Is Sri Lanka a failed State?
Posted on December 19th, 2009
By Mario Perera, Kadawata
I refer to the enlightened article by Mr.J.Jayasundera. The writer must be congratulated for his courageous depiction of the ƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ”¹…”despicable stateƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ¢-¾‚¢ of things in Sri Lanka. The time has come to call a spade a spade. Holding pujas of whatever nature to whomsoever would not only not help Sri LankaƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ¢-¾‚¢s cause but will also precipitate the ultimate decadence. This situation gives the forthcoming presidential elections an absolutely vital importance. The question however to be asked is, ƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ…-is this decadent trend beyond salvation?ƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ”š‚
ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ Let us consider the executive presidency which has become such a focal point. The ultimate analysis of the JRJ constitution seems to be that it is good for the country provided the power it gives is exercised by the right person. In the present depraved situation of this country, is there such a gem of a person to be extracted from the unearthed raw gravel? Those opposing the present system want the parliament to be once again the repository of executive power. But can a parliament revealing such depravity assume this responsibility? Whether it be the one or the other option it would be like trying to build a monumental structure on quicksand.
ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ A few days ago General Sarath Fonseka stated that .he would construct a society where a woman could walk in total security in our streets at whatever time of day or night. Having seen the development in countries such as Singapore, Malaysia and Thailand where women walk in the streets day and night in total security, I find difficult to envisage such a social environment in Sri Lanka considering the deep rot which has set in. The crux of the problem is whether corruption which has spread its tentacles in all strata of our society like a deadly cancer is eliminable without the implementation of draconian measures. Such intent would have to be expressed in a manner that sends shudders down the spines of the lawless predators of their fellow human beings, with the clear message that the time of reckoning has come. To my mind the most effective method would be to have all those already condemned to death and sitting tight in their cells in death row executed without the least delay. Thailand, Malaysia and Singapore will undoubtedly support my contention.
ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ In a previous article I mentioned that the company that President MR keeps both here and during his visits abroad does not inspire confidence in his ability to do so. A distinguished writer to Lankaweb took up the same theme. What is the point of brandishing slogans such as ƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ”¹…”Rata hadamuƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ¢-¾‚¢ while parading here and abroad with despicable criminals. What is the point of referring to express highways and harbours and power plants if they are undertaken by soiled hands intent of stuffing the benefits into their filthy pockets? Where does the country come into the picture?
ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ A supposedly strong point in favour of President MR is that he is an experienced politician. The point about our experienced politicians is that they are surrounded by as experienced crooked supporters. As for the General he has no long standing political affiliations. Yet those who are .supporting him are ƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ”¹…”experienced politiciansƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ¢-¾‚¢ which also means that they are experienced in the crooked ways of their profession, the most successful profession in Sri Lanka. The GeneralƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ¢-¾‚¢s pledge is to abolish the executive presidency and to repose its wide ranging powers in such ƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ”¹…”experienced politiciansƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ¢-¾‚¢ that constitute parliament Where ever be the repository of executive power, in the one or in the many, the question of corruption remains as actual as ever. Superstructures, the judiciary, law .and enforcement institutions etc. constructed on such shaky foundations cannot stand.
ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ When one looks at the background of such wielders of power, the prospects do not show cause for optimism either. The political evolution since independence when we represented the model for other States in the region has been appalling. We chose to follow the downward trend towards self destruction. Our actual society is a motley crowd of a stark rural population injected by unscrupulous political planners with the hallucinogenic idea of being king makers and unleashed on our cities. Linguistically and culturally ill equipped they are trying in vain to don the clothes of urbanity which do not fit them at all. Beset with the anguishing awareness of their incapacity and incompetence and with no respectable future envisageable what else could they do than prey on society using the two canine teeth of violence and corruption? It is from this base that our political system derives its membership. Is it surprising then that what has resulted is a failed public service, failed judiciary, failed political system, failed educational system, and above all else, failed religious institutions.
ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ As to the question forming the title of this article, the answer has to be an obvious YES.
December 20th, 2009 at 4:18 am
Somehow it is interesting to read the article written by Mr Mario Perera in which he is trying to establish the fact that Sri lanka is a failed state.According to my understanding this slogan is little bit out dated one.During the period of war against LTTE this slogan came in to the political platform and the govt was widely criticized by the main opposition party . But by wiping out the terrorists govt proved that Sri lanka is no more a failed state.
