Indeed, commonsense tells us that we now have a unique opportunity to start over. Ask ‘why’ and that would beg the question. Why not?

Politics, Populism, Paranoia & Perfidy

September 12, 2010, 8:46 pm



By J.B. Müller

Sri Lanka’s politics are distinguished by the adversarial interplay by two main forces and their shifting coalition partners contending for power by opportunistic manipulating of the electorate. Each shift to the left or right is by the popular acclaim of about 65 per cent of the electors who are ignorant of the real issues at stake. These are those who are fed on a diet of promises and solemn pledges. Their expectations are raised to impractical levels by these pronouncements made in public that are neither doable nor could these be continued in any way. However, by harping on the real, felt needs of the masses, some politicians gain immense popularity as we have lived to learn since 1948.



The Sri Lankan politician’s perennial prayer is that the majority of the electorate will continue to remain blissfully ignorant of the vital issues that must be addressed. This ignorance is a child-like faith in the almighty politician and his ability and dexterity to command and control the institutions of power: Parliament, the financial establishment, the security establishment and the all-pervasive administrative bureaucracy. To this should be added both immunity from prosecution as well as the freedom to act with diabolical impunity, both of which go hand-in-hand as weapons in the armoury of the politicians. We have had many examples, actually, too many to even mention in passing, from way back to the present.



Our so-called ‘democratic socialism’ is a wholly arbitrary exercise in the worst features of the use (or abuse) of power exercised by politicians of all stripes. In other words, it is a colossal farce perpetuated on the People and this charade has become a 62 year-old tragedy of broken promises and pledges by successive governments. We might well ask ourselves why this is so.



First, neither the Western form of ‘democracy’ nor the alien ideology of ‘socialism’ has any organic roots in the Sri Lankan polity. Both are foreign introductions and impositions that the People are thoroughly unfamiliar with. Even in the plant and animal kingdoms there is a natural setting that is compatible and where alien species cannot exist without upsetting the balance. We have enough accumulated evidence to demonstrate that this is so amongst human beings, animals and plants. For example, people are familiar with the phrase ‘invasive species.’ Indeed, the introduction of some animals (e.g. rabbits, rodents) and plants (water hyacinth, salvina, cooch grass) has proved to be detrimental to the natural environment. The same could be said for both Western ‘democracy’ as well as ‘socialism.’



Second, during the 443-year Colonial Era, the Portuguese, the Dutch, and to some extent, the British went along with the indigenous systems in place for thousands of years—systems that were familiar to and accepted by the people. When unfamiliar ways and means were used the peopled tolerated it for a time until their patience was exhausted and then, uprisings occurred. The Uva and Matale uprisings were cases in point. The most far-reaching changes were introduced by the British in order to consolidate their hold on power in the early 19th century. Thereafter, Anglo-Saxon structures and systems were imported and set-up changing the entire system of governance. Today, what we have is essentially the model introduced by them with superficial modifications. Since the mode of governance did not answer the real, felt needs of the people, the country was plunged into the 1971 and 1987 uprisings led by the vernacular-educated youth in the South and the Civil War in the North and East that began in 1976 and ended bloodily in 2009. The invasive, alien structures and systems have cost hundreds of thousands of lives, mostly of young people, and billions of rupees that could have been better utilized to improve and expand the country’s essential infrastructure. However, we might well ask whether any lessons have been drawn from these several tragedies?



Third, it should be clear that what isn’t organic to our indigenous polity is unsuitable for us simply because it isn’t organic or home-grown. It has not evolved or developed in this environment. It would be an arguable point to ask any gainsayers, especially those with corporate experience in the banking, commercial, and agricultural spheres whether they would run their companies along so-called ‘democratic’ or ‘socialistic’ principles. Would they have their employee’s debate and vote upon company policies? I daresay they would agree that such a system would be ridiculous and unworkable. Then, the reader would understand that the country, too, is one big corporation with a chairman or president, a managing director, and a board or directors to formulate policies. The corporation has divisional heads and other subordinates to carry-out those policies, an internal affairs branch to maintain discipline, an audit branch to keep track of how income and expenditure have been managed and so on.



