It’s yet another step of the endless elections Sri Lankan people had to cope with lately. Previous ones were just a part of a disgusting political ball game. But without a doubt this one is the most important and critical one of them all. It is important because it will decide who is going to lead the country for next 6 years. But it is critical because of so many factors.

First of them is the nature of the battle for Presidency. In the Presidential election of 2005, the government declared it as a contest between ‘patriots’ and ‘traitors’. But this time around, it is a contest between ‘patriots’ and ‘patriots’. In other words, it is a contest to select the greatest ‘patriot’. But the government has already labeled the rival candidate as a ‘traitor’ since they own the Patent for the definition of the word ‘Patriot’. However, for the average voter who doesn’t go into that level of detail, this will be a ‘patriot’ versus ‘patriot’ contest.

Another critical factor would be our international relationships. We all know what sort of friends we have on international stage. We have Libya, Iran, Vietnam, Myanmar, Venezuela and few other countries as our direct friends. Are we going to go ahead with them or are we going to win the rest of the ‘important’ countries and move on with all of them? It would be nice to see what kind of a plan the two candidates have towards winning back our ‘lost’ friends. It would be very interesting to see how those countries respond in a situation where our top ranked politicians are either denied or reluctant to enter certain countries, even for highly important international engagements.

As this contest for the Presidency intensifies, more and more war ’secrets’ might come out because both candidates are so keen to get the credit of the victory written against their names. We already hear top ranks in the military setup and its administration playing the blame game on certain incidents that happened during the war time. In such circumstances, it is more likely those ‘behind-the-scene’ information to come out to gain the upper hand in this tight contest. But it will end up doing more damage to the image of our country.

While the people who supported the war and believed in a military solution will be split between two major candidates, people who were against the war and violence will be stranded in this election. For them, these two candidates would be two sides of the same coin. Anyone who closely observed the conduct of this duo during the war and the aftermath would know it. This was very well explained in the article I suggested to read in my previous post. One might argue that they can vote for a third candidate. But in a two-horse race, what’s the meaning of betting on a pony?

The most critical factor is the Tamil speaking people of Sri Lanka. For the first time in the history of Presidential elections, they don’t have a candidate who can be trust upon. Even if they put aside all the killings, abductions, assaults, harassments and discriminations of the past, can they safely look for the future at the hands of these two candidates? The answer is quite obvious when you look at the extremist and fundamentalist groups who are baking the two major candidates.

It wouldn’t be a surprise if they feel like hard done and cornered by the Sinhala speaking majority Sri Lankans when deciding who should lead the country of all communities. They will either be forced to vote for a candidate that they cannot believe in or they will have to stay aside, just being spectators of the drama. I have already heard people sarcastically asking from a few Tamil speaking Sri Lankans who they are going to vote for. To me, it’s not a joke. It’s a very serious concern that they cannot play a decisive role in the election that matters.

Such ignorance and negligence in the past lead to a decade-long war and we all know how much it cost us. Will this be another twist in the history? Only time will tell. For everyone’s sake, let’s hope not.

Here’s something worth reading. You might need to install a specific Sinhala font, but I think the hassle is worth if you are interested and/or confused about the current political climate in Sri Lanka.

First one is from Gamini Wiyangoda, one of my favourite columnists. In this article, he has made a good assessment on the current political climate and the candidature of ex-army commander. He makes a very good point on people who once opposed the war and believed in non-violence now selling the military achievement to come out of the political agony they are in.

Read the article in full here.

Next one has been originally published in ‘Ravaya’, the Sinhala weekly and it gives us a point or two to think about the two major candidates running for the Presidency. K.W. Janaranjana, the author of the article, makes an indirect hint about the confusion people who genuinely opposed the war (including myself) are going to be in, when the decision time comes.

Another interesting point this article makes is exactly what I was trying to say in my previous post. It took no time for our famous Facebook Patriots to rename their former war hero “Fonseka” as “Ponseka“. What would happen if their beloved great patriot, the famous brother of the President, cross over to the opposition? Would they do the same for him in case he change his mind?

(If you think such a thing is not possible on this earth, who would have thought the ex-army commander would join hands with people who claimed he’s not eligible to lead even the Salvation Army? Mind you, this is Sri Lanka!)

Here’s the article for everyone to read.

The famous retirement (or resignation as you may call it) made headlines last week and made me write after a long pause. I’m not a fan of this bloke nor do I have any interest in possible political involvements of him. But his retirement and the reaction of the general public towards it made two things quite clear. First of them is the appalling status of our so called ‘patriots‘ and second is the stupidity in decision making of our general public.

