When Lankan eyes are tearing, cricket gives us hope

Sri Lanka, since early this year has run short of most essentials like petrol, gas, electricity, basic food items, medicines and many other necessities. Since end August thanks to Indian intervention, a number of essential items are back in the market. Fortunately, through it all Sri Lankans kept joking and laughing at themselves and their elected representatives.

When spirits were at their lowest and hope hits its lowest depths - a single sport usually lit up the eyes in Lanka. Yesterday proved no exception. Sri Lanka’s young and largely untested cricket eleven beat the feared and more fancied Indian team at the Asia Cup T20 match held in Dubai. The sounds of cheering emanating from university hostels with the fall of early Indian wickets, told its own tale.

From the ‘den’ so-to-say, of the ‘Aragalaya’ where sections of students led demonstrations demanding the ousting of a President, loud cheers erupted as king cricket took over from earlier struggles on the streets. 

Rabble rousing anger and hatred against ruling elites, which drove a prime minister out of office and a president out of the country gave way to exuberant and loud cheers which filled the air. The game condemned by ‘revolutionaries’ of yester-year as elitist has now become an integral part of the masses, bonding people across the racial, religious and political lines.

But unfortunately the problems which led to the eviction of a president and premier have only temporarily eased, they have not been solved. For this, thanks largely due to Indian largesse, which provides us with limited stocks of essentials ranging from fuel, to cooking gas, to food, to medicines and support during negotiations with international lending agencies. Cricket is bridging the people together and giving them a glimpse of hope - of possibly better things to come. But our politicians and the political parties they represent seem to be sadly out of step of the needs of the hour.

Today ‘We the People’ need to be coming together to jointly pull our country out of the economic morass and bankruptcy our politicians have dragged her into.

Rather than coming together, as our citizens strive to keep their heads above the water in the face of rising costs of food, when transport costs are forcing many of our children out of school and where parents whose salaries have either been cut or who have lost their jobs because of the economic melt-down; our politicians are squabbling and engineering divisions.

The ruling party SLPP has one section supporting the government while another section of the same party sits with the opposition. The main party in opposition has some of its members heading various government committees and presidential advisory committees. The Sri Lanka Freedom Party (SLFP) has split once again and a new formation - the Nava Lanka Freedom Party has emerged.

The Janatha Vimukthi Peramuna (JVP) is now divided. The new formation of Frontline Socialist party (FSP) took over the peaceful silent street protests against the government and turned it into something more radical which ultimately led to peaceful elements leaving the protest sites.

Neither the government nor the opposition political parties still show any sign of taking up issues of minority communities. Be they religious or ethnic, the issue still hangs fire.

We agree no government can condone arson and physical attacks. But rather than attempting to heal the divisions which arose as a result of the recent strife in the country, government seems to be leaning heavily on the protestors who brought the last regime to its knees. The move is antagonizing large sections of the public, especially the younger generation. 

Today the government has reached a staff-level agreement with the International Monetary Fund (IMF) for an over US$ 2 billion debt restructuring facility - the first step to help the country repay its US$ 51 billion debt owed to various international creditors. The IMF facility comes with many conditions -                                                                                                                                             some of which will adversely affect poorer sections of the community. Our warring politicians need to put their petty differences aside. Rather than forming splinter groups, they need to unite and search for ways and means to protect the less fortunate sections of our community from measures such as the cut in subsidies which are part and parcel of any IMF deal.

Let them remember over 500,000 of employable men and women in our society are unemployed. Let’s not forget the United Nations has highlighted around 25% of our pre-school children are malnourished. Large sections of our population today live on a single meal.

If politicians cannot come together to save these innocents... in God’s name let them ‘Go Home’.