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Easter Sunday Critiques:In amateurish isolation!

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By I. P. C. MENDIS

Some 60 plus years ago, the country was shocked and shaken over the news of the murder of the wife of a star cricketer, M. Sathasivam. Husband Satha was eventually arraigned before the law and was eventually acquitted by a unanimous verdict. By and large, the public was confused, non-plussed and tossed up with the thought as to whether, in fact, the law is an ass! The common question that followed was – “Did the mortar kill Mrs Sathasivam? Such sensation and legal upsets, Sri Lanka seems to revel in and can well be touted as a tourist attraction in the future. We are now treated with another sensation, to wit, the Easter Sunday episode – regarding which the Presidential Commission of Inquiry has produced its Report and which has raised a hornet’s nest. It has drawn heavy flak, understandably from some of those faulted, and their supporters. The whole thing is being given a political twist and rather than face charges in court, the agitation is for the whole report to be discarded. Democracy thrives on the tripod of the Legislature, the Judiciary and the Executive and all those who hold positions in these areas have necessarily to be like Caesar’s wife – above board. The fact that a President, Parliamentarian or other public officer has been faulted is no cogent reason to criticize, agitate and condemn a Report of an Independent Commission of Inquiry to be unceremoniously thrown away, based on prejudiced subjective arguments in favour of those faulted. By extension, it will be a very sad day if public criticisms and demonstrations were to be permitted to influence the judiciary or the administration. Such tendencies need to be nipped in the bud if chaos is to be avoided. Some of these specious arguments can be repeated in court if and when they are arraigned. The ‘modus operandi’ for ditching the Report is a short-cut’ to freedom. It will be a contradiction in terms if we are only at selected, convenient times vociferous in the fact of the independence of the judiciary and at other times condemn members of the judiciary (in office or retired) who are compelled to act on evidence, however unpalatable it may be, and give in to unfair demands. It will be a very sad day, if experienced, decent people refuse to be victims of such irresponsible harangue, often let loose under parliamentary privilege and otherwise. Indeed, the Easter Sunday debacle should not be permitted to be equated to the mortar in the Sathasivam case, eventually making the bomb, the perpetrator of the crime in the Easter Sunday attack!

The Yahapalana Inaction

The Presidential Commission of Inqury has, as far as it is discernible, reiterates and confirms the mind-set of the people anent the contemptible and complete inaction, indolence, indifference, and ‘devil-may-care’ attitude of the yahapalana regime, headed by President Sirisena and Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe, in effectively utilising the intelligence services and security forces and dealing promptly and effectively with the intelligence information, particularly the reports from foreign agencies. The security outfits appear to have been conducting themselves as complete headless novices and not professionals. Their conduct appears to have been influenced by the in-fighting and conduct of those at the top. As for the findings of the PCOI in regard to inaction, the public of this country can well respond with the old expression “Queen Anne is Dead” as they had already made up their minds about the “Open Sesame” made available to the terrorists and that it was practically a local version of “Nero fiddling while Rome was burning” with no acting appointment being made for the position of Minister of Defence, in the absence of the President, abroad on medical grounds, and if the evidence is anything to go by, the President remaining mostly incommunicado. To take up the position now that President Sirisena has been targeted is far-fetched and preposterous. The Commissioners were picked by him. Nor can the then Prime Minister Wickremasinghe, as Head of Government, shun responsibility, absence of the Minister of Defence notwithstanding. Defence Secretary, Hemasiri Fernando’s claim made to the foreign media that a calamity “of such magnitude” was not expected speaks volumes! People are entitled to ask whether they were playing “football” with national security!

Taking the wind off the sails

The parliamentary debate, taken up on 10th March 2021, had afforded the present government the opportunity to respond to the main slogan or accusation that the origin of the terrorist outfit had not been identified nor any action taken to apprehend those responsible. Minister Sarath Weerasekera narrated the action taken to date and what is intended to be taken which appears to have appeased. His was a very wise step considering the fact that there were various organizations, parties and groups which were, without invitation gleefully ever ready to gatecrash to eventually gain political mileage with anti-government propaganda which idea was far from the agenda of the Cardinal and aggrieved Roman Catholics. Indeed, wiser counsel had prevailed and those who were waiting on the wings to turbo-fly their way through over dead bodies forestalled. Those who were accomplices in the crime by their avowed silence in the face of complete and studied inaction then, now seek to masquerade as saviours of the nation using the tragedy as a weapon and the aggrieved as a tool in a desperate endeavour for power.

 

 



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Opinion

Celebrating what went well or denouncing what went wrong?

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By Chani Imbulgoda

“We suffer today, because leaders in the past have failed to govern this country properly”. Oh, the predecessor has not done things well, they all have let the place go haywire”. Familiar excuses… When one takes over the leadership be it the country, be it an organisation, or be it a new position. We, naturally, incline to blame the past, criticize the leadership and highlight what went wrong. We start new reforms, new policies, new practices… condemning the past. We have a tendency to look back through the rearview mirror… only to criticise what went wrong, and start everything all over. Why don’t we give some credit to the past and celebrate what went well, as well?

