Self-aggrandisement and egomania

We had a speech recently with Ruwanweli in the background; the dagoba was barely visible due to the contrast between the clouds in the sky because it had not been handled properly by the camera crew. The Ruwanweli Seya is a symbol of Buddhism and of course the great victory of the Sinhala King Dutugemunu over the Tamil invader Elara. Unfortunately, barbed wire security fencing had desecrated a pristine environment (necessary for the protection of the speaker), and the joining in of a few Grey Languor monkeys (at least the Rhesus monkeys were not to be seen), to the audience, further denuded the credibility of the speaker!

The speech itself was an exercise in self-aggrandisement and egomania. A large part was extracted from the largely fictional budget speech which had already been delivered by a sibling of the speaker, in parliament. It alluded to, from grandiose schemes to build highways to how a working-class family forced to quarantine for a weeks would get a state-sponsored payment of Rs10,000. The money required would have to be printed of course (with no adverse effects to the economy as said by “experts”) but no mention was made of that fact. It was said that Sri Lankan exports had shown price gains in the world market and the speaker insinuated that this was due to the fantastic ability of his government. The only “fantastic ability” would have been the ability of his economic policies to devalue the rupee! Credit was taken for a scheme to ban the import of foreign tea to the country and thereby preserve the integrity of the home-grown product when in reality all it does is remove the international price competitiveness of the local blenders in the export market.

The speech was read off a teleprompter with a permanent snarl etched on the face of the speaker. His voice started off in a gentle Baritone but increased in pitch with every sentence. It was an exercise in trying to justify ineptness and the main gist of it was for the wonderful, intelligent, and educated members of his vote base not to think of the present but to dream of a future with free electricity for some, solidly constructed houses for those who don’t have them and with superhighways to drive the communal Lamborghinis and Ferraris on. There would soon be an increase in government jobs (no other country in the world would consider this option) and with the Donald Trumpesque motto Country (Sri Lanka) first as his watchword. There was no mention of where the funds would come from for these schemes and in fact reading between the lines it was a declaration of bankruptcy… in the short term of course! Certainly, no mention of how or why an elected official can release a convicted murderer with a presidential pardon, was ever made!In contrast, we have seen several face-to-face interviews with “journalists” from the vanquished leader of the last government who is now going back into parliament (through the backdoor, on a technicality) and who seems to be creating fear and apprehension in the minds of the government as well as the opposition! He is justifying his actions (something that he has publicly condemned as reprehensible – entering parliament after being rejected by the electorate) on a call from the nation, a call to use his vast experience in parliamentary affairs to try and steer the country, from the opposition benches, in a direction of recovery. Of course, he did not and could not have used a teleprompter and his sharp and witty replies showed that whatever else has happened to the man, senile decay is not it. If it was possible to achieve actions by mere rhetoric, he may have a chance of success. However, occupying a seat, albeit in the front row of the opposition and achieving success, when failure was the result when he actually ran the government, is yet another pipedream isn’t it? The man seemed to accept that the decimation of his party (the UNP) was his fault, and he defended his main Achilles heel – bond scam with the simple logic that if it was illegal why isn’t there a case filed in the local courts? Surely, filing legal action is the first step, followed of course by winning that action. He tried to bring some common sense into the politics practised in this country when by admitting his friendships with politicians in the opposition he implied that politics is not a blood feud that needs to make lifelong enemies, destroy families and result in the mayhem of revenge attacks by the winning side against the losing side, as happens in the villages of the Pearl. He also pointed out that by splitting the opposition before the last election, 2 million voters decided not to use their franchise, the consequence of which was a two-thirds majority for the incumbent government. The interviewer managed to draw a salient point when the interviewee said that another of the main reasons for the failure of his government was the Easter attacks. The largely botched investigation and the cardinal error (no pun intended) of changing the investigative body mid-stream leave much room for conjecture. Facts that I fear will sail far above the heads of the “literate” voters of our country! Speaking and even operating on a wavelength that the general populace cannot relate to has been one (of many) failings of this individual. He inferred that a change of government may be possible, another illusion akin to that of a drowning man clinging on to a straw! But a “last straw” that could save the Pearl from sinking into the depths of economic disaster, starvation, and even another armed insurrection. The vanquished leader seems to have realised that his arrogance and lack of ability to convey his thinking to the masses, at least by way of press interviews, have contributed to his downfall. Kudos to those who have convinced him of this. The lack of capable and committed individuals, especially from the younger generations, to carry out the actions required to ensure real development for the Pearl is of course inherent and endemic. Alas, there has been no reduction of the egos of both parties concerned, and as for self-aggrandisement, do I really need to spell it out any further?