Man knows ‘no-man’; Tamarind knows rotten fish

by Somapala Gunadheera

Miniha nominiha dani;
kunumaalu siyambala dani

This is a native Sinhala proverb that implies that man is the monitor of his kind as much as tamarind is the monitor of rotten fish.

On the seventeenth of this month will dawn a special day on which men in this country will be called upon to identify ‘no-man’. If man failed to identify ‘no-man’ on that day, every man and woman and their fellow citizens will be faced with umpteen problems for the following five years.

Queuing to vote: Those who vote wisely at the election will be making an important contribution to the country’s future. Pic. AFP

That day is significant because the next general election of this country will fall on it, when electors all over the island are scheduled to express their option on the choice of their representatives. From that day this country will be ruled by the majority team elected on that day. If that team made a mistake it would have to be corrected by the team in the opposition. Both teams are selected by the voters. Thus, it is evident that the quality of the next general election would depend on the options exercised by the voters on that day.

Then and now

An opportunity will dawn for the enlightened in this country who were fed-up with the deteriorating state of affairs to redirect the entire country on a new course. May the voters bear in mind that the decisive power they exercise on that day has come to them after five long years and direct their options to the best sources, thus participating in the noble task of rebuilding this country.

We remember or have heard of how peacefully, law-abidingly and decorously elections were held during the time of our parents and grandparents. At the root of that propriety was the honesty, upbringing and the character of the people’s representatives of those assemblies. The credit for bringing such people to the stage goes to the ordinary people who voted for them. So as they sowed, so did they reap.

Compared to standards of the past, the quality of our legislative councils at all levels today are as distant as heaven and earth. It is very rarely that a day dawns on which we do not come to hear of haggling, acrimony and violence in a divisional council. Some councillors attack the Police, interfere with their duties, take the law into their hands to harass the people, participate in drunken brawls, abuse government servants and block highways. The disorder sometimes seen even inside Parliament is a disgrace to the whole country.

The indications are that far from getting better the situation is going from bad to worse. Even in the future, it is we who can control this unfortunate misbehaviour. The only occasion on which it can be done is the general election. As citizens, let us all get together at this election to perform our noble duty to redirect our country on the road to excellence. Let us not wait till the horse has fled to lock the stable.

How do we choose?

Citizens have the right to vote for any party acceptable to the Elections Commissioner. A voter at an election has to choose the Party he would support, on his own. That choice calls for awareness, wisdom and conscience. No other has the power to interfere with that choice. But it is a national duty to acquaint the whole country with the parameters that help select the suitable candidates within a voter’s Party of choice.

I wish every knowledgeable and enlightened citizen of this country would rise to the occasion and help assiduously in that endeavour. That contribution can be made in the workplace, playground, restaurant, place of worship, teachers’ quarters, physicians’ clinic, on the move or anywhere that people come together. The Sunday Observer of August 2 carried such a devise in my article entitled, ‘Voters’ Matrix’.

The following are some of the parameters I employ in selecting a candidate for whom I cast my vote at an election.

I begin with a look at the candidates who had been MPs before. Their performance in Parliament is a dependable test. Did they discharge their duties properly? Did they engage themselves tirelessly to solve the problems of the people? On the contrary, intoxicated with power, did they buoyantly and lazily enjoy divine comforts in luxury vehicles and palatial mansions.

Did they become millionaires overnight with bribes earned through the misuse of official power? Did they conduct themselves before their electors like foreign tourists? If such people re-enter the fray shamelessly, voters need no instructions on how to deal with them.

Grave misconduct

It is but fair to give priority to candidates who performed their duties modestly and tirelessly when they were MPs. But not on all occasions. A newcomer with deep knowledge and sharp intellect, who can render unprecedented service to the country, may enter the competition, though he would be a newcomer to Parliament. As rejecting such an aspirant would be a loss to the country, voters may be called upon to make a difficult comparative assessment.

Another easy criterion to employ may be how a candidate conducted himself after he entered the contest. Did he conduct his campaign in conformity with election law? Did his publicity break the law? Did his posters, cut-outs and banners pollute the environment? Did it cost public funds to remove them? Did he go in processions obstructing the highway? Did he put up the whole village at dead of night with blowing his own trumpet through blaring loudspeakers? This type of misconduct is a reliable pointer to the performance of the contender, after the election. Look for the ‘worm in the bud’.

