Beware of Large Majorities

By Rajitha Ratwatte-June 25, 2020, 6:56 pm
fromoutsidethepearl@gmail.com


It is a fair statement for this observer from outside the pearl to make, that the forthcoming general election is going to have only one conclusion. The G-man is going to ensure that his brothers and their cahoots get in. It is not going to be very difficult as the opposition is in total disarray with the old fogies refusing to concede to young blood. Here I mean not any young blood but even to specific, carefully chosen young blood.

ANY young blood consists of the Premadasa pretender to the throne. Trying hard to ride on his late father’s coattails and supported by big business with strong connections to Aotearoa, he is NOT the alternative solution. Specifically chosen young blood would be Eran Wickramaratne and Harsha, being the most qualified and trustworthy, in my opinion. Premadasa apparently has a strong vote base and was supposed to create a tidal wave of positivity in the Presidential election. We all saw what happened to that tsunami when it hit the great wall of Sinhala Nationalist chauvinism. Eran and Harsha I guess are too elitist, educated and in the case of the former, non-Buddhist to meet the approval of the general populace.

On the other hand, the only realistic position the opposition to the Rajapaksa juggernaut can hope to hold, is in the opposition with a fair majority to make a difference and put up a few road blocks to rolling on of the overwhelming force that could result. That could result from the two thirds or the five sixth majority that the juggernaut is hoping for. So why not give the young educated, elitist guys a chance, then again this could be taken as a secessionist plan and planning for succession is NOT ALLOWED in the pearl is it?

The latest talk is of a National Government? Really? Since when has water become thicker than blood?

By the way in Aotearoa, where the ruling labour party is expected to win comfortably, the cry is for new talent. The PM who incidentally is much younger than any "young taent" in the Pearl, has acknowledged the call and has included some bright young stars in the party list of candidates. Hard decisions that have to be taken to preserve new talent and avoid them being frustrated even to the extent of breaking away, forming new parties and confusing the vote base.

On the subject of parliamentary majorities, remember that majority we gave JR, O people of the Pearl? Remember how we were disgusted with the "hardship" we had to endure under the Socialist government of the early 1970s? A government with thinkers and planners of the calibre of N.M. Perera and Pieter Keuneman, who now in retrospect, seem to have been way ahead of their time! It is true that these great men were overwhelmed by petty politics and certain slightly unstable thinking from some of their colleagues but we chased them out and gave our "saviour", J. R. Jayewardene a huge majority, twice--once in an election and again in a ‘referendum’!

The hardships of the ‘70s are a distant memory in the older voters and form no part of the memories of most of the current vote base. The consequences of those hardships are not even felt today, except maybe when one surveys the shambles in the plantation sector but what JR and his "open economy" did to us, we will pay for, for a long time. The blatant corruption, the squandering of hard-earned foreign currency on frivolous imports and the total decimation of the value of the rupee, to name but a few.

Remember "absolute power corrupts absolutely" and to expect human beings who have not reached the higher planes of mind control (as taught in Buddhism) to resist such power, is simply delusional. If the propaganda machine of the Rajapaksa juggernaut succeeds and they obtain the majority they are after, you are in for a life in "interesting times" O people of the Pearl and "may you live in interesting times" is an old Chinese curse, that may be reincarnated!

Whatever the "highly literate" general populace of the Pearl thinks, there is no such thing as a benevolent dictator and democracy without a functioning parliament and a strong opposition are the drug induced hallucinations of incorrigible addicts or maybe a herd of delusional cattle or buffaloes!

In the light of the present situation of an opposition in total disarray, the only suggestion I have for the discerning voter who wants to vote against a possible militarist, dictatorial republic of Sri Lanka, is to forgo party politics and vote for individuals, based on their record and their ability to perform for the greater good of the country and stand for the propagation of true democracy. This may include a few people backing the G-Man as well.

Let’s not even go to the obscene ridiculousness that is election campaigning in the Pearl. Let me just tell you what is happening in Aotearoa with regard to election campaigning, as we too have a poll due shortly.

I attended a meeting the other day of a call for volunteers to help with the campaigning, from a certain political party. It was held in a local Indian restaurant and had an attendance of around 75 people, held indoors of course as we are in the middle of the onset of winter. Those interested in "working the phones" were asked to enrol and those interested in doing the various other clerical duties and administrative work required for an election campaign were also asked to register with designated team leaders. They would operate from the local campaign office and had no monetary or other materialistic gain to look forward to. There were plenty of volunteers and they were doing it based on their beliefs, trust in the politician concerned and love for their Country. There are no life-size "cut-outs", meetings with loud speakers blasting the hell out of the neighbourhood or processions of vehicles racing down the roads. House to house campaigning does happen in some areas but the crowd of people accompanying the contestant rarely exceeds 10.

Voting in Aotearoa would be unbelievable to denizens of the Pearl. There are no crowds and no long lines of people queuing for hours to get in and vote. No posters placed illegally on the walls. The first time I walked into a voting station, I thought I had got the wrong place! I walked into a deserted hall and it was only the curtained off voting booths that were to one side of the room and a few people seated at desks near the entrance who looked like they had polling cards to distribute, that stopped me from turning away and going off to look for the correct voting centre.

Can we ever hope for this in the Pearl? Not from people who walk around saying that if they are cut they will bleed the colour of the political party they support! Not from people who DEPEND so heavily on their politicians to provide them with free baksheesh and JOBS in the government sector. Jobs that they go to simply to sign in and out and collect their salaries while driving three wheelers or being involved in some other form of skulduggery to boost their income.

We have nine new cases of covid in Aotearoa, all of them come from abroad. We had two sisters based in the UK and Australia, who managed to give the quarantine system the slip and got away to attend the funeral of a parent. They have since tested positive and claim to have done an eight hours trip from Auckland to Wellington driving themselves without even stopping to answer the call of nature. Some claim that they used a wayside pasture and others claim that they are actually of Sri Lankan origin. Going on the evidence available and the total disregard for the control system displayed combined with the penchant to pollute the environment and callous disregard for their fellow humans, I wouldn’t be surprised!