I am certain that I am echoing the views of many fellow citizens when I congratulate Minister Milinda Moragoda for seeking to restore value based politics in this country. His initiative to set up a new political party inspired by the principles and values that were associated with the Ceylon National Congress of yesteryear is indeed timely.

Moragoda has recently, in an address at the graduation ceremony of the Institute of Advanced Legal Studies of the Council of Legal Education, stated, and I can do no better than quote him, " Today in Sri Lanka, after thirty years of conflict and violence, we must take stock of our democracy……. I would argue that the corrosive impact of this conflict has destroyed our institutions, affected our values and ideals and torn our society apart; instead of a well balanced and functioning democracy, we have an angry society where hatred, jealousy, greed and selfishness are all too common. Our society has undergone this transformation incrementally, almost imperceptibly. In this post conflict period which offers unlimited opportunities and every reason for people and parties to come together to work towards a better future, we appear to be having to contend with the residual impact of the trauma we have collectively endured".

Yes, 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. I hope 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 Presidential and Parliamentary elections unless we do something about it.

We need to create a framework for a just and compassionate society. 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 and 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 an art form.

Our political culture has become more and more based upon materialistic values. Previous 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. There was also the desire to support the quality-of-living of our citizens inclusive of education, healthcare and food irrespective of personal access to financial resources.

Maybe we created a dependent society and in the process the people lost their self confidence and also a sense of responsibility; it is conceded that the people unfortunately came to depend on politicians for handouts 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

Deterioration began in the sixties at a trot but went into a gallop as we entered the 1980s.The old guard politicians were no more on the political scene; they had given way to a new breed of ambitious politicians who wanted power at any cost to enrich themselves and had never made any sacrifices for the country. They got the power cheap. They were not brought up in the ambience of value based politics.

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 next 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.

The pith and substance of politics is no doubt the acquisition and exercise of power, but those who wield power and those who aspire to power must understand that there are written and unwritten rules and common decency that must attend them at all times.

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

Politics without corruption, rooting out the hate culture, and promoting communal amity and good governance are the four main factors that should decide the future of all political parties. Our political leaders must come to terms with the fact that no political party or group of politicians are forever and it is in their interest to think in terms of the generations to come; in this regard they need to perhaps refine and implement the principles that gave rise to the 17th Amendment and create independent statutory institutions to enthrone good governance, democracy and the rule of law in this country.

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 though this government lost its way on the international circuit in recent years through clumsy handling of our international relations and domestic incidents that were exploited by certain members of the international community; the social policies of the two main political parties are the same; both parties are pledged to safeguarding our territorial integrity and sovereignty of the country - they both accept the concept of devolution of power though there may be differences regarding the extent of ‘devolution’; both parties have accepted that the minority communities should have a say in the deciding on their destiny and in the destiny of the country which is theirs too.

President Rajapaksa’s strongest personality trait and strongest asset, to my mind, is his inborn ability to bring people together, his record of including everyone whenever possible stands as evidence. He has today a historic opportunity of ending confrontational politics in this country. If he only seizes this opportunity he would certainly be remembered as one of the greatest leaders this country has produced and not only because he saved this country from being divided.

The President should consider introducing the American model of the separation of powers with a Cabinet of Ministers from outside Parliament; he could then choose the most talented and most able of our citizens as Cabinet Ministers and introduce the All Party Oversight Committee system in Parliament, which would ensure that Ministers are answerable to Parliament. This system makes for power sharing through participatory decision - making coupled with accountability in the exercise of Executive power..

As stated earlier, 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 unswervingly defend civic commitments. Such a cadre of politicians would back 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.

It appears that Minister Moragoda by reviving the Ceylon National Congress in the form of the Sri Lanka National Congress is seeking to enthrone these values once again. I do hope he is well supported in the national interest.