Simplicity must begin at the top

IN a rare spirit of goodwill (perhaps betokening the Christmas season) the first Budget of the Mahinda Rajapakse Government presented by the President himself was passed largely unopposed in Parliament on Monday.

While the main Opposition party, the UNP, kept away the JVP, JHU and the SLMC voted with the Government as did two CWC dissidents. The only opposition came from the TNA but this too can be said to have been in the nature of a ritual gesture stemming not so much from any opposition to the Budget itself as to the TNA's stance on the ethnic issue and what it perceives as the problems it has with the Government on this score.

This sense of Parliamentary goodwill is also in keeping with the larger fund of national goodwill which has accompanied President Rajapakse's installation in office.

Even his opponents have conceded that Mr. Rajapakse is a capable man with a honest vision for the country and from the ranks of Tuscany has come LTTE chief Velupillai Prabhakaran's assessment of the President as a reputedly pragmatic man. Now that the dust has settled on the hustings and the Government has to contemplate the grim realities of office as against the easy rhetoric of an election campaign it is up to the President and his administration to consolidate this sense of goodwill and build upon its foundations.

Here the administration's sense of purpose and the integrity of its approach to the work of day-to-day government will be imperative. Problems have to be tackled and solutions found in keeping with the avowed outlook which brought the Government to office and embodied in the 'Mahinda Chintanaya' as it is popularly called. But the Government cannot allow this to be a mantra to be invoked and intended at its convenience but a guide to positive action.

That action necessarily has to be in the interests of the larger masses who brought it to office rather than a microscopic elite of the cities who for too long after Independence have plucked the fruits of a progress which has been beyond the reach of the generality of the people.

Honesty and integrity on the part of these holding office are the key to persuading the people that the Government means business. Too long have the bulk of Sri Lanka's people been accustomed to cynically view politicians of all colourations as mere place-seekers or opportunistic climbers who are there in the game for whatever fast and slick money they can extract from the milch cow of government.

If this image of the politician is to be erased from the public mind politicians themselves must think afresh and refashion themselves in the image of the advice they proffer from the public platform to the populace to work hard, tighten the belts and lead simple lives.

In recent weeks, for example, there has been concern both within and outside Parliament about the large size of the Cabinet, some of the luxuries enjoyed by Ministers and other such issues related to ministerial opulence and aggrandisement.

The JVP in particular has been quite critical of the Government on this score. Speaking on the last day of the Budget debate the party's Anuradhapura District MP K.D. Lalkantha, himself a former Minister, had said for example that some Ministers should voluntarily resign their posts considering the large size of the Cabinet.

While the cynics will say that it is too much to expect such acts of self sacrifice from our politicians what is certainly necessary is a less ostentatious life-style on their part. There is surely no need for burning up the roads in luxury vehicles or refurbishing offices whenever a new Minister takes over.

There can be leaner personal staffs and a standard vehicle of ministerial travel as it obtains in India for example where everybody travels by an Ambassador car. It is this kind of example from the top which will drive the people below to inspired action.

It is therefore necessary that the Ministers in office, whether Cabinet, non-Cabinet or Deputy Ministers, should themselves take the initiative without waiting for the President to crack the whip like some ringmaster.

There were reports, for example, of a Cabinet Minister who had lived it up on a recent overseas visit. While nobody would expect our Ministers to go slumming when they go abroad there should be nothing to prevent them from going in for accommodation in keeping with our resources rather than give a warped impression of our country by worshipping at temples of luxury.

So even as the Budget has sailed through Parliament on the heady winds of goodwill this has to be followed up with the steady steering of the ship of state with a sure hand on the tiller. For that there must be a change of captaincy not merely at the top deck but all levels of the national vessel as well.