Rise in corruption

Sri Lankan politics is at a critical juncture. The political culture that gradually evolved over the past few years has undoubtedly been the root cause of both good and ill: defeating terrorism on the one hand and widespread corruption and emergence of nepotism. The danger now would be the inevitable rise of corruption over the years to come if those who swindled the government treasure were voted to the House again. This, in turn will weaken the worsening political culture that was brought to a halt by the people on January 8 of this year.

Political consciousness

What should be the prime duty of the people at the general elections? Is it merely to elect the members belonging to their respective political parties and just to rejoice in their victory, or to withdraw to themselves meekly in their defeat? Sadly enough, conventional political ideology of the people of the country still to a greater extent seems to colour the political landscape, and it has been and is a decisive factor in sending members to the parliament. For the majority of the particularly rural masses, their political party is their blood and what shapes their political behavior is their emotions.

This situation enables us to build an argument that the expansion educational opportunities have not made the conventional voter an intellectual. However, as was discussed in one of my previous articles, there has occurred drastic qualitative changes in youth’s political ideology.

The most important obligation of the voters today is either to learn or to be taught of what is expected from them in the current political scenario. They should not get influenced or childishly hooked to their traditional political parties.

It is high time to think of the political journey of the country and intelligently and wisely decided on who to vote. It is also up to the media to educate the people so that they can become politically conscious and not get hoodwinked by the political manoeuvers of the candidates. People should not allow their emotions to govern their decision making process; or else their hasty or impudent decisions can plunge the country into a dark abyss.

Genuineness

Voters are required to take cognizance of the future of their country without yielding to political gimmicks of deceptive politicians who will with their eloquence ‘fly’ you into a heavenly world replete with all the comfort you can think of. Though the average voter has got to struggle to admit his or her son or daughter to a good school, how many politicians have sent their children to foreign universities or colleges? Don’t they use foreign exchange which otherwise would have been spent on the poor children in the country? Doesn’t that money come even from the children who drop out from school and do odd jobs for their own survival? People must be aware of or made aware of those politicians who should not be given the opportunities to become their representatives.

I have heard that in the past there was one minister whose daughter was sent abroad for higher studies on a scholarship. Yet, when the matter was debated in the house, the following week the minister went to that country and brought his daughter home. Such were the genuine politicians who worked for the country.

Though we do not have such exemplary figures in the country today, we have to do our best to send genuine and honest people to Parliament.

Statesmanship

A candidate’s personality was a much talked about topic at the last presidential elections and some politicians ludicrously tried to bring forth the view that the personality of the one to be elected president has to be given priority. Personality does not necessarily mean one’s bravado or the words uttered show one’s bravery. It is, as the writer feels, a term that gives different meanings in different contexts. For example, in a country such as Sri Lanka, a politician’s ability to integrate different ethnic groups must be a salient feature of his or her personality.In this respect, President Maithripala Sirisena displays good personality traits which we have not seen in other leaders.

People must be wise enough not to be misled by the political theatrics used by politicians andit is their duty to be analytically look at the unfolding political scenes to take wise decisions at the elections.

The term ‘statesmanship’ seems to have been given misnomers, and many appear to bear misconceptions of what a good steamship is. It does not mean opposing either the west or the east and getting aligned with either of them.

Prime Minister Sirimavo Bandaranaike is an epitome of a leader who showed good statesmanship. In her government there were extreme rightists and extreme leftists and she struck a marvellous balance between the two factions.

Her’s was a period when the world superpowers were at loggerheads and there was immense influence from both the groups on small countries like ours.

Yet she in her rule antagonized neither the Capitalist Block nor the Socialist Block. The people must be very intelligent to have a critical outlook of the present day political affairs, when they are deciding to vote for a particular candidate.

Though politicians work hard to win the confidence of the people saying voters today are intelligent, they work with an ulterior motive to talk their way to the people and deceive them for their own political ends. Thus, the people must assure themselves that they would not let them be cheated by bogus politicians and must vote for the correct candidate.

Anil Pagoda Arachchi
Senior lecturer
Siyane National College of Education
Veyangoda.