“We have a President at present who proudly calls himself a village boy. President Rajapaksa during his last visit to India declared, "The boy in me came out of the village, but the village remained in me". N. Sathiya Moorthy (Observer Research Foundation, India) referring to this statement commented, "This is true also of his new-generation constituents in Sri Lanka, barring the Tamils.”________________________________
by Dr. Rajasingham Narendran
(February 05, Colombo, Sri Lanka Guardian) Sri Lanka, as an independent nation of the modern age reached three score years on 4th February. In comparison to the expected human lifespan of three score and ten- a ripe old age, Sri Lanka is yet a youth. A youth should be brimming with dreams, promise, confidence, exuberance, vigour, hope, health and appetite. Unfortunately, we are stuck in perpetual adolescence - neither a child nor an adult, confused, burdened with grievances, rebellious and confused. We are in serious danger of becoming runted and deformed as a nation, unless serious remedial action is undertaken. India, our nearest neighbour, having attained independence around the same time, is today a confident and exuberant youth, looking forward to her golden age in economic development, prosperity and human achievement. India is today’s success story, despite the Himalayan problems she confronted at independence and the multitude of problems, she yet faces. Sri Lanka on the hand was an example of what a nation should be, at independence. It has to our shame rapidly slid backwards in many vital aspects of national life - unity, peace, quality of life, rule-of- law, human rights, security, healthcare, educational standards, value systems and standards of governance.
Sri Lankans will not feel the pride and joy felt by all Indians a few days back on their Republic Day, on our Independence Day. Indians whether resident or expatriate; from the north, south, east, west or centre; coast to coast; professing to be Hindu, Muslim, Christian, Buddhist or any other belief; speaking Hindi, Tamil, Malayalam, Telungu, Kannada, Oriya, Maratha, Urdu, Kashmiri and a multitude of other language; from all walks and stations in life, felt proud to be Indian on their Republic Day. As a result, India stood tall. We are a nation at war on many fronts - communal, linguistic, religious, geographical, economic and political. We are a nation divided within and unable to find an identity to transcend our divisions. We are a nation that sought to assert our divisiveness over the unity we started with. We are nation that destroyed vibrant and effective national institutions through stupidity. We are yet a people without a definition for our nation. We do not yet know what our nation should be and where it should go. We are a nation without an over-arching grand vision, encompassing everyone and everything within our shores. We are a nation wallowing in mud and trying to make the mud hole larger and deeper. We are a nation racing blindly and backwards towards disaster, despite all the rosy statistics put out by our governments.
For us, Independence Day is not a day for celebration, but a day for introspection, soul searching, regret and much sadness. We have lost a paradise. We have lost our direction. Our politicians of all hues and shades have robbed us of our greatness. They have feasted on our innocence and grown fat. Since independence, we have been ruled by third-rate politicians and not by leaders. India has been fortunate to have politicians who became leaders. Mahatma Gandhi, Jawaharlal Nehru, Indra Gandhi, Rajiv Gandhi, Narasimha Rao and Vajpayee were high calibre leaders and Dr. Manmohan Singh is a leader of the same timbre. Sri Lanka has been very unfortunate to have plenty of cheap politicians but no leaders worthy of the title. No doubt, India also has its share of slimy, sleazy and criminal politicians, but it has been singularly fortunate to have men of stature and moral authority as its leaders.
Most of our politicians, including those aspiring to that status (Tamil militants included) fit the apt description in the following verse from the Panchatantra:
"He lifts his hands to see you standing there,
His eyes grow moist; he offers half his chair;
He hugs you warmly to his eager breast;
In kindly talk and question finds no rest;
His skill is wondrous in deceptive tricks;
Honey without, within poison sticks;
What play is this, what strange dramatic turns,
That every villain, like an actor, learns?"
"At first rogues’ friendship glitters bright
With service, flattery, delight;
Thence, in its middle journey, shoot
Gay flowers of speech that fails to fruit;
Its final goal is treason, shame,
Disgust and slanders that defame;
Alas! Who made the cursed thing?
