5th Column

My dear JR seeya,

I am writing to you now because your name is in the news once again, almost 30 years after you departed and reached the Land of No Return. Not many of our leaders will be remembered decades after they leave so I suppose you could be proud that you have left a lasting legacy, be it good or bad. 

Why you are being talked about suddenly is because Anura sahodaraya has decided that the bed reserved for you at that hospital that bears your name, be open to anyone. That is in keeping with his belief that leaders are no more important than the rest of us. At least, that is what he tells us.

The story behind all this is that the Japanese were grateful to you for that famous speech you made in San Francisco quoting the Dhammapada urging the world to be kind to their country after the war. Two and a half decades later, when you became the big boss, they wanted to repay your kindness.

It is said that when the Japanese asked what you wanted as a ‘gift’ in return for your speech, you asked for a hospital with a thousand and one beds. When they asked why it was such an unusual number, you reportedly told them one bed was to be reserved for you – or those who held your office. 

It is this bed that Anura sahodaraya is vesting in the public now. As a gesture, it is understandable coming from a leader of a leftist party. However, you need not worry, JR seeya, that just because the rathu sahodarayas are in power, they won’t be dismantling all that you did during your time in office.

There are, of course, some lasting achievements of your era, such as completing the Mahaweli scheme in double quick time and the Mahapola scholarships which continue to educate our youth. Sadly, your two proteges who implemented those schemes were both assassinated in their prime.

Despite that, no one will dare to undo those projects and they will be a testimony to the efficiency and productivity that was the hallmark of your time at the top. However, JR seeya, there are other changes which you introduced which everyone promises to dismantle when they assume office, but never do.

Consider, for instance, that Constitution of yours and the top job with all its attached powers about which you proudly boasted that all you couldn’t do was to make a man a woman. Since you left office, Satellite, Mahinda maama, Maithri and Anura sahodaraya have all promised to abolish it.

Satellite promised to do so not once but twice. The first time, the rathu sahodarayas withdrew their candidate, Nihal, because of that. Mahinda maama too made the same promise in his first election, but then amended laws to contest for a third term. Maithri’s main slogan was abolishing that office.

While on the campaign trail, Anura sahodaraya said that one person should not enjoy such enormous powers and solemnly pledged to replace that office and your Constitution. Over one and half years, or nearly one-third of his term office, is now over. The silence on this issue suggests it won’t be done.

When you changed Sirima’s Republican Constitution, you did so within a year and a few months of assuming office. That is how governments get things done, because as more time passes, they become unpopular. With no change forthcoming so far, Anura sahodaraya is very likely to break his promise.

That is not the only reason why some of your other legacies will last, though they may not be the most beneficial. Remember the Prevention of Terrorism Act which was enacted by you as a ‘temporary’ legislation almost 50 years ago to combat the growing threat of militancy in the North and East?

Anura sahodaraya and the maalimaawa chaps promised to repeal that law, but nothing has happened so far. So, even though your decision to retain a bed at that hospital has been altered, JR seeya, your legacy lives on. If you are in any doubt, I can give you a few other examples as well.

Remember. JR seeya, how you postponed general elections in ’82 and held a referendum instead soon after your presidential election victory, so you could preserve your parliamentary majority? Well, the provincial council polls are overdue by many years, but no one is in any hurry to hold them now.

We recall how your man in Kandy, EL, was accused of violating tender processes. He was allowed to stay in the Cabinet and only shifted from Agriculture to the Health portfolio. The maalimaawa have done even better: they have allowed Kumara, now indicted on similar charges, to retain his ministry!

So, JR, seeya, you need not worry. Your legacy is alive and well. The only reason for you to despair would be the state of the party you wanted governing the country forever. Under your nephew’s watch for the past 30 years, it has steadily declined. That may be your only legacy that does not survive.

Yours truly,

Punchi Putha

PS: Whatever your faults – and your critics say there many – after you retired, you never interfered with your party and let Preme get on with the job. You didn’t step in even when Lalith and Gamini tried to oust Preme. I don’t know why Satellite, Mahinda maama and Aiyo Sirisena haven’t learnt that lesson!