Editorial

2nd January 2000

Century ahead

The dawn of a new century and originally a millennium yester- day would have been wel comed by some with champagne glasses in their hands and by others with AK-47’s.

Or, perhaps fire crackers on the one hand, and mortars on the other?

With such contradictions, to carry forward the ledger of the 20th century to the 21st would be an almost melancholic balancing exercise of debits and credits.

Though vast strides have been made in some areas of national endeavour, there has been a drastic decline in certain other aspects of national life. There seems to have been a degeneration into mindless violence, even though its too ghoulish almost to remind the reader of such negative aspects of Sri Lankan life just one day into the 21st century.

The insecurity engendered by such violence is indubitably the only reason that there seems to be a collective national yearning for a “national government,’’ a term which has acquired almost religious reverence in the past few months.

Though President Chandrika Kumarnatunga has not referred to a national government in her post-re-election victory speech, and though some observers have jumped the gun and said this was what she said, there is no doubt that she too is sensitive to the call for a national government at least until the nation tides over some of the immediate issues.

Since we are talking consensus politics, isn’t it vital that there should be consensus on the mechanics of holding a free and fair election?

The UNP will fulminate on alleged rigging and stuffing and intimidation and PA will hit back on what may possibly have happened in Batticaloa.

There must always have been some element of thuggery in all elections, but the basic rules were observed and public servants had a clear idea of where their duty lay.

When Dudley Senanayake contested his very first parliamentary election, the campaign was headed by Sir John Kotelawela. The rival candidate N.H.A.M. Keerthiratne had to carry a revolver in his pocket for his protection. However Mr. Keerthiratne later became a Cabinet Minister — possibly a good example of consensus politics.

Elections are now fought with cynicism. Soon this will percolate so deep into the national fabric that there will be massive distrust of any election result, (that is if people even bother to go to the polls). People now almost give an allowance of a percentage of hora-votes to the ruling party as a matter of course.

We still approach election in the naive belief that the system is a foolproof one. It is possibly archaic and riddled with holes. A prime national issue on which consensus is needed is a review of election mechanics.

Without more ado on the merits of an Election Commission, surely agreement can be reached on the system as it is to tighten it from the registration of voters to the actual casting of a valid vote?

But at least, with that thought, may we without making it sound as if the call is being made from a bully pulpit, earnestly request the national elite and decision makers to take heed that we may be living on borrowed time, even if it may seem that we have a full century now ahead of us.

Complacency has also it seems been one of our national weaknesses, and therefore, as we begin to “count up’’ (if that’s the opposite for counting down) to the 22nd century, let us, while wishing all our readers peace and prosperity, also ask all to join us in the call for evolving not just a national government, but a national ethos of sustained responsibility and vigilance.

The Political Column