Its one foul purpose is to sting."
On the 60th anniversary of our independence we are a nation sliding fast to fit the definition of a ‘Banana Republic’ and an ‘Absurdistan’. In modern usage a ‘Banana Republic’ is one that is ruled by an unstable or backward dictatorial regime, especially one where elections are often fraudulent and corruption is rife. It is also by extension, applied to governments where a strong leader hands out appointments and advantages to friends and supporters, without consideration for the law. ‘Absurdistan’ describes a country in which absurdity, senselessness and inhumanness are the norm, especially in its public authorities and government. How close are we to fit these definitions? Absurdity, banality, deception, authoritarianism, senselessness, corruption, nepotism, cronyism and inhumanness are becoming the hallmarks of our government, despite the efforts of many sycophants and favour-seekers, to make us believe otherwise. Do we deserve to be citizens of a ‘Banana Republic’ and ‘Absurdistan’ combined? This is for our readers to ponder.
The 1978 Constitution has bestowed on us an all-powerful Executive Presidency. Richard Junius Jayewardene, its architect and our first Executive President, claimed that he had the power to do anything, except change the sex of people. Unfortunately, every president who has followed him, has exploited this power to the maximum he or she was capable, to the extent that the presidency has become the fountainhead of a malignant dictatorship. A future President may even acquire the capability to change our sex, if he or she so desires! We have yet not found a President who could use the immense powers residing in the presidency for the larger good of the nation and to heal its wounds. The presidency as operative now has exacerbated the communal divide. It has destroyed all other institutions in the country almost beyond redemption. Most Parliamentarians have been reduced to the status of pimps and prostitutes. It has also destroyed the character of our nation.
The misuse of powers of the presidency has increased in geometric proportion since J.R. Jayewardene, and the situation is at its most noxious at present. There are no counter-balancing factors operative, and the nation can now be only as good as its President or conversely as bad or as worse as he or she is. This should not be so. The nation should be insulated from the effects of a bad presidency. Other institutions, such as the parliament, judiciary and bureaucracy should be strengthened at the expense of the presidency. This is an urgent requirement at this juncture of our history. Our nation should not be the victim of the caprices of any one man or woman, whoever they may be. This becomes an important concern, as we have been singularly incapable of electing high-calibre leaders.
We have a President at present who proudly calls himself a village boy. President Rajapaksa during his last visit to India declared, "The boy in me came out of the village, but the village remained in me". N. Sathiya Moorthy (Observer Research Foundation, India) referring to this statement commented, "This is true also of his new-generation constituents in Sri Lanka, barring the Tamils. The Tamils came out of the ‘Village’ long ago, but the rest of the country was not ready for them. The village remained in the Sinhala society, instead. Now, for President Rajapaksa to achieve his vision and mission of ensuring peace and prosperity of the individual and the nation, he will have to do more than being the boy from the village, in whom the village remained, however. He will also have to take the village out of the boy as much as the boy is taken out of the village. He has to be the President of Sri Lanka, that is, and not just of the ‘Sinhala South’ - which alone, he said sometime ago, voted him President".
In a recent interview with Shekar Gupta, the President has once again proudly proclaimed, "In my case, I’m very straight. I’m not an Oxford or a Cambridge-educated person. My background is a village background". What has an Oxford or Cambridge education to do with being very straight? Are we to draw the inference high quality education makes a person devious?
Is our President suffering from an inferiority complex? Mahinda Rajapaksa belongs to the so-called Southern Aristocracy and grew up in a ‘Walauwe’ (a feudal home). His lack of fluency in English and wearing an expensive sarong around his waist and a maroon cloth around his neck do not make him a village boy. Village boys and girls are listening to English pop music and wearing jeans and T-shirts now! What is special about an authentic village boy is his robust health, simplicity, innocent charm, honesty and of course the lack of deviousness.
