“Yahapalanaya” was springboard for refined livelihood 

 

 

Yahapalanaya is the novel elevated profile count to the Sri Lankan political glossary. Henchmen and loyalists of the preceding Rajapaksa command fondness to whirl around this expression, jazz on it and strive and compose it gaze like some bizarre craze or a hilarious yarn. The narrative is the perception that purely stands which illustrates good governance. Commonly, all citizens who reside in developed western world do enjoy Yahapalanaya despite intermittent failures. 

In Australia, we scrutinize the model in operation virtually all of the time. Yahapalanaya is, thus, basically an ideal that citizens anywhere in the civilised world would anticipate from their governing elites. All citizens are permitted to it and it is an accepted communal treaty that underlies such a public anticipation. To ridicule at, it is deceitful and unpatriotic. 

Yahapalanaya, was the spine of refined livelihood. People should acquire a government that is answerable for them for the substance it provides. Government is not any dictator’s masked possessions. The leader, his kids and siblings cannot go around indulging in money laundering, bribery, intimidation, and misappropriating government cash. They do not possess a licence to threaten, abduct and to murder persons whom they distinguish as obstacles. No leader in the ruling elite should be above the law. 

Illegitimate impeachments 

The law of the land ought to be supreme constantly. If an explicit law is not precise, the peoples’ representatives in parliament could change or amend it. But once in the state manuscript, laws have to be obeyed and practical to everyone uniformly and sans bias, fear or favour. When their time concludes, ruling parties ought to learn to go enthusiastically devoid of stretching the constitution in order to keep them prolonged in power. When the moment comes to face elections must be free. Law enforcing officers must be independent of political control and cops should not work for the offices of MPs. Above all, the judiciary must be completely free to consider judgements without being beleaguered by telephone calls from the boss, his relatives or “Baby Mahattayas”; or sans the panic of illegitimate impeachments. 

In authentic essence, the above distinctiveness characterizes ‘Yahapalanaya’. The concept ‘Yahapalanaya’ makes rulers panic the citizens and that is what it should be. Throughout the regimes that Sri Lanka had, people dreadfully feared their rulers, their siblings, their baby Mahattayas and their allies and cronies. The latter were swarming all over and intrusive all over the place. They were booming in robbing public money and valet them to buy property in the name of even aged grandmothers and other inexplicable persons. 

Millions worth of property had been purchased via this technique. And now, finding that owners are scared to claim them, the court has been compelled to have these properties auctioned or confiscated. True owners are missing in action evading apprehend. The culprits emerge as blameless and they are jovial all the time. “Catch me if you can,” they seem to say as their symbol theme. This is comparable to a cat and mouse pastime. 

Work-in-progress phenomenon 

It is very significant to emphasise that ‘Yahapalanaya’ is a typical model or supreme it can be, for that cause, never be a job accomplished or be done with. It is always and will always be a work-in-progress phenomenon. We have to endeavour to realise it. That implies there would be innumerable obstacles on the thoroughfare that crop up from time to time. ‘Yahapalanay’a becomes a goal-steering route in such a perspective. The revolution of January 8th 2015 created the promised podium of ‘Yahapalanaya’, the official strategy of the new regime of Maithripala cum Ranil is to fulfil people’s aspirations. 

The fact that ‘Yahapalanaya’ has been officially adopted is an achievement since this had not been the attitude previously. Impunity was predominant in the air scattered all over. Some of the basics have now been accomplished. The judiciary is liberated. Independent Commissions have been established to minimise political interference in the activities of the Elections Commissioner, Public Service and Police. The passing of the Right to Information Act was also a major accomplishment. Sturdy and independent civil society artillery is a fundamental element of a democratic process flanked by independent media. In this framework one may refer to it as a mediator between the state and the private sector. 

Civil societies 

The’ Purawesi Balaya’ and the free and just society organisation that Ven. Maduluwawe Sobitha fashioned are exceptional illustrations. It is on record that these two organisations played an influential role in ousting the rule of the Rajapaksas. They now continue to brawl with ‘Yahapalanaya’. One has to fight for ‘Yahapalanaya’ all the time and eternally since, as stated above, ‘Yahapalanaya’ is not something that will be a finished product at a given point in time but is always enduring. 

There are many things that civil societies could accomplish viz: verify and restrain central state command; watch how the state uses power and step in to intervene; encourage political involvement by encouraging political literacy, constructing perception about rights etc; encourage additional ethics of democracy like tolerance, compromise etc; uphold new forms of unity that slash across prevalent religious and ethnic issues. On the other hand, factions of the previous regime keep chanting that “nothing has been done.” to date except completing projects they had commenced. Within the post triumph period this amount of work accomplished is immensely adequate. 

Even Mahinda Rajapaksa was on track by constructing highways only after five years of his rule but he left the coffers in treasury empty. This forced for fresh financial resources to be created. Direct foreign investment, which never came must now be encouraged. 

Notwithstanding a ruthless debt crisis, the signs are generally excellent. Political steadiness seems dense and gigantic projects like the Megapolis development and the proposed new Hambantota development plans are to get off the blocks soon. The Central express highway and the Northern express highways are under construction along with the extension of the Southern express highway. 

In this context the good governance mixed marriage government which is only over a year in existence is confident of flourishing. 

Sunil Thenabadu in Brisbane