Former Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe is in the news again. Having been sworn in as the UNP’s National List MP, heis now proffering unsolicited advice to the government on what needs to be done to contain the raging pandemic and how to run the economy. He has picked holes in the national vaccination campaign, and called for the inoculation of all those above the age of 12. He also wants economic relief granted to the needyspeedily, and has called upon the government to heed doctors’ advice and warnings in taking vital decisions on pandemic control.
Wickremesinghe’s thinking has undergone so drastic a change since the crushing defeat of UNP at the 2020 general election that the public must be wondering what has really caused it. The same is true of others in the current Opposition; their thinking has also undergone a sea change. If they had, while in power, practiced what they are now asking the incumbent government to do—providing relief to the people, heeding expert advice, listening to public opinion, curtailing waste, etc., getting priorities right—they would not have suffered such a defeat at the 2020 general election.
Those who are currently in power are doing the opposite of what they promised to do while they were in the Opposition. They are now drawing public criticism for reneging on their promises. They raised the people’s expectations, which they have not been able to live up to.
In short, those who were the good guys when they were in the opposition have now become bad guys after being entrenched in power, and the bad guys who were in the yahapalana government have become good guys. This kind of role reversal we witness after every regime change may be so commonplace that one may not give it any careful thought. But a long, hard look at it could help us understand one of the main reasons for the degeneration of governance over the decades.
Oft-heard lament
An oft-heard lament is that Sri Lankan politics has degenerated over the past few decades so much so that it is now beyond redemption. Nobody, however, has been able to put his or her finger on what exactly went wrong with politics here, or when the rot actually set in. Opinion is divided on this score.
Some political observers are of the view that the rot could be traced back to the emergence of extremely powerful governments, and the adverse impact the abuse of power had on the country’s political culture and the ethos of the eras concerned. They maintain that the rot set in following thesteamroller majority the SLFP-led United Front government obtained at the 1970 general election, and the drastic changes governance underwent thereafter with the political authority undermining all other state institutions, especially the public service.
There are others who opine that the process of political degeneration accelerated after the 1977 parliamentary election, where the UNP won a five-sixths majority, which it abused in every conceivable manner to further its interests and perpetuate its rule at the expense of democracy, political traditions, and state institutions. The creation of the Executive Presidency withunbridled powers vested in it, also led to the debilitation of alldemocratic institutions, they point out. It is also claimed in some quarters that the open economy is responsible for the Age of Decadence we are living in.
All these arguments are not without merits and sometenability. But those who have, for several decades, watched andreported parliamentary proceedings and had a ringside view of what happens in the House, especially the changes that occur in politicians’ outlook when they have to shift from the government side to the Opposition benches, and vice versa, after general elections, may be able to bring in a new perspective to the ongoing discussion on the degeneration of governance.
Polls as a worrisome proposition for rulers
It is said that when governments fear people there is liberty,and when people fear governments there is tyranny. Those who exercise state power feel the need to conduct themselves properly only when they are troubled by the prospect of having to face elections. When they are consumed by the fear of losing elections and being held answerable for what they do while in power, they are compelled to refrain from abusing power and indulging in malpractices lest they should have to face the consequences of their actions.
In the developing world where democracy lacks robustness and systems are weak, politicians’ long stays in power invariably lead to bribery and corruption, abuse of power, theft of public wealth and other such malpractices. Sri Lankans’ habit of changing governments alternately during the first few decades after Independence had an unsettling effect on politicians, and regime changes gave state institutions some respite every five years or so. The rotation of the UNP and SLFP governments came to be known as thattumaru system, which, in fact, is an agricultural term meaning an arrangement where the co-owners of a piece of land take turns in cultivating it.
In the good old days, when politics was not a lucrative business, those who became people’s elected representativeswere mostly decent men and women. There were, of course,some bad eggs, but they were a miniscule minority and could not sway their parties or the legislature. Besides the quality, caliber and social standing of the politicians, another factor that prevented the deterioration of governance was that the governments did not have two-thirds majorities to make oramend laws to further their narrow political interests.
The situation, however, changed after 1970, when the SLFP-led United Front government won a two-thirds majority and was in a position to change laws at will. The Republican Constitution was promulgated in 1972.