These are village virtues, which are fast disappearing in Sri Lanka. While all of us will enjoy the company of an authentic village boy, we will definitely not want him as our President in the 21st century, especially if he is incapable of intellectual sophistry and statesmanship. President Bush has been parodied to be a ‘Village Idiot’ for making completely inane and ridiculous statements whilst disturbing people with idiotic actions and aggressive behaviour.
Sonali Samarasinghe, in her inimitable way has called Mahinda Rajapaksa, a ‘Village Humbug’. The brusque manner in which President Rajapaksa forced the APRC to recommend the implementation of the 13th Amendment and the veteran Tamil leader- V. Anandasangaree, to accept the interim APRC proposals, may qualify him to the title of ‘Village Thug’. A recent editorial in the Sri Lanka Guardian, advised the President that our people are no longer ‘Gamayas’ (villagers), implying we deserve a more sophisticated and refined leadership.
In the modern world, would the ‘Village mindset’, that does not understand nation building, the intricacies of micro, macro and global economics, the rules of good governance, the meaning of democracy and modern concepts of human rights and human dignity, be an adornment for a President of a nation such as ours? Although we are living in a global village, the mindset of a ‘Village Rustic’ cannot set us on the path to peace, progress and prosperity. We are yet to discover what sort of man our President is, although his performance is becoming a subject of much concern.
Dayan Jayatilleka, writing from Geneva on our 60th birthday has said, "At sixty Sri Lanka must not allow itself to be defined by others; it must be true to its authentic self, its own spirit. It must stand up for itself, because if it does so, others will join in support, but if it does not, no one else will. It must not cringe, beg or be blackmailed; it must be resolute. It must remember its true friends and its role in the world. It must not expect much from others who have interests at variance with its own. If it does not stand by and speak for its friends, there will be no one to stand by and speak up for it. Sri Lanka must also, crucially remember this: The "LTTE" not the Tamils, not Tamil nationalism, not Sinhala nationalism - is The Absolute Enemy.
It poses no less existential threat to us Sri Lankans. We cannot co-exist with it. It must be fought and defeated. We must support, however critically, our political and military leadership, because it recognizes this reality. What is the wellspring of this recognition? The people, the overwhelming majority of our people, the Sri Lankan people, who recognize through their experience of the last quarter century, that the LTTE is the Absolute Enemy". Eloquent words from a learned mind, trying to confuse us!
How do we define ourselves at 60? A backward-looking nation, that is unable to give a place in the sun to its minorities! A nation standing up for what? Bad governance, collapse of the rule-of- law, impunity, corruption, nepotism, human rights violations and marginalization and brutalization of its minorities! A nation that must not cringe, beg or be blackmailed and be resolute.
Well and good. Should we become a nation unashamed of all that is rotten within, unashamed of the begging bowl we hold up to the world and insensitive to constructive criticism and advice? It must not expect much from others, if they differ and stand up and speak up for its friends. Great. Will this not be also the attitude of a ‘Village thug’ - support those who support him in his thuggery, come what may? The LTTE is the ‘Absolute Enemy’. Quite right. However, is the LTTE the only ‘Absolute Enemy’? How about Sinhala-Buddhist chauvinism, exclusivism and racism? How about state terrorism? How about the despicable acts of the Sri Lankan state directed against the Tamils? How about the JVP, JHU, Udaya Gammanpila, Champika Ranawake, Ven. Rathane Thera and many others preaching extremism and intolerance? How about the dastardliness of the Tamil Para-Military groups working with the government? How about those holding this government to ransom? How about a President who is unable or unwilling to do what is right, because he wants to hang on to power at any cost? How about the likes of those who have worked hand-in-glove with the LTTE to sabotage the resolution of our foremost national problem?