Let’s not worry about the reactions of people with fake doctorates and their henchmen. But the way certain dignitaries, intellectuals, religious leaders and professionals reacted towards it was shocking to me. Not so long ago, he was the hero and the biggest patriot for most of these people. But even before his request for retirement was accepted, they hurried to bring him down from hero to zero. Apart from wide spreading rumors, there was no official announcement about a political involvement, but those ‘patriots‘, who are so good at anticipating things, were quickly out to attack him.

The question is, how can someone who was treated as the greatest patriot become the worst traitor overnight? Another good example for this was when the deputy leader of the main opposition party crossed back over from government ranks. Until that very moment he was a patriot and the moment after, he is a traitor. This clearly shows how disgusting these ‘patriots‘ are and how primary their thinking is.

Even appalling are the people who, in no time, came forward to propose and support him for the next presidency. Do they have any idea what went around when ex-military personnel took over the leadership of a country? Do they have any idea what democracy means and what kind of a democracy exist within military outfits? How do you relate the ability to lead a country with the fact having led an army to victory against a ferocious guerilla organization?

The only way of problem solving these war heroes know is to use the force. Are these people expecting to establish law, order and discipline in this country the same way? Is that how we want to eliminate corruption, waste, bribery and thuggery in our country? How long can you hold a rubber ball under the water? After these latest developments someone very correctly pointed out that he would live under the rule of the most corrupted politician rather than under the rule of the bravest soldier. I think it has a valid point.

As I’ve mentioned many times before, we’ve been so wrong in our decision making. In fact we’ve been so stupid when we decide who should lead this country. Going by our ‘impressive’ track record, I can sense another fatal mistake when it comes to the next decision time.

Would it be of any use even if they build thousand flyovers when you drive like this?

Source: http://www.lankadeepa.lk/2009/10/21/front_news/03.html

Here’s a potential model question for next year’s fifth grade scholarship examination.

Background:
A and B are high profile characters in a certain country. They were good friends and considered as heroes in that country. However the duo were not in good terms lately since B was considered a threat to A’s position. But this was categorically denied by A. C is A’s ultimate henchman who holds a doctorate from an alien University. C launched an attack on B publically which made headlines in mass media.

Few days later, media reported that A has summoned C and blasted him for attacking B.

Questions:
(i). Who revealed the news of A blasting C for attacking B to the media?
(ii). Why he would have revealed it to the media?
(iii). What is your conclusion of this scenario?

Answers:
(i). The media reports do not indicate the presence of any other person at the time A blasted C for attacking B. C is unlikely to reveal it to the media since he is the embarrassed and ashamed party in the given situation. Therefore A has revealed it to the media.

(ii). Since C is A’s ultimate henchman, C wouldn’t have done anything without the backing of A. When C’s act made headlines in mass media, A wanted to get his hands off the situation. So A summoned C, had a fake go at him and leaked the news to the media to clear his name.

(iii). A and C are smarter than a fifth grader, but none of us are.

On a day like today, I cried. You were happily kicking and playing in your mommy’s tummy. It was heaven for you. But you didn’t know what was going to happen to you the next day. You didn’t want to come out but we did. We were going to take you out forcibly from the heaven and I couldn’t bear it. I apologized; I said sorry many a time and I couldn’t keep it tight any more. I cried the whole night.

When you were taken out the next day, you cried a lot too. We could hardly stop you. I was lost in excitement and didn’t really feel happy or sad. But what a gift you have been since then! I have not been good to you some times but what an angel you have been all the time! Thank you for making our lives so fulfilled and we owe you so much for that. Many happy returns of the day Sweetheart!

This song that I randomly found pretty much sums up the current situation of our country. In fact, this is a mix of two songs, first of which is very popular but I’ve never heard the second one before.

Listen it here: http://www.slhits.com/links/songs.jsp?id=452646374 and enjOY!

We went to see the annual Floriade in Canberra last weekend. Driven by its popularity and propaganda, I was expecting a spectacular event but it turned out to be a heartbreaker. Yes, it was a pretty good one, but the ‘WOW’ factor was missing, or may be I expected too much out of it.

Every year, they come up with a theme and this year it was ‘Mind, Body and Soul’. They grow various types of flowers, mainly tulips, in meaningful shapes to elaborate that theme. But the truth is; only people flying in airplanes can see the shapes. True, there was a giant wheel, but you can only see a small part of the exhibition from that. However massive crowds were coming from all parts of the country to witness it.

On our way back home, we talked about how well something similar could have been done back in Sri Lanka. Let alone a flower exhibition, how many scenic spectaculars do we have back home that could have drawn thousands of visitors? But why do we fail in attracting big crowds? It’s the presentation.

In these countries, they don’t have that many attractions but they know how to present the little things they’ve got. When I first visited the National Museum of Australia, I was amused by the way they have presented their short history using state-of-the-art technology. Thinking about the rich and centuries long history we’ve got, I immediately felt what wonders we could have done with it.

