Incumbent President of Sri Lanka must enforce domestic discipline

The incumbent President has a great task to weed out disruptive forces, and also to enact laws so that they do not even get to Parliament in the future – no nominations and no favours in any form whatsoever – Pic by Ruwan Walpola

The incumbent President Gotabaya Rajapaksa, in his dedicatory maiden speech on the fourth session of the eighth Parliament, said that electoral reforms were needed to ensure the stability of Parliament. He also stated this Parliament should become an exemplary institution. The responsibility of ensuring that Parliament once again becomes an institution winning the respect of the people lies with the Members who are in this House. He also emphasised the fact that:

"The Parliament we had then was exemplary. The discourse that took place in it was of great importance. The debates were replete with logic and rich arguments. Schoolchildren and adults were eager to come to Parliament to listen to those debates. Members of Parliament always behaved in a way that upheld the dignity of Parliament and the office they held. The people then had great respect for the Parliament. They respected people’s representatives. Unfortunately, latterly, that respect gradually waned. We should all remember that the offices we hold are not privileges, but responsibilities.” 

A wonderful speech highlighting the challenges, hopes, dreams and aspirations of the nation and its legislative body.

When this speech was going on, our minds flashed back to the pandemonium and disorder that reigned in November 2018, which prevented Speaker Karu Jayasuriya from taking his chair. Those who were supposed to be paragons of democratic virtues who enact laws for the security and progress of the country, misbehaving in the most disgusting, offensive and loathsome manner, destroyed the Speaker’s chair. Chilli paste, holy books, and other furniture were used as missiles, while the whole world was watching. Totally in contrast to the “exemplary Parliament” of yesteryear, where the people had great respect for Parliament and respected the people’s representatives as mentioned by the President, this very same august Legislature that was revered was reviled by certain Members of Parliament. The previous Government did not institute any proper legal action against those perpetrators for destroying State property and dishonouring the legislative body.

Hence the President’s inaugural speech which began with the words “Changes should be made to the Constitution in order to safeguard security, sovereignty, stability, and integrity of Sri Lanka,” is a reality. The incumbent President has a great task to weed out these disruptive forces, and also to enact laws so that they do not even get to Parliament in the future – no nominations and no favours in any form whatsoever.

Another important task that weighs heavily on the country’s finances is to address the decadency of politicians seeking medical help overseas, utilising the country’s resources.

There is an African idiom that “if a man does not eat at home, he may have never given his wife enough money to cook a good pot of soup.” This might just be true when applied to politicians on the continent seeking medical help anywhere but home.

Private citizens opting to seek medical help in other countries do not owe the public any explanation, because it’s their own affair. But “medical tourism” among the political “elite” of Sri Lanka is a completely different kettle of fish, and a big cause for concern, because they are responsible for the development of proper health care for the citizens of Sri Lanka. It is well documented that our politicians, without exception, go overseas for medical treatment, at State expense.

Are they hinting that they lack confidence in the health systems they oversee, and they can spend taxpayers’ money at their whim and fancy? 

It is indeed unbelievable that the GMOA did not stage walkouts and scream and screech that politicians seeking medical help abroad is shameful to them as professionals and that it is an insult to their profession!

Recalling the idiom “what's sauce for the goose is sauce for the gander”, if the people of this country have to get medical treatment here, so do the politicians. 

The constant, frequent practice of misuse and abuse of State administrative resources is widely recognised as the unlawful, dishonest, and immoral behaviour of politicians. Immoral, in that, they utilise monies from the President’s Fund, which is reserved for patients who cannot afford the high costs of surgery and treatment, not for politicians to use them to go abroad for their surgery and medical treatments. Those politicians who had pillaged and despoiled must be forced to return every last cent back to the President’s Fund, through which they deprived and denied the poor of assistance to obtain medical treatment.

To remove political influence and corruption, all claims to use public money for treatment overseas, including frivolous and wasteful spending, must be totally banned and forbidden by law.

All are created equal, indeed, but all do not have the same access to privilege, nor the same friends inside the Government or financial centres of power. Our reality is socially constructed and culturally affirmed. We have come to accept a system of things as inevitable, without challenging the assumptions upon which a system is based. 

The misuse of administrative resources by politicians includes Ministries and territorial and local public institutions, because they think they are special. They have positions where people readily defer to them. Before they were elected, many of them came from positions where no one would give them the time of day. And now that they are in office, they have people coming to them asking for favours. 

They look around and say “I deserve more.” They get caught up in the hubris of their positions. Pride and arrogance seem to be their hallmark. The path to riches for the few is also helped by a political culture that allows personal connections to easily open doors.

There’s some sense to the argument that we have never had a real democracy because only a few have controlled economic power. It looks bad if politicians are telling the people what to do and they are not doing it themselves.

When the country dances to the tune of this tiny elite, the whole nation is at fault.

Today, such an exploitative scenario is slowly changing and we sincerely hope that the Government’s slogan will read “Let the political heavyweights literally and metaphorically tighten their belts,” as they have been living beyond their means, and now it's time to go on a diet.

As Francois de La Rochefoucauld (1613-1680), a noted French author of maxims, once wrote, we should not trust democracy without extremely powerful systems of accountability. In many so-called democracies today, that accountability – and the transparency that goes with it – is missing. But it’s not too late. Democracy can still become of the people, by the people and for the people once again, in process and in outcomes, in deed and in truth.  We sincerely hope that the President, with his usual grittiness and persistence, will instil and enforce domestic discipline as his main priority. 

“You are your own master, you make your own future. Therefore discipline yourself as a horse-dealer trains a thoroughbred” – Gautama Buddha.