“This recent sartorial mutation tells is all — the ‘Banda Revolution’ of the fifties that infused fresh strength into the revivalist agenda of Sinhala-Buddhism is a fast-fading dream and an embarrassment to the New Political Guard. The kind that calculates the ‘payoff’ and finds Sinhala-Buddhism an issue best kept under wraps.”______________________________________
by Leo Panthera
(February 20, Colombo, Sri Lanka Guardian) It is a well-known fact that the ancient saw — ‘Honesty is the best policy’ — is not looked upon kindly by busy men of affairs Indeed’ dishonest practices are fairly widespread in the living world of nature and have intrigued scholars from ancient times to the present. Some crafty insects ‘fool’ their potential predators by assuming the colour and form of fearsomely poisonous species that are avoided by all. This ‘duplicity’ can take on bizarre forms as in the case of a species of orchid that is so beguilingly like the neither parts of a fly that males of the species attempt to copulate with it — thereby achieving the desired goal of cross-pollination.
These blatantly dishonest practices have a warrant in that they are subservient to the overall strategy of survival and reproduction. There is, of course, a metaphysical problem hidden here which we had rather not discuss — the issue of a Creator-God that taints his handiwork with a seeming machiavellianism. Let us agree that in the instances cited, ethics is an irrelevance given that dumb animals (and plants) are mere automata engaged in the execution of behavioural tasks set out in their genes. A very different kettle of fish when our own species — supposedly ‘wise’ or ‘sapient’ — uses the tactics of deception and dissimulation that are strongly reminiscent of those that lower animals find useful in the struggle for life. ‘Waffling’ and ‘Prevarication’ are two such ‘animal strategies’ that have been found extraordinarily useful in the ‘Battle for Success’, in that keenly competitive arena known as politics. Let us look a little more closely at some features of the game-play involved.
‘Politics’ is defined in standard dictionaries as the ‘art and science of governance’. lt does not require an extraordinary degree of sophistication to realize that this characterization is bookish, foolish and out of touch. While ‘governance’ is certainly part of the rich mix of politics, it appears that the proper comparison ought to be with the ‘game-strategies’ that naturalists find fascinating in the animal world- strategies of survival and competitive edge where the rules are starkly simple — prevail or perish. Hence we must ask the reader to examine the political scene in Sri Lanka with the eyes of a behaviourist — untramelled by what the pundits say on the nature of the political process.
Do we not see a complex game being played in which every move and feint is assessed on its efficacy in outwitting the opponent in a contest that is only feebly related to good governance? Survival and reproduction are paramount — not of living entities but of political parties that construe ‘reproduction’ as the winning of the next election. With the kind readers indulgence, let us consider a clear-cut issue that brings out starkly a well-honed strategic manoeuvre that is freely used by politicians to avoid a checkmate, — that of ‘waffling’ or saying something incoherent to avoid being pinned down. The constitution of Sri Lanka declares very clearly that Buddhism has a ‘foremost place’ in the life of the nation and that it is part of good governance to afford all protection to this historic faith when there is a perception of threat from unfriendly agents. Can we get a leading politician from any party to unreservedly endorse this clear constitutional provision? Suppose we put the question directly to Politician X — ‘Is it not true that foreign- funded evangelists are exploiting the poverty and ignorance of our rural population to undermine Buddhism — the ancient faith that is protected in the constitution that you profess to uphold? Friends, can we get a straight answer from X, Y or Z? Will they not waffle or prevaricate even if we have the good luck to engage their attention on this matter?
Just as certain harmless flies become wasp-like to frighten potential attackers, our ‘Buddhist’ politicians become perfervid ‘multiculturalists’ not through solid conviction but because political survival depends on this kind of moral forgery. While George Bush — the recently elected US president — laid bare his soul in declaring that Jesus Christ was his ‘best guide and friend’ we have in Sri Lanka leaders who display an astounding catholicity in worshipping all Gods and making burnt offerings at every temple and altar in sight. Nobody is fooled by this mock worship — it is a survivalist strategy on a par with the ‘praying’ of a Praying- Mantis. So great is this duplicitous skill that it is difficult to distinguish histrionics from the read thing — the question is political leader X a Buddhist? is as difficult to answer as the question is an electron a particle or a wave?’
