By Malinda Seneviratne
Changes in government always elicit hope, especially when the ousted have proved beyond reasonable doubt their incompetence and their willingness to siphon out state resources for personal enhancement. Where ‘change’ is the overwhelming battle cry of the electorate, all past crimes are forgiven and forgotten, something that is almost "natural" if there is any truth in Prabhakaran’s thesis that the Sinhalese can remember things only for two weeks.

The election itself was no laughing matter, considering the violence that preceded it and on election day itself. The people of Madawala, for example, cannot be laughing. The PA thugs were not just attacking political opponents. They were inciting communal discontent and we all know that the Sinhala people have had enough mud slung in their faces because of power-seeking politicians following the time-tested "by hook or by crook" strategy. I am pretty sure that there are enough NGOs (whose very lives depend on portraying the Sinhalese as racists) who are laughing in some cosy corner right now because they can play the ethnic card once again in their project proposals.

The latest news is that in spite of the blatant violation of the democratic process by the PA, through thuggery (especially in Kandy) and by preventing Tamils in LTTE-controlled areas from voting, the Election Commissioner, after consulting all parties and independent groups that contested, has decided not to annul the results in these places. The Election Commissioner refusing to do so when he has the power and the political parties choosing to turn a blind eye (the PA for obvious reasons, the UNP because they have won either way, and the others for reasons best known to them) send the wrong message to those who are willing to go to any lengths to ensure victory. They certainly will not forget this decision when the next election comes around.

The All Share Price Index is reported to have gone up by 100 points. Now that would be considered a salutation of sorts. Clearly the commercial circles are happy with the outcome. The ‘correct’ signals are being given to the market. Whether this can translate into something tangible for us non-business, can’t-supply-to-the market and can’t-really-demand-from-it people, we will have to wait and see. My feeling is that didn’t get anything to brag about and probably we not get anything now either. Twenty four years of the ‘open’ economy and the only thing that was opened was our veins. Blood flowed. Still, the people have decided that they are in favour of another season (with different colours of course) for naked capitalism even though the entire world has suffered enough tragedies on account of capital expansion. Hooray!

The business community was going to vote UNP and we didn’t need the last-minute pathetic appeal by SOLO-U to tell us that or the fact that Suraj Dandeniya of sama athvela fame contested on the UNP ticket. The problem is that SOLO-U has not made secret its undying love for the LTTE. How are we going to measure Prabhakaran’s reaction to the election results? The number of teeth visible in his grin?

There is a possibility that Ranil was only politicking when he was talking about talking with the LTTE. Then again, we can never tell with politicians. If he takes the advise of C. A. Chandraprema, he will take a leaf out of Prabhakaran’s book, he will continue to ‘leave the door open for talks with the LTTE’ while pursuing the military effort after cleaning shop, i.e. getting rid of corrupt officials who make money out of arms deals and contracts, and arresting the rampant corruption in the armed forces which is one of the main obstacles to defeating the LTTE.

Of course, ‘it is still too early’ to read the pluses and minuses. So I suppose there will be a honeymoon period where the eternally optimistic (read ‘naive’) among us will believe that the democratic space will expand. Let us see.

Marcel Duchamp, the author of "Why not sneeze?" once observed that "All these humbugs, existence of God, atheism, determinism, free arbiter, societies, death, etc. are pieces in a chess-game called language and are amusing only if one is not concerned with winning or losing...."

Reflecting on the results of December 5th, I am compelled to smile, not least of all because I have little faith in parliamentary politics which is a process where money and guns hold sway over principles and ideologies for the most part. As such, politically speaking, my wish is that my laugh (which I insist is not cynical) goes wandering along the lesser travelled paths of imagination and retains enough of its wild vigour so that it excites people to rethink political engagement.

I’ve always maintained that the people rarely get to savour any victory that has substance and lasting worth. Nothing has happened during the past couple of months for me to change my position. Ranil has six years. Going on the UNP’s long track record, the appropriate sentiment should be apprehension, I believe. It can’t be wild enthusiasm. The people really did not have an option and the notion of a default winner is only indicative of how political poor we are. Policies and plans did not matter. Manifestos did not matter. This election was about getting rid of the PA, as far as I can see. If ‘parliament’ is reduced to some kind of play-pen for ego-maniacs, then we would have truly won. The UNP has won. Like the PA won in 1994. Any guarantees that the people ever partake of such ‘victories’?

Joseph Jabonski, commenting on the Rastafarian/reggae myth of the great historical overturning, in its many fascinating variants, argues that it suggests ‘the latent presence of new sounds, colours, aromas, intensities and desires - as if it were a kind of ‘starter-kit’ for refurbished reality" and that it urges us to ‘believe the dreams that history dreams’ - our own.

Before that, each of us have to unravel the complicating threads of our identity and arrive at an ‘us’. I believe that if this exercise involves a rediscovery of roots and cultural heritage, ‘we’ could dream together. Otherwise, we can continue to elect people so that they can repay us with poverty, humiliation and tragedy.