16 November 2024 01:26 am Views - 86
In the run-up to the general election, newly elected President Dissanayake asked voters to drive corrupt politicians out of parliament. Well the public has done just that. Now it is up to Dissanayake and his team of brand new MPs to help Lanka’s people out of the misery their ‘experienced politicians’ led them them into.
According to World Bank statistics, “...poverty rates continued to rise for the fourth year in a row, with an estimated 25.9% of Sri Lankans living below the poverty line in 2023.
“...households are grappling with multiple pressures from high prices, income losses, and underemployment. This has led to households taking on debt to meet food requirements and maintain spending on health and education...”
The 10th parliamentary election is done and dusted. The National People’s Power has been given a huge majority to take the country out of its indebtedness and end corruption which permeates all sections of society. The NPP received more than a two thirds majority in parliament.
Thursday’s parliamentary election is also a testament to the JVP/NPP political combination who despite leading two failed armed uprisings (which were crushed and its top leadership killed), has been able to rise like the Phoenix.
Their secret... remaining faithful to their cause.
In the north and the east where Tamil militants fought a near thirty-year separatist war, the NPP/JVP combined was able to emerge victorious in Jaffna -the heartland of the separatist war. All Tamil political parties including the ITAK, the DTNA and Douglas Devananda’s EPDP were rolled over.
That result though shocking, should not have been so. The Tamil people had gained little since the separatist war was brought to an end. Again the ex-militants had habitually joined hands with different governing parties and stood accused of attacking members of the public.
Elsewhere in the country the Samagi Jana Balawegaya (SJB) which had been accepting unscrupulous ex MPs from the Sri Lanka Podujana Peramuna (SLPP) into its fold saw a huge drop in popularity.
In essence this was what separated the NPP/JVP combine from other political parties in the the country. The platform the NPP/JVP campaigned on was one of anti-corruption.
The leadership of the JVP/NPP combine had in fact held Cabinet positions during their honeymoon in the regimes of past President Ms. Bandaranaike Kumaratunge and President Mahinda Rajapaksa. However, to date none have accused them of corrupt practices during their tenure. To their credit the then JVP members of those Cabinets resigned their positions.
President Dissanayake himself apologised publicly for mistakes committed by his party during the 1971 and 1989 insurgencies. Something no other political or religious leader in this country has done to date.
Out of nowhere, a particular political leader ‘of stature’ whose party was responsible for disfranchising the plantation workers, called on President Dissanayake and the NPP/JVP to apologise to members of the estate community for opposing granting them their rights.
The jest did not go down well with the plantation population. They voted for the JVP/NPP combine, abandoning their earlier affiliation to the Thandaman family and the Ceylon Workers Congress.
President Dissanayake and his party now enjoy enormous power. We cannot but remember the difference between this election - which has been free of election violence- compared to that which accompanied the victory of the UNP in 1977.
Hats off to Dissanayake and his three-member ‘L-Board Cabinet’ on the peaceful climate the election was held in.
The minority communities voted in numbers to ensure President Dissanayake and his new team received support to form a stable government. It is now up to the government to prove their trust has not been in vain. Let us not forget Tamils, Burghers, Muslims, Hindus and Christians of this country have all been subject to attacks of racist mobs backed by state patronage.
Dissanayake now has an opportunity to turn the page on ethno-religious differences and start anew. In 1977 too that government could have solved these issues. Sadly love of one’s race exceeded love for one’s country and the opportunity was lost.
We trust President Dissanayake will not permit a repetition of the same mistake in his term of office.