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“Little monk, little monk, you are taking a hard road!” were the warning words to Martin Luther before the first Diet of Worms in 1521, presided over by Emperor Charles V. “Worms” of course is not a reference to the can of worms this Government seems to have opened by investigating the former, but a little town on the Rhine.
Martin Luther was not to be deterred by the enormity of the odds against him. His resolution to stand by his convictions made him one of the most influential figures in human history. Then that was another time, another continent and another people.
When the presidential candidate Maithripala Sirisena pledged himself to usher in good governance, there were no wise words of caution being whispered in his ears. As typical of a people whose systems and institutions are imitations or mimics of another (depending on how one sees it), everybody brushed aside the difficulties in the way of the intrepid presidential candidate.
Changing direction
Having no historical ownership in the evolution of most of the ideas that are commonly accepted as essential for good governance – representative governments, an independen
t Judiciary, a non-partisan administration, democratic institutions, rule of law and so on – we think it easy to tinker with such things, as if they could be switched on and off casually.
Changing direction, when a society has long gone down a certain path, was not thought of as too difficult a task, in fact the motley coalition that gathered under the banner of good governance considered it so childishly simple, they only asked for 100 days! Simply vote out Rajapaksa, the self-aggrandising President, chase the compromised Chief Justice Peiris away, refer a few of those who blatantly treated public office as an opportunity for entrepreneurial activities to the Anti-Corruption Commission and hey presto we will have good governance !
A collective madness
Small children do not think of adult activities as difficult. In their eyes adult occupations are only another form of play. When children play “doctor” or “teacher,” they have no concept of the long process by which one becomes a real teacher or doctor or the responsibilities that come with the profession. What matters is the enjoyment that comes by playing adult roles they look up to.
It is rare for children to want to play
the role of a politician. While they may sense the usefulness of the teaching or the medical profession to their young lives, the value of a politician, whose main function appears to be making speeches on a stage, is perhaps not so apparent to them. There is something distrustful about someone trying hard to convince an audience all the time. For the innocent mind of a child, it is not a role easily understood.
But where the adults are concerned it is completely the opposite, politics is a collective madness in this country. In the morning we wake up to news programs full of politics, during the day whoever we meet it is the doings of various politicians that dominate the conversation and then in the night we are glued to political programs where various politicians give their opinions about an endless range of subjects.
The fascination endures
It is difficult to comprehend this adult fascination with politicians, when after nearly 70 years of independence we are yet only a $ 60 billion economy, the capitalisation of a large size company in a developed country.
The various Constitutions brought in by them (1972 and 1978) have been found to be unacceptable, if not damnable. Most public as well as private institutions in the country have been diminished and degraded. Since independence there have been several large-scale social upheavals including bloody insurrections by the youth of both major communities. Social evils such as lawlessness, corruption, nepotism and abuse of power bedevil the whole system of governance.
While various politicians plot and manoeuvre their career paths, the country veers from non-starters to disasters, these careers mere ego trips and invariably dead-ends. Many a time our dynastic culture enabled the children of politicians, who themselves now carry on the business, to name public institutions such as roads and schools after their departed fathers, whose most notable achievement seems to be the bestowing of a political career on their children! But the fascination endures!
An unusual phenomenon
A politician is an unusual phenomenon is this country, made to a different image from the rest. In his bearing, and even dress, there is a certain self-consciousness, an awareness of his importance, a man of consequence, preoccupied with the affairs of the State, grappling with big problems, condescending to walk, talk and maybe even joke with the milling crowd. That is because he is humble and loves the common people but never forget he is not them. And they are aware of it.
After those fleeting moments with the “people”, the man is guided by his retinue of bodyguards to the waiting convoy and off he goes to the next meeting. He is never a Mr. Smith – “Most Honourable” is the preferred mode of addressing him, maybe Sir sometimes, but never by the name. That and other forms of self-abnegation before political leaders are culturally acceptable to them.
Unlike in the more advanced democracies, it has not occurred to them that it is to their overall advantage to cut their representatives down to size or at least deal with them on a more equal footing!
Lucrative careers
And there are many leaders. In addition to the parliament, a lot more political career paths have been created with Provincial Councils and other local level bodies. There are others; advisers, chairmen, secretaries, activists who also count as they obtained those positions not on a competitive basis but purely on political connections.
Gradually but steadily all these positions have been solidified in to lucrative careers. In addition to salaries, other benefits such as cars, drivers, bodyguards, official residences and diplomatic passports, have made a political office very desirable, especially in a poor and hierarchy-bound country. Of course all these benefits are also extended to the spouse and family.
Because of the generosity shown by Parliamentarians when determining their own employment terms and conditions, it matters little today whether you sit in the Government ranks or the Opposition. So similar are they that there is no bar, either in ideology or ethics, for deal making and even crossovers now. But of course for those in the Government ranks the opportunities are bigger and the room to manoeuvre much larger.
And above all, he is obviously the kingpin, nothing happens in the country’s administration unless and until one of the above classification gives the nod. This is the greatest joy for him; the opportunities thus presented to rake in the filthy lucre are a gift from heaven!
That is the general situation prevailing. But bad as it seems, during the Mahinda Rajapaksa regime the situation hit an abyss, where it seemed that Sri Lanka had become a government with a country, if not a family with a country!
“Development” and “patriotism”
Even matters like the price of a company stock trading in the market, the selection of a batsman to the national cricket side, the crowning of a beauty queen in a village pageant to the selection of a university entrant became matters for political intervention.
It came to be accepted as a norm that appointments to the forces, police, foreign service, government departments, religious organisations and eventually even large companies and private banks would be made not on ability but supposed reliability and loyalty, more abject the better.
This reliability or loyalty was not to an ideology, philosophy or a political party but to the ruling family! Even judges began to throw about words like “development,” “patriotism” and “a popular leader with the people’s mandate,” hobbyhorses of that regime, as if they were deciding a man’s rights on the basis of how patriotic he was or his contribution to “development”.
An electoral endorsement for a limited period of time was being interpreted as a permanent status quo that made the person near divine! So craven had they become, that there was no question in their minds that all actions of that regime were aimed towards development, of course motivated by patriotism!
Governance
Before one even contemplates good governance, there is a need to understand why there was bad governance and the lack of any effective resistance to it. It seems that for a large number that was the only style of governance they knew. For some, it was the kind of rule expected of a king. And then for a small but an important segment of the population, bad governance meant opportunities to wheel and deal.
One should not be surprised if President Maithripala Sirisena now sees the problem differently. Heavy is the burden where the buck stops. It could be even justified if he were to conclude now with the famous line of despair “We have met the enemy, it is us”.
The road before you, Mr. President, is very hard in deed. But someone must walk it!
(The writer is an Attorney-at-Law and a freelance writer.)