I beleive Mario Perera is having a politically bias point of view on his article in which he wanted to high lite that Sri lanka is a country were there is no law and order comparing to the countries like Thailand Singapore Malaysia etc.
This is not the truth behind of it. General Sarath fonseka predicted a woman can walk in dark without fear in Sri lanka under his regime. The night life is accepted by the society and the govts of those countries as well as in Europe and USA.While the prostitution is in full swing any women can walk freely in those societies with out fear. By saying that writer try to establish the fact that people must come out of the deep roots which they have came across centuries,I quote” Having seen the development in countries such as Singapore, Malaysia and Thailand where women walk in the streets day and night in total security, I find difficult to envisage such a social environment in Sri Lanka considering the deep rot which has set in”unquote. It doesn’t mean that there are no crime against women in those countries. The last UNF government also wanted to open night life Colombo but it failed.Only Alcoholism, Gambling, Prostitution and crime will prevail in the night life.Nothing else.
By saying that,writer says I quote”To my mind the most effective method would be to have all those already condemned to death and sitting tight in their cells in death row executed without the least delay. Thailand, Malaysia and Singapore will undoubtedly support my contention.” un quote, he agree that there are crimes punishable with the death sentence in those countries as well. By merely accepting the death penalty with out any hesitation I have some doubt on the cultural and religious aspirations of the writer is not accepted by the majority of the people.
Further more he disregards pujas along will not bring the results to the problem.
MR Mario is criticizing the infra structure developments merely saying that govt top bras stuff their pocket with the stolen money. What do you want the govt to do .To stop all developments just because of mere accusation of corruption . Tho road developments done by this govt was extraordinary. No governmant in the history was capable to do so in a shortest period of time. Perhaps you may remember how long time you took to travel from Habarana to Polonnaruwa during the time of President Wijetunga .It was two hours .Today half an hour.
So every government is blamed for corruption by the opposition which is quite natural.Only the Govt of Me Ranil Wicramasinghe had no such accusation,because they didn’t do any infrastructure development whatsoever.
I agree with the writer for some extent the judiciary system is not at its highest level for decades.That is the root cause for the crimes.Police along cannot do better. Today the justice is delayed, Lawyers appear on contract basis.
Those cases are finished well ahead of the schedule. People even doubt on supreme court decisions as well.
For instance the judgement of madamme Chandrika Bandaranayaka lost one year of presidency due to the supreme court decision given by then the judge Sarath de silva .The quite surprising thing was that, she gave oath to the same Mr Sarath De Silva then the supreme court judge.I still have the doubt weather it was said to her clearly by the judge , giving oath now you are loosing one year of your presidency or not.
Any way one should not have totally pessimistic view on personal point of view and be impartial in considering the facts.
December 20th, 2009 at 6:25 am
I do not think Sri Lanka is a failed state but is desperately close to it. When a country has a leadership be it in the government or in the opposition that lacks the courage and morality to condemn blatant corruption and injustice the future for that country is bleak. This is when the rule of law will collapse and anarchy will result. It is time every one including tha candidates urgently address this problem. This is the truth of the matter and no amount of excuses will solve the problem.
December 20th, 2009 at 1:18 pm
You have to go out and live in a nother country to see that the curruption in our country is nothing compared to counries like USA. Curruption has always been there. And will be there. But remember curruption in SL is negligible when compared to curruption in a country like USA. Even our biggest currupted politician looks like angels when compared to curruption in USA. Only difference it they don’t call it curruption, they have different names for it and it is considered prity much normal thing in politics. Sl has much more things to worry about than curruption. Economy , national security are much more important than thinking of curruption.
December 20th, 2009 at 2:59 pm
I see Sri lanka as country with a great future, this nation has withstood 30 years of war and come out with trumps.
If a failed state is judged by women walking safetly in th night, I can assure you USA is a failed state. UK is a failed state. So are many of European countries. Many are critisising Mahinda for shortcomings in what he has done. For godsake this guy has done something! He has ended a war, he has started number of development projects which our children will reap harvest. Above all he has given us the ability to live with dignity.
Just compare him to the baboons who ran Sri Lanka in the past. MR loves “Sri Lanka and his heart is in the right place. He is not perfect, but he is the best leader we had since 1948. Last four years he had to deal with a vicious war, now give him a chance at time of peace.
December 20th, 2009 at 6:49 pm
Sri Lanka is a failed State.
Thailand (Land of the Prostitutes), Malaysia (Saudi Arabia in the East) and Singapore (Little Cage) are developed countries.