Fourth, many people are wont to point-out how successful the city-state of Singapore is. Many agree that Sri Lanka should follow its example in good governance. The fact of the matter is that the city-state of ingapore is run like a tightly-controlled corporation that keeps its stakeholders happy by ensuring that their real, felt needs are met. Sri Lanka is small enough to permit each district to be organized and run like a city-state—Singapore being the model for stable governance under a strict Law & Order system where all are equal and no one is above the Law. No one enjoys immunity and no one could act with impunity because of political patronage.



Then, what this discourse points to is that Sri Lanka now has the unique opportunity to consign the J.R. Jayewardene constitution of 1978 to the garbage dump where it rightly belongs. We should now start work on a new constitution, a bottom-up structure from village & town-level to district level to national-level: A three tiered structure where an executive president is elected by all the eligible voters and his or her election is ratified by the national-level assembly. For one thing, the entire system would be non-partisan there being no political parties to divide the electorate. The elected president could contest any number of terms until he or she no longer enjoys the confidence of the People. The Judiciary would be wholly independent of executive or legislative control or limitation, maintaining its integrity as uninfringeable. Pointers to the proposed new constitution should be drawn from the ancient system of governance, the age-old and robust polity that existed for over 17 centuries until the demise of Maha Parakrama Bahu in 1186. The entire system that was developed over the centuries coupled grass-roots level democracy or consensual politics with a strong, authoritarian government at its apex. Once policies were formulated for the well-being of the People, those entrusted with implementation carried-out orders, period. The Water Management Heritage of Sri Lanka was developed within such a polity. Recorded history which we take as authentic informs us that peace, harmony and tranquility prevailed in the realm for centuries with no rebellions and no civil wars. Our innate intelligence is more than adequate for us to learn lessons from the past so as to fashion a constitution in keeping with inborn nature of our people.



Sri Lanka, being an island at the cross-roads of the great Maritime Silk Road since time immemorial has ever been a multi-ethnic, multi-religious, and multi-lingual melting-pot. Then, the common language was Sinhala and the intelligentsia was probably also knowledgeable in Pali and Sanskrit. Today, the universal mode of communication is English and perforce we should make it our common language, too, because that would make life easier for us within the Community of Nations. This also means and implies that the State should encourage the distinctive Sri Lankan culture, i.e. broadly, the Sinhala-Buddhist, the Tamil-Hindu, the Sonahar & Malay Muslim, and the Burgher-Christian cultures as intrinsic parts of a unique and harmonious cultural mosaic. This cultural montage has gone to create the extremely gregarious Sri Lankan nature with its smiling tolerance and welcoming hospitality. Sri Lankans are also an artistic people with a well-developed aesthetic and literary sense. They excel in singing, dancing, composing and performing music, drama and acting, painting and drawing, in the fashioning of handicrafts of exquisite beauty, in weaving cotton and silk yarn into textile of alluring colours and textures, in writing and in poetry—all the fine arts and all of those point to a peace-loving nature and a well-entrenched peaceableness. That is a great strength that equips us with a rare dynamism and sociableness that disconcerts sundry bigots, extremists and the lunatic fringe found in every human society. This even provoked President Rajapakse to state that there are no majorities or minorities within Sri Lanka—but only One Nation made-up of different communities.



As a people we are also acquainted with the perfidious behavior or various individuals who would do anything and stoop ever so low to gain the power to command and control the people for their own aggrandizement.



We have also suffered the travails visited upon us by paranoid leaders. Both perfidy and paranoia are natural outgrowths of the alien structures and systems this country has been under. With the restoration of age-old organic structures and systems this entire nauseating business of politics, populism, perfidy and paranoia would recede to become blips on our 2,500 year-old historical screen. Indeed, commonsense tells us that we now have a unique opportunity to start over. Ask ‘why’ and that would beg the question. Why not?


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