Politically motivated insults against elderly

A strong narrative is currently being driven by social media pundits that the responsibility of leading the State needs to be handed over to a group of young and middle-aged individuals while emphasising oldies need to be chased out. Demonstrating sheer indecency and incivility, such propagandists insult elders in derogatory terms in the course of propagating the viewpoint that senior citizens are of no use to the society. 

The proponents of this belief frequently espouse that septuagenarians are absent-minded to the point that when people leave their homes they do not even give the key to them.

Echoing this naïve thought, recently, the NPP frontliner K.D. Lalkantha publicly remarked that people like him who are above 60 are no longer needed and the next parliament needs to be dominated by the youth. If sexagenarians are so feeble as per Lalkantha’s doctrine, why has his party nominated Anura Kumara Dissanayake for presidency, who will reach the age of 60 four years from now?

The lopsided standpoint is popularised at a time when the world at large is becoming increasingly older. From 2000 to 2019, the global life expectancy increased from 67 years to 73. By 2050, the UN expects one in six people worldwide will be aged 65 or older. The short-sighted protagonists of this school of thought who demonise senior citizens may not be aware that the retirement age in OECD countries like Australia and the USA is 67 and there are calls within the UK to raise its retirement age to 70. Even in Sri Lanka, there has been a noticeable increase in life expectancy and old citizens are rising as a share of the population.

The island is going through a critical phase in its history, after having witnessed its worst economic crisis in our lifetimes. Under such circumstances, it is logical to make use of the wisdom and experience of senior citizens from diverse fields to navigate the complicated challenges in order to turn around the nation and create a future filled with hope and optimism. At the height of the economic crisis, former President Gotabaya Rajapaksa appointed a committee composed of Indrajit Coomaraswamy, Shanta Devarajan, and Sharmini Coorey – retired economists who had served in international organisations – to provide guidance to the Government on addressing the debt crisis and lead towards a sustainable recovery. Since their appointment, the trio had provided an immense contribution towards implementing the requisite reforms to aid policy makers and officials by making use of their experience and proficiency.

Having a youthful or middle-aged political leader does not guarantee impressive governance as evident by the tenure of Liz Truss – whose policy blunders resulted in her becoming the shortest-serving Prime Minister of Britain in its history – having attained the post in 2022 at the age of 47. The rash decision of David Cameron – another former British Premier who came into power in his early ’40s – to hold the Brexit Referendum precipitated a series of political upheavals in Westminster apart from creating an uncertain outlook for the UK in general.

On the other hand, despite India being such a youthful country, the responsibility of leading the world’s most populous state was handed over to a septuagenarian by the constituents of the emerging global super power two weeks ago. The youth is feeling confident under Modi and believe that their nation’s standing globally has improved tremendously under his decisive leadership style.

Apparently, the avalanche of disparagement towards septuagenarians is directed with the intention of deriding President Wickremesinghe. The veteran leader took the helm probably at the most difficult time in Sri Lanka’s post-independent history.

Given the island’s strategic location and geo-political undercurrents, it is frequently at the receiving end of the power conflicts between India and China. Whatever his detractors may say, among all the national-level leaders, the incumbent’s maturity and skills of diplomacy to delicately neutralise the repercussions on the country from power battles in the Asian region are superior to the rest.