Sri Lanka – An arduous journey in Politics

The fourth of February 1948 is an important day to every Sri Lankan. The January of 1871, the month following the end of the Franco-Prussian war was important to every German citizen living worldwide. The unification of Germany, pioneered by one great general was truly a remarkable event in the modern history. This event not only created a nation that would be responsible for two cataclysmic world wars that rocked the entire globe to its foundations but also depicted the cruciality of patriotism. This in fact paved the way to dozens of other nations. I was fascinated with every detail on this account in every book of history that I have read. It inspired me as well as proved to be instrumental in analyzing other political systems in the world today, and to my opinion no political system of the contemporary twenty first century has the audacity that was once a prominent virtue of the nineteenth and the twentieth centuries. Audacity is what makes man take one step ahead; this one step could be one giant leap to mankind. However, today this audacity is been used to make erroneous movements that literally tend to endanger the livelihood of thousands of people. This has been about Sri Lanka for the last fifty years.

Some people refer to her as Sri Lanka, the others Ceylon and another few Thambapanniya; in spite of all the seemingly different proper nouns they all refer to the same pearl shaped island in the middle of the Indian Ocean. However, they do illustrate three different eras of our history. Two of them had already left their mark on our beautiful island nation. We have yet to witness what the other era has to leave behind. The name Thambapanniya resembles a very historic event; the arrival of Prince Vijaya from the Northern Indian kingdom of the Aryan race. Recorded data in the Mahavansaya states the princes’ account on first impression of the island as he witnessed from aboard his ship far off to the Western parts of the Indian Ocean. He had seen it as an island with a golden coast, hence the name ‘Thambapanniya’. However, his seizure of power was controversial plot which embodied betraying the inhabitants of the country at the time; a race which was known as the naga. The Pali chronicles give a very descriptive account of this historic conquest of Prince Vijaya. It describes how the Aryan prince fell in love with the local Yakka princess Kuveni which is documented as the pretence of the prince. Thus, Prince Vijaya pre-empted a powerful position among the local clans and prepared for his betrayal and the final act as it was known. The Mahavamsa also states that Queen Kuveni was in on the plot from the very beginning. By the time Vijaya had already become the first monarch of Sri Lanka. The beginning of the Aryan-Sinhalese race has been attested to King Vijaya. However, ruefully he had to drive Queen Kuveni out of his palace. The Mahavamsa documents the contriting event as the departure of the Naga princess and the coming of the Aryan princess. The Vijaya-Kuveni story is somewhat similar to the story of Odysseus and Circe. Feeling betrayed and heartbroken Kuveni fled to her people but was murdered by them for her betrayal.

This epic work of art on the walls of the Ajanta caves depicts, ‘the coming of Sinhala.’

The reign of the Sinhalese kingdom he established in around 540BC lasted for two millennia. The history of this island nation and various relationships she had had with

the various kingdoms and even empires are all documented in the Mahavamsa. During the time of the ancient Sinhalese kings Sri Lanka had been a very important junction of the Southern Silk route for Greek and Chinese ships. Later on King Pandukabaya is probably one of the most prominent politicians in the history of Ceylon. He had a tremendously impressive political policy which enabled him to prolong his reign. He ruled the country for almost eighty years until his demise. He established the concept of planning the construction of a proper city with well- equipped drainage, security and with an efficiently distributed economy that made agriculture the capital economy of the kingdom.

King Pandukabaya’s reign was attested to be golden era of the country. Ever since the invasion of Prince Vijaya the Sinha clan was in conflict with the Naga and Yakka clans, and for almost a century no solution was brought forward. However, with the coronation of King Pandukabaya he took the necessary measures to eradicate the issue. He made a political policy that ultimately unified the three clans. Furthermore he moved the capital from the Ruhuna to the central part known as Anuradhapura. This is perhaps the foremost reason for his attestation as the first true Sinhalese monarch of the kingdom of Sri Lanka. His political policy demonstrated such efficiency that the three clans as individuals almost ceased to exist; instead the three of them were merged to form one – the Sinhalese clan. He also had a well-organized cabinet of advisors and a properly revised legislation. His legislation covered all aspects of the kingdom including a great foreign policy. There was much trade between foreign nations and the numerous archaeological findings corroborate this point. Most importantly this political policy kept the bond between the monarch and his subjects strong and virile. This great comprehension of each other helped the country weather many a storm that blew from various South Indian kingdoms. Therefore, I believe I could say doubtlessly that this particular period of time starting in 456BC spanning through six or seven centuries was the Golden Era of our country.

Politics is a science full of riddles; they could either construct a country from her foundations or break her into fragments.

A politician is a leader and a leader should have the ability to see what no one else sees and also the ability to remain optimistic when everybody around him remains a pessimist. This is a genuine virtue of a leader. The ancient monarchs had this ability; besides they used their great personality to win the trust of every subject. According to the chronicles of the Mahavamsa King Gajaba the first sent out agents all over the country in search of people who were unhappy then the king did everything in his power to rid them of their sorrow. When the entire nation joins hands to be untied as one, it forms a defense which is simply impenetrable. In the 1500s at the dawn of the era of colonization in Sri Lanka the unity that held her together for almost two millennia was crumbling and about to collapse under the power of greed for power. This in fact was the best opportunity for the conquistadors who colonized the country. We’ve encountered conquistadors from three different kingdoms – Portuguese, the Dutch and finally the British. The empirical view of the world had its advantages as well as its disadvantages. Subsequently the development of the navigation in Europe led to a highly competitive race, a race among the many kingdoms of Europe to taste power, and at the time holding undisputed dominion over the ocean meant complete power and supremacy. This however, laid seed to the cataclysmic world wars that eventually marked the end of colonial era, rather the unintended aftermath of both World Wars.

