Thursday, November 12, 2009

Political Wisdom

Was chatting to a friend yesterday and he said something rather interesting.

"When Premadasa was in power, we said JR was good. When Chandrika was in power we said Premadasa was good. When Mahinda is in power we say Chandrika was good."

Going on this form we may safely assume that should the leadership change at the next presidential election we will probably be saying Mahinda was good.

There is speculation that General Fonseka will contest as the common opposition candidate, should another presidential election be held. On hearing this, another friend remarked that the UNP does not seem to have learned a lesson from the last time they tried this strategy - at the Colombo Municipal Council elections.

Having messed up its nomination, the UNP came into an alliance with another small party, whose name escapes me (the election symbol was a pair of spectacles). People were asked to vote for this party instead of the UNP and vote they did. Once elected however, the party refused to cooperate with the UNP with the net result that a three wheeler driver became the mayor.

Such are the times we live in.

14 comments:

Dee said...

whoever says chandrika was good? O.o

Whacko said...

IMO mostly these are just layman observations flippantly trying to catch the mood of current dissatisfaction. I dont think many people think Chandrika was really better than Mahinda. JR and Premadsa both had their plus points. But Premadasa's capability of having a vision totally trumps JR's constitutional muddling. JR on the other hand, brought about some key economic reforms.But totally failed to effectively manage the emerging ethnic conflict.

Anonymous said...

CJ how dare you bog about "layman observations" ? Instead hire our Going (Global)ly acclaimed political analyst of Whacko fame ! How dare you CJ? I ask you again. How dare you insult the wisdom of a guy never even born during JR's period but talks as if they went to school together? For all affairs constitutional, people please turn to Mr. Whackster Fuckster ! He knows it all ! His wisdom should not be undervalued. Use it people. Use it. He's quite a thing really !

Jack Point said...

Well, I for one agree with the views, flippant though they may seem:)

And yes Dee, I prefer the old Queen Bee.

Whacko said...

lmao i have a fan base. didn't mean to insult your views jack. just giving mine. personally i think they all could've been better.

Queen from Another Planet said...

Well, CBK will never be praised by me, but lay people's observations should count for something, because heck, we are the ones living this nightmare!

Can't say much about JR, but Premadasa definitely had his positives.

CBK - the less said the better, but to her credit, she is the one who introduced media freedom to SL (and the media thanked her by writing about how many shots of scotch she drank).

MR - if I comment on him, will I get arrested? :O

Jack Point said...

Hey Whacko, feel free to air your views, I'm not insulted at all.

pissu perera said...

i wonder how much that observation is to do with politics and how much with human nature.

maybe it's just me, but with time i tend to forget the bad and only remember the good so that most previous times seem better than now (even when if you think about it, it really wasn't).

case in point, when the principal of one of my old schools changed we kept comparing the new one to the old one and the new one always fell short. then someone remembered the first days of the (now) old principal. they weren't that great either.

Jack Point said...

Very good point PP, very good point.

Gadgetgirl said...

I second Dee.

Serendib_Isle said...

At the risk of sounding much older than Wacko, let me say this. I was a school kid during JR’s regime and I think he was the best president ever. He assembled a cabinet that consisted of the best-man-for-every-job. Look at Premadasa (Housing: shelter for all by 2000), Gamini Dissnayake (Mahaweli: growing cabbage in Dambulla was never even imagined), Lalith Athulathmudali (Colombo Harbour was the best in South Asia), Ronnie De Mel, ACS Hameed, Nisshanka Wijeratne, and even Ranil W with the youth..! (Yes he was called the Pink Lips then). Even Speaker Lokubandara rejuvenated Ayurveda and planted so many “osu-uyana”s - he hasn’t done zilch for Haputale, or for the country ever since. JR was a great “leader” and his only draw back was undermining the Tamil uprising.

To put things in perspective, look at it this way. When the country has a wealth-generating president, you know he is good for the country. When the country has a wealth-consuming president, you know he or she is just bad.

N B said...

Gamini = Mahaweli , International Test Cricket status for SL
Lalith = Ports, Mahapola
Premadasa = Gam udawa , Murders
JR = Executive presidency & constitutional blunders.
Ranil = Batalanda and gay connections
Chandrika = ????? NB tries to comprehend !
Mahinda = War victory

Nothing extraordinary really.... If you are seriously looking for visionaries in politics, suggest you look at
Lee Kuan Yew - Singapore ,
Mahathir Mohamed - Malaysia ,
Sheikh Zayed Bin Sultan Al Nahyan - UAE (Dubai)
Hu Jintao - China

Not sure where our idiots rank when compared with these benchmarks !

NB

Serendib_Isle said...

Just a point of clarification to NB's comment:
Sheikh Nahyan = UAE (He’s the man behind uniting the seven independent states or “emirates”)
Sheikh Mohammed Bin Rashid Al Maktoum = Dubai (He is the visionary behind Dubai)

Jack Point said...

Good point Serendib.

NB's - highlights of the various leaders is also good.

However, for me, if ever there was a villain in SL politics it was the Old Fox. He is responsible for the mess we are in. The Executive Presidency/new constitution, intimidation and politicisation of the judiciary, undermining what remained of the civil service - political appointees as permanent secretaries, 1983 and the march to Kandy in the 1950'sthat resulted in Banda tearing up the BC pact.

One man the devil can keep.