It is said that those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it. While Tolstoy’s ‘War and Peace’, I wondered how much similarity we can evidence today. Tolstoy describes how the war was waged in early 1800, and how Russia suffered. After two centuries, we witness how Russia repeats it over Ukraine. No lessons learnt from the past. We just passed a civil riot; strikes, protests continue; and controlling and curbing protests are not rare. As a country, have we forgotten our gloomy days in recent past? Bombs, killing, destructions from northern point Pedro to southern Dondra, youth insurrection, misdirection and all the blood we witnessed… It seems that we, rather than learning the lessons unlearned it.

Bringing the beauty of learning from the past, American author, Judith Glaser suggests looking at the past, finding new meaning from significant events, following them and creating successful behaviour patterns. Have we forgotten our glorious past where this country was recognised as the jade of the Indian Ocean? This was known as a prosperous country during the reigns of ancient kingdoms. Once the granary of the East, and even before that, crowned as the Kingdom of mighty by king Ravana, who deemed to be the first to fly an aircraft. I recall my friend in university days who used to say that “there is no future without past”. As Santayana, Glazer and my friend say “we need to look back and learn from our past in moving forward. In the early 19th century, we submitted our sovereignty to colonial masters by conspiring against our own breed. We made Sinhala only policy in 1956 and we opened the economy in 1977, letting our strengths blown out by foreign winds. Lots of lessons are on the stake, if we really want to take. An upcoming book “What Went Wrong” by a bureaucrat, Mr. Chandrasena Maliyadde, a former Secretary to Government Ministries discusses how Sri Lanka failed in many aspects, including public service and University education. There are books on historic accounts, newspapers and media that bring present contexts, and futuristic projections…it is left for us to make our soup adding right mix of past, present and future to taste the soup.

Past is a repository of knowledge!

Reflect on the qualities and competencies possessed by today’s youth with yesteryear’s generation. Do we miss something in the new generation? A state university officer once lamented that those young officers joining the university did not look at the overall picture when making decisions … fair enough, I have noticed a many young staff, and even some old hands think only about the fraction of work they deemed responsible … ignoring the whole process involved. We often pin the blame on the education system. During the good old days, school curricula consisted of lessons on morals and ethics, lessons on history. More importantly, formal education kept space for youngsters to think, there were no tuition classes, and no online assignments to complete. There was time for friends … time to play; time to enjoy nature, and time to talk with parents. Those days youngsters were a part of the real world, nature and ancestors who educate the wholeness of life. Aren’t we missing something in our education system? It is time to look back and look ahead, and look across. Finland, known to be one of the best countries for education in the world, avail time for students to engage with nature; no tough competitive exams, they learn being humane, they learn to be balanced humans. There was a propaganda “Nearest School is the Best School”. In the present context where everything has become expensive, exercise books to transport fees. Safety and security of both male, female children are at stake. Much concerns over drugs, and sex, it is time to revisit and refresh this propaganda tagline. There is a shortage of papers, there was a shortage of fuel and electricity, we never know what is in stock for us in the coming months. We cannot afford to have marker pens and whiteboards in schools now. Time to think about the rock slate which we could use several times and learn well and hard way. I believe more the hard work put in tiring both the hand and head, higher the productivity. Considering the wellbeing of individuals, rising cost and scarcity of essentials and medical drugs, and sustainability of our environment, time has come to think of our past styles of commuting, cycling. Cycling reduces air pollution; cycling makes you fitter. In effect, we will not be compelled to depend on many vehicles imported and perhaps medicine too. We have reached the point where we have to bridge the past with the future. We need to learn from the past and blend it with the future, appropriately without forgetting the present and its context.

Learn from the past, but don’t

stick to it.

When we see a roadblock, a cavity on the road or a commotion or congestion, we naturally turn to the rearview mirror. But we do not turn the car and go back to where we started. No doubt we learn lessons from the past, but we can never create the past again. If you drive constantly looking back from the rearview mirror, you would not proceed much far! Buddha has said that “you can’t have a better tomorrow if you think about yesterday all the time”. One of the key accusations during recent public agitations, and the rebel was that youth do not get opportunities. The anxiety developed over rejection or blocking paths for youth, to be hatred towards old. We often miss fresh blood in decision making bodies, especially when it comes to public sector institutions, owing to too much credit being given to the past. Long number of years in service overshadows competence. When recruiting people for positions, we look at the conduct and experience of the applicant in the past, and make our decision; sometimes a decision to show the door would completely sabotage the future of the applicant. We come across people who wag their past records when they make important decisions for the future. People like to boast about their glorious past and want to create yesterday in tomorrow. I recall an incident that took place at a staff meeting where I work. When the senior officers celebrating past glory, a few newcomers openly challenged and declared they get demotivated in effect. If we cling too much to the past, we will end up spoiling both our present and future.

