Barely two weeks into an year of austerity and elections, swing vine politics has returned to the spotlight as key political parties have begun horse trading, with multiple “Members of Parliament” breaking ranks and crossing over to other camps. The same old narratives are at play “we want to strengthen this person’s hands” to make this party secure a victory. The spectacle is gradually beginning to replace the “reform, restructure and rebuild” national narrative which had some cross-party support when Sri Lanka committed to the International Monetary Fund's (IMF).
There has been growing concern about the lack of a mandate for the Government to enact the long-term changes which were agreed to in the $ 2.9 billion IMF bailout package. Further delays in holding elections, at local government level also caused concern about erosion of democracy values in Sri Lanka. Yes, we need a Government with a mandate to restructure debt and push Sri Lanka towards a better governance model, but it is beginning to look like the same old faces are practising the same old politics, once again. Such politics, where individuals swing to whichever party grants them most benefits, or ministerial portfolios, have become the hallmark of Sri Lanka's many failures.
Timely elections are imperative for governance and democracy. However, it is indeed tragic that Sri Lankan politics, despite weathering the Easter Sunday bombings, Covid-19 pandemic, political turmoil and the worst economic crisis in Sri Lankan history, hasn’t evolved beyond petty party politics and that of the saviour mentality. What Sri Lankan politics should be focused on in 2024 is not the “who” in politics, but the “what”.
Our culture of political needs to shift from personality figures and hand out tactics, to that of building a national consensus on the national policies needed for Sri Lanka to pull itself out of the crisis. The political discourse on policies which need to evolve as well. Policies need to debated objectively, and we should encourage people to get involved in having their say.
The policies which a future Government (of 2024) enacts post elections, should have strong bipartisan support. To do this, national policy priorities need to be clearly identified, with practical approaches to achieving them formulated. Long, have policy making in Sri Lanka, been the realm of pundits and party leadership, and it has driven us to ruin. National policies should be sold to the public.
The voter must be cognisant of what they're voting for. In Sri Lanka, today, the younger generation, though many who have the means have left, remain the political driving force at the next elections. As such, the public must signal to the political parties that “it can’t be back to business” with how politics is practised from now on.
There has also been an outcry to replace tainted figures, with newer and younger faces. Many of those who have been gatekeepers for decades in Parliament have done little to improve the situation in Sri Lanka. The disdain against legacy politicians and “family politics” is evident, and will likely be reflected in any upcoming poll.
If Sri Lanka is to become a country where the average Joe has a fair go at making a life worth living, the change of the youth who protested last year needs to become evident. Our youth need to see a change in the political culture, to have faith in the change – that's needed.
If they do not see that as an outcome of the upcoming elections, those who do not have the means to migrate, will either take to the streets in a repeat of last year, or worse, take up arms, like many times before. Sri Lanka as a country can't afford such politics anymore. We must change our political culture to change Sri Lanka to a place where there is hope for a future.