In 1975, the UF government opened a new low in parliamentary politics by extending the life of the parliament by two years without an election, and caused a massive political pressure build-up, which helped the UNP sweep the polls in 1977, introduce the existing Constitution and postpone a general election with the help of a controversial referendum, which was heavily rigged. If the parliamentary election had been heldaccording to schedule in 1975, it would have helped release pressure in the polity and the UNP would not have receive a five-sixths majority in 1977. If the UNP had held a general election instead of a referendum in 1982, and acted democratically, the second JVP uprising would not have taken place.
It was the UNP that secured three consecutive parliamentary terms—in 1977, in 1982 and in 1989—for the first time in this country. It also produced two Presidents consecutively;President J. R. Jayewardene served two terms, and his successor Ranasinghe Premadasa was assassinated before completing his first term. The UNP’s 17-year rule upended the country pro-Independence political culture and opened many a new low in politics.
Degeneration continues
The formation of the SLFP-led People’s Alliance (PA) government in 1994 and the election of President Chandrika Kumaratunga a few months later were expected to usher in a new era in Sri Lankan politics. The regime change provided all democratic institutions with a much-needed breather. The new government introduced some progressive policies such as allowing the private television and radio stations to carry local news bulletins, but got into the same rut as its predecessor with the passage of time.
President Kumaratunga secured a second term in 1999; the PA won the 2000 general election, but was debilitated by mass crossovers. This became a blessing in disguise for the country because that government succumbed to pressure from the Opposition and pro-democracy activists to introduce the 17thAmendment to establish the Constitutional Council and Independent Commissions to depoliticise the state institutions.
The PA government fell in 2001, when the UNP-led United National Front (UNF) captured power in the parliament and positioned itself on a collision course with President Kumaratunga, who sacked it in 2004, enabling the SLFP-led UPFA, backed by the JVP, to form a government. The UPFA administration suffered a heavy setback when the JVP pulled outin protest against a move by President Kumaratunga to share tsunami relief with the LTTE. Prime Minister Mahinda Rajapaksa, who became the President in 2005, shored up the government with the help of crossovers from the UNP, defeated the LTTE, and launched mega infrastructural projects. The degeneration of governance continued with attacks on the Opposition and the media and political interference with the judiciary and the public service.
One of the first few things President Rajapaksa did afterwinning a second term and forming a new government by sweeping the polls in 2010 was to introduce the 18thAmendment, which effectively neutralized the 17th Amendment, and restored the executive powers of the President and did away with the two-term limit on the President. That administrationresorted to strongarm tactics to silence political dissent and became a law unto itself. It ruined things for itself apace and fell in 2015, when the UNP-led UNF came into power.
A breather, and false dawn
The change of government in 2015 saw the introduction of some pro-people policies. The 19th Amendment, introduced by the news administration, nullified the 18th Amendment and the status quo ante was restored. But Prime Minister Wickremesinghe succumbed to the arrogance of power and evenclashed with President Maithripala Sirisena, who broke ranks with the government in 2018.
Corruption thrived under Wickremesinghe’s stewardship. His administration became a metaphor for inefficiency, and neglected national security. Its poor performance on all fronts, corruption, abuse of power and the Easter Sunday attacks it did not care to prevent in spite of having received several warnings,and the Treasury bond scams were the main reasons why it collapsed in 2019, and could not win the general election the following year.
The SLPP-led caretaker government formed following the 2019 regime change adopted some pro-people measures, but the SLPP laid bare its true face after winning the 2020 general election and mustering a two-thirds majority with several crossovers from the Opposition. It introduced the 20thAmendment to do away with the 19th Amendment, which pruned down the executive powers of the President. The executive presidency is now as powerful as it was at the beginning.
What the change in Ranil signifies
Now, the heroes have become villains and vice versa. The SLPP leaders in power are accused of suppressing people’s democratic rights, and being involved in various rackets, while Wickremesinghe and Opposition Leader Sajith Premadasa are crusading for democracy and good governance and fighting for the people.
What one gathers from the discernible reformation former Prime Minister Wickremesinghe and those who were in his government have undergone, and the debilitation of democracy due to the perpetuation of governments is that politicians’ long stays in power, as outlined above, are detrimental to democracy in this country, and regime changes in a regular recurring orderyield some positive results where the recuperation of democracy is concerned, unless the winning party secures mammoth parliamentary majorities.
Electoral shocks are the political version of electroconvulsive therapy (ECT), a medical treatment for some mental patients; it brings politicians who let power go to their heads, to their senses. But its effect lasts only until the those who undergo shock therapy get elected and savor power again.
