Ingratitude or Idiocy

Prof. P.A. de Silva

It was on 11th January that I wrote about the Ingratitude of Man. At that time I never thought that I will be compelled to write on the same theme again. But some election results have compelled me to write.

It is well known that every time a Sinhala politician tried to give some help to the Tamils or the Christians there was wide spread animosity and riots.

But when President Rajapakse made many concessions to the Tamils and the Christians we could not locate a single Sinhala Buddhist including the clergy, who challenged him saying that he is helping the minorities at the expense of the Sinhalese.

When the country had severe financial restraints in 1965 during the Dudley Senanayake Government he went all out to make a dis-proportional expenditure on the Tamil people. When this was challenged by some groups he accepted the fact the expenditure was out of proportion, but to give similar benefits to the Sinhala people would cost heavily.

I think it was the wording of the letter rather than the actual expenditure that brought about a crisis and the resignation of one Member of Parliament. The crisis dragged on and Dudley lost badly in 1970.

Unsuspecting man

Strangely President Rajapakse by dividing the country into just two groups, the one’s that love the country and the other who don’t, overcame the fear of the minority as well as the majority among each other.

This is because people had learned to trust him despite all the monstrous garbage bags kept around his feet. This garbage never reached even toe high, that is why people of the SLFP, the UNP and many others of diverse colours voted for him.

There were some who thought that the Retired General would win or at least give a good fight. This is why this unsuspecting man was selected by the dis-united opposition. But all their hopes were in vain.

I have been studying election results for years using a host of old data in my collection and pushing them around. Strangely the opposition candidate could not get anywhere near the votes for Ranil in 2005. Of course some strange results are also seen this time.

Colombo Metropolitan area

The strangest is Colombo. The large number of bomb deaths in Colombo, from 1983 to 2009 May killed many. Had not any one from Colombo lost his friend, relative, mother, father, brother or sister. I am sure there must be. But look at the voting in the Colombo Metropolitan area. Do they really want bombs to be thrown at them at least once in a while?

I am aware that there were people who enjoyed bombings. I had to stop a grand musical at the University of Moratuwa when 1600 army personnel at Elephant Pass died not by shell fire but by thirst.

This shows how ?dedicated? our Statesman (a woman at the time) were. They were dedicated to surrender. Also we had the Eastern debacle where 600 soldiers were asked to surrender, and then to be exterminated by the LTTE. Was it an army General who took this decision? Certainly not, it was a politician.

All this shows that the army fights but the Commander in Chief, commands.

Vernacular Schools

This country is free because we had a sensible and courageous Commander in Chief in President Rajapakse. But I feel that the so called white collared personnel in Colombo think that, they are superior to the blokes from the South, who have started education in ‘Vernacular Schools’ as they were called at the time.

I am one of them and have given a good run for their skills with my Game Ganan, namely the Sinhala Chakkara. (Multiplication tables). Even in the University of London I used to do sums using the Sinhala Chakkara. There were no calculators, only the slide rule. My English friends used to say ‘Desi’ does ‘mumbo jumbo’ and get the answers before we think of it.

The same held for English poems, our skills in memorising Kavi went on to give us skills in English Poetry. What I am stressing is at least from now on, the Colombo Elite should not under estimate the Fellows from the South specially the deep South, the Gemunu Country.

The Constitution

Why did the several Colombo electorates had so much faith on a man who was later found to be not even a voter. We did Civics using the books by S.F. de Silva. Unless the Constitution had changed human values which is quite wrong, a person who is not on the electoral list is not eligible to vote leave alone contest a seat.

Even in a small country club a member who has not paid the annual subscription is not entitled to vote or stand for election. But here we have a case of a man not a voter and perhaps the citizen of another country contesting the Presidential election.

Other candidates

They cannot say that they were not forewarned, because one other candidates challenged his nomination. I know of an ordinary citizen who has changed residence going a good distance by bus, checking at the original address and again on the Election Day going to vote.

One vote less would not have made any difference to the President, but this poor soul was so keen and had the satisfaction that he had done his duty by the President and the Country. A three wheel ride has also been undertaken by him costing about Rs. 100. What gratitude and what devotion?

