Politicians are the same, world over!

By Dr Upul Wijayawardhana

“Since we’re in the Emerald Isles here, let me quote the Bard, William Shakespeare,” said the media darling and former President well known for his oratory, Barack Obama at the COP26 in Glasgow. Whilst the Scots in the audience would have considered it insulting, for others it would have been hilarious! He was wrong on two counts and even if he could be excused about the reference to Shakespeare, getting ‘Emerald Isle’ mixed up is an inexcusable gaffe, as it is pretty well known that ‘The Emerald Isle’ refers to Ireland. True, William Shakespeare, the English playwright is widely regarded as the greatest writer of all time in the English language and the world’s greatest dramatist. He is often called England’s national poet and the “Bard of Avon”, or simply “the Bard”. However, during Shakespeare’s time (1564-1616) England and Scotland were different nations; the two joining, by the Act of Union, only in 1707. Scots consider Robert Burns (1759 – 1796), also known as Rabbie Burns, their National Bard and is often referred to as Bard of Ayrshire.

Imagine what would have happened if Donald Trump made such a statement! However, because it was their darling Obama who made the gaffe, it was hardly reported in the British press. It was only when I watched the satirical programme on news and current affairs on BBC “Have I Got News for You” that I came to know of this gaffe, four days later. A Google search, after that, produced very few hits, one being in ‘The Scotsman’ of 9 November. Though it was titled “Barack Obama in ‘Emerald Isles’ gaffe during COP26 speech in Glasgow”, in the body of the article it was the speechwriter who was blamed! Surely, it is the responsibility of the speaker to ensure what is written is correct.

When our President visited Glasgow for the same summit, the Tiger rump organised a protest which was largely unsuccessful because most of the educated Tamils living abroad now realize that more could be achieved by negotiating with the government than with hollow protests. However, they published a full-page advertisement in the Scottish broadsheet, ‘The Herald’, which ‘Tamil Guardian ‘website claimed: “The advert, as a part of the campaign led by Scottish Tamils with the support of other Eelam Tamils from around the world, goes on to state that Rajapaksa, who has been nicknamed “The Terminator”, and the Sri Lanka armed forces are accused of Tamil Genocide”!

This advertisement is replete with many quotations, the most notable being from Barack Obama; “The UN failed to prevent ethnic slaughter in Sri Lanka”. Wonder on what basis has Obama come to such a conclusion? Perhaps, for a man who thinks Scotland is the ‘Emerald Isle’, it is easy to confuse ‘defeating terrorism’ with ‘ethnic slaughter’! Or, he may have been speaking ‘from the other side’ as the present US President did at the summit!! It was well known that the Tiger rump contributed to Obama’s election campaigns. To her credit, Hilary Clinton returned the contributions when it was pointed out that these were from the remnants of a terrorist group but Obama refused to take action stating that he is not aware who contributes and that contributors would not get favours. But this statement proves that he too talks for money! Is this not the dishonesty of the highest order?

Politicians are known to produce a lot of gas in their speeches but according to widely circulating reports in the UK, President Biden passed a lot of gas from the other side at COPE26 in Glasgow. It had been so long and loud that it disturbed Camilla, Duchess of Cornwall who sat next to him. It has amused her so much, it had been the topic of conversation with her friends for days, it was reported. Perhaps, poor Mr Biden did not know what was happening as he seemed to be dozing off most of the time, during COPE26!

Our politicians can take solace from the fact that there are political jokers around the world, too. In fact, they would love what is happening in the UK and may, perhaps, say that they learned from the mother of all parliaments! This revolves around the second jobs most UK parliamentarians do. One Barrister, who represents a very safe Conservative seat, has been earning millions by giving legal advice and appearing for a British Overseas Territory known for dodgy funds but, apparently, has broken no rules! Now, there is a clamour to prevent MPs doing second jobs but it is a long way off from being implemented. It is not only our lot that is keen to make a fast buck by entering parliament!

Since I wrote “Corrupt Cameron” (The Island, 14 August) as I guessed, more ‘Camerons’ have emerged but the worst is the saga around Owen Patterson, which Boris Johnson’s government handled pathetically, resulting in a U-turn. After the notorious “Questions-for-cash” affair that happened during John Major’s premiership, when many malpractices like fraudulent expenses claims were exposed, an independent body was set up to investigate malpractices of MPs.

Owen Patterson, a former Cabinet minister, was a paid consultant for a clinical diagnostics company and to a meat distributing company, earning a total of £100,000 a year on top of his MP’s salary. On being found by the Independent Standards Commissioner to have breached rules on paid advocacy by several counts, The Standards Committee recommended a suspension of 30 days from Parliament, an action that could lead to a by-election if over 10% of electors signed a recall petition. Though such recommendations are accepted without discussion usually, in a vain attempt, the government ordered its MPs to vote for an amendment to halt Mr Paterson’s case, on the excuse that it was considering to rejig the standards system. They seem to be learning a lesson or two from us!

However, many Conservative MPs rebelled, the public outrage coupled with opposition fury resulted in an about-turn within 24 hours which resulted in a severe dent in Boris Johnson’s prestige. Left with no choice, Owen Patterson resigned, but, if not for the fracas, he may well have returned to Parliament after the suspension. In the UK, governing politicians do U-turns when they have made blunders but all that happens in Sri Lanka is continuing arrogance.

Matt Hancock, Health Secretary, who was accused of giving Covid contracts to cronies, resigned only after he was found to be cheating on his wife. He was caught on CCTV kissing an aide, breaking his own rules on Covid! Again, the government was talking of starting an investigation to find out who leaked the CCTV pictures to the media but that seems to have died down!

Politicians of Sri Lanka, I bring good news to you: There are political jokers, cheats and daylight-robbers all over the world, just like you! You may not be the best!