Dayan Jayatilleke and the likes of him, are trying to defend the un-defendable in our nation, while seeking to hide our shame behind the LTTE fig leaf. The LTTE is not the only thing wrong with Sri Lanka! The LTTE is only a symptom of what is wrong in many fronts in Sri Lanka, although the most felt. We are suffering from multi-organ failure, and treating only the fever (LTTE) with a heavy dose of aspirin, will not help us. The fever must of course be controlled, but the multi-organ failure must be treated with other drugs and support systems for the heart, lungs, liver and kidneys!
As Raj Gonsalkorale wrote recently in the Asian Tribune, "the political egg therefore remains as scrambled as ever and there does not seem to be evidence that the Southern polity is seriously interested in a genuine political solution to the conflict. This does not leave much choice for the Tamils but to strengthen their political, and unfortunately even the military process, to win the war even if they lose some battles.
The Sri Lankan Southern polity still has some choices. They could be serious in this instance and demonstrate their seriousness by offering a political solution that is not an eye wash, or they could pretend there is no ethnic conflict and scramble the already messy political egg further and plunge the country further into darkness and hopelessness". These are prophetic words from a wise patriot, that better be heeded.
We need a quantum jump in the quality of our leadership, if our nation is to attain her potential. We are an intelligent, cultured and decent people. We are - whether Sinhalese, Tamils or Muslims - as good as one could get, as a people. Ours is a land blessed with nature’s bounty. Our land and its beauty are the envy of many people. We have all the ingredients to be a great nation. We have circumstances around us, to make us succeed. Unfortunately, we have been cursed with bad leadership. This curse is slowly, steadily and irretrievably destroying the best in us. This phenomenon saddens those of my vintage. We have to confront this reality to regain our paradise.
(The writer, having obtained his Ph.D from the University of Guelph in Canada, was a Lecturer at the University of Peradeniya and Associate professor at the King Faisal University in Saudi Arabia.)
(Courtesy - Colombo Post)
by Dr. Rajasingham Narendran
(February 05, Colombo, Sri Lanka Guardian) Sri Lanka, as an independent nation of the modern age reached three score years on 4th February. In comparison to the expected human lifespan of three score and ten- a ripe old age, Sri Lanka is yet a youth. A youth should be brimming with dreams, promise, confidence, exuberance, vigour, hope, health and appetite. Unfortunately, we are stuck in perpetual adolescence - neither a child nor an adult, confused, burdened with grievances, rebellious and confused. We are in serious danger of becoming runted and deformed as a nation, unless serious remedial action is undertaken. India, our nearest neighbour, having attained independence around the same time, is today a confident and exuberant youth, looking forward to her golden age in economic development, prosperity and human achievement. India is today’s success story, despite the Himalayan problems she confronted at independence and the multitude of problems, she yet faces. Sri Lanka on the hand was an example of what a nation should be, at independence. It has to our shame rapidly slid backwards in many vital aspects of national life - unity, peace, quality of life, rule-of- law, human rights, security, healthcare, educational standards, value systems and standards of governance.
Sri Lankans will not feel the pride and joy felt by all Indians a few days back on their Republic Day, on our Independence Day. Indians whether resident or expatriate; from the north, south, east, west or centre; coast to coast; professing to be Hindu, Muslim, Christian, Buddhist or any other belief; speaking Hindi, Tamil, Malayalam, Telungu, Kannada, Oriya, Maratha, Urdu, Kashmiri and a multitude of other language; from all walks and stations in life, felt proud to be Indian on their Republic Day. As a result, India stood tall. We are a nation at war on many fronts - communal, linguistic, religious, geographical, economic and political. We are a nation divided within and unable to find an identity to transcend our divisions. We are a nation that sought to assert our divisiveness over the unity we started with. We are nation that destroyed vibrant and effective national institutions through stupidity. We are yet a people without a definition for our nation. We do not yet know what our nation should be and where it should go. We are a nation without an over-arching grand vision, encompassing everyone and everything within our shores. We are a nation wallowing in mud and trying to make the mud hole larger and deeper. We are a nation racing blindly and backwards towards disaster, despite all the rosy statistics put out by our governments.
