Hiccups couldn’t dampen the spirits of Avurudhu

As festivities subside and the stark reality settles in…. Wish our readers, a little belatedly perhaps, a Happy and a prosperous Sinhala and Hindu New Year!  

The unrelenting drought that had laid waste to tens of thousands of acres of crops in many districts as well as the loathed power and water cuts did not seem to have dampened the vigour with which our islanders celebrate their most cherished national festival. All the problems that are staring at them in their ordinary life seem to vapourize in to thin air when they are in this jovial mode. One need not be critical of such behaviours as the citizens of this country who have been running from pillar to post in search of prosperity and a good life need something to distract them from the realities of hard life. What is so hard about our lives? A person with an extraordinary optimistic disposition might venture to ask us. What indeed?  

Economy

Well, the low economic growth that has been dogging us for well over a decade now does not seem to show any signs of speeding up. In fact, we have become a country that has not been able to achieve a substantial economic growth when our neighbours in Asia like Bangladesh have been able to take giant strides in terms of developing economically. The unsolvable debt crisis that has been plaguing us for more than four decades has now assumed Leviathan like proportions , not only making it impossible for us to become independent economically but putting our very political independence at jeopardy specially in terms of our dealings with world giants such as US, China and India to name a few who are in a position to muscle us in to submission in strategic and even militarily sensitive areas. All parties including political ones have been talking about getting out of the debt trap for some time now, and the only way the debt mountain is going is, UP!  

The Drug menace, which seem to be taking up monstrous proportions does not seem to be curable despite many gallery speeches and theatrics performed by politicians, the President himself being in the forefront. The likes of Wele Suda,Makandure Madush and Kanjipanai Imran may be behind bars, yet, the businesses are thriving given by the number of raids that are being carried out. The obvious question that arises with regard to these seizures is that there have to be quantities that are not spotted in by the police or the customs and thus reaching the national and international dealers who make unbelievable profits from these goods. Yet one cannot but have the eerie feeling that some kind of sponsorship from the political power wielders are behind some of the mega dealers of death, hidden and escaping the long arm of law. Add to it many types of shady, illegal and black market businesses that are thriving with more and more getting involved in the filthy lucre that they dangle as bait.   

The coastal areas are being eaten up by the sea and all the water ways are polluted beyond recognition. The entire country has become a massive garbage dump and the air is so polluted that very soon we might not be able to walk in the open without fog masks as in Tokyo, Beijing or New Delhi

Reconciliation leading up to lasting peace

The question of achieving long standing racial and religious harmony is still a valid one despite almost a decade passing after the conclusion of the civil war that had been waging for nearly three decades. Now one decade has gone by yet we are struggling to unite the races who have been estranged due to the ethnic conflict that sparked civil war in the first place. 

Extremists from either side of the divide make reconciliation elusive thus creating space for the international community to accuse us of war crimes and human rights violations. The farce that was played out at the UNHRC not so long ago is ample evidence of what awaits us as a member of the international community if we fail to fulfill the undertakings that have been given in the year 2015 in terms of reconciliation, transitional justice, accountability and reparation and resettlement. 

For some in the south these terms are unpalatable; yet these are concepts that the civilized world make use of in resolving conflicts of the nature of the civil war that we waged, killing each other, Sinhala and Tamil, North and South. They are the imperatives that have to be fulfilled if we are to avoid yet another conflict. The south is so slow in comprehending this truth and keeping elections in the corner of the eye certainly does not help in this regard.  

The environmental catastrophe that is looming large for Sri Lanka in terms of the risk at which it stands in the event of extensive climate change can hardly be exaggerated. We top the list of countries that will fare the worst in terms of environmental calamities. As we have seen in the recent past the entire hill country could be vulnerable to massive landslides. The coastal areas are being eaten up by the sea and all the water ways are polluted beyond recognition. The entire country has become a massive garbage dump and the air is so polluted that very soon we might not be able to walk in the open without fog masks as in Tokyo, Beijing or New Delhi. Yet very few seem to realize the imminent danger and fewer are interested in searching for ways to evade such a catastrophe.  

Governance: our perennial bane

Yet the most burning and disturbing question that confronts us as a nation is that of governance. One might call it the root cause for all the problems aforementioned and needs to be solved first. The Seven decades of independent or sovereign governance by ourselves have not taken us anywhere. We are struggling even 70 years after independence from the British to strike out a mode of governance that suits and serves us. Up till now it has been systems of governance that served either individuals or political parties. 

We have played around with parliamentary supremacy akin to that of the Westminster style, the Executive Presidency presumably but not entirely factually based on the de Gaullean mode, a Provincial Council system that has been controversial since the day it was introduced by the Indo-Lanka pact in 1987, an electoral system that has made elections dog fights and yet impossible to be amended properly. But most of all the Good Governance charade that started in 2015 has failed miserably in delivering the goods as promised. That is not to say that there are no salutary changes brought in by the government that was initially elected on January 8, 2015 with the victory of Maithripala Sirisena as President, yet the good eggs it laid are too few and far between.   

This is the environment in which we celebrate Sinhala Avurudu and one may daresay, there is little to be exited about. In fact, the looming picture for Sri Lanka as a nation is gloomy, indeed. Yet history books are full of records of many who have made merry while the vistas were bleak. Sri Lankans for that matter, are veterans at it.