A land where rulers don’t honour courtesy - EDITORIAL

Sri Lankans must be taught courtesy, but not diplomacy. Why? Because Sri Lankans who go abroad to work as diplomats have the knack to work there without antagonizing people over there. The problem is witnessed here; where people with power throw their weight around. 

It’s so ugly when that happens. We can see so many videos of people in uniform-those who claim to have held top posts in state institutes giving scant respect to the law enforcement officers at check points or when stopped for questioning or being subject to a routine check. These are the individuals who behave so well when they are sent abroad on missions. 
The same is true with those who immigrate. Some of these people cannot conform to the laws of this country, but quickly get accustomed to the laws of the new country they now call their ‘home’. 

This is a time when Sri Lanka needs every citizen of the country to be a law-abiding citizen. Every Sri Lankan must initially work towards ridding corruption and wasteful ways. Sate institutes are topping the list where these two bad practices are concerned. Also thought must be given to state institutes where the old lawmakers of this country have sowed the seeds of politics. They have done this in such a manner that the employees of these institutes would continue to support the known political parties and their relatives who are getting ready to take over as the next generation of lawmakers. The stage is set for even sabotage of work; just to inconvenience the government, if that must be done to please the old brigade of lawmakers. 
What this column wishes to highlight is that lawmakers exhibit their questionable behavior here in the island, but are extremely well behaved when they step outside of the country. 
 Some of our lawmakers are also -very strangely at that-very friendly and accommodating when they in the public eye. But they are different individuals when they are at the ministries and have to serve the public; most often those who are experiencing their unfriendliness, are those who are not voters of the area.

 One can see a good number of politicians’ offspring taking to politics in present times. The path has been created for them to join the political journey that makes individuals rise from zero to great financial heights. We know of a muscular sporty son of a former political hero who many say has hopes of making it to the pinnacle of politics. Many critics say that this person became so rich after entering politics and even might not know how his real net worth is in terms of money saved in financial institutes in his name. That is how big the opportunity is in Sri Lanka to make money if one enters politics. 

The problem in Sri Lanka might be that we don’t have a Sri Lankan word ‘good enough’ to describe the English word termed ‘courtesy’. The British are very sensitive to the meaning of the word courtesy and what it portrays, where as Sri Lankans we have the word acharasheeli as our version of it, but the islanders have never been known to go to extremes with it in its application. 

Culturally the tone for behaviour has been set for the people of Sri Lankan by their past kings. The kings were dictators and ruthless. Those practices have been carried on to future generations by politicians after Sri Lanka embraced the system of an elected parliament to run the country. The books (About Ceylon) penned by historians R. L. Brohier and E. F. C. Ludowyk give enough examples of how ruthless our regal rulers were in the past; especially the kings and the village headmen they appointed. 
Hence the people with power and their close associates who walk on the corridors of power throw their weight about and inconvenience others. The worse form of inconvenience caused by them is ‘being dishonest’. Stealing is encouraged and it has become a habit; the Central Bank bond scam topping the list and highlighting one of our lowest points in the administration of state financial institutions. 

Musician Nadeeka Guruge once told a television audience at a reality show that there is no Sinhala word for ‘entertaining’. He said that once must be made for that. The Sinhala word for courtesy (Acharasheeli) doesn’t run deep. We must find ways to apply it more in life and be more sensitive during its application.