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| Sunday, 21 March 2004 |
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Features |  |
| News Business Features Editorial
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So many servants of truth and honesty Light Refractions Light Refractions by Lucien Rajakarunanayake As the election campaign moves on with so much excitement, one wonders why some people are busy keeping a tally on incidents of violence instead of concentrating on the positive side of things. Hordes of polls observers and monitors descend upon us from abroad, and thousands of dollars are donated to local monitors, who are not known to monitor themselves. They are looking for the crooked in our society, where there is such an abundance of the good, the clean and the honest. Election posters may not be seen in such large numbers, but judging by what one sees on those that remain and the large number of advertisements in both the electronic and print media, this country is just now awash with honesty and integrity. They are all good friends of the people, the candidates at the polls. One even says so in his advertisement, claiming he is the "Hitha Honda Mithura" or Good Hearted Friend of the people. There are thousands of persons with such good and large hearts who are all vying for our votes, that one wonders where all this good heartedness was before the election was announced. "Aththa katha karana, Kelin weda karana" Truth in speech, Honesty in work says the advertisement of Jeyaraj Fernandopulle from Katana, who has been in Parliament for many years. Don't ask me why he has to tell the people all this, if it has been his style of political life all these years. But then, the people always need repeated reassurance of such qualities, don't they? I never knew there were so many politicians that really loved or had affection for the people, until I began to count the advertisements and posters with this claim. "Janathavata Adaraya Karana" One who loves the people is a claim made by so many that one tends to believe that all these statistics of electoral violence are all bunkum, because there just can't be such violence about elections when so many candidates love the people so much as to make such a song and dance about it in public. The new Professor from the Gampaha District, Jayalath Jayawardana, is quite honest when he makes no claim of being honest, or of being a particular lover of the people. He claims he laid the foundation for peace and signs off as "The first among equals". The question is in which aspect is he the first? Did he lead the pack of equals in the award of questionable tenders for road construction, or did he lead the way in sending poor quality rice to the people of Jaffna? It would have been better had he explained what he was first in, with so many allegations made about corruption among ministers of the UNF government, whether of Cabinet rank or not. One always believed the phrase "First among equals" referred to the Prime Minister, but who are we to question the claim of the good doctor (oops, sorry Professor) to be first among equals in a field full of corruption. The fact that conventional wisdom is all wrong was proved by one candidate who was bold enough to claim "Minis duka handunana" one who understands the sufferings of the people. All the while we believed that politicians never understood the travails of the people, and even if they did so, did not give a dime about it. But here we have a man, and I am sure he is one among so many others who do understand the sufferings of the people, and is prepared to say so in public. One would have expected the people of his area to know of his understanding of their sufferings, as not to need repetition. No doubt the people will demonstrate whether they accept his claim, as similar claims of so many others, when they go into the secrecy of the polling booth on April 2. Justice and honesty are among the lead claims by the hordes of candidates who are vying for our votes. One advertisement that struck me was of a candidate who said "Saadharanaya Venuven Peramuna Ganna" One who is in the forefront on behalf of Justice. Quite a claim to make when the general image of a politician is that he or she is one who does not care two hoots about justice. In fact the politician here is better known to subvert justice than uphold it. The number of persons killed in police cells, or forcibly removed from police custody, due to the intervention of politicians gave considerable credibility to this image. But here we have a person who claims to have taken the leadership in justice and fairplay. The only regret is that he has not given a single example of such leadership, but who are we to disbelieve such a bold and daring claim. "Honest leadership", "Always honest", "The symbol of honesty", "The voice of honesty", "Honest in everything", "Honest servant of the people", the claims of honesty go on across the board, irrespective of parties or colours, that one is prompted to ask where all these people were all these years. How is it that they have suddenly come out of the political woodwork, as it were? With so much honesty around, how on earth can Transparency International or any other organisation ever state that we rank among the most corrupt countries in the world? How can the World Bank or IMF point a finger at our politicians about corruption, when there are so many making such open declarations of honesty? I'm not prepared to believe that they shed all traces of honesty the moment they get elected to Parliament, as a snake regularly sheds its pellicle. There must be some other force at work; drawing them away from all this declared honesty. What a tragedy it is to be blessed with so much honesty and lose it all so fast. Karunasena Kodituwakku, the one who looks after Education & Culture portrays himself as the "Pirisindu Deshapalanaye Paramaadarshaya" Exemplary in clean politics. It's a great claim to make coming from a party that has been the very epitome of unclean politics, and has a proven record of being the most corrupt government in the short span of two years. Somehow he must have stood out in some area of political cleanliness as to make such a claim of being immaculately clean, something which even his leader dares not claim these days. It is possible that the UNP has begun laundering its politics and politicians, and KK has already emerged with such cleanliness, as to be exemplary in that sphere. There are some politicians who have a mission too. One such person of note is John Amaratunga who says he has "A mission with a purpose". Regrettably he does not elaborate on his purpose. One has to hazard a guess whether his mission of such purpose is to keep the hangman active again, as he was so eager to do, proposing to plant the "Ellung Gaha" or gibbet in several other areas, or whether it is to expose any other safe house that Sri Lanka's security forces may be having, as he did with regard to the Athurugiriya Safe House. There are so many candidates dedicated to serve the people or "Janatha Meheverata Kepavu", as they say, which makes one ponder as to what the people will have left to do for themselves, if all these people really do begin to serve them. What a wonderful land this will be with so many dedicated to serve the people, and who would grudge to pay them the usual service charge for such service, by way of luxury cars, special allowances, employment to kith and kin and subsidized meals in Parliament, which I am sure these greater servants of the people have not even dreamt of. There are also those "unshakeable" in many forms, such as service to the people, dedication to peace, and even the "unshakeable strength of the people", I was really struck by one candidate's message that gave all credit to the people and said "Noselena Oba, apey shakthiyai" Your unshaken support is our strength. That to me had the greatest credibility among so many others who placed themselves ahead of the people in all their claims to grab the peoples' vote. After all it is the people who have to give them their strength, even to be drawn to the underworld later. Shocked and stunned as I am with the abundance of such honesty, integrity and dedication to the cause of the people that is now being displayed in words, I would rather wait and see which of these claimants to such good qualities will find favour among the people as to be elected, and whether they will indeed live up to all their claims after election. |
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