Open letter to the new Members of Parliament

Wednesday, 19 August 2015 00:00 - - {{hitsCtrl.values.hits}}

Dear new Parliamentarians,

We don’t ask for much. Don’t steal our money. Overusing is theft too. I know power is overwhelming but try to get rid of that need to make others feel small. Cut out the security escorts; nobody wants to kill you. Do your job; people need a lot more than food to eat and clean water to drink, but there are people in our country who don’t even have access to those.

Our education system is a tangled mess, untangle it little by little, start with teacher training centres across the country. Make it possible for children in all areas in the country to have the resources to have multiple streams to choose from in the advanced level classes; that’ll help reduce the high quantities of unemployed Arts graduates.

Equality is everything; it’s almost impossible to achieve but try your best. There are communities in our country who have been discriminated against for centuries, give them affirmative action, it’s about time we adopted it as a policy.

Give women a chance. Maybe start with setting a compulsory quota for women in Student Unions in State Universities; that’s where real politicians are made, not just in rich households. Give the press freedom, they can help you do your job, make our country better.

All citizens deserve the right to information, don’t filter it, people are smart enough to choose the right from the wrong: the past two elections proved that. A good press is a huge catalyst for development; it can reduce ignorance, make people more aware and disciplined.

Try to find more sustainable solutions to the high rates of sexual assault in our country, but, no matter how bad things get, don’t resort to the death penalty; there are better, more sustainable, humane solutions.

Cut down the costs on the military and government perks and invest in healthcare. Thousands die from chronic kidney disease every year and thousands sit on the wait-list for their heart surgeries from state hospitals. We need more State-sponsored cancer treatment centres in Sri Lanka, especially in the north.

Decentralise power carefully, and keep our foreign friends close. Strengthen our relationships with the Middle East and negotiate for better labour rights for our migrant workers; they do so much for us, but we do so little for them.

Stop selling the drug menace, people are going to stop buying it very soon. The best solution to end the drug menace is to create better employment; Wele Suda was not a coincidence; 28% of our youth is unemployed. Go green; we are just an island; when the time comes we’ll be one of the first dozen to go down to the sea.

Even though you have power now don’t resort to political vengeance, that’s the place where every party made mistakes in history, and they paid for it for decades. I believe you won’t be vengeful, most of you are too educated and disciplined for that.

Show us your strength, not your power.

Your seat awaits you.

Be a class act.

Thank you.