Party politics and the country

Some people in Sri Lanka believe that the present system of electing political parties to power alternatively is a 'democratic system' and it is one of the prized rewards this country earned for being a colony under different European powers for four centuries. The writer however is not convinced in the first place that the party system, as it is practised in Sri Lanka, is the best formula for democracy where it affords the best system of governance accommodating the aspirations of the country's people.

We may well believe 'democracy' to be the will of the people but party politics when in action undermine the people's will to the extent that it polarizes the people into two or more camps where the will of the people gets narrowed down to the choice between one camp and the other. The worst in party politics however is not in undermining the will of the people but rather in polarizing the people in a country where the people develop loyalties to one political party over and above their loyalty to the country.

Party system

Irish born English playwright George Bernard Shaw was one of the worst critics of the party system in democratic politics and he often pointed out that it is difficult for one political party to run the country with the support of just above 50 percent of the country's people when the balance which is less than 50 percent continue to bicker and undermine its policies.

We may argue this out by saying that after the election the government has to treat all the people in the electorate sans fervors and favours but the reality is far removed. It becomes difficult for the government as well as its opponents to iron out the differences after having been so rancorous in such a bitter power struggle, the elections.

Individual aspirations

Yet these differences should necessarily have to be confined to the policies and principle of the different political parties that vie for power and thus the majority of the people in the country should guard against these fleeting moments where this objectives and the well-being of the political parties take the better of the objectives and the well-being of the country.

Sri Lanka today is at such a moment where it stands at a crucial point in its history testing how the political parties reconcile their individual aspirations with that of the country. The country can ill-afford to compromise its interest for the sake of differences, in policies or in personalities of political parties who often swear in election platforms that they are in politics 'for the good of the country and its people'.

The recent report issued by the expert panel against Sri Lanka is flawed in its very bona fides when it states that its objectives are to 'ascertain the violations of human rights committed by the Sri Lankan forces against the civilians in the last stages of its conflict with the LTTE'. Very few Sri Lankan would be interested in 'these last stage' since we in Sri Lanka always knew the despondency and the hopelessness the country went through for 30 years trying to overcome a bunch of criminals who violated the all norms of human rights with impunity.

Ruthless terror outfit

The average man's concern about the last stages does not stretch beyond that great sigh of relief that 'it is finally over'. The Sri Lankan forces were engaged in the bitterest of fights in the history of mankind with a ruthless terror outfit who used all civilized norms of humanity, including the concern of the international community for civilian life, for its own advantage. The LTTE was not just the most ruthless but also the most organized terror outfit aided by a propaganda unit with its tentacles extending to the heart of Western liberalistic citadels. The main battle strategy of the LTTE was to use, or rather abuse the bonhomie of the world community to achieve its despicable ends of carving out a monolithic racialist State headed by a tin pot dictator who would be a threat to the region and the world at large.

Therefore it is fallacy to initiate investigation against the legitimate forces of a country for overcoming the terrorist menace without understanding the nuances and intricacies of terrorism. Today terrorism is not only the biggest threat to world peace but it is also a threat to civilized norms as it strategises its operations to use civilized norms for its own advantage. If it is true that 'everything is fair in love and war' in a terrorist war the legitimate forces should be viewed with a degree of 'being more than just fair' and thus it becomes UNFAIR to instigate action against soldiers who ensured our security at such great stake to themselves. It is in that context that the action initiated stands unacceptable to the people in Sri Lanka and appears as an 'witch-hunt' to keep Sri Lanka mired in the hopelessness of terrorism.

The main Opposition party the UNP has a duty by the people of Sri Lanka at this crucial juncture. It may be that the party is trying to come out of its lowest spell in the history of its fortunes vis-a-vis Sri Lankan politics. But yet it should not view the country's present diplomatic 'faux pass' as an opportunity to take advantage of. The UNP leadership had shown a remarkable sense of a lack of vision during the past years and a further continuation of that policy would help neither the party nor the country. At least now the UNP has to realize that the people of this country are more intelligent than the present UNP leadership expected them to be and thus they cannot continue to fool the majority.

What is at stake is not just the future of one political party and another but the reputation and the future of this whole country.

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