The nightmare of Sri Lankan parliamentary democracy

by Lankan Patriotic

( November 16, 2018, London, Sri Lanka Guardian) The political gridlock in Sri Lanka is getting nastiest day by day. It tarnishes a good name and reputation of Sri Lanka locally and internationally. Sri Lanka has been protecting its democratic traditions for more than 70 years now and yet, this political infight between two different political camps has taken this country into brink of political collapse. Political leaders find it hard to come to term with any formidable solution. It has been more than two weeks now and yet, we have not got any meaningful solution for this political crisis yet.

Apparently, this is created with the political greed of Maithri. He wants to secure the second term and Mahinda wants to hold his grip on power. This is nothing but a man-made miscalculation and misjudgement in politics. Maithri thought with his executive power he could fool opposition, not knowingly his power has been dramatically reduced, not knowingly that opposition is well placed in all governmental apparatus, not knowingly, UNP controls all public administrations and departments. It would not be easy for President to sack PM and his cabinet at this juncture. Moreover, PM enjoys support of the majority in parliament and international community. More importantly support of India and western countries. Without studying these ground realities, Maithri abruptly sacked PMs in his own way but he did not materialise rather it backfired. In fact, a political coup misfired. Now, he and his cohort do not know what to do and how to handle this political crisis.

It has been reported that Mahinda and his cohort have been fooled by Maithri in this case. Maithri wanted to secure his second term at any cost, for that reason, he put the country under immense political turmoil. For the last three-weeks, Sri Lankan politics is in standstill. To be honest, many governmental departments are malfunctioning these three weeks. Governmental decisions are not being taken for the last three weeks. It could hugely damage Sri Lankan economy and good will. Sri Lanka soon descend into lawless country, if political leaders and community leaders do not act swiftly at this crucial movement in Sri Lanka. The more this problem prolongs the more damage it will incur to Sri Lankan economy and good will.

Today morning, there was a fighting in Parliament. The speaker of the house was attacked with water bottles and other items. Sri Lankan parliament today looks like a battlefield. MPs behaved like children fighting for petty things. MPS do not have skills to debate, they do not have political arguments to present so, they fight like children in Parliament. They know well their behaviours are lively telecast locally and internationally. These MPs tarnish a good name of Sri Lanka by these behaviours. I hope that public will teach them a lesson in next coming general election. MPs must have some moral codes and protocols to respect parliamentary traditions and procedure. These MPs who attacked the Speaker with bottles should be identified and punished. They must be banned from attending parliament for sometimes. At least for three sessions. They must be named and shamed so that public would not vote for them next time.

Sri Lankan political parties and election commission must set some preconditions and prerequisites for those who contest election in Sri Lanka. The candidates must have some qualifications in this 21th century. They must have some ethical and moral codes, they must have some skills, and talents to represent people locally and internationally. Unfortunately, Sri Lankan political parties failed produce some young talents in politics. Today, to do politics you need to have good people with many skills.

I’m sorry to say except JVP we do not have any plan to produce new dynamic political leaders in Sri Lanka. JVP is the only political party that invests time, energy and resources to train young people. They do not select candidates as UNP and SLEF do. They select most educated, most honest and most hardworking people. They have earned a good will and reputation locally and internationally for their good behaviours and manners. It is a matte of some time that JVP will dominate in Sri Lankan politics. I think like Imran Khan, AKD could bring a political storm into Sri Lankan soil if these political parties fail to deliver.

Look for instance, how do JVP MPs behave in Parliament? They talk with logics and wisdom. They debate logically and rationally. They argue with substantial evidence and statistics. They do not talk with none-sense. They set some good examples in politics. They do not resort to violence or fighting. We are living in a modern civilised world today. Parliament is the most sacred public institution in the country. If they do not know how to behave in the Parliament what can we expect from them in public life? It is totally unacceptable from any MPs to behave like that.

For me it is not important who rule the country but what is important for me is how the country is ruled today. I do not care if UNP or SLFP or JVP rule the country. But all what I care is how this beautiful country is ruled today. I’m sorry to say all these trouble makers have lost their common sense in politics in Sri Lanka today. Most of them do not deserve to be in parliament. Public must teach these trouble makers a lesson in the next election. Do we need to send these trouble makers to parliament? After all, they are paid and funded by public money.

We are at an historical juncture right now, countries around us are speeding up their development programs. Bangladesh, Pakistan, India, Vietnam and all other countries around us are following some radical development programmes to compete international market in this competitive world of economic and educational development. If we fail to demonstrate our political stability to the world, I’m afraid we will harm our country greatly and we will pay the price for many decades to come. I hope the political wisdom and common sense prevail in Sri Lanka. In the interest of the next generations of Sri Lankans and interest of this country, politicians must act with some more wisdom and logics away from emotional party politics attachment.