he did little if anything to address the call for change and put an end to corruption, which undoubtedly led to his poor showing at the polls.

But whether one voted for the new commander in chief or not, anyone who wants to see an end to bribery and corruption – even those who have been complicit in playing this dirty game, it seems! – must be clapping their hands, as the robbers take cover in fear of being caught in the net.

One pointer to this hopefully new outlook is the fact that scores of parliamentarians have thrown in the towel by opting not to contest the 14 November general election – it is game, set and match lost for them!

LMD’s 30-year-long campaign to ‘Stop Corruption’ barely resonated with its readership for reasons that may or may not seem obvious but we’re elated that there may now be a cure to the cancer – provided of course, that the prez walks the talk, unlike his predecessors.

So fellow citizens who have played ‘give and take’ over the years could well be bracing themselves… as naming and shaming fraudsters may soon be the ‘new normal’!

– Editor-in-Chief