{"id":98441,"date":"2020-01-30T15:41:07","date_gmt":"2020-01-30T22:41:07","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/?p=98441"},"modified":"2020-01-30T15:42:19","modified_gmt":"2020-01-30T22:42:19","slug":"the-peoples-woes-the-peoples-demands-but-a-surfeit-of-ministers","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/2020\/01\/30\/the-peoples-woes-the-peoples-demands-but-a-surfeit-of-ministers\/","title":{"rendered":"The People\u2019s woes, the people\u2019s demands, but a surfeit of Ministers"},"content":{"rendered":"

Dr. Mervyn D. De Silva <\/strong>Former Director, Plan Implementation Ministry and Ex SLFP National List MP<\/em><\/span><\/h2>\n\n\n

A few weeks ago a select group\nof opposition academics sought a frank, analytical, constructively critical,\ndiscussion with the author on the prevailing threats to democracy and its\ntradition, the creaking edifices of our hallowed institutions, and the rapid\nerosion of time honored codes and practices that ensures a vibrant democracy\nand good governance.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Called upon to enlighten them\nwith a broad overview of the issues facing the country that have serious\nconsequences for the future and, the present as well, the focus got directed\ntowards the multiplicity of acts of omission and commission ever since the\ncountry attained independence 65 years ago. Most of what was explained verbally\nis incorporated into the content of this article, expanded, in the sincere hope\nthat it will throw some light and, will be of some use, in stimulating the\nminds and hearts of politicians and the public in general.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Unmistakably, there is an\nurgent need to look at the problems that have risen in practically every sector\nof government and society clinically, and bring in a whole raft of reformatory\nchanges that are honest, rational, sincere, and radical in the\npolitico-socio-economic arena. Since the word radical\u201d is used very much in\nthe rhetorical outburst, freely and loosely in fact, from many a political\nplatform, the need to define its context in which it is advocated and used\nthroughout this article, becomes necessary. The word \u2018radical\u2019 as both a noun\nand an adjective, the derivative of which are radicalization, radicality, and\nradicalise are relatively recent words. The word \u2018radical\u2019 itself is derived\nfrom the word \u2018radix\u2019 which means the root, whose initial sense pertains to the\nroots of a thing or a being.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Accepting this definition and\nslant of the word, it is abundantly clear that our country, 65 years\nindependent requires radical reform and changes by approaching all the created\nproblems, and the issues, and the inconsistencies at their very source, making\na clean sweep of all skewed interpretations and irrational practices built into\nthe system. There has to be concurrently, a clean sweep of worn out strategies\nand prejudices, habits, view points, and opinions in our programmed collective\nminds and institutions. But, most importantly, attention must be focused on the\nstate of our democracy and, the three arms, the executive, the legislature, and\njudiciary that jointly have been ordained to ensure that there is good, just,\nand fair governance for the benefit of all the people.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Any keen student of\nsocial-economics and politics who takes the troubles to feel the pulse of the\nmasses particularly, that of the skeptical and restless younger generation,\ncan\u2019t escape admitting the fact that people have many unhealed wounds and woes\nand that it is reaching the point where they can\u2019t tolerate it any longer. They\nare fed up with politicians, their arrogance, their life styles and indeed, how\nthey manage the government. As the task of putting into paper the whole gamut\nof what transpired during the discussion and the litany of all the people\u2019s\nwoes, demands, and frustrations, the author settled to put it down in a\nsummarized form as given below:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  1. They, the people, are disillusioned or disaffected, by the old styled politics where political power is just what money can buy, and thus, the quality and calibre of those who come forward as candidates at every election is questionable.<\/li><\/ol>\n\n\n\n
    • They are fed up and suspicious of the manifestoes they offer and,\nthe policies there in, of the two major parties. They detest the manner in\nwhich they relegate such manifestoes and promises to the limbo of forgotten\nthings in no time.<\/li><\/ul>\n\n\n\n
      • They are angry that the major parties have demonstrated an abysmal\nlack of political morality and never attempted to control corruption at higher\nechelons and of politicians.<\/li><\/ul>\n\n\n\n
        • They feel they have no control over their lives or, the laws\npassed that affect them, and are applied selectively.<\/li><\/ul>\n\n\n\n
          • They have realized that politics is not working as promised in a\njust manner, responding to the deeper needs of the majority of the lower\nsegment of the population.<\/li><\/ul>\n\n\n\n
            • They are alarmed and feel helpless at the almost complete\nbreakdown in discipline, law and order and that the principle that \u2018might is\nright\u2019 has come to stay in all levels of the society today.<\/li><\/ul>\n\n\n\n
              • They are shocked how politics has become criminalized, the public\nservice politicized, and how politicians have usurped executive, administrative\nand judicial power, steering the county to a state of chaos and disorder.<\/li><\/ul>\n\n\n\n

                What do they want, and what do\nthey plead for<\/p>\n\n\n\n

                1. They want the politician, the silent majority, the intellectuals, the professionals, the businessmen, the scientists, the university professors, the legal fraternity and of course the heads of religious organizations to wake up, speak up, stand up<\/strong> and be counted.\u00a0<\/li><\/ol>\n\n\n\n
                  • They want them to pioneer a completely radical and rational change\nin the political outlook and culture that has bedeviled our motherland for too\nlong.<\/li><\/ul>\n\n\n\n
                    • They want a sea change in the style of governance that stimulates\na vibrant democratic society where all religious and ethnic communities live in\npeace and harmony.<\/li><\/ul>\n\n\n\n
                      • They want the sacred principle of public morality recognized and,\nthat power is neither a right nor, an entitlement but, a trust to be strictly\nobserved.<\/li><\/ul>\n\n\n\n
                        • They want the whole management of government overhauled and a\ncomprehensive plan crafted and designed to steer the country toward a state of\nbalance economic development, social development and the development of civic\nsociety.<\/li><\/ul>\n\n\n\n
                          • They want absolutely free and fair elections at all times, at all\nlevels because, it is the corner stone of democracy. They fail to understand\nwhy a foolproof system for elections with absolutely no room for rigging can\u2019t\nbe implemented in this technologically advanced era.<\/li><\/ul>\n\n\n\n
                            • They long for a socially responsible media which is completely\nunfettered,, exposes corruptions, public mismanagement and, does not act as a\ncrude propaganda arm for any government.<\/li><\/ul>\n\n\n\n
                              • They want a government that is honest, transparent, truthful,\ndedicated, and that presents a vision that inspires people especially, the\nyouth.<\/li><\/ul>\n\n\n\n

                                This is not all, the woes and\ndemands of the people is an unending list and only some have been extracted out\nfrom my mind. However, it has been written in the fervent hope that what\nappears in this article will not fall on deaf ears or blind eyes of those\nconcern, especially, of those in the opposition. Whether, these changes for the\nbetter can be brought out is difficult to guess because, we live in a world of\nspiritual and moral crises, where extreme individualism is glorified, altruism\nscorned, and the so called \u2018rational self interest\u2019 is propagated.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

                                Nevertheless, hopes springs\nexternally in the human hearts. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

                                Dr. Mervyn D. De Silva<\/strong> \u2013\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

                                Former Director, Plan Implementation Ministry and Ex SLFP National\nList MP<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

                                Dr. Mervyn D. De Silva Former Director, Plan Implementation Ministry and Ex SLFP National List MP A few weeks ago a select group of opposition academics sought a frank, analytical, constructively critical, discussion with the author on the prevailing threats to democracy and its tradition, the creaking edifices of our hallowed institutions, and the rapid […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":true,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-98441","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-politics"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/98441","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=98441"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/98441\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=98441"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=98441"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=98441"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}