Moment of decision is the loneliest in human life. It must be come upon in the stillness and in the darkness with brooding thoughts drawn from the deepest reaches of the soul.... Leon Uris.

After a long time the other night I heard a sincere talk by a politician - Ranil Wickremesinghe about the economy of the country and the measures he intends to take to put it right. I need a little digression here for S. L. Gunasekara has always been speaking the truth immaterial of the consequences and I don’t put him in the category of local politicians. He is a MAN as depicted in Kiplings ‘IF’. Coming back, if Ranil can do what he announced, the Nation will have to be grateful to him.

In my mind he is no organiser or intellectual of the calibre of JR or Lalith; not even Gamini; what was wanting was sincerity of purpose, not holding onto or capturing power; but if Ranil has the courage, conviction and commitment to carry it through to the end he will surpass the three put together by leaps and bounds.

JR had many assets when he had the steering wheel. He had a 5/6th majority and a freshly baked executive system which nobody dared to question and everybody was busy enjoying. A government writ running to all corners of the country. A faltering but still a far superior government administration going by today’s standards. An economy by far healtheir than what is there now. Last but not the least comparatively more civic conscious public. Ranil has none of this! Then with what resources is he going to do this Herculean task? What comes to my mind is what Gandhi did in India. He put everything he had into building India. He put his life on the line; he took the moral high ground and at its peak this frail man was stronger than a couple of mighty British battalions. That’s another story but let’s have a look at Ranil’s woes.

Can the lost confidence of the people on the leadership of the country be restored? The task look grave and formidable. But then why has it come to this? Over the decades the law abiding citizen’s confidence in the governing system has eroded. Even long before a president announced that the public will have to look after their own security political thuggery and interference into the administration system started. True there were arrogant, uppish and unjust administrators but what had to be done was not politicians taking the law into their hands. As the Machiavellian saying goes ‘village pirates of yesterday became arbiter’s of life and death today’; the question is not if they are going to be ‘keepers of public latrines tomorrow’ but the whole country is stinking to high heavens like one and the poor law abiding citizen has no chance - of a snow ball in hell!

Successive governments either nationalised the businesses of the supporters of the opposing parties or opened economy indiscreetly leading most of the local entrepreneurs to the level of ‘hewers of wood and drawers of water’. It was easier to make money by importing and selling rather than trying to produce or grow something locally; there were even easier ways and the establishment didn’t mind all this for the slogan was ‘Let the robber barons come and they thought the ‘trickle down effect’ will settle all the problems in the country. Everybody got the message, ‘make money by hook or crook’ the means really wouldn’t matter. So over the years it is no surprise to see a different class of public with different sense of values. It has gone down to their bone-marrow to such an extent that they cannot really understand that the country is at the threshold of it’s very survival and they too will go down with it. And Ranil has the arduous task of turning them around. Of course this is what politicians themselves brought about and it may seem unfair for Ranil having to pay the wags of sin; but then it is now or never and now that Ranil has made up his mind we wish him well.

A list of issues he may have to address his mind to, may go on as follows.

Can the vast expenditure on the upkeep and mollycoddling of the politicians be trimmed down to the bare minimum? (Doling out of Oboroi meal at the parliament to members for a paltry sum may not amount to much but the bad example is what matters). Can ‘the Kolambata Kiri Gamata Kekiri - influential getting preferential treatment - status quo be rectified? Can the politicians, affluent, the officers in the star class and the general public have equal treatment when availing public facilities and be treated equally before law? Can Robber barons policy be amended to ‘Let the robber barons thrive but not at the expense of the country and it’s people? Can the ‘import and sell’ policy be modified to ‘produce and stand on our own feet’? Can the contract killers, drug dealers, Mafia men, knock down drivers etc. be brought to book? Can the government service be made efficient and courteous? Can the efficient and hard working government servant be rewarded and the inefficient yes man be punished? Can the terrorising of the law abiding citizen by all forms of institutions be ameliorated? Can the corrupt and questionable elements be dislodged from the mainstream of society? Can the politicians be made to be content with facilities -like health, education for children etc. - available for the use of the general public. Can they stop living double lives? Can the catchers and the coterie be circumvented? In simple language can they not show by example the way of life the countrymen should live in a decisive time like this? It is a tall order alright!

There is a saying ‘God! Give me strength to change things I can; accept things I cannot and the wisdom to know the difference’. This of course is true at a given point of time. Some of the things in the list can be changed now if one is sincere in his efforts and some may be quite hard at this point of time zero. But one can draw up a programme of changing the hard things with time. That is what leaders like Abraham Lincoln, Lee Kuan Yew, Konrad Adenuer and few others like them did. What looked impossible at the beginning became easier later and that is why they are considered all time great leaders by their countrymen and respected world over.

When the public realises that the leadership is making a genuine effort towards these goals their support will be forthcoming; may be it will be slow at the beginning but it will build to a mighty force nobody could imagine; a moral force what Gandhi had, surpassing mighty battalions!

For the time being we can remind ourselves of the ‘Seven Sins’ the great man enunciated for the survival or not of a country which is precisely what is happening here. (going by memory)

Wealth without work

Leisure without conscience

Knowledge without character

Commerce without morality

Science without honesty

Worship without sacrifice

Politics without principles.
K. Wanigasekara,
Akuressa.