HARK! Lanka’s alarm bells are ringing

No conscientious Sri Lankan could be complacent in current times, when he or she realises the abysmal depths to which most of our vital sectors of national endeavour have fallen. Above all, the reign of terror enveloping the population, for well over two decades, from the LTTE, and the terror tactics of the hard-line political groups in the southern areas, has caused much concern and despondency to the law abiding citizens.

The people have been held to ransom by trade unions, with political patronage. While security measures have been, from time to time, beefed up in the interests of the bigwigs, their families and possessions, the security of the lesser mortals leave much to be desired. Decency, discipline, justice and fair-play has, as it were, gone to the dogs. Crimes, robberies, bribery, corruption, abductions, extortions and exploitation have escalated in almost all parts of the country.

This snowballing rot in our society is clearly evident from the fact that no eyewitness to a crime, would testify in a court of law, out of fear for his life. Even the implementation of the death penalty appears to have been suspended for quite some time.

Add to the bargain, parliamentarians seem to have never had it so good: The proper functioning of our political establishment has been undermined in devious ways, from about the time we acquired independence, up to the present day, by means of foul play of politics, jointly and/or severally emanating from successive governments and oppositions. A politician concerned with the greatest good of the greatest numbers, is a rare one nowadays. Very often, political party leadership appears too weak, to take disciplinary action against the black sheep within. It is a shame that the electorate has let itself be fooled too long a time by rabble-rousers in the field, who want their victims to continue to be “dumb, driven cattle”
It is now politic not to be crying over spilt milk, but to make a U-turn to the path of justice and fair play for all and sundry.

In the circumstances involved, certain measures are indicated below to be adopted before the next general election and the presidential election:-

(l) The long delayed Elections Commission to be in place, in due operative order.

(2) Get rid of the existing proportional representation, and, in place of it, get back to the system of electing one MP for each of the majority of the existing 160 constituencies and the remaining constituencies to be made multi-member for return of more than one MP, that is in those cases wherein there is an acute need for representing interests of a substantial degree, to meet the: aspirations of the minority communities. In point of fact, under the last system, we had a few multi-member constituencies returning two MPs, plus one constituency, the Colombo Central constituency, returning three MPs to represent the heterogeneous voters in that constituency.

That system worked very well, with a manageable minimum of election offences. It is most undesirable, and a folly, to mix the earlier system of first-past-the-post, with the system of proportional representation, as reported to have been recommended by some committee of MPs in the present Parliament. If that mixture were to be adopted, we too would be open to unnecessary trouble, in view of the umpteen instances of confrontational and acrimonious party politics, for which the country has become notorious. Therefore, it is believed that conscientious and discerning citizens would oppose the proposed combination. There is no halfway house, except to accommodate selfish and partisan interests.

The existing system, where the voter casts his ballot by choosing a particular political party or an independent group, has been the bane of Sri Lankan franchise, in the absence of almost all political parties of repute: we have had enough of ungentlemanly politics. Let parties exist but, most of them require reformation, to meet the demands of democratic socialist republicanism, as envisaged in our Constitution.
What is imperative is to allow every voter to cast his or her vote for any candidate, on the candidate’s own merit, irrespective of the party label of the candidate.

(3) There should be mandatory legal provision for every candidate applying for nomination to declare before the electorate -

(a) In summary form (to be prescribed under law, the values of different assets of the candidate, his or her spouse and dependent children (values of assets in Sri Lanka and overseas should be indicated separately in the respective currencies;

(b) The monthly salary, allowances and other perks, which the candidate wants in the capacity of an MP, a deputy Minister, and a Minister.
(This requirement is absolutely necessary, because we are a socialist State, and all the more important to shut out from the legislature, candidates with wealth acquired through illicit means: the rich candidates, with lawfully acquired wealth, need not have any apprehensions on this requirement, provided they are genuinely patriotic enough to offer their services to the electorate).

(4) Every candidate should also be required to indicate in his or her election manifesto, the following information:-

(a) The number of days in each week, the candidate would be available to meet the people in the constituency;

(b) Whether the candidate would attend to the grievances of persons who did not vote for the candidate;

© The minimum number of days the candidate would travel every month by public transport; and

(d) Whether the candidate would move for proceedings in parliament to be covered by TV and Radio channels.

The measures indicated above, could achieve the main purpose of purging the rot that has bedeviled the country’s political establishment over the years. In order to obtain effective results, there must be constant agitation from every constituency, from discerning citizens.
With malice to none and empathy towards the hapless persons of all communities of our island home.

D. Kuruneru,
SLAS (Retd.)
Moratuwa