THE SPECTACLE OF GREED IN
LANKA
By Shyamon Jayasinghe
Against the background of many Lankaweb writers who act as a cheer-squad
for the current establishment in Sri Lanka it was refreshing to read
the piece by Senali Waduge in your columns today. Under the heading:
“Mangala, Anura & Sripathi – Just as great is the greed
to hang on to power as is the greed to return to power” Sonali
brings in critical analysis. We applaud Lankaweb for publishing different
views although the cheer squads want us to believe that whatever done
by the present establishment is just right. As far as I am concerned,
my interests are in Sri Lanka and I don’t care a damn for any
particular individual or party in making my assessments.
Senali has drawn attention to the phenomenon of greed that is so
unashamedly in sway in the thrice-blessed land where pirith is chanted
a million times a day where bana is broadcast in radio and TV and
where saffron -robed Members of Parliament are pretending to be parliamentary
guardians of the dhamma. The mere fact that one of their newly-contrived
MPs has joined the carnival of greed is additional proof that what
they say is not what they do
The victims of all this sham are the ordinary people who are increasingly
finding it difficult to make up the next meal, send their kids to
school, and get on the road with safety devoid of armoured cars. Increased
salaries given out of printed notes are gobbled up by a (contingent)
catapulting inflation that is even officially acknowledged as running
over 20 per cent! More and more young men and women are getting marginalised,
thus swelling the catchment areas of the Janatha Vimukthi Peramuna
and even of the more extreme elements that are working under cover
to bring in the revolution that never comes. We saw recently how three
young Sinhalese journalists have been working hand in glove with the
LTTE to bring a joint revo both in the North and South.
What do our leaders do against this painful reality? They are hell-bent
on getting portfolios “to serve the country”. Have you noted
the recent cabinet reshuffle to accommodate self-serving politicians
of the United National Party? They jumped to the enemy camp on the
argument that their leader was not good enough. It doesn’t take
any remarkable intelligence to question the logic of crossing over
to the enemy side on the grounds that their party’s leader is
not good. If they were disappointed with the leader they should have
resigned or tried to change the leader. In crossing over, they have
betrayed an electorate that had voted not for them but for the party
they represented at the time. In the old First- Past- the Post System
it may have been construed differently because under that regime one
had to enjoy personal popularity in the electorate to be elected to
parliament. The current system primarily requires a listing in the
party to be elected. One does not need to be a Professor of Law to
know this obligation. I am not holding a candle for the UNP –
a party that has a major share in the blame for the appalling constitutional
provisions that brought our country into the current impasse. Even
under the old system, gentlemen like former Agriculture Minister Gamini
Jayasuriya (of Anagarika Dharmapala’s lineage) resigned their
posts upon disagreement with the government.
Of course, our high jumpers also assert that they wanted to serve
the country. There had already been an MOU for that. Hence, why cross-over?
They say it was to give “proper effect” to the MOU. The
commoner would call this ‘baila’.
In this way we have nearly all of the government MPs holding ministerial
positions. The president is ready to create even more portfolios for
more jumpers. Lots of possibilities remain: Health and Nutrition belonging
to Nimal Siripala can be broken up and Nutrition could be a separate
portfolio. Agriculture can be broken up into separate ministries for
the different crops-paddy, tea,etc. Garments can be taken away from
the minister in charge of industry and given over to another. Army
, Navy , and Airforce can be separated out into different ministries.
Under the present regime, Cabinet-making has turned into a kind of
privatisation of government where each poiticcian is granted a lease
of government property under a portfolio arrangement. Having got their
portfolios, these pollies go for the perks for themselves and their
families and give patronage to their personal supporters who in turn
get positions in corporations etc. Tell me has any of these ministers
done anything noteworthy within the portfolios theyv'e received. In
the past we used to see compettion among the few ministes to outdo
the others in getting projects completed. Lalith Athulathmudali organised
the Mahapola scheme and redeveloped the port. Premadasa as Prime Minister
did so much for housing.The current practice is to sit pretty and
enjoy the boot.
The COPE report has pointed out instances of huge corruption in the
public service. That gives a clue, if a clue were needed, for the
motives of our political leaders in seeking portfolios. The scramble
for portfolios is a scramble to plunder the pot of gold and the scramble
to throw their weight around in society and obtain other favours.
The media reported glaring instances of alleged sexual misconduct
in public on the part of two ministers who remain prominent Ministers
in the cabinet today. In the kind of world where I live, such public
personalities would have forthwith resigned and gone into hiding.
Catch our fellows doing that! They continue as though nothing happened
and they enjoy the unimpeded respect of the President. Another minister
has been reported for allegedly taking millions as commission for
arranging overseas jobs. The latter has been shuffled into an equally
prominent place in the new cabinet. Then there was the case of the
huge VAT scandal that is not been pursued. Instead of netting these
culprits we hear of poor constables and village principals been handcuffed
and jailed. Memories come to us of the Ian Wickremanayake era.
The three ministers who were sacked rebelled not because of this
alarming situation but because they were deprived of participating
more fully in this corrupt state of play. They are now aggrieved because
their portfolios have been diminished in the reshuffle. As Senali
points out, this is another side of greed. Mangala Samaraweera had
the Foreign Affairs, Ports and Aviation portfolios-all in one which
was far too much for the span of control by any individual. Earlier,
he had been disappointed in not getting the Prime Minister’s
job. Anura Bandaranaike believes there is nothing he can do as National
Heritage Minister except to “look at the semi-nudes in the Sigirya
frescoes”. Can you believe that in a country that boasts of a
great heritage there is nothing to do in the portfolio of National
Heritage? Especially when there is a lot to do to preserve our masterpieces
from the hands of vandals and thieves? Besides, Anura has insulted
the great artists behind those timeless and priceless frescoes by
a myopic focus on the upper anatomy
