By K. Godage
Despite the horrific violence perpetrated by the politicians, the people will once again vote overwhelmingly to entrench a two party system, indicating that there is only a peripheral place for marginal parties. Of the small parties the United Tamil Front which now supports the LTTE, the EPDP and the Muslim Congress all racial and religious parties, will once again surface. They together with the Sihala Urumaya represent communal politics, a form which must be decisively and derisively rejected. We must ban all communal parties as they do in Singapore and Malaysia.

The two main political parties are both pledged to furthering a multi ethnic, multi-cultural, democratic political system. They both profess to pursuing ‘Free Market’ economic policies; their foreign policies are identical; their Social policies are the same; the approach to the ‘national problem - the insurgency in the north, is also identical - devolution of power (there may be differences regarding the extent of ‘devolution’-but they have both accepted that Devolution may be, I repeat, maybe the answer. A two pronged approach has been pursued by both parties towards the LTTE.

The verdict of the people of this country at the general election will once again be decisive. When they vote for the two major parties they also endorsed the above mentioned policies. They also wanted either of these parties to govern, or at best for them to come together. They certainly will not vote for the Muslim Congress or the Tamil United Front or the Sihala Urumaya or the JVP to have a say in the governance of the country. Most unfortunately the election may not result in a conclusive mandate. The very structure of the political system precludes governance by one single political party, but this does not mean that the framers of the Constitution were of the opinion that the smaller Parties whose policies have been rejected by the electorate, should be placed in such a position as to be able to dictate policy or control government. Power sharing should not be confused with the enthronement of rejected political parties. This would make a mockery of the will of the people as expressed through the election.

We have been given to understand that certain small parties have extracted their pound of flesh, demanding important Ministries and many other concessions, as their price to enable whoever has the majority to form a government. The two major political Parties must NEVER allow themselves to be dictated to in this regard. Any horse deals (these are really donkey deals) must be ruled out completely. If the smaller Parties wish to come into government then they MUST come in on the terms of the senior partner. It is certainly a good thing to have ‘inclusive’ as opposed to ‘exclusive’ governments but the tail must never be allowed to wag the dog.

The political culture of this country has been built on adversarial, confrontational politics without regard to the national interest. Our politicians have missed the wood for the trees. This is the unfortunate tradition which we seem to want to perpetuate. The cement that has held this form of confrontational politics together has been, the vulgar pursuit of political power, for with goes the opportunity to mount the gravy train and get rich quickly. In the process have we not become a morally degenerate society? An ‘Election Observer’ who is a member of the European Union’s Election observer mission, speaking to me after the post election Press Conference wanted an answer to a question that had perplexed him. He was a young intellectual who was reading for a Doctorate in Political Science and had volunteered to come to Sri Lanka because of his interest in Buddhism. He appeared to have read widely on the subject and even inquired from me as to whether I was acquainted with Prof. Paul Dalkhe’ treatise on the Abhidamma! He stated that he had thought that Buddhist Sri Lanka was a gentle society and inquired as to how I would explain the violence he had witnessed during the election campaign, the killings and the other incidents in the Central Province particularly in Kandy which he described a the ‘Holy City’.

He stated that politicians who claimed to be Buddhists appear to have sullied Buddhism. He stated that he saw neither tolerance nor compassion only hate for fellow beings. He stated that he could not also understand how Buddhist Monks were calling for a military solution to the conflict in the north. He was indeed quite disillusioned because of what he had seen and only during election time at that. His question was "What has happened to your people". I must confess that I did not have the answer.

Have we been anesthetized to injustice, violence, to corruption and to what is fundamentally wrong ? I have often thought that we the people are the victims, victims trapped in a certain system created for us by itinerant politicians. But then again are we not co-conspirators for by not confronting them we allow the power hungry politician to dictate terms and decide for us. Take the example of political parties entering into Coalitions which they have no mandate to enter into. Have we abdicated after we gave them the vote?

Need we to be so helpless? I say NO. We must come forward and take responsibility and not let ‘evil’ in whatever form triumph. It is we who have allowed the political culture of this country to degenerate. Is it not a sad indictment on us that we who do not trust the politician, we who do not believe them, are compelled to suffer them even when they act in their own interest merely to stay in power.

Has it all to do with the pursuit of power and filthy lucre? We have since 1978 tolerated a ‘Constitutional Dictatorship’. We have acted like servile beings when we relate to power. We seem to have even accepted our fate to be ruled by menials merely because they have political power. We cannot blame anyone but ourselves if we do not discharge our responsibilities -government must not be left to politicians. Let us shake off our apathy and find a way of participating in the political process ourselves and breath new life into our politics. We may not need ‘peoples revolutions’ to remove governments but we can certainly mobilize to ensure that peripheral political parties do not subvert the will of the people through opportunistic coalitions.

The need of the hour is for strong government. And it is only a strong government in Colombo that can end the insurgency in the north. It is only a strong government that can create the requisite political and economic climate to meet the challenges of Globalization. Weak, unstable governments cannot meet the challenges we face today. What incidentally are these challenges? -we have the insurgency or the war in the north, we have a depressed economy, a high level of corruption, a very high level of crime, a sluggish judicial system, which takes years to bring criminals to justice, an education system which does not cater to the new world that is emerging, leave alone catering to forging national unity. The public service needs to be reformed and energized to meet the needs of the times, new skills are urgently needed.

Agriculture is in the dumps. We need to urgently develop our physical infrastructure. We need to augment our energy supplies otherwise we shall not have power in a few years. We need to be able to meet the challenges of the technology and competition driven global environment of the new millenium. Have we progressed or digressed as a people over the past 50 years? We need a shake up and no weak coalition can deliver us from our plunging plight. WE MUST HAVE STRONG GOVERNMENT AND THE BEST POLITICAL LEADERSHIP THAT IS PRESENTLY AVAILABLE IN THE COUNTRY. WE NEED TO USHER IN THE AGE OF COOPERATION AND LEAVE BEHIND US THE AGE OF COFRONTATION, which has done immeasurable harm to this country. Whilst other countries are galloping ahead we are moving backwards. The disease of confrontation has spread to all levels of our society. The politician is at the bottom of this - we must pull back from the abyss. Our political parties must learn to co-exist and make political cooperation an art form.

The leader of the UNP has extended his hand to the President. She must herself rise above petty party politics, bury the past and follow in the footsteps of the great Nelson Mandela and set an example to the younger generation of this country. Let us see whether she can bury the hatchet and not mark the spot.