Most of us hail the judgement given on the legality of parliamentarians crossing over. Members who cross over to other parties are surely betraying those who voted them in
Facts do not change. Feelings do and our feelings about ‘THE MESS’ (as the country’s situation is commonly referred to) vary from anger to despair, depending on income, social status, or career. I do not pretend to know what the citizens of disaster areas think. Can anyone imagine what depths to which they must plummet at these moments of unimaginable disaster? Desperation must be their commonest emotion I would imagine.
So let me try and encapsulate the feelings which I feel the majority of us are experiencing. I refer, of course, to the average citizen and not to the super-wealthy or the corrupt politicians. Here are a few areas that arouse a plethora of forlorn and frightening thoughts.
Taxes
(A Conversation)
‘Have you paid your taxes?’
‘Like I had a choice!’
‘Parliamentarians, Government. Depts. and regular evaders do not pay a thing.’
‘I know, and all I can say is that I cannot afford to pay next year’s tax if I want to eat. Here is the latest joke
“If today’s prices haven’t driven you to dieting, nothing else will.”
‘So, let’s demand to see the receipts of the tax bills of EVERY politician and EVERY Government Dept. before we pay taxes again.’
‘Don’t be silly. Think of the penalties WE have to settle while those in power owe
millions and nothing is done.’
The adrenalin levels of these two conversants are rising.
Electricity
(Conversations are mostly the same as above.)
‘I have solar panels on the roof but my electricity bill this month went through the roof’
“Faulty meter?’
‘Hardly! A faulty calculation method. Shall we tap that idiot who paid Namal’s bill and ask him to pay ours?’
(Hoots of derisive laughter)
‘And 42 million in parliamentary arrears!’
My comment here would be to ask Minister Kanchana Wijesekera to cut off the supply to ANYONE who is in arrears. He can collect all those millions but gossip tells us that though he tried, his unscrupulous fellow parliamentarians blocked him. This non-paying tardiness should not be viewed with indulgence. Most of them are known to have bulging bank accounts. In the meantime, my poor ‘daily” had to borrow to pay for the reconnection of her electricity after it was cut off for non-payment of a tiny amount. Enforcement of the law is wretchedly unfair. Resentment will surely explode any day now.
Education
We have had 70-odd years of Free Education getting worse by the minute. Does the Dept of Education, or previous Ministers of Education, understand the tragedy of the disastrous language policies? Each consecutive Minister has unfurled elaborate, unworkable plans. Ridiculous expenses were set in place which the country could afford but which were vote-catching. I am sure C.W.W. Kannangara did not anticipate the State’s foolish largesse in the provision of free books, free uniforms, free lunches, etc. when he ushered in his ‘Pearl of Great Price’ What a mirage THAT has become. Avatars of self-serving politicians hold regular contented postmortems and tell each other (and an unbelieving public) that children of this country are being well educated. A disenchanted population is not fooled.
That ridiculous Grade 5 exam is one example of expensive folly. And who will ever forget Minister Akila Viraj Kariyawasam’s egotistical effort to print his photo in school texts? Education in Sri Lanka is the distressing result of befuddled and chauvinistic thinking. Why did we not simply copy India and her educational policies? As the saying goes, “ You can buy an education but wisdom is a gift from God.”
We think Minister Premajayantha is well-meaning but to streamline the mess of education needs a genius. With people like Dr Tara de Mel, Dr Savitri Gunasekara and Mrs Nirmali Wickremesinghe available, WHY are we dithering around without just handing the whole sorry state of affairs over to them?
Instead, we are allowing a lifetime of chauvinist ideas to stifle imagination and to allow our disastrous educational system to continue its downslide.
This country will proceed in inexorable parallel lines forever. Artificial Intelligence is upon us. Our children are growing up in a world WE do not understand. But THEY must. Are they prepared for this new world…. A world in which religious and language differences are irrelevant. Just bring the English medium back.
History moves on no matter where one sits, and the outdated Sinhala/Buddhist chauvinist ideas should be blacklisted. “Advice is what the wise do not need and fools will not take.”
Sports
The gold medallist at the Asian Games, Tharushi Karunaratne, gave all Sri Lankans a massive glow of pride. Hers was an outstanding success and we all shared in her glory. With proper financing, other Sri Lankans should be able to repeat her achievements again and again. But we have no money for such worthwhile efforts A few people have the power to fritter it away on frivolities. Sending useless MPs to the USA to study democratic methods is downright ridiculous.
We are mightily cheered up after the recent cricket victory over England. A personal thought here is that perhaps our children could also be trained in sports like Archery which is an elegant affair and not too dependent on physique.
The Media
Are we to believe the various types of NEWS to which we are subjected these days? Our knowledge depends on what newspapers we read, what TV channels we watch, and what social media is saying. Each reporter echoes the views of his employers or his country. Views are always slanted or outright distorted.
World News is perhaps the worst in this regard. History is always written by the victors. It takes a century or more for the truth to suddenly and unexpectedly be revealed.
We all have different viewpoints. Is the USA warmongering? Will China invade Taiwan? Is Israel justified in what it is doing after provoking the Palestinians for years? Are we ever going to have elections? Does the present parliament not feel the simmering and rising hatred? Why do its members listen to sycophants?
I can list hundreds of questions we discuss but to what end?
Justice
Most of us hail the judgement given on the legality of parliamentarians crossing over. Members who cross over to other parties are surely betraying those who voted them in. Let them get the permission of the voters they represent before blithely ignoring answerability.
Justice delayed is justice denied, and by that criteria, there is no justice in Sri Lanka. The country has many outstanding legal brains. Set them the task of revamping a tarnished Legal system.
Recently I heard Sonali Wanigabaduge interview Dr. Deepika Udagama, a University Professor of Law. Both women were brilliant. A point I most was Dr. Udagama’s idea about teaching Civics in schools. This WAS a subject when
I did my SSC (O Levels) and I couldn’t agree more.
Dr Udagama also commented that good parliamentary manners lasted only about 25 to 30 years after Independence. They have sadly deteriorated since
The recent behaviour of Diana Gamage and her adversary is an appalling example of a lack of decorum.
To conclude
The time is over when women would get together and gossip about innocuous topics. This has been replaced by a far more sinister trend. There is a new militancy in the air. Discussions on horrifying Government expenditure will not go down until the voters rise and insist on getting that ONE chance they have to subdue this complicated turmoil. THEIR VOTE.