What do we have to say about the West?
West is heaven. Is that right?
We should not irresponsibly use words for the sake of writing articles. If someone thinks that the Anglo-European effort to establish their kind of Passed State, it was a failure form the start. Even after 150 years of English occupation, it failed. Since 1948, every effort made by their converts miserably failed. Now, they are in the deathbed. So, if someone thinks that it is a failure, I like to say that it is dieing. For those worried about its death, please stay in the West or try to migrate to West. What is the kind of Criteria they use to say Lanka is failed. Is it because women cannot walk in the might? What about the consequences to women who go out in the night in these so-called passed states? Some never come back home alive. I live in the Heavenly West and I would never be able to send my wife even to the outside of house in the night to reset the trip switch because she is dead-scared of true events experienced by womenfolk in the heavenly part of the world. If you refer to fail or pass in a sense that your life is at risk, Lanka take the first place in the world on a person’s probability of survival to the following day, if used as some kind of measure amid all these troubles. It is the most important thing for the sensible humans. But for those failed individuals (go to West and not happy or live in Lanka and not happy- wrong place at the wrong time type), everything else may look like failed. Imagine someone standing on head who is not aware of it. That person might see others like walking on the surface appearing as a ceiling with head down. This funny concept of Failed State is just another American crap to interfere in other countries. Sadly we should not be silly enough to buy these pathetic ideas.
Anyway, if women do not go out in the night, it is good for them because avoiding is better that inviting danger if affordable, the intelligent way. There was a time that specifically women, the weaker, were hunted down when our ancestors were cannibals. There was a recent discovery of a cave in the European part of the world that was full of human body parts totally belonging to women folk of all ages with clear signs of cannibalism. I hope it was not an old human meat factory just like modern cattle slaughter houses run by a world-class business tycoon who lived during those days. What about our life in the wild?
If there is Failure, it is the beginning of Success, as those who can succeed will replace those who failed.
December 20th, 2009 at 8:45 pm
How sad. The natural response of the comments on this serious issue of corruption, nepotism and faliure of governance is that it is no different from the west. To hell with the west, USA etc what matters is the despicable state SL is in. It will be nice to hear from the readership how we can obtain good governance and transparency from the ruling classes. Not excuses for their faliure. SLankans should get real.
December 21st, 2009 at 2:05 am
Ref. Jana’s second comment, the answer to the problem of calling a failed state is there in the very comment. Neither Jana nor the writer knows the solution. What about the others? Is there anyone who can offer a solution? Do your leaders know the solution? You know very well that every attempt they make contributes to worsen the situation.
In fact, a large majority of you (if not all of you) are members of the club that contribute to maintain the status quo or the type you called failed state. What you are contributing to do is something like breeding donkeys to produce cow milk. We have done a lot of work to find out how each ethnic community manages its own affairs, and came up with the answer that they all follow the same system, appointing a leadership group to decide on their affairs (mean deciding on every aspect of their lives). As well, we found that this system originated within the ancient Sinhala community, with the concept of Maha Sammatha Raja. At that stage, everyone accepted this system of governance. Then why not today? The answer lies in the kind of humanity that we have around us today. When you work backward, you can see that during ancient times, humanity had great values and were blessed with great people who could win the trust of all. All of you know that the current system works if you got the correct leadership that you could trust whole-heartedly. So, you know the cause of the problem, but not the answer. I can make a suggestion. You should try to come up with a system of governance suitable for the people that make up the community that exists today. If you are good at it, you can find hundreds of thousands of solutions as each of the relevant variables (in theoretical terms, variables reach to near infinity in absolute terms) can be varied from satisfactory to excellent status depending on your own commitment.
We have sought the best form of governance for all times and for all types (mean all types of animals) and may have the best possible answer thanks to the finding of some ancient Sinhala knowledge that made the original system. You may not know that, as a country, you are enjoying a minute part of our work through your average politicians who thought they were smarter and overlooked our sincerity with contempt after getting a peanut (now begging help from Diaspora). I know you appreciate them for their newfound wisdom though you know they are worth nothing of that sort. Unfortunately, as long as you support the continuity of the current system, people like us are outside the circle. We already know how monkeys behave when they are given sharp instruments. By the way, you tell what you really want in simple and natural language than using meaningless political jargon? If you do not know where you want to go, nobody can help you to find the path.
December 21st, 2009 at 5:44 am
we l see