11 January 2024 12:00 am
Men in military attire have continued to win the trust of the island’s citizens during the civil war and even afterwards
Recently there was a video that went viral on Youtube where a prospective presidential candidate met with one of the chief prelates of a well-known Buddhist chapter in the Central Province, and instead of winning the heart of the saffron robed monk was forced to eat humble pie. The monk didn’t mince his words and told the politician that Sri Lanka will have to bring down a leader from an overseas land because this island nation is totally incapable of producing one. Regardless of when this meeting took place and the date this video was uploaded, the content in the creation posted on social media presents facts to ponder on.
We voters talk about our tax monies being used to maintain the expensive habits and lifestyles of ministers and members of Parliament. But we must talk about maintaining the clergy and members of the security forces and also the Police. Government records show us that a large portion of government revenue goes to maintain the security forces and this is of concern because there is no presence of a war in the country. It is at a time like this that the government is using the Police to harass innocent people by checking homes and even forcing people to disembark from buses on their way to work, with the aim of nabbing drugs being carried by any individual. When homes are searched for drugs little children who reside in them and have no connection with drugs will have to answer questions from friends who might ask “why was your home searched last night.” Such operations shown on television, with the full support of law enforcement officers, make us pose the question, “Are media ethics practised in this country when covering a raid conducted by the law enforcement officers in the society”.
Whatever said and done the saffron robed monks and the security forces (Police not taken into account here) wield much clout in the country as two sections of the society which can be trusted. From the two the security forces can easily be named as an institute which has won the hearts of the people in terms of trust. The manner in which security forces work efficiently and mingle with people of all communities has been seen time and again during catastrophes and natural disasters.
Even during and after the country’s civil war the men in military attire received much respect and a lofty place in society. There was an advertisement run on television some years ago on behalf of the Army where we see a lady offering her seat to a soldier boarding the same bus she is travelling on. This is the type of support and respect the Sri Lankan military has when one of its members steps into society. There are people in this nation who promote the school of thought that Sri Lanka needs a leader with a military background. Not very long ago we had former Army Commander Sarath Fonseka (Field Marshal now and the present Chairman of the Samagi Jana Balawegaya) contesting the Presidential Elections where he took on the then incumbent President Mahinda Rajapaksa. With no political experience behind him Fonseka garnered as much as 40.15 percent of the votes and most importantly won the hearts of the northern and eastern province voters despite losing the election. These two provinces were the worst affected by the war and still these voters believed that Fonseka was a better candidate than the incumbent President. This idea that people of this country trust men in uniform is used to underscore the concept of trust and where it exists right now, and not to compare individuals.
The saffron robe and the military garb can still be used to create magic from a political perspective. But a danger lies therein that the monk and man in military uniform can suddenly develop an interest in taking to politics and holding office and do it at the expense of stopping the promotion of a suitable candidate that the people will also back. This is what has happened in recent years and priests and ex-military men have got into politics and even entered Parliament. Right now, even though individuals in saffron robes have lost some of their clout in the political scene in recent times the men in uniform are still held in high esteem by the public. In this context an, ex-Army official like Fonseka could be a dark horse running a race from a political point of view. For the record, Fonseka has been quoted in the media recently that he is willing to contest the next Presidential elections if the people of this country want him to.
President Wickremesinghe has delivered when it comes to putting the economy on track and ensuring the availability of the most essential commodities which were scarce during the ‘Aragalaya’ period. But he is wanting in terms of getting rid of corrupt politicians who are associated with corruption charges and are still enjoying perks as Parliamentarians.
This is why critics believe that Wickremesinghe must go, but his economic thinking must remain. Take for an example India and Bangladesh. If one takes the political histories of these two nations, economic policies of ex-prime ministers have continued despite there being a change of leader. India and Bangladesh have never dared to do anything adverse to derail their economies just because an unpopular leader is ousted from power. Sri Lanka has often harmed its trust factor from a foreign investor perspective because a change of regime in the island has often brought a change in economic plans and policies as well. Sri Lankan voters must let an old saying reproduced in this column sink into their heads. That saying goes as ‘trust lost is similar to a woman losing her virginity; once lost they can never be recovered.