Masses and asses

In this age of democracy where the people are vested with the sovereign rights of the kings of yore, it is not prudent to say that the ‘masses are asses’ but occasionally we have done so. Yesterday, a reader Jayantha Silva struck a similar note when he said ‘You the people are guilty’ for the present chaotic state of this country.

In a democracy, it is imperative that the people who elected their representatives should be as responsible as the representatives for the present state of affairs of a country because the people have the right to influence, pressurise or even throw out of office their representatives.

The paradox of Sri Lankan politics is that even though there is a near 100 per cent consensus that politicians of every colouration are rogues, scoundrels and even worse and political parties are just the same, come elections, we go to great lengths to make ‘our party’ and ‘our man’ win. No doubt, the people are responsible for this chaotic, corrupt, criminal and anarchic state that prevails today for they, after elections leave alone their representatives to perform whatever misdemeanours they desire. In fact the people have not sought to devise mechanisms whereby these representatives could be held in check.

The result, particularly during the past two decades, has been that we have been going on from crisis to crisis be it a PA or UNF government. One crisis superseding another crisis does not mean that the ill effects of the former crisis are eliminated. There is constant accretion of dark forces and they reach a critical point when the country totters on the brink of disaster. We have gone through two JVP insurrections - particularly the last where a Pol Pottist state was on the verge of creation. In the year 2000 the LTTE was not only at the gates of Jaffna but also collapsed the economy.

What did the people who possess sovereign rights do in these instances? After the JVP insurrection of 1988-1990, they elected the PA government and after the LTTE foray of 2000 they elected the UNF. In reality there is little difference in the economic or political policies of these parties or in their foreign policies. Their attitudes to bribery, corruption, crime and the underworld are almost the same. But the masses like asses keep voting them in and out of office.

Society is polarised into two – UNP and PA. In some areas the polarisation is so much acute that one party cannot afford to lose an election because the other party will set upon them, physically. Post election violence is all about that.

People are locked out of the political system after elections and can do little to influence politics. The newspapers can lay bare the corruption of high officials and politicians and the public laps it up. But do bureaucrats and politicians give a damn? They can kill, rob, rape and commit any crime with little or no consequence. So can their delinquent sons with official bodyguards round them. They hike their salaries and increase their perks at will.All this happens because come an election the asses - call them masses - will vote for them still.

Take the ongoing ‘Peace Process’. Do the masses who are spending greater part of their time debating and speculating have any inkling about what is going on? While the talks were on the gullible masses were told both by the government and the LTTE that everything was hunky-dory. And suddenly we were told that ‘nothing was achieved’ and the talks were off. And now we are told that negotiations are on about future negotiations.

The constitution requires that whatever solution that is worked out will have to be approved at a referendum. But what are the issues that will be placed before the people for them to decide? A diabolical concoction of the political Machiavellians and the terrorists? And will the masses ignore the issues that will decide the future of the nation and vote in accordance with party loyalties as they have always done? Will the masses vote like asses as before?

We do not foresee any solution. The only hope is that some leaders will emerge - patriots who can take honest and sincere decisions for the well-being of the country not caring for their personal and political interests.