The well read correspondent Shani in her article in the issue of the Island 0f 29th August has referred to a statement made in Parliament and stated "He is devoid of party politics. He obviously spoke from his heart when he made an impassioned plea for the IDPs housed in various camps. He marked himself as a rare and mature politician, a breed that we thought was o the verge of extinction, when he stated that the military had played its role and done its duty and it was now up to the politicians to to play their role and do their duty so that our country could move forward as one embracing diversity and promoting unity".

Mr. Jayasuriya in his speech to Parliament stated "Mr. Speaker, the people in these camps are not strangers, they are our people. We cannot and should not anymore hardship to befall these civilians who are citizens of this country". He went on to say, "We must feel their pain. It is only when these people are resettled that we can truly and wholeheartedly celebrate the military victory achieved by our heroes, which will then be complete in every manner. We as a civilized nation cannot continue to allow our own people to suffer like this anymore …."

Does not this intervention and the mature thinking he exhibits ask the question, is it not time that Mr. Karu J was invited by the UNP to take over the leadership of the party from the serial looser? There is no doubt that the UNP has absolutely no chance to win the next Presidential election so they should prepare for the general election at least to ensure that they win a sufficient number of seats to be able to be able to discharge their democratic obligation in the Parliament and ensure that there would be no dictatorship by the SLFP led coalition. A three fourth majority by the governing party would spell the end of true democracy in this country. The UNP has a duty to prepare from now to prevent such a situation and this cannot be done under the leadership of Ranil Wickremasinghe, so a new post of Senior Advisor or Patron should be created and he could be elevated to that position.

If a vote is taken in the party there is little doubt that Karu J would be invited to take over the leadership. What has been unfortunate is that he appears, for reasons best known to him, not projected himself in the manner of certain unsuitable others. He is indeed the man for the times, for he has stood for politics of conciliation; do we not recall the initiative he took along with Prof GL Peiris , Milinda Moragoda and some others to forge a common agenda to cooperate with the government on five important national issue only to see it sabotaged by Ranil W, which resulted in him and that group leaving the Party to cooperate with the government.

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 it goes the opportunity to mount the gravy train and get rich quickly. In the process have we not become a morally degenerate society?

Politics in this country is today a blood sport-governed by the rules of the slum---where the criminal underworld rules and where the scum of our society predominate. Politicians were, for some years, the patrons of the scum but the wheel appears to have turned and the scum from the slums, with their values, have begun to lord it over the politicians. Some have even become politicians. The form of politics that is found in the West -and which we have had in this country until 1977 appears to have gone out of the window with the Constitution of 1978, which created a constitutional dictatorship, but I am certain that this is not forever. Political Parties in this country represent organized hatred. The blood sport could result in a blood bath at the forthcoming Parliamentary elections unless we do something about it.

Karu J has always stood for a cooperative approach. President Rajapakse’s strongest personality trait and strongest asset, to my mind, is his inborn ability to bring people together, Mr. Karu Jayasuriya has also this ability and is also a ‘team man’, their records of including everyone whenever possible stands as evidence. Today they have a historic opportunity of ending confrontational politics in this country. If they only seize this opportunity they would certainly be remembered as two of the great leaders this country has produced.

Politics in the early years of our democracy was value driven; the politician valued his self respect. That was a time when our politicians both of the ‘left’ and the ‘right’ would stand-up and defend unswerving commitments to a value based society. Such a cadre of politicians would stand-up for a core of such progressive convictions; defending areas of national sovereignty in general, irrespective of personal self-aggrandizement considerations. Almost all our politicians of yore came to serve and almost all of them pauperized themselves.

The President could introduce a system that makes for power sharing through participatory decision making. It could be a variation of the system that prevailed at a national level under the Donoughmore Constitution and worked very well. The most urgent and important need today is to usher in an age of cooperation and leave behind us the age of confrontation 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 in our national interest. Our political parties must learn to coexist and make political cooperation and art form.

Our political culture has become more and more based upon materialistic values, prior commitment to supporting progressive social policies, has also diminished. Social policies had originally been developed from a view that Sri Lanka, a poor country, could be transformed into a model progressive "participatory democracy". There was a certain value placed on the community. Addressing the poverty situation that prevailed was the first priority; to support the quality-of-living of our citizens inclusive of education, (CWW Kanangara introduced free education in 1944 which has transformed our society like no other), healthcare and food irrespective of personal access to financial resources. Maybe that we created a dependent society and in the process the people lost their self confidence and also a sense of social responsibility; it is conceded that the people unfortunately came to depend on politicians for hand-outs and elections became auctions, the party that offered the most was elected. The people did not feel, as a ‘new age politician’ has stated, "that they could work positively towards changing their own lives and the lives of their children and the community". This ‘nurse-maiding’ of the people killed their spirit, though it was a fundamentally humane approach to development and human security. Sri Lanka was intended to be a progressive participatory democracy, but we have lost our way somewhere along the road

Today the cancer of corruption is all pervasive. The political system itself breeds corruption, The electoral system is a macabre caricature as an instrument to electing a government. No politician could contest at any level unless he is prepared to spend millions. Yes they spend millions to get elected and after that use their power to recoup their expenditure and to build a nest-egg for the next election and also for their generations to come, They have no compunction about using their office to make money, If we wish to reduce the level of corruption then we MUST reform the electoral system, retain the PR system, do away with the three Preference votes and reintroduce the electorate and do away with the district as the electorate.