Neither the United People’s Freedom Alliance (UPFA) nor the opposition led by the United National Party (UNP) was able to correctly grasp the message of the last parliamentary election result. It was more a message given by fate than one consciously given by the people. Both the parties got a distorted view of the message.
The UPFA Government took it as a massive mandate given by the people. The opposition, on the other hand, understood it as a majority it had got over the government. If both parties were wiser they should have understood the result as one that told them of the necessity to act on the basis of consensus for, not only their parties, but also for this country to survive.
Due to their failure to grasp the true message, these two parties are pushing the country towards disaster. Both the parties have been compelled to depict the imminent disaster as a move towards a better world. The Alliance government says that it is taking the country forward with great success. The UNP is of the view that, although a major disaster is ahead, they will be able to build a better world for the people on the ashes of that destruction.
Parliament must meet eight days a month, at the least. It must meet more frequently when there are serious problems to be solved. However, after the election of the new parliament, it has only met on three occasions. On those three days too, the only transaction that took place was mutual abuse and fisticuffs, rather than anything useful. However, whether the parliament meets or not, the daily cost of its maintenance is Rs1.9 million.
What the government tells the country again and again through public notices is that the Tax Amnesty Act and the compensation formula (Vand Sutraya) were abolished; that 30,000 graduates will be given jobs from the beginning of August utilizing the funds allocated for the youth brigades; that in addition to school uniforms, the midday meal now denied to the school children, will be restored to them and that the price of oil will not be increased, even by a cent, however much prices might increase in the world market.
Although it is possible for the government to utilize for some other purpose the monies allocated for the youth brigades by the previous government, it can be done only after obtaining approval for it from the parliament. However, no such approval had been obtained. Although the government has declared continuously through commercial advertisements that the Tax Amnesty Act and the compensation formula have been abolished, no amendment bills for that purpose have been tabled in parliament.
The Alliance goaded the trade unions against the UNP Government. The Alliance promised to them that it would give them everything they had requested after it came to power. The Alliance Government is now in such a pitiable state that it cannot drive back the demon it had summoned with great effort. Now the UNP is pressing the trade unions, and they demand that the 70% salary increase that had been promised be granted, and the compensation formula be abolished.
The Alliance roused the people against the peace negotiations that were in progress. It said that the UNP had joined the Norwegian Government and was betraying a part of the country to Prabhakaran. It also said that, when it came to power, it would change the ceasefire agreement, enter into a new ceasefire agreement, and would commence peace talks in a manner that would usher in an honorable peace.
Albeit the government has changed its stand now and is willing to commence peace talks under any terms, progress in that direction does not appear practicable in conditions in which the government itself has created an environment that is hostile to such a course of action. The UNP too is unlikely to be cooperative in such an effort.
Although the people who voted for the Alliance appear to have trusted the Janatha Vimukthi Peramuna (JVP) more, that party too has only been able to create greater confusion in the path followed by the country, rather than to lead the country along a correct path.
The Alliance Government will finally be compelled to repress the opposition parties for its own survival. The ultimate outcome of that action will be that the process of the collapse of the democratic institutions will become speedier, and the country will be pushed towards chaos.
Not only politicians but also the intellectuals, private sector and society as a whole will be responsible for the coming disaster. They all contributed to this path of destruction, or stood aside making no attempt to effect any correction, for their own selfish interests. Finally all, the educated and the uneducated, the civilized and the uncivilized, are compelled to be driven towards a great abyss. Perhaps wisdom will dawn on them after their fall into that abyss.