For us, Independence Day is not a day for celebration, but a day for introspection, soul searching, regret and much sadness. We have lost a paradise. We have lost our direction. Our politicians of all hues and shades have robbed us of our greatness. They have feasted on our innocence and grown fat. Since independence, we have been ruled by third-rate politicians and not by leaders. India has been fortunate to have politicians who became leaders. Mahatma Gandhi, Jawaharlal Nehru, Indra Gandhi, Rajiv Gandhi, Narasimha Rao and Vajpayee were high calibre leaders and Dr. Manmohan Singh is a leader of the same timbre. Sri Lanka has been very unfortunate to have plenty of cheap politicians but no leaders worthy of the title. No doubt, India also has its share of slimy, sleazy and criminal politicians, but it has been singularly fortunate to have men of stature and moral authority as its leaders.
Most of our politicians, including those aspiring to that status (Tamil militants included) fit the apt description in the following verse from the Panchatantra:
"He lifts his hands to see you standing there,
His eyes grow moist; he offers half his chair;
He hugs you warmly to his eager breast;
In kindly talk and question finds no rest;
His skill is wondrous in deceptive tricks;
Honey without, within poison sticks;
What play is this, what strange dramatic turns,
That every villain, like an actor, learns?"
"At first rogues’ friendship glitters bright
With service, flattery, delight;
Thence, in its middle journey, shoot
Gay flowers of speech that fails to fruit;
Its final goal is treason, shame,
Disgust and slanders that defame;
Alas! Who made the cursed thing?
Its one foul purpose is to sting."
On the 60th anniversary of our independence we are a nation sliding fast to fit the definition of a ‘Banana Republic’ and an ‘Absurdistan’. In modern usage a ‘Banana Republic’ is one that is ruled by an unstable or backward dictatorial regime, especially one where elections are often fraudulent and corruption is rife. It is also by extension, applied to governments where a strong leader hands out appointments and advantages to friends and supporters, without consideration for the law. ‘Absurdistan’ describes a country in which absurdity, senselessness and inhumanness are the norm, especially in its public authorities and government. How close are we to fit these definitions? Absurdity, banality, deception, authoritarianism, senselessness, corruption, nepotism, cronyism and inhumanness are becoming the hallmarks of our government, despite the efforts of many sycophants and favour-seekers, to make us believe otherwise. Do we deserve to be citizens of a ‘Banana Republic’ and ‘Absurdistan’ combined? This is for our readers to ponder.
The 1978 Constitution has bestowed on us an all-powerful Executive Presidency. Richard Junius Jayewardene, its architect and our first Executive President, claimed that he had the power to do anything, except change the sex of people. Unfortunately, every president who has followed him, has exploited this power to the maximum he or she was capable, to the extent that the presidency has become the fountainhead of a malignant dictatorship. A future President may even acquire the capability to change our sex, if he or she so desires! We have yet not found a President who could use the immense powers residing in the presidency for the larger good of the nation and to heal its wounds. The presidency as operative now has exacerbated the communal divide. It has destroyed all other institutions in the country almost beyond redemption. Most Parliamentarians have been reduced to the status of pimps and prostitutes. It has also destroyed the character of our nation.
The misuse of powers of the presidency has increased in geometric proportion since J.R. Jayewardene, and the situation is at its most noxious at present. There are no counter-balancing factors operative, and the nation can now be only as good as its President or conversely as bad or as worse as he or she is. This should not be so. The nation should be insulated from the effects of a bad presidency. Other institutions, such as the parliament, judiciary and bureaucracy should be strengthened at the expense of the presidency. This is an urgent requirement at this juncture of our history. Our nation should not be the victim of the caprices of any one man or woman, whoever they may be. This becomes an important concern, as we have been singularly incapable of electing high-calibre leaders.
