You can do it; prorogue parliament, impeach and vote out oligarchy

"Have things changed? No. But things are not so bad. We still have a written constitution unlike Britain. However, everyone is equal before the law in Britain but in our country everyone except politicians and bigwigs is equal before the law; come to think of it even laws and law-makers are the President’s playthings. While you cry foul about our constitution having more patches than Dolly Parton’s breeches in her hit-song Coat of Many Colours, do you stop to think about the day when President would declare there would be no constitution at all?"

by Pearl Thevanayagam

(October 08, London, Sri Lanka Guardian) We cannot change our politicians and their pre-occupation with staying in power. They will insist on changing the constitution, heaping upon themselves powers willy-nilly, amassing wealth in the short-term they are in power (or in the case of our President a long, long term until he needs the support of his sons, grandchildren and great-grandchildren to escort him to his throne or the toilet) and in the process turning us into morons and imbeciles.

But you, the Sri Lankan citizen, the inheritors of Mother Lanka, have the power to change things. I do not mean stop the President in his tracks as he whizzes about chopping and changing laws and making parliament his own fiefdom with his extended family in key portfolios but desist from voting for any of the jokers en masse for a start.

You start collecting signatures at grass-root level; that is begin in your neighbourhood and spread the message to the village, then the whole town, cities and finally the whole country that henceforth you will not be voting for the two parties that have held sway these 62 years only cheating you with broken promises. This time next year they say they will deliver. A bit like father promising to buy actual presents for Christmas instead of new uniforms and shoes for school. Voting is a democratic right but not voting is also your fundamental human right.

Let us look at the issue of giving parity to Tamil Language. How many parliamentary hours were spent on whether indigenous Tamils need their language to be made official. Good Lord and Holy smoke, we were not asking for the moon and we were not reaching for the stars. All we ever wanted was that the ordinary Tamil is given the opportunity to read in his native tongue that he/she cannot be admitted to the university purely on merit, that the armed forces and jobs in state institutions are no-go areas for Tamils and that he/she is detained under the Prevention of Terrorism Act simply because he/she is the Lions Club President and that he/she possessed the letterhead with the Lion logo which is not dis-similar to that of the LTTE.

Your manifesto will spell out all the promises made by our leaders and how they failed to fulfill even a fraction of it. Put in some serious sounding stuff so you mean business; such as abolishing the Executive Presidency, 13, 14, 16, 18 and 19A, abolish Clause Four (I made that one up) and what they actually mean in the everyday lives of Citizens Silva, Samsudeen, Schumacher and Sellathurai and most importantly would their Physical Quality of Life improve as a result of such changes.

After careful scrutiny your manifesto should come out with a resounding NO and you say you do not give a toss for any of these unless there is a significant increase in salaries, prices of consumer goods come down so that you do not worry how you put food on the plate or how you are going to buy clothes for your family, there are qualified and conscientious teachers in schools, safe streets at night, good public transport, medical service, sanitation and basically facilities a civil society should enjoy as its fundamental right.

We have developed laptop skin rash from overheating them on our thighs, carpal-tunnel syndrome on our wrists and severe spinal deformity from hunching over the keyboard for hours on end reeling out reams of protests against white van abductions and extra-judicial killings despite the government declaring that terrorism is a thing of the past with the vanquishing of the LTTE, 18A, Sarath Fonseka’s rise and fall, state of Sri Lankan English, the pernicious mosquito menace and Mervyn de Silva (equally irritating duo), the fasters unto death aka Tamil protesters, monks and Wimal Weerawansa and the escalating price of eggs and bread.

Have things changed? No. But things are not so bad. We still have a written constitution unlike Britain. However, everyone is equal before the law in Britain but in our country everyone except politicians and bigwigs is equal before the law; come to think of it even laws and law-makers are the President’s playthings. While you cry foul about our constitution having more patches than Dolly Parton’s breeches in her hit-song Coat of Many Colours, do you stop to think about the day when President would declare there would be no constitution at all?

Oligarchy would have replaced democracy, socialism, republic state and then we would be living under the jackboot of fascism if we are not already under one. So what’s it gonna be? Are you going to be doormats all your life or get a life by starting a revolution; not the stripey kind or the JVP. Start the silent revolution of boycott. Gather those signatures and say NO to voting for the two parties that have been holding you to ransom all your life. Get those asses out of the palace by Diayawanna Oya. Send in fresh blood while there is still life in you.