Political rivalry and jealousy

The Island editorial (10 August) ‘Unkind digs at jab givers’ prompted me to pen this letter, with feelings of anger, disappointment and disgust, and I am sure many would feel the same way.

The President’s decision to employ military personnel, alongside the health workers, to speed up the vaccination process, should be commended, and it is working fine.

Political rivalry and jealousy work hand in hand, and some find it hard not to come up with some criticism, let alone appreciation, even when it is a national crisis that knows no politics as what we are facing now. The Editor has aptly put it in his editorial: ‘desperate times call for desperate measures’. Yet some do seem to think otherwise.

They think that the adherence to established procedures is still necessary, even when the whole country is fighting a health crisis of unimaginable magnitude. The people, who have taken this stand, apparently think that ‘following procedure and perish’, is preferable to ‘taking extraordinary measures deviating from the norm and tackling the health menace and survival’. It is hard to believe that such logic can come from people of such high calibre, and possess equally (and supposedly) matchable credentials.

Or, is this another manifestation of a trait that is increasingly becoming popular amongst the politicians and the top brass of public organisations, unable to give the devil his due. Instances of belittling and criticising, even the praiseworthy efforts of a rival, can be seen quite often these days, which is downright laughable on one hand, and on the other, tragic. We still remember: Thoppigala/Jungle, Kilinochchiya/Medawachchiya, Alimankada/Pamankada…..

LAKSIRI WARNAKULA