We have a President at present who proudly calls himself a village boy. President Rajapaksa during his last visit to India declared, "The boy in me came out of the village, but the village remained in me". N. Sathiya Moorthy (Observer Research Foundation, India) referring to this statement commented, "This is true also of his new-generation constituents in Sri Lanka, barring the Tamils. The Tamils came out of the ‘Village’ long ago, but the rest of the country was not ready for them. The village remained in the Sinhala society, instead. Now, for President Rajapaksa to achieve his vision and mission of ensuring peace and prosperity of the individual and the nation, he will have to do more than being the boy from the village, in whom the village remained, however. He will also have to take the village out of the boy as much as the boy is taken out of the village. He has to be the President of Sri Lanka, that is, and not just of the ‘Sinhala South’ - which alone, he said sometime ago, voted him President".
In a recent interview with Shekar Gupta, the President has once again proudly proclaimed, "In my case, I’m very straight. I’m not an Oxford or a Cambridge-educated person. My background is a village background". What has an Oxford or Cambridge education to do with being very straight? Are we to draw the inference high quality education makes a person devious?
Is our President suffering from an inferiority complex? Mahinda Rajapaksa belongs to the so-called Southern Aristocracy and grew up in a ‘Walauwe’ (a feudal home). His lack of fluency in English and wearing an expensive sarong around his waist and a maroon cloth around his neck do not make him a village boy. Village boys and girls are listening to English pop music and wearing jeans and T-shirts now! What is special about an authentic village boy is his robust health, simplicity, innocent charm, honesty and of course the lack of deviousness.
These are village virtues, which are fast disappearing in Sri Lanka. While all of us will enjoy the company of an authentic village boy, we will definitely not want him as our President in the 21st century, especially if he is incapable of intellectual sophistry and statesmanship. President Bush has been parodied to be a ‘Village Idiot’ for making completely inane and ridiculous statements whilst disturbing people with idiotic actions and aggressive behaviour.
Sonali Samarasinghe, in her inimitable way has called Mahinda Rajapaksa, a ‘Village Humbug’. The brusque manner in which President Rajapaksa forced the APRC to recommend the implementation of the 13th Amendment and the veteran Tamil leader- V. Anandasangaree, to accept the interim APRC proposals, may qualify him to the title of ‘Village Thug’. A recent editorial in the Sri Lanka Guardian, advised the President that our people are no longer ‘Gamayas’ (villagers), implying we deserve a more sophisticated and refined leadership.
In the modern world, would the ‘Village mindset’, that does not understand nation building, the intricacies of micro, macro and global economics, the rules of good governance, the meaning of democracy and modern concepts of human rights and human dignity, be an adornment for a President of a nation such as ours? Although we are living in a global village, the mindset of a ‘Village Rustic’ cannot set us on the path to peace, progress and prosperity. We are yet to discover what sort of man our President is, although his performance is becoming a subject of much concern.
Dayan Jayatilleka, writing from Geneva on our 60th birthday has said, "At sixty Sri Lanka must not allow itself to be defined by others; it must be true to its authentic self, its own spirit. It must stand up for itself, because if it does so, others will join in support, but if it does not, no one else will. It must not cringe, beg or be blackmailed; it must be resolute. It must remember its true friends and its role in the world. It must not expect much from others who have interests at variance with its own. If it does not stand by and speak for its friends, there will be no one to stand by and speak up for it. Sri Lanka must also, crucially remember this: The "LTTE" not the Tamils, not Tamil nationalism, not Sinhala nationalism - is The Absolute Enemy.
It poses no less existential threat to us Sri Lankans. We cannot co-exist with it. It must be fought and defeated. We must support, however critically, our political and military leadership, because it recognizes this reality. What is the wellspring of this recognition? The people, the overwhelming majority of our people, the Sri Lankan people, who recognize through their experience of the last quarter century, that the LTTE is the Absolute Enemy". Eloquent words from a learned mind, trying to confuse us!
