Contemporary politics
The
present volatile scenario in the world is conveying an important message
universally that international politics are going to affect peoples’
lives in the very near future to coincide with the prophesy of breaking
out of a major war among some nations.
According to this prognostication the future will depend on
politicians and rulers where only the virtuous ones will survive and
rotten tyrants will get eliminated. Looking at contemporary world
politics, particularly at the Middle Eastern countries, this becomes
highly probable.
Why do conflicts surface and people begin to rebel against rulers
categorising them as tyrants? After the French revolution, governance of
the world has changed from the old fashioned Kingdoms to what people
have chosen as democracies. Some academics believe that much sought
after ‘democracy’ or ‘socialism’ has not worked.
Military supremacy
The analogy used to illustrate this is that ‘people have got head and
the feet mixed up’ - meaning, allowing the feet to perform the tasks of
the head and vice versa, which naturally has contributed to the present
chaos in the world.
Dudley Senanayake |
Muammar Gaddafi |
Mahmoud Ahmadinejad |
Politicians always come out with assurances and undertakings prior to
elections and some tyrants come to power through military supremacy, all
of them promising to serve the people. Depending on the level of service
a politician renders after being elected to Parliament, he/she becomes a
darling of the people or detested by the very people who elect him/her.
When politicians fail to deliver, the masses will begin to revolt as
the level of peoples’ tolerance tends to diminish. Naturally, in such
circumstances, rulers can expect only rejection in many forms. The
tragic end of President Gaddafi by rebels in Libya goes to show the
dangers of the game politicians play in pledging to work for ‘welfare of
the people’. The recent misdemeanour at Mulleriyawa between two rival
politicians where one died and the other got bullets embedded inside his
head goes to show to what extent our domestic politics have unceasingly
stooped to.
Looking back over six decades one could not erase the name of Dudley
Senanayake as a sincere politician who, as Prime Minister, resigned his
post voluntarily and got re-elected thrice by his people, as opposed to
the present Leader of the Opposition (same political party) who has been
rejected by the people of this country over 14 times and a melodrama
still continues within his party. Dudley Senanayake used an ordinary
man’s car without any security. Of course, at that time there weren’t
any terrorist threats in the country, but with the elimination of the
LTTE and freedom to walk about at its peak some politicians still seem
to claim that their lives are ‘in danger’ and seek the services of
security backups for nothing but ‘to delight their bloated egos’! SWRD
Bandaranaike managed to leave only financial liabilities at the time of
his assassination as a political legacy having tried his best to work
for the people according to his conscience. Dr. N. M. Perera, who
embraced a socialist ideology never wanted to bow down to dishonest
politics which denied him the hot seat of Prime Minister.
Classic example
Wijeyananda Dahanayake set the divine example by travelling from
Galle to Colombo by train to attend parliamentary sessions. He travelled
on a third class ticket intermingling with other commuters.
When asked why he chose to so his answer had been apt: “Because there
is no 4th class in the train”! Sri Lanka could be classified as the only
country where the modern politician abuses his privileges exceedingly.
Britain is a classic example to prove this point where politicians
commute by British Rail, the Underground railways and some even riding
bicycles. The thought process between the British and Sri Lankan
politician are evidently different, for, they think they are
representatives of the people whereas our elected officials seem to get
the wrong idea that they are of a different breed altogether!
A remarkable feature of the majority of our bygone generation of
politicians was that many entered the political arena out of their sheer
patriotism and the yearning to work for the people. Besides, many of
them were icons of wealthy families who died after spending all their
fortunes on politics.
It’s very unfortunate that modern politics in Sri Lanka have diluted
to become a thriving industry where thoughts of many hinge on possessing
duty free vehicles, official residences and bodyguards only.
The reason for this could be ascribed to the fact that only a handful
of them have such attributes of their ‘ancestors’, be it a local
government member, Provincial Councilor or a Member of Parliament, a
degree of vulgar affluence seems to affect them.
Oil and defence
Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad is well known for his
simplicity. During an interview with Fox News (USA) Ahmadinejad was
asked: “When you look at the mirror in the morning what do you say to
yourself?” His answer was inspirational: “I see the person in the mirror
and tell him, remember, you are no more than a small servant, ahead of
you today is a heavy responsibility, and that is to serve the Iranian
nation.”
One of his commandments to his Cabinet was to obtain an official
declaration with an undertaking not to hoard wealth; that order went
down the line to his relatives too to ensure that on the day a minister
left office, it would be with dignity and all bank accounts including
his relatives would remain an ‘open book’ for public scrutiny.
Mahamoud Ahmadinejad in contemporary politics is regarded as
administering one of the worlds’ foremost countries which is
strategically, economically and politically important with regard to its
oil and defence, who has not changed his lifestyle and does not take his
salary either in the belief that all the wealth in Iran belongs to the
nation and he is only the nation’s custodian.
[email protected] |