By Thushara Wanniarachchi
(Lanka-e-News- 09.Sep.2019, 11.45PM) In the dawn of another election season, fake Dutugamunus, Parakramabahus and Terminators are springing up like mushrooms. Along with them, their ages-old lame slogans and posters too have come out of the chests they were treasured in. As a gullible nation that has an unchallenged record of getting fooled by the politicians, it’s high time we retrospect to decide whether we continue with the same or make a strategic move to change this vicious cycle once for all.
ROTTING RACISM
The birth of racism happened in the Stone Age as tribalism. To mark and protect their hunting grounds and to maintain loyalty to the tribe and the leadership, tribal chiefs used tribalism. This hints us of the mankind’s innate affinity towards those who resemble them and their hostility towards those who differ. Later on as the civilizations emerged and the tribes grew in to races and ethnic groups, tribalism developed in to racism. As the organized religions came on the scene, this got evolved in to the fully fledged version of racism we see today. And this nation has paid enough blood, sweat and tears in the name of racism, throughout history.
ISN’T OUR YOUTH LAGGING BEHIND?
As the children of the 70s and the youth of the 90s we used to anticipate that our future generations will be far more advanced and sophisticated than us in every possible way, considering the high exposure they have to the globalized world. We expected them to honor equality and be liberal and progressive in their thinking, so they can unite this nation and lead it towards a brighter future. But shattering all our dreams they ended up being a bunch of racist bigots who vomit hatred day in, day out on social media and other platforms. This destructive trend is so painful for me to watch as a mother.
POLITICAL OPPORTUNISM
If you look at the world history, there has never been a visionary leader who has used racism for his mission. But it has always been the last resort of the opportunistic politicians who used it to fool the masses and exploit them to the core; hence they could achieve their self-goals. From Adolf Hitler to Donald Trump there are countless examples for the same. They divide the people, sabotage the development process, lead in to bloody conflicts and take the nation a few decades backward. In the end, they’ll conveniently disappear from the arena and have a comfortable retirement in a rich country while we’ll be obliged to make up for the mess they’ve left behind. Hence as educated citizens, we should reject such leaders and parties.
FREEBIE CULTURE
The second deplorable category consists of those who propagate the freebie culture. Only lame immature politicians brag about providing free goods, services and facilities. No visionary leader would ever promise you freebies. Neither any country in the globe has ever progressed with such strategies. As the famous proverb goes “Give a man a fish, you feed him for a day. Teach a man to fish, you feed him for a lifetime”. This is exactly what the visionary leaders do. Rather than distributing freebies, they develop the economy and improve the quality of life to an extent that you yourself become capable of affording them easily. Looking at the free services and facilities the government already provides us and the amount of wastage caused by that, one must be insane to give further burden to the tax payers of the country with such fairy tale promises. Such candidates will definitely ruin the economy if given a chance.
DO WE NEED A YOUNG PRESIDENT?
It’s another illogical propaganda that we need a young leader as our president. The role of an executive president is mainly restricted to decision making related to the vital portfolios like national security, finance, foreign policy, etc. He needs not get involved in the execution of the same as long as there’s a solid cabinet and a PM to assist him. Hence what’s more important is him being a qualified, mature and experienced person who can lead his team and the nation towards our goals. And maturity doesn’t always come with age. The way some aged politicians shout out lame slogans and chest thump on the stage like clowns makes me wonder if they have aged with any maturity at all.
MY PICK
I’m reaching a controversial part of this write up, as I know well that some of you may get offended by the opinion I’m about to share. But as a well-informed citizen who has represented the country overseas, it’s my duty to share my bit too, for you to make a better choice.
Starting with Gotabhaya Rajapaksa, I don’t find him competent at all. Other than getting involved in procurement of arms and inventories for warfare, he hardly had a direct role in war strategies, contrary to the war-hero image they propagate. And his experience as a politician cum statesman is nil. On the top of that, their divisive political tactics and the racism they spread via their propagandists and supporters sum up to a big no. Sajith Premadasa is another wanna-be candidate who lost the plot too early. The kind of politics from his father’s time which he tries to revive will never work on the current socio political platform. He’s immature and irresponsible compared to his age and long political career.
Anura Dissanayake and Karu Jayasuriya make fine candidates with their maturity, wisdom and clean track records. Though Anura is an emerging leader with an innovative approach, he’s not a reliable person as reflected in their dubious behavior during JVP-PA coalition regime in 2004. On the other hand Karu Jayasuriya is well experienced in many fields from military, diplomatic mission, entrepreneurship to mainstream politics. He has shown his fortitude and determination as a leader during the constitutional coup, last October. He’s also a silent performer who has contributed a lot without making much noise. High time we offered him to this well-deserved opportunity without wasting more time.
(Open to discussion)
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by (2019-09-09 22:32:15)
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