By Fr. Augustine Fernando Diocese of Badulla

August 4, 2017, 9:41 pm

When we carefully examine our isolated personal life or our community life we would observe that dishonesty even in little things messes up our life to some extent; honesty in everything even when no one observes us, enhances our life and bring us much serenity and peace, fulfillment, happiness and an absolute inner freedom.

We learn genuine trust and reliable dependence from our good parents who have shown us that their true happiness and joy comes from our growing to maturity in a normal manner to be good and honest persons.

BREAKING RULES AT HOME

Even though our parents always presumed that all they had at home, including food, were indeed intended for us, we also knew even before our adolescence that normally we were not to eat anything except at meal times. We were conscious that we would be doing something improper when without our mother’s permission we would let ourselves enjoy anything from a spoonful of sugar, a piece of chocolate or cake, sweets or grapes and plantains kept in the pantry, kitchen, refrigerator or on the dining table in the house. Though we never underwent any punishment for our transgressions, parents’ displeasure clearly made us understand that even minor infringements of rules at home were wrongs and disobediences and they should not be done.

Seriously caring parents seem to have the ability to inculcate in their children the capacity to outgrow childish and puerile wrong-doing as their children grow to adolescence and mature to youthful age and are taught to use their independence responsibly to act manfully and creatively to ‘be more’ than to have more. Most politicians do not seem to have outgrown their ‘sugar stealing’ habits of their younger days as they continue to be dishonest as MPs and ministers.

MORAL FISSURES IN SOCIETY

Children learn genuine trust and reliable dependence from good parents who show their true happiness and joy when their children display signs of their growing to maturity in a normal manner. Schools should in their ethos inculcate values such as honesty, speaking the truth, courtesy, respect for elders, decent behaviour and see that they are firmly implanted in the students. Without them, one cannot be accepted as ‘educated’ or cultured even though one may go through university or law college and even sit in parliament.

Flaws in our system of education have caused moral fissures in the various structures of society. Wanting in truthfulness, sincerity, transparency, honesty and accountability is evident in many a state agency and in the highest forums in the land due to the character flaws of the persons in them holding position of responsibility.

DISHONESTY IS WIDESPREAD

Laws alone cannot make people responsible; laws can only indicate good order and punishment for breach of law, very often ineffectively, to those contravening the law. Individuals in power with flawed upbringing not only flout the law, they even dare to bring pressure on the judiciary itself to bend the law according to their whims and fancies. Unfortunately, what many have imbibed in their home upbringing which even annuls school discipline are attitudes of fulfilling their desires and getting ahead somehow resorting to any cunning, crafty and scheming conspiratorial methods one has learned to employ.

This means that those living in very comfortable and expensive luxurious homes cannot by that factor alone be considered to be well brought up, well-educated and cultured. There are among rich people many who are dishonest and make more money in dishonest ways. The sense of responsibility in some of the prominent people in society today is very disappointing. Dishonesty at the highest levels, cheating, petty thefts are not only quite widespread in our society; many people think that one should know how to be cleverly dishonest in order to survive as well as get ahead in the society of today.

SRI LANKA IN UNRELIABLE HANDS

Those who have now been elected to represent the people, if they are indeed sensible, should uphold norms of truth, justice and fair-play and ensure that laws are enacted to lay the foundation for a progressive society of responsible citizens. If they themselves are irresponsible, not declaring their assets and liabilities to show that they are not intent on making undue gains from their positions, if they do not hold on to principles of righteousness and good governance, then the fate of Sri Lanka is in very unreliable and incapable hands.

Just after Independence, people expected Sri Lanka to develop quickly especially in Agriculture and become self-sufficient in rice, sugar, fish, vegetables and fruits at least and earn also income for the country by sales abroad along with tea, rubber and coconut. Industrially we were still in infancy. Then of course we were only six million people. But with the advancement of science, technology and their application to agriculture, though other countries in South and South East Asia have taken several leaps economically, we have lagged behind even with much of the aid we had obtained from others.

At the bottom of our mediocre performance is the stark reality of dishonesty in public life during the last sixty years and the entry of vagabonds and goons into the political field who wore the lamb skin of patriots while actually being rapacious wolves. They not only delayed the Country’s progress due to culpable prejudice, envy and jealousy, they wore the thick skin of nationalism and corrupted many a development plan by conspiratorial schemes of self-aggrandizement which brought many a benefit to themselves at the cost of the Country. Looking, back, we see that every nationalization was taken advantage of by these people to enrich themselves in many an unworthy and conspiratorial manner. They have been clever at doing many a theft in a very subtle and devious manner.

INTERVENTION OF THUGS

Not only that. Politicians seem to be often mobilizing the help of thugs to promote their election campaigns and cause damage to their opponents’, by bribing voters, preventing the casting of votes, distribution of anything from ‘sil redi’, motor bikes to bottles of arrack and kasippu to prospective voters and interfering in the management of polling stations and taking control of ballots cast; after coming to power they use them for the advancement of their various nefarious activities. Police have the authority and the capacity to deal with all manner of thugs and the police should never come under the sway of politicians to do their bidding.

Though in the last Presidential election and the parliamentary elections monitoring achieved a measure of free and fair elections, interference by thugs on behalf of their political masters, in elections, has not altogether disappeared. Future elections should be totally free of the work of thugs and every form of dishonesty including that of policemen pulling in the direction of dishonest political masters.