However, during the colonial era the British had mastered the art of divide and conquer which proved to be instrumental in gaining complete dominion over Sri Lanka. Now, some people would say that the British are responsible for everything bad that happened to Ceylon but I would say that is the opinion of the people who are very sedentary. Well, Sri Lanka as a crown colony of the British Isles had its’ advantages as well as the disadvantages. The development of the railways, the well- organized education, and the development of an educated aristocratic class of people were probably the key advantages. The disadvantages (abolition of the Monarchy, the deterioration of the culture, the conflicts between the Sinhalese and the Tamils…etc.) however took their toll on the country sooner than anybody could have anticipated. When the British left in 1948, they passed the torch onto a very arrogant class of people who were more concerned about party domination rather than the country. Franz Von Papen was probably one of the most prominent Germanic politicians whom I consider to be the greatest at what they did. He was a monarchist, rather the greatest of a dying kind. He once said:

“Party domination and state leadership are concepts incompatible with one another.”

The multi-party political system is perhaps the foundation to the downfall of the integrity of a country. The explanation to this would be quite complicated. A multi-party political system enables all the parties in the system to take part in rational elections. Thus, every candidate in the party strives to be the best and the face of the party, this in fact is the concept of party domination. History records that party domination led to the collapse of the Weimar Republic which paved the way to Adolf Hitler. Well, let’s consider Sri Lanka. What do you think has been happening in our country? Of course for some people this would be rhetorical, whereas for others who are attentive and concerned about the future would comprehend that for the past six or seven decades party domination has been the priority. In the recent past they took this concept to the extent which appalled the educated class of people. The former party committed a lot of misdeeds that however, did not go into the shadows unnoticed. There were numerous occasions where some party officials had had the competition eliminated, and to worsen matters the law enforcers decided to turn a blind eye towards these atrocities.

These unfortunate events halt the economic progress along with everything else, such as; educational enlightenment. This is perhaps the unfortunate result of the unworthy and the uneducated ascending to the throne. A politician should have ample knowledge on the profession. However, the knowledge itself doesn’t suffice, the passion, the love for the profession is obligatory. When you put these two elements; passion and knowledge, you make a great professional who is bound to succeed through legitimacy, and through his success the country too is bound to succeed. There is a famous morale; ‘follow the light’, this has a complicated essence. Let’s bring out the essence in it; this means we should clearly make the distinction between the light and the dark by ourselves. The light however, represents the one with an ideology which he himself observes flawlessly, it also means the one with the essence of true leadership, the one who is wise, educated and with proper discipline. Everyone beyond this realm can be understood as dark. However, the contemporary interpretation of Democracy has made this nearly impossible. People have different views and ideas. A leader must listen to these various ideas and views, but it doesn’t guarantee the definite execution of them. Some people might have deranged ideas; others may have ideas that could endanger the civilized nature of mankind. Democracy itself can pose as a real threat to culture. People evolve with the passing of time. Sometimes when people evolve the old

virtues of courtesy, proper attire and even discipline tend to go into oblivion. However, we cannot put a stop to the evolving of the mentality, but we could put a stop to the disintegration of the old values. The elders of the society have years and years of experience, thus, they have a responsibility in teaching the young how the so called ‘old values’ sustained the civilization. There may be many of my kind all over the country; they call us the young ones with very old souls. That indeed is a thought worth cherishing.

Indeed, Sri Lanka has endured an arduous journey in Politics since gaining independence in 1948. In fact this journey has appalled the noble class, and now they are either dormant or have decided to leave the country for generations; the decline of the wiser results in insecurity and chaos. These two characteristics debilitate the country. This debilitation finally leads to the complete disintegration of the country like the disintegration of the nucleus of an atom. I hardly doubt anyone would deny that today the parliament of Sri Lanka comprises an exclusive quantity of uneducated politicians. This indeed embodies the gruesome misinterpretation of democracy by the vast majority of Sri Lankans. Democracy enables the people to choose their government. However, a quick review of the predicament demonstrates that the people have chosen all the criminal masterminds to lead them. Inadvertently we seem to prefer following the darkness disguised as light; this is rather appalling to everybody with at least a tinge of knowledge. Some people might want this fact proven; well it needs no proof for it is on display to everybody during the elections. We’ve had a few unfortunate incidents whereby the elections were resolved by means of violence. The violent shoot-out between Duminda Silva and the presidential-advisor Bharata Lakshman is perhaps the best example to substantiate my point.

Despite all events in the recent past we had a remarkable presidential election which crowned a new president and a new prime-minster. Nothing much can be said about the new government, but all I can say is the same as what Franz Von Papen had to say about Adolf Hitler upon his appointment as the chancellor of Germany.

“It is to be hoped that the leaders of this party will place the Nation above the party.”

Franz Von Papen

By – Visith Dantanarayana