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The Moving Finger by Lionel Wijesiri

The cultures of Sri Lankan politics are difficult for even the most outspoken reforms to defeat.

There is a spending culture that protects outdated, unnecessary and wasteful expenditures. There is a culture of special interests and money that permeates the decision making process. There is a culture of hypocrisy that allows politicians to say one thing while doing another. There is a culture of partisanship that leads political parties to be more concerned with scoring political points than in solving problems.

"People are frustrated," says Amali, member of an advocacy group. "They see Sri Lanka listed at the bottom of so many indicators of quality of life - or they have their own experiences with it - and they wonder what's going on." "They ask: 'Why are we at the bottom?'"

Government policy makers have an answer: Lawmakers' greatest responsibility, they say, is to keep government small. "We need to get government cut down to where business doesn't have so many rules and regulations so we can start growing out of this mess again," a Senior Government official says. "I don't think it's the time for additional welfare and handouts, because we can't pay for the ones we have now."

Adding further to the challenge facing us today is the political fragmentation that reigns in a growing, multicultural state like Sri Lanka.

"We are highly balkanized - a very large number of political parties, not justified for a small country like ours. That is why it's pretty difficult to bring it all together," says Premanath, a well-known businessman.

"Now that we're experiencing such fundamental problems, people say we need to cooperate and collaborate. They're right, of course, but I just hope we can." He further says: "The average Sri Lankan citizen expects an honest, multi-partisan attempt at solving the massive problems facing the country, and realizes that the only way is through consensus-building."

Can it happen?

Ajith, an economics teacher says: "In today's context, people have never elected a better set of representatives since independence to solve our economic and social problems. The team includes many outstanding people. Yet to make a real impact, the culture of partisanship and rivalry between the executive and legislative branches of our government must be changed."

"The Legislature itself will not have the political will to do what needs to be done, unless people force them," he adds. "It's going to fall to business groups, Professional organizations, editorial boards and advocacy groups to do it."

Erosion

The erosion in the legitimacy of the country originates in the crisis in governance and has been continued over successive Governments. This crisis manifests itself in the breakdown in law and order, the non-performance of the Government machinery and the failing nature of our parliamentary democracy.

In the eyes of the common man, the Government itself has been the source of the breakdown in law and order. The patronization by successive governments of a criminal class, who have become instrumental to the functioning of our principal political parties has brought the machinery of law enforcement into contempt.

The law enforcement agencies never had the authority to enforce the law so they only acted in the service of whatever the ruling party, in gross violation of human rights or the preservation of democratic norms. In such circumstances, law enforcement agencies, knowing that there was no premium on doing their duty, effectively sold themselves and offered whatever services the complainant or lawbreakers are willing to pay for.

At the same time, successive regimes have sought to patronize those in the public sector who they think will be serviceable to the interests of the Party in power or the ambitions of particular political individuals.

Conversely, those officers deemed to be linked to the outgoing regime are marginalized, persecuted and even removed from the service. This culture of partisanship infected the bureaucracy to the point where professional advancement was finally linked to political identity and the extent of patronage accessed by an officer. This "warped" administrative culture has encouraged rank opportunism, protected corruption as well as incompetence and jeopardized the careers of committed professionals.

The days when bureaucrats were driven by a sense of public mission, built on expectations of professional recognition and advancement, remain in distant memory. In such circumstances the administrative system is largely seen as an agency for "rent" seeking from the helpless citizens.

Young Adults

When it comes to politics in general most of our young adults, to the surprise of some, do not view politics and public life as hopeless; rather, they are turned off by the political culture of partisanship and sniping.

As one 26-year-old graduate said, "I don't see the connection between what they're talking about and how it affects me in my daily life the way taking part in local activities does." It is precisely this attitude that helps to explain why young adults have the highest volunteerism rates among any generation.

"People in politics today are in for themselves. Why won't a politician talk truth and sense according to his conscience? Because the next day, media and the opposition and vested interests will tear him down," says another 28- year-old another graduate. "It is not the fault of the system, but the wrong type of the people"

Solution

Can civil society come forward and play a role? I believe they can - if they get themselves organized (minus politics) not just through NGOs but through a much broader constituency of community based organizations, professional bodies, human and environmental rights organizations, even ad hoc bodies of concerned citizens.

In the final analysis civil society will also have to make itself accountable not just to donors or their own conscience but to those whom they represent and serve. Here NGOs in particular need to reinvent themselves as public bodies, owned and accountable to their clients. In such a vision of civil society I would like to see NGOs become more market- driven corporations of the deprived, motivated by a public purpose rather than individual profit.

Sadly, today much of our civil society is quite comfortable in pursuing their own self-centred interests and treating the political system and state of governance as a spectator sport unless it encroaches on their own daily lives. Such escapism may not last long since our political problems are increasingly disturbing everyday life. It is just a matter of time.

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