In this country, story is the same everywhere you go. Very little in quantity, very big in presentation. You would find information centers, parking facilities, toilets, changing rooms for babies, cafes, souvenir shops, guided tours, free maps or brochures, decent and polite staff to help, clean and well maintained environment… basically every single facility an average visitor would need at every single attraction.

If we can get these infrastructures in place and get things organized, we could have done unbelievably well with the incredible natural beauty and the rich history we are gifted with. But the sad side of the story is that we don’t realize how much they mean to us and how much they mean to people around the world. We either forget about managing these places properly or we don’t have any idea about it. Just think about a toilet at one of our tourist attractions. Can anyone with a faintest sense of smell use them?

It’s all about presentation. If you can bundle the naturally and historically gifted resources with decent facilities and infrastructure you don’t need fancy videos or theme songs or “small miracle” kind of multi million propaganda to attract people. For that we’d probably need people who can think beyond borders and act beyond conventions and constraints at positions that matter.

Now, this is how one should address an international summit. The Maldivian President has made a strong statement on climate change and challenges ahead for his small nation at the United Nations Climate Change Summit at the UN headquarters in New York. Hats off to you Mr. President, and a good lesson for those gamarala’s who accompany massive delegates for such high profile events just to address the gallery back home.

One of my friends recently commented on one of my posts and asked me to come up with my own solutions for the issues that I raise in my blog. I usually don’t reply to comments but I do respond in one way or the other. My friend’s query was fair enough because at first sight it seems like full of problems but hardly any answer.

Well, the truth is, if I knew a definite answer I wouldn’t be here writing this, would I? But I’ve got my own opinions as to why we are in this whole mess and how we can get ourselves out of it. They don’t necessarily have to be solutions.

We, Sri Lankans may have learned so many things from the Western world, except for one important thing. As I have tried to point out in few of my previous posts, this crucial missing parameter is… discipline.

Whether you like it or not, we lack discipline (if not we do not have it at all) from top to bottom and all across. You don’t need to work your brain out to figure it out. Just drive for 10 minutes at a peak time in Colombo or stay 10 minutes in a queue or try to cross the street even at a pedestrian crossing at a busy time or invite someone for dinner at 7pm. Enough said.

To tell you the truth, I also had no idea about how disciplined the people are in developed countries until I first visited a northern European country a few years back. When I saw the difference I immediately felt that “what if every Sri Lankan can come and see these incredible scenes! “. Since then, I’ve tried my level best to replicate those disciplines back in Sri Lanka, specially in driving, but I always ended up being a loser.

To me, it’s lack of discipline that made this social, economic, political and judiciary turmoil we are in. My father-in-law has a very good example for this. If you are a member of a sports club and you go against the constitution of it, the club should have every right to take an action against you. At the same time, you can’t be a member of one sports club and play for a rival club. Even a kid in kindergarten would know it. But in our country’s politics, both these scenarios are invalid. Doesn’t it come down to lack (or non existence) of discipline at the end?

Similarly, why we are so messy when we drive, why we don’t have patience to stay politely in a queue to get a job done, why we don’t stop our vehicles at pedestrian crossings and why we arrive at 9.30 for a dinner we were supposed to come at 7.00 all come down to lack of discipline.

Now the problem is how can we establish discipline in our society? My understanding is it has to come from top to bottom. In our culture, we tend to follow leaders and idols. If they are disciplined, the layers underneath will be disciplined as well. Theoretically that should be the easiest way as well because top layers are low in quantity.

One would argue that discipline should come from childhood. But having seen children in our country as well as in a few ‘developed’ countries, I can clearly say that our children are much more organized, loyal, tidy, well behaved and disciplined. But when they enter the adult society, all those good attributes disappear and eventually become part and parcel of the same mess. In contrast, children of these countries who look so untidy, disorganized, undisciplined and violent become more loyal and disciplined when they enter the adult society.

This observation made me think that the problem lies in the adult society. I always believed that example had to be set from the top. The secret behind the success of these so-called developed countries is that their leaders were disciplined; they set the targets, they were true to their word and they led by example. It doesn’t mean that they were perfect. They made mistakes, they were wrong, they were stupid and they will be. But they are disciplined enough to accept their mistakes and wrongdoings. The end result is the public can trust on them.

In our case, our leaders start by misleading people, telling all sorts of lies, cheating and going against their own word. Having seen their heroics for decades we have completely lost faith on them. Because of indiscipline, senselessness and stupidity of our leadership, we as a country and a society are moving slowly towards an inevitable disaster. Being a pessimist, I feel like we are about to pass the point of no return, if not we’ve already gone past that.