Will Lanka answer the trumpet call or swallow the betel juice mocktail?
Tomorrow morning we will awake to perform a task that goes beyond the call of duty. We, the sovereign people of Lanka, will be called upon to decide the nation's future. But unlike elections past, tomorrow's general election will be momentous.
We shall not be engaged in merely voting into Parliament a group of 225-members to serve as our representatives for a term of six years. Nay, our actions will have far greater impact than that and the consequences will be far more lasting. What is at stake is the long term future of Lanka itself. Upon our decision will rest the fate of this nation and her future existence as the thrice blessed isle of our dreams and hopes or as the god forsaken land of our nightmares and terrors.
Though the duty is profound, the issue is simple. For the past 38 years no visibly coloured line has marked the divide of the political philosophies of the two main parties. Thus we are not being asked to decide between capitalism and socialism. As a result the economic policies of either party have more or less been the same.
Apart from the plethora of promises made in the respective manifestoes of both parties no compelling reasons exist to choose one instead of the other.
Except for one issue that dominates each public debate and monopolises every private discussion and must bear gravely on the crucial decision we must make: The issue of corruption.
The question is whether we will stay steadfast in our determination to cleanse the hallowed House of the People's Representatives of the soot and grime that had blackened its walls for so long; and clear the murky air of the odious decadence that had fogged its environs? If we are so resolute in our purpose, the time has arrived to act; for tomorrow we will have in our hands real power coming through the ballot of the franchise to forge from the prevalent chaos a New Order based on justice, equality and transparency as a vital element of good governance.
Such an opportunity to transform a nation, to lift it from the sewers and place it once more on pristine ground for the citizenry to walk in dignity and tread with pride seldom knocks on a people's door twice; and if we don't heed the deafening bang now we may never hear it again.
By voting for the tainted we shall be giving three hearty cheers and full consent to institutionalise corruption in Parliament as a permanent embodiment of grotesque aspirations. We will be letting the gangrene of corruption set in further and doom Lanka and thus unknowingly but inevitably doom ourselves in the end.
At every rally, at every press conference, at every media interview the stock defence is parroted that a man is innocent until proven guilty by a competent court. It has also been used to justify the grant of nomination to those tainted with corruption on the basis that they have not been convicted.
But do we really need convictions as the only acceptable proof of their guilt to deny these wretches our valued vote?
When we know the paltry pecuniary status of some of the members presently contesting; how they came without the wherewithal to even afford a decent pair of shoes and now find them owning palatial houses, owners of properties in high priced fancy Colombo areas, sending their children to the US for foreign education; and when we know that all this multimillionaire lifestyles are not possible on a ministerial or MP's salary and no explanation is forthcoming as to how this sudden massive wealth was accumulated, what possible conclusions can we but draw than that of sordid corruption?
Don't you think that party leaders have impudently taken liberties with our intelligence and have arrogantly assumed we will vote for anyone they put forward? They still think we are the voter buffaloes they thought we were in January this year. If that's the mentality before wining, imagine the megalomania should they triumph?
Well, tomorrow it will be our turn to show them where to get off the bus. Tomorrow when we decide who deserves our vote, we are not convicting any candidate on the basis of some allegation made and packing him off to prison. That is a matter for a judge and jury in a competent court. We are only required to judge for ourselves whether those who have so conducted themselves in a manner that has invited such a barrage of corruption allegations to their door, are fit and proper men and women, worthy to represent us in Parliament and decide what's best for us.
Would we entrust our money to the known swindler down the road or our lives and our children's lives to the notorious thug in the neighbourhood even though they haven't still been convicted in a court of law? If we wouldn't, then shouldn't we also follow the same prudent policy and not vote for politicians whose corrupt reputations precede their entrance?
So what will it be? Will Lanka choose to answer the trumpet call of the elephant or swallow whole the betel juice mocktail in the proffered chalice? Whatever party we choose to vote for we should ensure that we do not vote for tainted candidates on the list, already convicted in the supreme court of our conscience. Though a few maybe comfortable having rogues and despots ruling them, they should consider whether their children and descendants will like to live in a country where perversities have been politically institutionalised, where communalism has been turned into a creed, where corruption rules the roost.
We are only caretakers of this land and when we vote we should vote bearing in mind that the consequences of our acts today will visit our heirs in the future. Or else the curses of our progeny will follow us beyond the grave.
Over six hundred thousand sacrificed their lives in the American Civil war to secure the Union of American States and safeguard the liberties and rights of the individuals, including slaves. Tomorrow we are not asked to shed blood to safeguard the revolution for just governance. Only to mark a simple cross on a ballot paper at a nearby polling booth. So let us brace ourselves to perform this simple yet profound duty wisely for our own sake, for our children's sake and for Lanka's sake. Let us avow that we shall not roll back the dawn.
Apart from the plethora of promises made in the respective manifestoes of both parties no compelling reasons exist to choose one instead of the other.