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| Sunday, 11 April 2004 |
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The unfinished business Light Refractions by Lucien Rajakarunanayake At the beginning the mood at the Green Elephant on the night of polls Friday was one of big celebrations. There were all signs of great expectations and big boasts of how they will definitely roll up the elections calendar for the next decade or two after the much awaited landslide victory. The drinks were being poured liberally, and the five piece group that had been specially hired for the occasion was getting repeated requests to play the "Baby Elephant Walk", and the sometime popular Sinhala pop by Uswatte Sunil "Meda Potey Denava Batey". At first there were shouts of bravado by many who said "We don't care a damn" when the results of the postal voting began coming in. "Typical of the public service. Always disgruntled and wanting more salaries and other benefits. This is no indication of how the real masses feel" said a purported polls analyst, Ali Ilakkama, one of those opinion poll fixers who works for Dr. Pakyasathya Haravanamuttu of the Centre for Pachyderm Apologists a.k.a CPA. His opinion was endorsed by many others who felt it was time to order more rounds of their favourite brands of premium scotch or pure malt whiskey. But the mood began to change rapidly as the results of the electorates began to come in. Try as they may, the musicians could not get the crowd excited. Often there was a striking silence among the large crowd of green elephants and supporters present. It did take not long for them all to realize the trend and begin a post-mortem operation in what was planed to be an evening of celebration and festivity. The cow elephants present, who saw the privileges they enjoyed being lost and being pushed into the unseen background of the social circuit, were swooning unable to console each other. Their handkerchiefs were soaking wet as the efforts of all those expensive beauticians began to be washed away in a flood of tears. That was when one young elephant shouted out, "So once again Ranil Ali Rajah has led us to defeat, and a humiliating one too." Kapuvath Kolapaata, one of the senior members of the herd, who only believed in background manoeuvres in the Green Elephant Circle said: "This is what I always said. He does not listen to the wisdom of senior elephants like us. He thinks the best advice comes from that Milinda Alivanguva and those old Royalist elephants who hang around him. It is they who gave him this rope, of insisting on getting defence back into our own hands, much against the thinking of seasoned players like us. This is the result. So we will have to suffer him as leader, until he leads us into another defeat. Just one win in a dozen contests does not make one a leader. It is time a proper assessment of his leadership capabilities, and of those green cubs, still in their salad days in politics who hang around him." "What about the unfinished business?" asked Navin Alipetiya, a listed elephant and son of the Gamini Gajanayake the former leader of the herd, who was happy he did not go on the vote hunt. There was more than a touch of mischief in his voice. "What unfinished business?" asked Senerath Alikotuva, the official keeper of the herd. "Surely you must have heard it said so many times. The entire campaign of Ranil Ali Rajah was that he was not given a chance to finish his business of peace and so many other things. He had a six year plan of business and he was stopped in two years. He said this poll was forced on the people who did not want it, because they were ready to wait for him to finish his business. So what happens to that unfinished business?" asked Navin Alipetiya. That was when the Green Elephant went into turmoil and near chaos. The musicians had either play a requiem or pack up and go away. No one was bothered listening to them. Everyone was thinking of unfinished business. "He was right. There was so much of unfinished business, and I was so confident we will be returned with an even larger majority, because as Ranil Ali Rajah said it, the people did not want this poll' said Milinda Alivanguva. "I wonder how I can face those Norwegian business people who I had arranged to give various contracts to, with generous donations to my foundation," he said. "Dammit, Ali Rajah was right when he said that he had just planted a tree and that he was removed before it could bear the first fruits," said Charitha Alibetta, who was thinking of the unfinished business of giving even more elephants from the Pinnawela Elephant Orphanage to his brother. Rukman Aliparisara, who was in charge of wildlife and the environment, began worrying about his own unfinished business. He had planned to empty the Pinnawela Elephant Orphanage by giving the elephants there to private owners and various temples and kovils. So many members of the Green Elephant had asked him for permits to even capture elephants from the wild and donate them to temples, to settle their vows about winning this election. He had other unfinished business too, about giving contracts to put up hotels inside Wildlife Reserves from ADB Funds, among other things. He sighed to himself saying "so much of unfinished business left." "There was so much more I had planned to pluck, as part of my continuing business of selling off the people's assets," said Ravi Alikeliya a.k.a Hora Gajamuthu. "I was only able to finish off part of the CWE. In consumer affairs the potential for plucking was enormous. There was so much business in the import and distribution of rice, the duty fixing in sugar, and all those private contracts made on the various conferences for which one went abroad. All that is left unfinished now. I hope at least the Kotte Kingdom will remain with me, for further plunder," he said. A short while later it was heard on reliable grapevine that the Kotte Kingdom had banished Ravi Alikeliya, albeit by a few hundred extra votes. There was a mild return to a sense of enjoyment on hearing this news. Many of the members of the Green Elephant had feared that the already finished business of Ravi Alikeliya had done them enough damage, they were happy about much of his business being left undone. Gamini Lokualigedera, the one in charge of tourism, was the next to beat his breast. "I'm sure Ranil Ali Rajah was thinking of all of us, when he spoke so much about unfinished business. This is a terrible blow to me. Just think of all the commission that was due from our plans to market Sigiriya, with live dancing by actual Sigiriya maidens at night, and re-creating the whole Sigiriya saga every night under floodlights. I told all those environmentalists and those who spoke of culture, that the past is meant to be sold for profit. And what a huge business it was going to be, I had already come to good deals with travel agents and hoteliers and foreign tour operators too. I was also just completing several deals to sell off some more of the Old Dutch houses left unsold in the Galle Fort. I don't think I can sign those contracts any more. This is one hell of a story of unfinished business. When can we ever start again, with all those red betel chewers getting elected in such large numbers?" The next lament was from Sakala Banda Dahajaraava from Hanguranketha. "This is most unfair. I was able to get the Samurdhi patch much later than others began their own business ventures. And, now even before 18 months had gone I've lost that again. I had hardly any time to organize the business of siphoning Samurdhi funds, to my own business ventures other than Samurdhi, which is by itself a big business. What is the point in being in the back rows with all this unfinished business left," he asked. "I think we must work towards another election very soon, and teach these betel chewers a very good lesson." "Do you think the people will want another election, the way the have been voting this time?" asked Malik Alihenduva, who was said to be the person controlling Ranil Ali Rajah. We must not rush into conclusions like Dahajaraava from Hanguranketha. We should begin to use the wisdom of the elephant, and not the short-sighted thinking of those who jumped to our side as part of their business of politics." "What happened to your prediction that we will win if only we get three districts in the South?" asked Navin Alipetiya from Sakala Banda Dahajaraava. "Well if you only let me re-organize the Green Elephant Circle, I will teach you how that can be done," he said. There was a murmur of discontent among the elephants left at the Green Elephant. Some began to worry whether Ranil Ali Rajah, in his desperation had made such an offer to the big noise from Hanguranketha. "Obviously, there is a lot of unfinished business to be settled within the Green Elephant Circle itself," said Kapuvath Kolapaata. Malik Alihenduva swung his trunk in agreement. |
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