POLITICIANS AND THE COLOMBO MANIA

sandman · Posted: Wed Oct 01, 2008 3:36 pm Post subject: POLITICIANS AND THE COLOMBO MANIA

ARTICLE FROM THE EDITORIAL OF THE ISLAND :

Politicians and ‘the Colombo mania’

Like the salmon that embarks on an arduous journey upstream to breathe its last at its birthplace, politicians suddenly remember their electorates and rush there only when an election is announced. Until such time, electors have to settle for seeing the elected either in TV cockfights called political debates or on the so-called OPD days, when those worthies condescend to meet the public, provided that they have nothing else to do.

The PR system has stood politicians in good stead, as they don't have to nurse any particular electorate as such and can bank on pockets of support scattered across a district for their election. The Maha Nayake of the Asgiriya Chapter Most Ven. Udugama Sri Buddharakkhitha thera stressed on the need for politicians to be available to the public, when he met the newly elected Chief Minister of the North Central Province Bertie Premalal Dissanayake in Kandy the other day. One couldn't agree with the prelate more!

In fact, the prospect of leading a better life either in Colombo or in any other urban centre after victory is the main reason why there is a mad scramble for entering politics. Colombo is a metaphor for comfortable life, though the ordinary city folk whose lot is no better than that of their counterparts elsewhere may be convinced otherwise. Gone are the days when altruism was the impelling force in politics. Today, the poor and the not-so-affluent take to politics seeking money and power and the rich more money and more power.

There is another category of politicians driven by the same desire but differently positioned in society. They are the political dynasties hailing from outside Colombo. They may pretend to be proud of their provincial roots in public but they actually belong to the Colombo-based ruling elite. The Bandaranaikes, the Senanayakes and the Rajapaksas come to mind. During elections, these townies go back to their ancestral roots and identify themselves with the masses whose votes they need to win elections. After elections they slink away to the city where they belong.

The late President Ranasinghe Premadasa was a city slicker who adroitly marketed his Balapitiya roots during elections. Having been born and bred in Colombo, he was a townie to the core but he manipulated people in such a way that both villagers and townsfolk accepted him as one of them! Even Opposition Leader Ranil Wickremesinghe, a confirmed urbanite suddenly became conscious of a 'Galle connection' at the last Presidential election, where he vied with a southerner. Marketing roots is the name of the game!

The migration of politicians to Colombo or other urban areas has taken a heavy toll on the rural sector. The Provincial Councils, one may have thought, would spawn a different breed of politicians interested in grassroots politics and rural development. But, the PCs have ended up as a stepping stone for national politics or political ambalamas (inns for wayfarers). PCs are full of representatives who are either political rejects at the national level or others awaiting graduation to Parliamentary politics. It is only at the chief ministerial level that politicians last in provincial politics for a long time. For, a chief minister is equal in rank to a cabinet minister and has access to public funds. That's why some parliamentarians resign to contest as chief ministerial candidates and return to Parliament through the backdoor or the National List after defeat. Worse, the 13th Amendment permits even those not registered as voters in a district to contest PC polls there. This has enabled total 'strangers' to try to gain a foothold in politics through PC polls. They have come to be dubbed 'suitcase carriers'.

It is in fact the migration of parliamentarians to Colombo that has adversely affected the development of the electorates in the rural backwaters. For, in spite of devolution, Parliament continues to dwarf all other political institutions and it is the ruling party MPs who still call the shots where development is concerned. Nothing gets done in this country without a powerful politician's involvement and parliamentarians' absence leads to the deterioration of facilities in those areas.

When parliamentarians do not depend on hospitals in their electorates, they naturally lose interest in them. They don't give a damn about the roads they don't use or schools their progeny don't attend. They don't care whether buses ply in their electorates or not as they have no need for them. Therefore, they raise no objections to the glaring urban bias in the allocation of state resources. Thus, they have unwittingly helped Rathu Sahodarayas go berserk once every twenty years or so shouting slogans like kolombata kiri gamata kekiri ('milk for Colombo and melon for the village) and leaving thousands of youth dead in vain.

Politicians can afford to live in clover away from their electorates turning a blind eye to public woes as the Sri Lankan polity is highly polarised and consists of dyed-in-the-wool electors who vote for the party of their choice whatever their representatives may do or wherever they may live. They boast that even their blood is 'green' or 'blue'. Voters put the party before the electorate and the electors the party before the country. Wily party leaders contest even local government polls on a platform of national issues like war and peace without letting people concentrate on the real issues affecting their day-to-day lives such as bad roads and uncollected garbage. People, one may say, deserve the representatives they get.

However, it does not mean that the physical presence of politicians, especially parliamentarians, alone brings about development. Almost all the powerful politicians have, as the Asgiriya prelate says, chosen to live in Colombo, which has also produced several Presidents and Prime Ministers. But, more than one half of the Colombo people languish in either slums or shanties.

That is the sad truth!

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