Suppose we ask our demagogic tricksters a plain and important question of the kind Will Prabhakaran ever give up his arms and his Eelam? Surely, everything hangs on finding the answer to this question- but finding a political leader inclined to give an unambiguous reply is as difficult as finding a snowball in hell. In their bones these famously slippery politicians know that the answer cannot be ‘yes’ but it is strategically inopportune (to put it mildly) to commit oneself either way.
The skilled practitioner waffles, prevaricates, plays possum or resorts to logical trickery to dodge the destructive question. Here is a sample: Should the LTTE be proscribed? The smart answers include: ‘Hey, I’m not the boss. Ask the bloke in charge’. More tart (and smart) is the riposte: ‘What if they are not prescribed?’ — leaving the interlocutor to work out the complex logic of the ensuing scenario. ‘Buddy, I leave that to my lawyers’ or ‘a committee has been appointed to go into this matter’. ‘This is a very sensitive matter- no comment at this stage’.
What is hilarious about this grand tomfoolery is that these selfsame ‘politkkas’ are models of openness and formidably garrulous on other issues such as ‘police commissions’ or the high cost of bananas. They stalk the length and breadth of this country complaining and whining about lack of political accountability — and of the inscrutable kitchen-politics shamelessly practiced by the other side. It is all a game for these New Age Politicians who follow closely the ‘animal model’ that we adverted to earlier — that which exploits clever dissimulation to avoid being eaten. This bipartisan concordance in strategic thinking often yields a ludicrous result — the reciprocity of charge and countercharge. Both sides secretly cuddle up to the enemy for political gain but the trading of insults is staggered — Side A shouts ‘traitor’ if Side B seems vulnerable on a specific issue. B shouts ‘traitor’ when the direction of the game changes and A seems politically cornered. That all this is dishonest, harmful to the national interest and an offence unto God (for those who believe in such a being) is neither here nor there. There is survival (and reproductive) value in this crafty technique of political hypocrisy. Crying out to high heaven that it should stop and that a ‘national government’ imbued with ethical values is the need of the hour is as futile as imploring a hyena to stop eating putrid meat. While we leave it to readers to work out a radical alternative, we cannot forbear from glancing at one more contentious issue where the rule ‘Silence is Golden’ is followed with great reverence by the highly experienced political boys and girls of Sri Lanka.
There is a silent revolution in what may be called (rather pompously) the ‘base parameters of the society in which we live — something that passes largely unnoticed and which politicians dare not touch even with a barge-pole for fear of sudden political death. An alien language (English) is set to replace Sinhala as the medium of discourse on all matters of importance — governance, higher education, technology, business transactions etc. The ancient religion (Buddhism) lies forlorn and undefended against the deadly predations of a rampant, globalized Monotheism.
Women have thrown away the ‘Saree’ and cavort in gear that can best be described as a crude parody of the boob and bum-revealing madness that has taken the West by storm. Our Radio and TV stations play a valiant role in providing the ‘millieu’ for this vandalistic orgy of cultural destruction. Where are our garrulous politicians? Is it that life in hermetically-sealed Pajeros has dulled their senses to the truly important changes that occur around them? A good many have abandoned the ‘redda’ and are highly visible in that omnipresent Idiot-Box in snazzy two-piece suits imported from the West.
This recent sartorial mutation tells is all — the ‘Banda Revolution’ of the fifties that infused fresh strength into the revivalist agenda of Sinhala-Buddhism is a fast-fading dream and an embarrassment to the New Political Guard. The kind that calculates the ‘payoff’ and finds Sinhala-Buddhism an issue best kept under wraps. The national will have to pay a heavy price for this shameful usurpation of the right and the dutiful by the kind of cunning best left to our lesser fellow-beings in the wild.
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