By Dr Upul Wijayawardhana Courtesy The Island

Pipi gena aa malak paravee, suwanda loketa nodee nesuna”: This line from a song my wife sang in the ’60s over Radio Ceylon, which translates as A flower about to bloom withered, dying without releasing its fragrance to the world”, keeps going round and round in my head these days. I wrote it, grieved by the sudden death of my best friend from school, Susantha de Silva, who was on his way on a scooter, to a temple in the Eastern Province, to get a talisman from a Bhikkhu, to ensure his selection for training as a sub-inspector of police, to be mowed down by a speeding motorist. Maybe, it is the speculations around the fate of the political Pohottuwa, the reason for this earworm!

Afterall, I was among the millions jubilant, nay ecstatic, with the election of a president with a difference; not a career politician, from the tainted lot we have, but a public servant with a proven track record. Anyone not associated with the disastrous Yahapalanaya could have won the presidential election, in December 2019, but there was an added bonus. Gota was one of the architects of the victory against terrorism, deemed impossible by international military experts, and demonstrated strength of character by resisting all attempts by the West to thwart the efforts of our patriotic forces who were on the cusp of victory. Whilst preaching against and claiming to fight terrorism, they did their damnedest to save one of the worst terrorist leaders the world has ever known. Perhaps, they would have succeeded if not for the unshakable resolve of Mahinda and Gota.

Gota started very well; in fact, far better than expected, and Pohottuwa was richly rewarded with another deemed impossibility; winning the general election with a two-thirds majority, in spite of the constraints of the proportional representation system. Less than a year after that remarkable victory, jubilation has turned to despondency. What went wrong? Is it the unprecedent stress placed on the government by a devastating pandemic? No surprise that the country is begging for foreign currency as two main sources, remittances from the Middle-East and tourism, have dried up. Of course, the ever-dwindling numbers of arch-supporters would argue that things would be much worse had Yahapalanaya, or a successor, continued. Whilst there is hardly a doubt about that, it is no excuse. Further, there is a sneaking suspicion that dollars are flowing freely to fund well-organised attempts to discredit the government. However, the Opposition seems lame and the Leader of the Opposition is failing to capitalize on the situation by being more interested in verbosity than delivering a clear message, in simple words. His former boss, sensing these failures, though rejected by the voters, has decided to sneak into Parliament, breaking his own rules!

True, the government can boast of many successes. There had been a relentless attack on the underworld and many drug lords have been captured, though the demise of some occurred under suspicious circumstances. However, I doubt many will shed tears for them considering the damage they had done to our youth. Interestingly, the dissatisfaction created is entirely due to own goals by the government and the pity is that these were mostly avoidable. Though there are a good many, let us focus on a few of the fairly obvious ones.

Having won plaudits, internationally, too, for efficiently controlling the pandemic, initially, things went horribly wrong as some quasi-pundits around the government decided to put superstition before science. Some were more interested in protecting Ayurveda, though it predates the concept of infectious diseases, as it is a vote-catcher! The Minister of Health displayed gross ignorance by, first, dropping pots for prevention, devised by a faith-healer, who claimed to have been specially flown to India to help the Indian Government, and then partaking of an untested peniya, which made the inventor rich but those who drank sick, including the Minister herself. Unashamedly, she still continues to be the Minister of Health!

Then the idiots parading as the wise (Viyath) prevailed on the government not to relax the rules on the cremation of Covid victims, in spite of the excellent recommendations made by a committee of experts. This, totally unwarranted and unscientific stand, antagonised many a Muslim country that may have voted for us at the UNHRC. Coupled with this, the total lack of efficiency on the part of our Foreign Ministry, made us lose a battle that could have been easily won. At a time when the Tiger-rump is on the overdrive, discrediting Sri Lanka, with the connivance of some western politicians who would, just like our lot, stoop low for a few votes, we needed a strong Foreign Minister. Because we do not have one, we are losing our reputation, internationally, and the Ambassadors in Colombo are behaving as viceroys! If the Foreign Minister is not allowed to do what he wants, as some close to him claim, surely, he should be honourable enough to resign. But, then, am I not expecting too much from politicians who are more interested in the perks than honour or duty?

Whilst lauding the President for his vision of organic products, it is very unfortunate he attempted to do the right thing at the wrong time and in too much of a hurry. Much richer countries, with the desire to go organic, have found it difficult and have decided it should be done very gradually. The attempted ‘fertiliser ban’ added another mafia to the rice mafia, which seems to have defied every government. Perhaps, the only solution is to make Maithri the Minister of Food and see whether brotherly love would solve the rice problem! Fertiliser fiasco has sent prices soaring, the already depressed tea production to an almighty low level infuriating farmers and small tea growers alike. Though done with the best of intentions, this was a totally unnecessary own goal!

The fertiliser-fiasco pales into insignificance with the next own goal of unimaginable proportions. It was pretty obvious that fuel prices had to go up, due to the increasing world price of crude oil, as well as the decreasing value of the Rupee. Had the President addressed the nation, perhaps with a shorter speech, and explained the difficulties, I am sure the public would have had sympathies, even if they did not support wholeheartedly. Instead, the Minister of Energy announced the increase of fuel prices and in a totally unprecedent move, fraught with extreme idiocy, the Secretary General of the governing party issued a letter of condemnation of the Minister. In a smart move, the Minister retorted that as the fuel price increase was done with the concurrence of the President and the Prime Minister, the condemnation should extend to them as well. What an unholy mess! Perhaps, the world needs to learn from us how to govern like idiots!!

They are now planning to play, what some think is, the trump card: Bring Basil back! Basil valued his American citizenship over a ministry and it seems obvious, now, that removing the bar for dual citizenship holders from being in political office, with 20A, was to accommodate him. He has just returned from a month’s stay in the USA and what is up his sleeve no one knows! But I am sure Americans, naturally, expect him to honour the oath of citizenship he took. Those who clamour for Basil are hoping that once he is appointed the Minister of Economic Development, with or without Finance, would reduce the price of fuel winning the public support. They are living in cloud cuckoo land, taking masses for asses, failing to realise that it would only further erode the credibility of the government!

We talk so much about Singapore and it is noteworthy that dual citizenship is not allowed at all! Perhaps, that may be one of the reasons for their continuing development. Total commitment to the country is needed from all, especially politicians.

It looks as if the withering of Pohottuwa has already started. Unfortunately, this would have disastrous consequences for the country as there does not seem to be an alternative. SJB seems full of puppets and disgraced politicians. Ranil does not seem to allow anyone else to develop in the UNP, as long as he is alive. The JVP has turned out to be a bunch of spent revolutionaries who lost credibility by propping up Yahapalanaya.

They say a vacuum would not be left and would always be filled. But with what? A revolution? As an appendage of the USA, India or China? I fear the worst unless the Rajapaksas see sense and make an immediate course correction!