Sunday Times 2
The rise of splinter groups
View(s):I was amazed to learn recently that our parliament has members representing no less than FIFTEEN official parties — ranging from the unwieldy umbrella party known as the Sri Lanka Podujana Peramuna (SLPP) to single-member parties like the once mighty United National Party (UNP), Samantha Perera’s Our Power of the People Party (OPPP) and C.V Wigneswaran’s Thamil Makkal Thesiya Kuttani (TMTK).
But what is funny about these political groups (not funny as in a “Ha Ha” sense but funny in the sense of Strange) is that these political groupings are quite fluid. Members move from one party to another with the ease of cricketers moving from one IPL or LPL franchise to another — with no loyalty to any one party but loyalty only to themselves.
We have politicians who belonged to the Sri Lanka Freedom Party whose expensive election campaigns were funded by the party. They entered parliament and took their oaths as members of that party — and then, lured by the perks and privileges of ministerial office, they severed connections with that party but still sit in parliament as elected members. Of course, they switch allegiance and join the party in power entirely, as they blithely state, for the gain of the people and not for themselves!
There are others who, denied ministerial office, split from their original party and form their own splinter group. Take our Double Doctor G.L Peiris — an academic with not just one but two PhDs. During his long political career, he has been a member of Chandrika Kumaratunga’s People’s Alliance, the UNP, the UPFA, the SLFP, the SLPP, and now the Independent SLPP. This man can boast of being in more political parties than he has in seats of learning!
Just who are these slippery politicians fooling?
We have today a rag-tag bunch of opportunists whose main talent is bamboozling a bunch of gullible voters into voting them into parliament — or convincing those denizens who have entered parliament by bamboozling the voters, to appoint them on the National List. These are folk who derive a sense of identity by belonging to various political parties, who have taken to politics not because they want to serve the citizens of our country — but because they were nobodies who want to become somebodies. What a pleasure they must be deriving by being known as ‘Manthri thuma” or “Amathi thuma”!
In China, the legislature has members representing just one political party. In the United States, both the Congress and the Senate have just two political parties, the Democrats and Republicans (with the exception of three independent members in the 100-member Senate). In our small country, in stark contrast, we have no less than FIFTEEN official parties in our legislature – with some of these parties splintered into separate factions. Just imagine — the governing SLPP consists of a “main” group that sits with the government and the “independent” group that sits in opposition. Some wags refer to this hotchpotch party that is divided against itself as the “Basil Group” and the “Non-Basil Group”!
Of course, Basil is an amazing man, his greatness personified by the great possession of non-inherited wealth and the great lack of inherited brains. Here is a man who commands amazing loyalty from his followers and sycophants. But who is responsible for keeping in office these various politicians who change colour at the drop of a hat or the dangle of a ministerial bait?
The fault, as Shakespeare’s Cassius said, lies in ourselves. It is we the voters who overlook the chicanery and dishonesty of our elected representatives because we live in a society that is not a meritocracy but a democracy that thrives on patronage. Many voters support their politicians not because they respect their ability or their integrity but because they hope to gain something for themselves as a result of their support.
Our politicians surround themselves with a coterie of supporters — a Greek chorus of chak golayas and torch bearers — who endorse and praise everything they say and do.
And whether they are people with double doctorates or seven brains, whether they are people elected to office or appointed to office, whether they are people with one passport or two, Sri Lankan politicians will continue to fool most of the people most of the time.
It continues because WE naive and gullible voters continue to allow them to do so.