Trauma of A/L students caught in midst of electioneering - EDITORIAL

3 August 2015 08:52 pm - 0 - {{hitsCtrl.values.hits}}

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relatively calm election campaign after decades was disturbed last Friday with the shooting incident in Colombo in which two of Minister Ravi Karunanayake’s supporters were killed --one, a woman on the spot and another, a man yesterday at the hospital. Despite minor incidents here and there the election campaign by political parties, even those infamous for their violent nature had been encouragingly peaceful this time until this incident occurred.
Killing opponents, arson attacks on their houses as well as their election offices and stages, grabbing polling cards, stuffing ballot boxes and chasing away of polling agents of other political parties were a regular ritual during past elections in Sri Lanka. Even during the January 8 presidential election a stage put up for a propaganda rally to be addressed by the then common opposition candidate Maithripala Sirisena was burnt down in the South allegedly by a local politician who interestingly was given nomination this time by the party headed by President Sirisena himself. At that time opposition parties were deprived of places to hold their meetings on the grounds that the then ruling party had booked them beforehand. Several election offices of opposition candidate Sirisena were smashed by thugs.

However, the Elections Commissioner was able to somewhat control the situation to a large extent by even threatening to shoot the violators. With the change of government and the new rulers waxing eloquent on good governance and the lack of time to settle down in office, campaigning for the general election has been relatively peaceful until Friday.
The two main political alliances -- the United Peoples Freedom Alliance (UPFA) and the United National Front for Good Governance (UNFGG) -- are pointing fingers at each other for the shooting incident at Bloemendhal Road in Colombo. The UNFGG sees it as the customary highhandedness of the UPFA led by Kurunegala district candidate Mahinda Rajapaksa while the UPFA sees it as a clash between two underworld groups, at least one supportive of the UNFGG.
However, it is not clear on what grounds the UPFA should be held responsible and going by the second theory, the question why an underworld group sprayed bullets into a crowd without harming the alleged rival group merits answers. On the other hand, what happens in the field of politics and in the underworld -- two domains identical in some areas -- are incomprehensible and hence anything is possible.

One of the most important factors that politicians have apparently forgotten or ignored is that the election is unfortunately being held in the midst of the GCE A/L examination. Although this matter was discussed during the initial days of the campaign even the parents and teachers are now keeping mum about it. The authorities, in spite of repeated requests by the teachers’ trade unions before the nominations were tendered, refused to postpone the election until the exam was concluded.
The A/L examination is considered to be the most decisive examination in a student’s life having the potential to make or mar his or her future. Despite sarcastic statement that those who fail the A/L examination would be qualified to become politicians, the reality is that they were in most cases discarded. When even peaceful electioneering might hamper the atmosphere needed by students, it can be imagined what would happen as a result of campaign violence on the mentality of ordinary students.
Therefore, party leaders have to take this into account when campaigning. However, parents have to be mindful of the gravity of the situation, because the underlining methodology of electioneering in Sri Lanka is to win by hook or by crook. Unless the politicians respect the students’ psyche in this respect, people in the respective areas or at least the parents of students sitting for the examination this time must act towards the defeat of such irresponsible parties or candidates.

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Trauma of A/L students caught in midst of electioneering - EDITORIAL

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