I have always respected Champika Ranawaka for his genuine ideological stands. He has and I suspect, continues to indulge in politics that aren’t necessarily considerate of the rights and privileges legally endowed on non Sinhalese minorities – for that he needs to be taken on, but his authenticity and consistency has to be appreciated. The issue with ideology is that many politicians do not consider it to be all encompassing, Ranil Wickremasinghe reflect his neo-liberal bearings in his smart attire, Anura Kumara wears a very cheap Casio digital wristwatch analogous (no pun intended) with his Marxist bearings, and Champika’s attire including the spectacle frame he uses goes on to show how much he wants to separate himself from ideological manifestations of those that are not indigenous to Sri Lanka. I understand ‘indigenous’ is a loaded term. Muslim politicians could have led the way in this whole election; Islam could have salvaged them from the pity depths that they have descended to. The corruption, injustice, vengeance, murder, violence and other vitriolic acts of this government could have been taken to task if the Muslim politicians had used Islam as their moral compass, which in no way contravenes Sri Lankan law or culture. Instead, Muslim politicians (vast majority, though not all), cannot come clean and break away from the regime, for all the skeletons they have in their closets. Of course, some clean Muslim politicians can’t break off due to political posturing and overall myopia, but that is fodder for a different rant. When Champika Ranawaka confidently (not foolhardily) says that he has no ‘files’ against him, he has remained true to his values and can champion the causes of his constituency – Buddhist voters, because of it, not inspite of it. When Muslim politicians, by not maintaining a moral compass, have let down not just themselves, but those who voted for them. This is why Sri Lanka needs voters who vote for values and not just allegiances, where the Sinhalese or Tamils will vote for a Muslim whose politics is not parochial or insular, but based on good values, and Muslims and Tamils can vote for a Sinhala or Tamil leader.
Posted on: Sun, 07 Dec 2014 10:57:09 +0000
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