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| Sunday, 16 May 2004 |
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| News Business Features Editorial
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Move over Ranil, your time's up by Malinda Seneviratne
I am aggrieved. Not because I am a party member or even a supporter of the UNP. No, I didn't even vote for the UNP this time. In fact, I have never voted for the UNP. Still, I am pained. There's almost half a century between D.S. Senanayake to Ranil Wickremesinghe, but 50 years, even if it is enough for the Bretten Woods Institutions, is still too brief a time for a party like the UNP to lose so much stature. I mean, even in '56 and '70, the party, although kicked in the butt by the electorate, still had some body. Had a head. And the relevant head of the time had ideas. The United National Party has a crisis. Although little is leaked to the press, what little has seeped out of Sirikotha should suffice to tell any moron that there is a pretty bad odour out there and that the odour must have a source and probably even a name. Interestingly, the party has decided to go to the grassroots. That's positive because it presupposes that someone in Sirikotha knows that there is something called grassroots. The party has also decided to re-organise. That's admission of disarray, mess, shambles, or what have you. Anyway, reading through the 23 Point re-organising plan, I couldn't help thinking, "Cart before the horse". One sure sign that you've lost your way is when you start creating committees left and right and appointing people to them. It is almost as though all UNP parliamentarians have suddenly found themselves twiddling their thumbs and so the leadership decided to give them something to do. Surgical technology Restructuring is not equal to replacing old machines with new ones. An incompetent surgeon using unsterilized instruments will kill the patient. A quack, working with the best support staff and the latest in surgical technology will still kill the patient. A political party can improve its lot only marginally through reorganising. A political party whose leadership is completely out of touch with reality can go to the grassroots only to learn. Not for anything else. In short, the United National Party is fiddling around with the symptoms of the problem. Let's cut to the chase. It's leadership, stupid! Get that? L-E-A-D-E-R-S-H-I-P.....there! Now you know how to spell the word too! Every herd has a leader, a creature who is world-wise, has charisma and know how to discipline and how to protect; someone who can chart a future and, in these free market times, someone who can sell himself and the party. Ranil Wickremesinghe may have some ideas. They are probably "tips" offered to him by self-seeking "advisors", both local and foreign, but they are nevertheless ideas. Half baked for the most part, but, we reiterate, ideas nevertheless. The problem is he doesn't know how to sell them. Relationship We may need to be more elaborate here. Even if Ranil is a product, he is definitely not a brand. The former has attributes, while the latter has a relationship with the consumer. Coca Cola is what, 90% water, isn't it? It still sells, because people have been made to believe it is bottled optimism. All human beings have arms, legs, and the other so many organs, give or take a couple, depending on your sex. They may be male, female or hermaphrodites, but they are all human beings. The point is, not all of them have charisma; not all are leadership material. D.S. was not a product. He was a brand. So was Dudley. S.W.R.D. was a brand. These leaders not only had vision, they were advertising savvy. Some didn't have it, but cultivated this quality. Some were congenitally gifted. They didn't have to try. They all, without exception, had excellent relations with the people. Ranil was not born with it. He hasn't acquired it. Yes". Nike has a tag, "Just do it!" At the end of the day, it is just another pair of sneakers, but people buy it because they've been taught that it represents initiative. Or whatever. I don't wear sneakers. I bet, however, that I could make more people wear them if I tried, more people than Ranil could convince in a hundred years. Intimate moments Yes, I am advertising savvy, like his guru George W. Bush. Or was it Tony Blair? No matter. The fact of the matter is that I know that Nike is not a shoe, but a mindset, a testament to athletic spirit and human endeavour. I know that Kodak is not a film, but a signifier of happy times, intimate moments and things that are forever etched in our memory. In these times of marginal costs and marginal benefits, opportunity costs, differential pricing and comparative advantage, I have the edge over Ranil. I know who I am, and I have a relationship with our people's sensibilities, their sense of self and nation, and their aspirations, both material and otherwise. This is not all. I can turn the party around, because like D.S. I know agriculture, I know rice and I know that rice is not just a commodity but a way of life, an artefact and an idea that contains history and heritage. I know the weva and the dagaba. I know how to be desha hitheishi without being xenophobic. I know how to be an internationalist without severing roots. I know my ancestors and I fight for my great grandchildren. History and heritage I can turn the UNP from a sulu jathika pakshaya into a truly Jathika party, simply because I know more of the "nation" than Ranil does. For me, "regaining" Sri Lanka is not a slogan but a project. My blueprints are home grown and time-tested. I know that "regaining" involves knowing what we lost. Otherwise I would call it refashioning, like Ranil ought to have done. Don't get me wrong. I am not one of those anti-West stuck-in-the-mud idiots. Neither am I a "global village" idiot. I have my feet planted in our cultural soil and therefore my mind, made strong by history and heritage, acts like a filter when considering anything, whether it be traditional or modern, local or foreign. The West? Been there. Done that. No big deal. Don't want to drag Sri Lanka to lang EN-GB New York City. Don't want to drag Sri Lanka to 500 B.C. either. No, I want to bring the nation to you, and you to the nation. And my "you" although all-inclusive is particularly the United National Party. So, here I am, the next leader of the United National Party. Don't call me, I'll call you. At the right time. |
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