There are a few more things that calls for the voter’s attention. Foremost among them is the question whether the candidate is temperamentally suitable to be in politics. Some enter the contest for cheap publicity or to fill their pockets. They do not have at least a basic knowledge of politics. They do not know the shades of meaning between democracy and socialism. They have not consulted books or the knowledgeable for information. They themselves do not know the meaning of the slogans they proclaim. They are only interested in the sound, not the meaning. It is a crime against the nation to introduce such people to politics. Politics is a science. Those who enter it knowledgeably go to the top. Others fall by the wayside.

Some seek to enter Parliament to maintain their ancestral prestige, to consolidate their family power. They too have no political knowledge or perception of their own.Yet others try to creep into politics on the strength of their performance in field that have no bearing on politics, such as sports and films. The cheap publicity gained through acting in common tele-dramas is used at times as a passport to politics. But the new-comers have no notion about the essentials of politics. Unable to discharge what is expected of them in the political sphere, they get lost between two worlds along with their supporters.

Rotten fish and tamarind

In the saying quoted above, ‘Man knows ‘no-man’ is supported by the parenthesis, ‘Tamarind knows rotten fish’. Tamarind is added to cure rotten fish. The tamarind that dehumanizes the voters is bribery. Bribery assumes several guises in an election. Foremost among them is doling out money. Treating with food and alcohol is well-known. There are many other indirect bribes. Some of them are, promises to provide employment, admit children to popular schools, build houses, repair roads, supply electricity and grant public assistance.

These promises are mostly made by candidates from the Party in power. They provide such assistance out of public funds, not out of their pocket. Such favours are not second to treating someone with victuals provided at a third party’s wedding. Casting a vote to a purveyor of what is provided with taxes paid by the voter himself, amounts to the folly of paying for the jakfruit plucked from one’s own garden.

Off and on one comes across people who provide public assistance out of their own funds to secure votes.It is incumbent on a responsible citizen to enquire from where such funds came.We find among us people who suddenly became tycoons by indulging in antinational, illegal and corrupt practices.Those who vote for such swindlers in return for assistance given out of their private funds are eating muck with their noses held.

Besides it is a well known secret that those who come to power spending money, later use that power to amass thousand times of what they spent, out of public funds and from shady business racketeers. Such deceit do not waste their funds on charity. In this connection it would be helpful to have an eye on candidates who do not declare their assets before the election. There should be some mysterious reason behind their silence in spite of the Elections Commissioner’s repeated calls for declaration of assets. By refraining from voting for such evasive characters, one fortifies the elections law and the society at large.

The more reliable course of action to ensure that it is done in due time, is to support law-abiding, progressive candidates, without getting hoodwinked by corrupt racketeers who seek to obtain votes through illegal means. People are mature enough now not to be misled by false promises made to garner preference votes. If all the promises made before the elections of the past were duly fulfilled, Sri Lanka would have been a heaven on earth by now.

Let us do our duty

I am faced with a problem when the postman delivers my poll card with the list of contestants. I have no knowledge of the biodata of the candidates. I am sure most voters are faced with this problem. Of what use are criteria for selection in the absence of basic information about the candidates. That gap has to be filled by political parties participating in the election. I trust they would issue in due time a document containing particulars of their respective candidates that would help the voter to make an informed choice.

Everybody who used his vote wisely at the oncoming election will be making an important contribution to the country’s future. It is the bounden duty of every citizen of this country to bring back our election culture to the level described at the beginning of this article.

It is not something that could be produced by the wave of a wand. Rehabilitation has to be attained progressively. Let us begin that process with this election. The best way to make that beginning is to cast our vote consciously to the most deserving candidate. Let us all make a vow to discharge that national duty.

Those who eat rotten fish on Election Day, cheated by tamarind, may spend the night snoring away, but soon the diarrhoea caused by that indigestion would keep them awake overnight. That is when those undeserving for whom they voted, start running riot with corruption and terrorisation.