How do we define ourselves at 60? A backward-looking nation, that is unable to give a place in the sun to its minorities! A nation standing up for what? Bad governance, collapse of the rule-of- law, impunity, corruption, nepotism, human rights violations and marginalization and brutalization of its minorities! A nation that must not cringe, beg or be blackmailed and be resolute.
Well and good. Should we become a nation unashamed of all that is rotten within, unashamed of the begging bowl we hold up to the world and insensitive to constructive criticism and advice? It must not expect much from others, if they differ and stand up and speak up for its friends. Great. Will this not be also the attitude of a ‘Village thug’ - support those who support him in his thuggery, come what may? The LTTE is the ‘Absolute Enemy’. Quite right. However, is the LTTE the only ‘Absolute Enemy’? How about Sinhala-Buddhist chauvinism, exclusivism and racism? How about state terrorism? How about the despicable acts of the Sri Lankan state directed against the Tamils? How about the JVP, JHU, Udaya Gammanpila, Champika Ranawake, Ven. Rathane Thera and many others preaching extremism and intolerance? How about the dastardliness of the Tamil Para-Military groups working with the government? How about those holding this government to ransom? How about a President who is unable or unwilling to do what is right, because he wants to hang on to power at any cost? How about the likes of those who have worked hand-in-glove with the LTTE to sabotage the resolution of our foremost national problem?
Dayan Jayatilleke and the likes of him, are trying to defend the un-defendable in our nation, while seeking to hide our shame behind the LTTE fig leaf. The LTTE is not the only thing wrong with Sri Lanka! The LTTE is only a symptom of what is wrong in many fronts in Sri Lanka, although the most felt. We are suffering from multi-organ failure, and treating only the fever (LTTE) with a heavy dose of aspirin, will not help us. The fever must of course be controlled, but the multi-organ failure must be treated with other drugs and support systems for the heart, lungs, liver and kidneys!
As Raj Gonsalkorale wrote recently in the Asian Tribune, "the political egg therefore remains as scrambled as ever and there does not seem to be evidence that the Southern polity is seriously interested in a genuine political solution to the conflict. This does not leave much choice for the Tamils but to strengthen their political, and unfortunately even the military process, to win the war even if they lose some battles.
The Sri Lankan Southern polity still has some choices. They could be serious in this instance and demonstrate their seriousness by offering a political solution that is not an eye wash, or they could pretend there is no ethnic conflict and scramble the already messy political egg further and plunge the country further into darkness and hopelessness". These are prophetic words from a wise patriot, that better be heeded.
We need a quantum jump in the quality of our leadership, if our nation is to attain her potential. We are an intelligent, cultured and decent people. We are - whether Sinhalese, Tamils or Muslims - as good as one could get, as a people. Ours is a land blessed with nature’s bounty. Our land and its beauty are the envy of many people. We have all the ingredients to be a great nation. We have circumstances around us, to make us succeed. Unfortunately, we have been cursed with bad leadership. This curse is slowly, steadily and irretrievably destroying the best in us. This phenomenon saddens those of my vintage. We have to confront this reality to regain our paradise.
(The writer, having obtained his Ph.D from the University of Guelph in Canada, was a Lecturer at the University of Peradeniya and Associate professor at the King Faisal University in Saudi Arabia.)
(Courtesy - Colombo Post)
![](https://pinterest.com/pin/create/button/?url=http://www.srilankaguardian.org/2008/02/sri-lanka-lost-paradise.html&media=https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjKBxZ046fUNbWU6y7JBthUXKwbSYBpHduBdA0xgzz59I4LS5gwetn2unhZ8HGzOvG0jXdVdBc_jkBGcytunt2RW7GuNUFF4MA5a73I0fXwbRrHo-uIy0-XbcfpusL-jD_xnknbruUsiPc/s72-c/crying_girl.jpg&description=“We have a President at present who proudly calls himself a village boy. President Rajapaksa during his last visit to India declared, "...){kind=link}
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