Lessons to learn from current political crisis

We must be very careful when taking important decisions. Wrong decisions have caused the current crisis.

Before you can make a good decision, you need to think clearly and outline the issues. Deal with your emotions. Do not overload yourself with information. Consider multiple options. Remove yourself from the decision. Pretend that it is your friend’s decision and he/she has come for your advice. Consider the rewards and risks.

We must appoint qualified, experienced, competent and capable people to senior positions. These people will normally not make blunders. We must never think anybody can do a difficult job.

When selecting politicians, we should select people who love the country. Do not select people who love a political party or someone who is trying to accumulate wealth. When we do not know to manage our affairs, we cannot stop foreign forces interfering. It is our fault.

We must respect ethics. We must respect values. We must help others and not be selfish. We should not be greedy for money and power. When we ignore these basic principles, we face the type of crisis we are experiencing now.

If you are a leader, you must have leadership qualities. A political crisis cannot be solved by arranging protest marches and meetings. Both sides can do that. The best way is to sit down and discuss - that is the best way to settle a dispute. We must have a give and take policy and focus on a winwin solution.

This type of political crisis will create a financial and economic crisis. Politicians should understand this.

Consider the amount of money, people’s valuable time, the country’s reputation internationally and various other losses created by this crisis. All this while we are trying to make our country a successful nation like Singapore--this is hardly the way to do that.

There is a saying better late than never. At least now, take the correct decision and try to take the country out of this very tragic situation.

D. Weeratunga Via email