And now you are telling us
Well what do you know! Politicians do, now and then, tell the truth. Sometimes it is varnished, sometimes not. But at least the truth does out, wittingly or unintentionally, however embarrassing it might be to those who ply the trade.
The other day the Minister of Labour and Trade Union Relations W.D.J. Seneviratne is reported to have told a gathering at some certificate-awarding ceremony that politics is the only job for which no qualifications are necessary.
At least Minister Seneviratne should be thanked for publicly uttering a truth which many people knew for years but did not mention for fear of encountering a white van, an irate politician or any of those belligerent types in uniform who have been collectively raised to the stratosphere as national heroes.
Well I would not try to grab exclusivity for being in the only job that did not need a qualification even though I would be loath to make such pronouncements in public lest the little respect people have for this vocation drops through the bottom of the scale.
I can think of at least a couple of other jobs that require no minimum educational qualification - grave diggers and scavengers for instance. But then why insult these two groups of persons who are doing useful jobs without duty-free car permits and recently enhanced emoluments for the denizens of Diyawanna Oya who readily voted in favour of such increases. No surprise there of course proving that the late Sir John K was quite dismissive when he told politicians to serve themselves generous portions when the spoon was in their hands for he knew they needed no exhortation from him to dip their podgy fingers into the people’s kitty.
The only problem is that the amount that disappears from state resources has risen so sharply that those who originally kept count of the thousands that van- ished have over the years had to add more zeroes to the figures that they are now counting billions of unaccountable and unaccounted for state funds.
Minister Seneviratne might lament that he had to study hard to become a genuine lawyer and not an air-conditioned one with extra security while others with no qualifications to add after their names except MP are seated cheek by jowl with those who earned their way up the ladder by hard work and perseverance.
Several months back I remember mentioning the figures quoted by the chairman of the Dangerous Drugs Board or some similar-sounding organization who exposed the paucity of parliamentarians with educational qualifications. If I remember correctly he said that 95 MPs of the 225 in the 2010 parliament that ceased to exist after last year’s parliamentary election had failed the GCE ‘O’ Level and 145 had failed ‘A’ Level.
Now I don’t know whether these statistics are correct or not. But anybody who has had the misfortune to listen to what passes for debates in parliament and on TV involving MPs would surely concede these figures seem correct. The standard of measurement should not be the GCE ‘O’ level but perhaps the 8th standard or lower still.
That would provide a more accurate estimate of the intellectual level of that crop of MPs who made and passed laws for the progress of this nation. That a highly literate people were ready to allow a bunch of politicians with minimum intelligence, hopefully, to decide the future of Sri Lanka surely calls into question the political judgment of those who sent these people to parliament.
The conduct of some MPs in the last parliament and in the current one is not only atrocious but an object lesson to the hundreds and hundreds of students who sit in the galleries on what is uncivilized behaviour that should be eschewed and forgotten.
One wonders what impressions young students carry back to school and home after their ‘encounters’ with the law makers of their country.
The disgraceful language and raucous behaviour could hardly provide a learning curve to impressionable minds as they watch the august assembly in action. It is too well known that Speaker Karu Jayasuriya has often had to alert and even warn MPs to conduct themselves in a manner appropriate to their station.
But such warnings go in through one ear and out of the other with an ease that seems to suggest there is little between the ears to stop them.
Sometime last year Zulkifli Nazim writing for a website reminded us about the interesting collective nouns in the English language. A group of cows, as we know, is called a herd of cows and group of lions a pride of lions.
But what is not generally known is that a collection of baboons is called a parliament of baboons.
Now that is not surprising at all. Baboons are a loud, raucous, quarrelsome lot with little intelligence. The collective noun, if it is correct, is singularly appropriate.
This raises an important question which I’m sure has been discussed at other forums and on other platforms. Should there be minimum qualifications for a candidate intending to contest parliamentary elections?
On a couple of previous occasions I have mentioned the case of Thailand where an earlier constitution had laid down a candidate must be a university graduate or have five years of continuous education at an institute of higher learning.
Prime Minister Wickremesinghe said some days back that persons of a better quality should be attracted to politics and parliament.
One way of doing so might well be to lay down minimum educational qualifications.
After all if the free education system that Sri Lanka has enjoyed even before independence and has produced highly qualified persons in a whole range of professions and vocations could serve the country why should it not throw up decent well-mannered and educated politicians to replace the rubbish that has dominated the political scene for decades.
What has happened to Sri Lankan politics that the learned and professional parliamentarians that once adorned both sides of the House are now few and far between? Is it because the greedy and avaricious are making it impossible for the talented, decent individuals to associate themselves with a political class that thrives on crony capitalism and the fruits thereof.
When all those promises to wipe the slate clean and lead the country along a new path of righteousness have been torn asunder and a new age of brigandage has been foisted on Sri Lanka by those who emerged from the wings determined to grab several fists full of dollars is it any wonder people who value their reputation and independence keep away from the political sewers.
The attempt to push through a highly controversial Development Bill that will circle the wagons immunizing even officials from the process of law and open the doors wide to the proliferation of a new lot of shady dealers is not what leaders promised in late 2014 and in early January the following year.
It was President Junius Jayewardene who said “let the robber barons come” when he introduced a free-market economy. Well the robber barons are here amongst the people and attempts are being made to push through laws that will allow robbers even within officialdom to flourish at the expense of the state and the people.
Only the alert and vigilant in society can stop this slide to what might be called economic totalitarianism to be firmly ensconced in the hands of a few.
One must disagree with Minister Seneviratne when he says there is no minimum qualification to enter politics. Of course there is. The qualification is servility to the party leader and the party machine, to the money machines that finance election campaigns and is quick to inform that it is pay-back time.
Is it any wonder then that some MPs are clamouring for liquor licences to let their favourite mudalalis fill the populace with their inebriating brew. With local elections and referenda due, it is time to oil the money machines.
It is a forlorn hope if it is expected that talented, qualified and decent people will enter politics. To do what? Fraternise with a parliament of baboons, as the collective noun goes.