Be idealistic but understand the ground realities

George Orwell’s Animal Farm, the classic novel, a satire on a downtrodden society’s blind march towards totalitarianism often gets quoted during the time of an election. Written more than 75 years ago but its message remains powerful and timely. It’s a cautionary tale for those who have utopian dreams that a certain candidate or party can turn this country into a perfect place overnight.

There is nothing wrong with being idealistic but it’s important to be grounded in the realities of this country and not build castles in the air as sooner than later, you will be disappointed.

Let us face the reality of what whoever wins has to face in the coming weeks and months. The country is barely out of the woods economically and the warning is that any steps to deviate from the current economic path would be disastrous for the country. All leading candidates have expressed their commitment to take this program forward which gives some sense of relief.

That’s just one of the many challenges the next president will face given there is a lot that has to be fixed in the country. It will take a lot more than politicians to fix this mess and this means a collective commitment of all the people but here is where the catch is. A lot of the voices who are coming out in support of different candidates are going gung-ho over their man and have all their hopes riding on one man to usher in the perfect society they crave for.

Other than the incumbent president Ranil Wickremesinghe, SJB’s Sajith Premadasa and NPP’s Anura Kumara Dissanayake are advocating change with the latter’s main message based on a change from the regular order.

Change is the only constant in Ife and Sri Lanka has had its share of political changes including in 1956 when S.W.R.D. Bandaranaike rode to power on a wave that ushered in the “era of the common man.” In 1977, with promises of an open economy and prosperity, J.R. Jayewardene rode to power and brought about radical changes in the country’s economy. Since then, we’ve had several rulers, and they have set the country in different paths. 

Each leader has introduced policies that have benefited the public while there have been many squandered opportunities in the country since independence.

Corruption is one of the main themes of this election, but this has been so for decades. When the UNP took over in 1977, those accused of corruption and abuse of power in Prime Minister Sirimavo Bandaranaike’s government were punished. She was even stripped of her civic rights. After 17 years of UNP rule, when Chandrika Kumaratunga took over in 1994, she promised to have the corrupt brought to Galle Face Green and shot but it’s public knowledge what happened to such promises. Maithripala Sirisena who became president in 2015 vowed to close the airport and catch those fleeing the country having robbed it.

Now we have both Premadasa and Dissanayake pledging to catch the thieves, but their hackneyed phrases have lost all novelty.

Those who have read Animal Farm know about the seven commandments that were given to the animals to live by so that in the farms they are all equal, free, and happy.

While the commandments are embraced with enthusiasm by the animals, soon changes are secretly made to some of the commandments. For example, the commandment which says “No animal shall sleep in a bed,” becomes “No animal shall sleep in a bed with sheets,” the commandments “No animal shall drink alcohol,” becomes “No animal shall drink alcohol to excess,” and most importantly the last commandment, “All animals are equal,” being secretly altered to state, “All animals are equal, but some animals are more equal than others.”

So, while it’s good to have lofty ideals, it’s good for voters to be realistic about the ground realities. However sweet promises made from election stages may be to the ear, once installed in office, promises of all being equal fly out of the window, and they will soon understand that while all animals are equal, there will always be those who will be more equal than the others.