Change is inescapable. Everything gets changed, context, requirements, and mindsets. History cannot be restored as it was, only lessons and practices can be brought and tried after careful analysis. We normally cling to one of the two paradoxes; one school of thought is glued to the history, experience, and the way things happened. They hardly see goodness in novelty. On the other extreme, the school of thought is forward-looking they ignore the past, condemn the history and embrace novelty. In a car, we have a larger windscreen, two side glasses and a tiny rearview mirror. Why? When we are moving, we need to look at the future with a much broader view, assess the present, and from time to time look back and ensure we are alright.

Past is always a scapegoat for those who don’t want to strive to achieve success. We as a nation today suffer a lot and I believe in owing up to the blame game we play with the past and egoistic attitude and our unwillingness to learn from the past. I always advocate seeing what went well in the past, success stories teach us lessons, where failures are more appealing to worry and enjoy at the same time.

(The writer is a holder of a senior position in a state

University with international experience and exposure and an MBA from Postgraduate Institute of Management (PIM), Sri Lanka and currently reading for her PhD related to reasons of reform failures at PIM. She can be reached at cv5imbulgoda@gmail.com)

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Opinion

Rogues have no right to eat while masses starve!

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Ali (Raheem) Baba and 225 rogues have no right to eat while the people they are supposed to protect, nourish and maintain go hungry.

A poor widow with a school going child called me from Elpitiya and told me that they had not eaten anything yet. The time was 11 AM. The child had refused to go to school with an empty stomach. But the mother had coaxed him to go to school promising him to keep lunch ready when he returns. She had not found anything to cook by 11 AM and desperately called me. This was just one of such calls I get regularly.

I lost my shirt; I scolded her and told her that she had elected Ali (Sabri Raheem) Baba and 225 scoundrels and that she should go to them and ask for food. I instructed her to do this. Collect as many widows like her as possible and go to the house of their MP (GK) and remind her that they had fed her all these years and now they were hungry and she must feed them. Sit down in the house and do not leave till your problem is solved. While you go hungry that woman has no right to eat. In fact, the scoundrels of Diyawannawa have no right to gobble down subsidised food in the canteen of the den of thieves called the parliament of Sri Lanka.

Another widow called me and told me that she and her children lived in the dark. They have electricity but they could not afford to use it. The family lives in total darkness, every night. The government which could not maintain an uninterrupted power supply at least during the A/L examinations is not a failed administration but a heartless criminal regime. The rogue government which deprived the people of power has no right to use power in their den for light, sound and air conditioning.

And the rogue government has no right to govern at all. It has deprived the people of their right to vote and choose representatives they desire. It has cancelled the provincial council elections and the local government elections. By depriving the people of their right to vote it has abrogated its right to govern. Getting rid of this government is legal, and, in fact, it is the right and the civic duty of the people of this country.

It is this government that robbed the country to bankruptcy, ruined the agriculture and the economy and destroyed law and order in the country. Now, it blames Aragalaya for that. They pretend to be the victims! The effect has become the cause; they turn everything upside down!

Everything they are doing now is some desperate measure or other to keep marking time as long as possible to rob and rob and empty the national coffers before getting out of government and the country.

The scoundrels in the Parliament are accused and even found guilty by courts, of every crime under the Sun. They cheat, swindle and rob openly and unceasingly. This is a curse on the country and its people. We are paying for our stupidity and gullibility. We are a people immersed in superstition and irrational beliefs. There are no better ways to learn life’s lessons than hunger and deprivation. Aragalaya was a great eye-opener and a teacher of the difference between myth and truth, between objective reality and the narrow chauvinism of race and religion; the last refuge of the scoundrel. I hope the 6.9 million have at least by now learnt the lesson.

My dear co-citizens of Sri Lanka, it is time to act. It is pathetic and depressing to see our small children becoming stunted, weak and malnourished. They cannot wait to grow up till things get better constitutionally and decently. The powers that are do not behave constitutionally or decently. They are not gentlemen. They are certainly not ‘Honorable’ Members of Parliament. They have become fascists and tyrants, dictators and underworld god-fathers. Regardless of the cost, we must free ourselves from their murderous grip on us and on the country. It is time to act. For the sake of generations of our children, it is time to act.

Fr J.C. Pieris,

Galle

 

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Opinion

Why do we vote?

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In his article in Sunday Island, Maj Gen A M U Seneviratne (Rtd) said “We vote and elect our representatives to represent us in parliament and other governing bodies and we expect them to respect us and work for the uplift of the country and its citizens”.

I totally disagree – We, the majority, elect them just for their sake, not to uplift the country or its citizens. Otherwise, how could every riff-raff who had not done anything worthwhile for the people and are notable for corruption and frauds be voted, election after election? Haven’t we seen how their supporters gather around them (and cheer) when they come out after Court hearings in which they were accused of various crimes?

K Siriweera

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