Here to eternity

By Albert Punch Singho

The title uses a catchy phrase from the ’50s movie to call into question where our beloved country will land. So much of history has been packed into the weeks since May 2022. Rumblings we had. Veiled political voices of dissent from within the Government we heard. All manner of permutations we saw. Abuse was liberally hurled at one another amongst the 225 in parliament. 

COVID

COVID seems a distant subject. We lived in the grips of fear as if we would all succumb to a great blight. Days would go with roads empty. Lives were turned upside down. Slowly the grip of fear loosened. We lined up for dose one to three. Masks were ever present. Economic activity was cooler. The trishaw in lines for petrol now were garaged for days then. Life was hell for very many dealing with loans, day jobs, kids at home, online schooling with no online! Tourism went down the precipice. Slowly fear was eased with hope. The masks came off finally.

Trouble

In cabinet ERD had reportedly laid out troubles ahead. We held the rupee at around 184 for as long as we could. Chemicals had ceased for fertiliser with vast efforts to go organic. For the sceptics, let’s not forget the gigantic hospital given by the Chinese to treat renal failure and dialysis. CKD and CKDU give us a whole lot of trouble. Many from Kurunegala up to Tunnukkai are in trouble.

The timeline becomes blurred. Announcements about belt tightening, gas becoming a difficult item to freely buy, hitting the kitchens immediately and petrol and diesel becoming dearer. The voluble protests begin. Mirihana is tested. Response is tough. It sparks flames. The President is garrisoned at Fort. The State of the Presidency is fortressed. Various groups use the opportunity to hurl abuse, put up posters, regular marches and Galle Face becomes an attraction for dissent. Professionals become extremely angry. Right up to May 2009 any misery due to most conflicts spared the upper and middle class broadly in the south other than the late ’80s. This is an all country blight. The pressure builds. We default on paying loans as a country. 9 May sadly turns bad, sad scenes of violence, counter violence, island-wide targeted arson and the resignation of the PM.

Once more calm before the next storm. Parliament debates furiously but offers zilch as solutions. A PM with no other members of his own takes on the mantle of PM. 

The team commissioned by the former President comes to grips with our real debt payment issues. They do know the way to get about paying our debts. We need to work on generating cash to buy food, fuel, medicines from overseas sellers. IMF talks enter a mature phase, we pay for four months of gas, few shipments of fuel, fertiliser for most farmers, medicine potentially for six months, we decide to go back to oil companies selling in the market ‘but’ there seems to be a need to disrupt all of this before any feel good factors begin to creep into the hearts of people.

9 July 

Pent up frustration drives and unites people of many hues and attracts crowds too large to stop. They storm the residence of the President and drive him out to sea for safety. The Office is broken into and occupied. The Prime Minister’s private residence is torched and crowds mill around Parliament. The CDS calls on the Speaker to convene an all-party meeting. Some say the Speaker was asked to hold on accepting the President’s resignation until the PM was compelled to resign!

When States fall apart

In some countries when citizens storm and take over the state the Central Bank, Finance Ministry, broadcasting stations, Foreign Ministry and like are targeted. In a situation where the President could not be protected, where was the protection to any of the institutions named here? How perilously close were we to a total takeover?

Having defaulted, with two cabinets in three months, with no fuel, no medicine, with rising inflation, with no Head of State what were we staring at as a nation? No amount of past troubles of any kind brought us this close to anarchy and lawlessness.

We limp as a nation. The youth even if they qualify for overseas education cannot go with no foreign exchange, we need to get business going, institutions of state must become stable, we have to speak as a nation, we must inspire confidence in our people, our armed forces must know they have a Commander in Chief and they can act to defend the Constitution. If and when an election is held the 225 in Parliament and the parties they represent will need to be most fortunate to be returned in ways seen in the past. The longer we dance the baila, the more assured we will be that the incumbents will become increasingly less likely to dance again.

This is our darkest hour. We cannot dissolve as a state and break into proxy groups controlled from within afar. Here to eternity. Wither next? Mend, heal, reboot, reconfigure, accommodate, inspire and be righteous?