All is not well that ends well
Imagine the back stage scene when a play is staged. The drama there
is more dramatic than what unfolds before our eyes as we sit in the
audience. What we see maybe a well-scripted, well-rehearsed and the
well-presented version of a play. What goes on behind the scene, behind
the backdrop and the side screens, is often chaotic and borders on being
a ‘mad house’. The actors, prompters, lighting gang, orchestra in the
pit, costume handlers, prop- changers and the likes make the backstage
chaos, to unfold for us the ‘Play’.
Suitability for the roles
The writer of the play or its director will have very little to do at
this time to ensure that what they have scripted, crafted, rehearsed and
presented will unfold as they have intended it to be. The actors and the
backstage team take charge and what we see as the performance, is the
collective and cumulative result of their effort. The critical success
factor will be how well the actors and the rest of the team have been
picked. Their suitability for the roles, talent, capabilities,
experience, dependability and credibility, all matter to make it all get
well.
The success or failure of the ‘play’ in the minds of the audience
will be determined by the performance on stage of this team alone.
Nothing else will matter to them in making their judgment. I have been
to many plays and performances where things turned sour and the director
got all the blame. This is in spite of a good reputation he/she held in
the past.
Behind the scene
|
Don’t
trespass the territory of the green world. Picture by Thilak
Perera |
In running our nation’s affairs too this is no different. Behind the
well-scripted play we see unfolding for us, there is so much else that
goes on. We will judge if the performance had been successful based on
what we see on stage from the audience perspective. Only the interested
critic will venture to examine the goings-on in the backstage of things.
Often we see columns appear in the media that present the ‘Behind the
scenes’, be it on the affairs of Parliament, the judiciary, the
executive, political parties, campaigns against terrorism, public
services, activities of civil society organizations or INGOs. These seek
in various measures to shed light on the backdrop to issues and the why,
how and the way of those being addressed. They serve as tools for us to
enable establish better judgement on our own positions on these issues
and/or actions.
The success of this process by far, depends on the strength of the
tools we acquire from those who volunteer to present us with deeper
analysis of what unfolds behind the scene.
Salute the yearning
It is with this at the back of my mind, that I salute writer Malinda
Seneviratne. In a recent ‘Morning Inspection’ column of his titled ‘Do
you know how Kanneliya celebrated Independence Day, Mr President?’ he
took on the task of addressing an issue that otherwise would have made
only a passing reference as yet another incident. It was a sad tale of
how the affairs of the back-stage had gone wrong that may make a mockery
of the play we begin to witness.
When Malinda yearns in appeal on behalf of a sincere, hard-working
forest-ranger and his team, he is indeed speaking of the many hundreds
of thousands of back-stage people who work in earnest in the service of
the public to make the lead director’s play a success. When he says “a
five minute conversation with Sunil Ranaweera, Range Forest Officer, a
veteran with 25 years of service behind him, who is in his 4th year at
Kanneliya, having earlier served in Sinharaja, or any of the 4 field
officers or 5 guides would immediately convince you of how much they
know and how much they love their work.
Their commitment to the matter of custodianship over the 10,133
hectares and all creatures within this area is absolute and speaks of a
real time, real space, here-and-now patriotism that is far more worthy
of salutation than the flag-waving, anthem-singing, kiribath-eating
versions that are more visible”, he touches on a core issue that touches
our nation’s collective psyche that needs urgent attention and strong
corrective action.
Getting it right
Last week, I wrote commending the President and his green team for
the initiatives scripted to make Sri Lanka a green haven.
Greening of Sri Lanka will only remain a pipe-dream, if the
custodians of our natural riches such as Kanneliya, our various other
nature reserves and parks are not allowed to carry out their jobs
without placing undue pressure on them. It is time now to end this
meaningless assumption of the authority and power of a ‘deshapalana bala
adikariya’, a term I recently heard used by a regional public official,
when referring to politicians of an area.
That to me is both an anomalous and misconstrued term which should be
immediately taken off our vocabulary, before it takes any further root.
That must be replaced giving a new meaning, energy and credence in word
and deed to ‘Janatha paramadhipathya’ or the ultimate power of the
people.
Malinda in his column went on to state “I don’t know the villager who
was assaulted, but I met Sunil Ranaweera and spent about two hours
talking to him. I value this man and the work he does far more than I
value politicians as a tribe, and certainly far more than this errant
minister. Kanneliya does not belong to him.
It belongs to all of us. Sri Lanka does not belong to President
Mahinda Rajapaksa, he himself confessed, pointing out that he is but the
temporary custodian of this land, its resources and creatures. This
particular minister would howl in protest for he has clearly acted as
‘owner’ and not ‘visitor’. The President must understand that the
custodian claim loses a lot of its lyricism when underlings violate left
and right the notion and its underlying principles”.
Loving the nation
We have read Malinda’s earlier columns and without doubt, know him to
be an independent and rational scribe-person. He opposed politics of
vengeance with strong conviction and called for sanity to prevail before
and during the elections. No one can accuse him of being in the opposing
camp with any axe to grind of his own.
To me Malinda belongs to the racial group of ‘those who love Sri
Lanka’, and what his young and inquiring mind seeks needs to be taken
extremely seriously by all others who belong to the same race as he
does. Many others among our youth, the likes of Malinda, will not
hesitate to defend the likes of our park-ranger friend, the villager who
stood up for him and other well-meaning public servants, for they unlike
the many political stooges, know and recognize the value of such people
in their service of Mother Sri Lanka.
A post script
I can not but rest without quoting Malinda’s final remarks in his
column, once again saluting him as I would, our leaders and the brave
soldiers that wiped out the terrorist threat. For this is but only one
incident that needs to be addressed by the script-writer and director of
the play that will unfold the story of our future.
“I am not a demanding kind of person and rarely ask for favours. This
is not a favour that I seek. It is a right. I want Kanneliya for myself,
my children and their children too. I want it because I believe it is my
birthright. The responsibility that devolves on me on account of that
right includes speaking for the protectors of places such as Kanneliya
and protesting violations such as this.
Mr. President, are you listening?”.
P.S. Please do Mr. President.
|