Sixty-Two Years Of Degeneration

About this time every year for the past 62 years it is customary for politicians participating at Independence Day commemoration ceremonies to speak of our glorious past and what a great people we have been for thousands of years. It was no different in Kandy last week, with ‘King Reincarnate’ President Rajapaksa in his Independence Day speech drawing parallels to great men who have done the country proud.

In 1948 when the British granted us independence, the world in the aftermath of the Second World War lay in ruin. From Japan in the East to Germany, France and England in the West and beyond to America, the world was akin to the Kilinochchi of May 2009. Sri Lanka though remained by and large unscathed by the carnage of World War Two and was in relatively good shape.

Our infrastructure thanks to the British was second to none, so much so that Singapore at the time openly aspired to be Ceylon, as we were then known. It was a time when this country was referred to as the Pearl of The Indian Ocean, and Colombo as the Garden City of Asia. Our public service maintained the highest standards and was a showpiece to the world. Bribery and corruption were frowned upon and unheard of.

The politicians that ruled the country post-independence were men of calibre and great integrity, who put country before self not in word but in deed. Those who ventured into politics were educated people with immense wealth who ended up as paupers having spent all their wealth on the people and not vice versa, as is the case 62 years later.

Today paupers become politicians to become millionaires and billionaires. Post independence was a time that the little island of Ceylon was a respected citizen of the world, holding its own against the mightiest of nations. J.R. Jayewardene put the country firmly on the world map by eloquently arguing the case of pleading mercy for Japan at the United Nations.

The world nodding its assent to the stance taken by Ceylon at this historic meeting, was an indicator of the high regard the world had for little Ceylon. We were the toast of Japan and the civilised world. Nations were to describe Ceylon as the conscience of the world. What a great decline then, when 62 years later we are reduced to the status of a pariah state with the very same nations calling for probes on human rights violations on our own people and the lack of space for free expression. Yet we organise grandiose ceremonies at huge cost to the emaciated taxpayers to celebrate ‘independence’ as was the case in Kandy last week.

With all the infrastructure at our disposal post independence, when much of the world was in ruin, what did we Sri Lankans do to benefit our fellow human beings?

Did we, like Japan or the West, create anything for the benefit of mankind? After sixty-two years of independence what is our greatest boast when it comes to industry? It is the supply of undies for the West. We have never been able to attract more than half a million tourists to this country even at the best of times. For much of our post-independence survival we have depended on the British created plantations.

Japan, when Sri Lanka was pleading its case in the early fifties, was for all intents and purposes a wasteland, having been bombed to nothing, with two nuclear atom bombs leaving Hiroshima and Nagasaki frightening ghost towns that could not be inhabited for years.

This was also a time that none of the modern day gadgets that we are so accustomed to today had even been thought of. Man had yet to venture into space. It is fascinating to note that all the technology around us today was created post Sri Lanka’s independence and Sri Lanka’s contribution to this has been nil.

Today, Japan leads the world in technology, having built a high-tech country out of virtually nothing to the envy of the world, and fellow men from the other World War Two ravaged nations are busy exploring the frontiers of the Universe while we lotus eating Sri Lankans are at each others throats on imaginary ‘plots to assassinate A by B,’ and vice versa, ‘international conspiracies to destabilize the country,’ ‘secret agreements to divide the country,’ and one group asserting superiority over the other and vice versa. For 62 years our national pastime has been to debate as to who is the greater patriot/hero. This debate has now degenerated to murder and mayhem.

This in a nutshell encapsulates our preoccupation with ourselves over the last 62 years. While the rest of the world forges ahead, led by our fellow Asians India and China, we are busy digging deeper in to the hole we Sri Lankans have got accustomed to living in. The ongoing post-presidential election witch-hunt of opposition supporters is the surest sign of this degeneration.

And so as we ‘celebrate’ another ‘Independence Day’ it is time we Sri Lankans hung our collective heads in shame over what we have done to our country during this period. We have caused wars among our own people and we have also celebrated the end of those very same wars. Politicians have used these wars to win their electoral wars while we the people on either side have cheered them on from the sidelines ever since the seeds of war were sowed in 1956.

So whom do we blame for this degeneration over a period of 62 years?

Is it the masses that vote with their hearts and not with their heads; is it the selfish politicians interested only in their survival; or is it a combination of both? Or do we blame it all on an international conspiracy? It is not the intention of this columnist to pass judgement as to who is responsible for this sad situation, but to remind Sri Lankans that it is time we took a moment of our time to engage in some honest introspection, which obviously we have not done for 62 long years.

The unfortunate demise of the first Prime Minister of independent Ceylon in the early 1950s paved the way for the curse that manifested in the form of cheap politicians who put their survival foremost on the agenda. The rot began proper with the overnight shift to ‘Sinhala only’ and the shift to gallery politics in 1956. The rest as they say is history.

Lanka’s decline was ensured with the enshrining of religion in the constitution for the first time in 1972. With this an inevitable outcome was the involvement of the clergy in the business of governance. Here again as they say, the rest is history.

Today the talk is of making Sri Lanka a first world country. It was an election promise at the last presidential election that seems to have secured the endorsement of the electorate. Sixty-two years ago we were at the threshold of being one and Singapore was watching our every move. They succeeded, we failed and we blame it on karma like we usually do.

It is pertinent to mention that migration to first world status is not obtained by building skyscrapers and flyovers – much of Europe doesn’t have either and they are very much first world.

What is required has been within reach since the dawn of independence: respect for human rights – this is not a case of pandering to the West as it is made out to be these days, but implementing our very own constitution to the letter which has as its base the protection of every Sri Lankan’s human rights.

What is next required is strict adherence to the rule of law. The example must be set at the top – politicians who break the law should be sent packing or put in jail. The rest will fall in line. The rule of law is directly linked to our migration to first world status. Your guess about this happening is as good as mine.

What is also required is a change in people’s attitude where they respect the laws no matter how minute, like crossing a road for instance. Like not urinating on public walls and drains, like not spitting out of bus windows onto other vehicles, respect for road rules etc. It’s a big ask and if you ask me, we are miles away from first world status. It was good as an election slogan and it did its job in an electorate that thinks with the heart.

Last but not least is the requirement for politicians to be held liable for every action and every promise that they make. One is hard pressed to recall the last occasion a politician resigned over an issue though the issues have been many.

Should these requirements be fulfilled, investors will be lining up at Katunayake to build the skyscrapers our politicians have in mind.

While our politicians with every passing year dig deeper into the hole dragging Sri Lankans along with them, we on February 4 faithfully ‘celebrate’ our national achievement of 62 years ago recalling and reveling in our glorious history. We are a nation that lives in the past and wallow in the past, and politicians have mastered the art of creating and teaching history. Happy Independence Day 2010!

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