Knives and knaves

Saturday 5th June, 2021

A 51-year-old woman is reported to have been arrested in Hungama for holding a Grama Niladari at knifepoint to have her name included in an electoral register. What possessed her to do so? This is the question those who are not familiar with politics in this country may ask, but such is the love Sri Lankans have for their franchise, although not all of them are given to violence. They have an irresistible urge to vote for the parties and candidates of their choice. They religiously exercise their franchise, come hell or high water, as if their very survival were dependent on that. They have even braved bullets and bombs to vote. But what have they got in return? Precious little apart of handouts they may receive in the run-up to elections. Most of them expect jobs among other things, but have not got even jabs to protect themselves against the current pandemic.

Voter enthusiasm that translates into high turnouts at elections is good for a country’s democratic wellbeing; it nourishes democracy. Franchise or any other right, for that matter, should be exercised regularly like muscles lest disuse atrophy should set in. But how come the Sri Lankan democracy has not benefited from people’s keenness to vote?

Paradoxical as it may sound, democracies with relatively low voter turnouts such as those in the West are healther than ours. What has gone wrong? It is perhaps the deification of electors, who have apparently evolved into a privileged class of sorts sans accountability, in addition to patronage politics, which makes electors kneel in supplication before the elected. In advanced democracies, the elected fear electors, but it is the other way around here. In Sweden, not even the Speaker of Parliament has an official vehicle, and the incumbent Finnish Prime Minister is in real shtook, having used public funds to pay for her family’s breakfast at her official residence.

The Hungama woman obviously brandished a knife, threatening the state official concerned in a bid to be able to vote for her favourite political party at the next election. But, now, it is highly unlikely that anybody will come to her rescue—not even those she may have been faithfully voting for all these years will come forward to save her from the long arm of the law—for fear of getting bad press. One can only hope that what has befallen this woman will serve as a lesson for others who, blinded by political allegiances, take unnecessary risks to support politicians and political parties.

The elected in this country may take on one another in Parliament, but they get on like a house on fire as regards their perks and privileges. When the government recently sought to present a supplementary estimate for the purchase of more than 200 luxury vehicles for the MPs, no political party represented in Parliament raised objections. Some Opposition bigwigs even feigned ignorance of the government move, when questioned by the media! All these MPS must be ashamed of themselves for trying to feather their nests while millions of people are struggling to keep the wolf from the door due to lockdowns. This being their callous disregard the elected have for the woes of electors, why should the ordinary people court trouble in a bid to vote for the wily elements that contest elections with a view to living in clover?

The present-day youth, who are better informed and more conscious of their rights than elders, thanks to their exposure to the outside world early in life, have spurned the present political culture characterised by the servility of electors and the hubris of the elected. They give vent to their pent-up frustration via social media to the point of sounding anarchist. Salutary as this trend may be, it can be thought to presage trouble in that the youth are becoming increasingly cynical and disillusioned with the political establishment, which is rotten to the core. Given their frustration, they might not vote at all at future elections unlike others including the aforesaid Hungama woman.