Self satisfaction

These are the good natures of good people, the ordinary man, spending perhaps over Rs 300, just to cast one vote. Any benefit the person got I know not, except the self satisfaction. This is called civic consciousness.

Now think of the retired General having 25 vehicles, and fleets of drivers and attendants, not checking or not bothering to check the voters list or the House Holders list. With the entire high literacy rate we still have people who want the list filled by somebody as they are either feeble or cannot do it neatly.

These are also civic consciousness, poor souls, let us bless them. If not for the multitude of such people all over the country, the Colomba mahattaru could have turned tables. But ours is a nation where the farmers is fit to be King once he has taken a good bath at the stream or the well, with his amude on for all to see.

National assets

I am writing not to accuse the elite but to make them use their head, the most precious thing that man has, reasoning power. All animals have heads, some even have a useful amount of reasoning power. But have the Colombo voters used it. They have been guided by hate, malice and ignorance.

We all know that Chandrika Bandaranaike sold national assets, the Steel Corporation being one of the most important in terms of technology. It was a profit making concern with a bright future. My plans for it extended from melting of scrap iron in stage 2 to using our own iron ore in stage three.

After these sales, the BBC had called her an outgoing person. How true. All beings go out in the end, whether the BBC supports them or not. But the text when read, was meant to be understood by us as a President who will sell all National assets to Outsiders. I can remember that one Chairman appointed by her resigned and said the policies do not suit him as what was going on was not privatization but ‘foreignisation’.

Private sector mobilization

What does the Colombo fraternity want from a President?. Do they want 100 percent private sector mobilization?. This nation was once led into nationalization, then to privatization. But we have now accepted a healthy mixture.

It appears that the westerners are also learning from this tiny nation. We called it a mixed economy. I would like to call it a cart with two equal sized wheels. Then we will not be going round in circles, as we have been doing since independence.

The elite as well as the Christians are living without fear since May 2009, when the last of the terrorists ended his life on Earth. A terrorist who ended the life of many people absolutely un connected with his program one way or another. The Upasaka Upasikas of the Sri Maha Bodi Maluwa in Anuradhapura, the Arantalawa massacre, the victims of many train and bus bombs.

Common program

If after independence we worked to a common program what would have been our position today. I like to make one last appeal, in addition to the Presidents grouping of the people of this country I am compelled to make another.

Are you a traitor to this country or not? We are not threatening any one. But the natural laws of human history have shown how a traitor dies in his last years. A sod despised my all. Have your arguments by all means, keep them within the boundaries of decency, but to call in foreigners specially from the west to interfere and intervene is treachery.

In the west the punishment for treachery has been death. Even the punishment for being a Catholic Priest in Northern Ireland was death only a few decades back. (See Ireland by Mary Peplow and Debra Shiply).

This is a country that tolerated Hindus, Moslems, Catholics and Christians from time immemorial. Fredrick Lewis in his book Sixty Four Years in Ceylon (page 207) has these ending lines of a long episode where he with some others were lost and starving in the jungles.

A poor woman living in a cave with her child and her old father, went out in the night a good distance to the next hut, borrowed some rice cooked it and fed them. Fredrick says ?Many who call themselves Christians would not have done what this poor woman did. God grant that she in the rest of her life, the blessings worthy of such unselfishness.?

Human values

So all the people who were so vicious as to curse, denounce, and then cast a vote against the President, thinking that might is right please have second thoughts on the ‘Man called Mahinda Rajapakse’. He is the President for the Next Six years, think of the Man if you have some intelligence inside your head. I know quite a lot of you have a lot of money in your pockets.

It is this money that you used to do all the dirty tricks. At least from now on use that money not to make money but to learn human values. Learn to bless, not to curse. May all be blessed by Mother Nature and may all bless this tiny land inside a huge ocean.

May it reach peak performance within the next few years. If you do not want to get involved in the nation’s development just wait and do nothing. Waiters are better than traitors.

The writer is Emeritus Professor, Department of Mechanical Engineering. University of Moratuwa