8,9,10 or 08th September, 2010 is a day that will go into the history books of Sri Lanka. For some it will be the day that democracy was stabbed in the back quite viciously, while for others, it will be a day when their hero cemented his rightful place at the top of the feeding chain of politics.
For the past few days the news media has been chock full of various articles, opinions and letters regarding what is known as the proposed 18th amendment to the constitution of Sri Lanka. The merits and the demerits of the proposed amendment have been discussed, praised and vilified ad nauseum in every forum from the parliament to the street corners.
while all this is well and good and also part and parcel of a proper democratic system that should tolerate the discussion of various differing opinions, there’s a remarked lack of discussion of another event that will play a very important role in placing 8,9,10 in the history books.
The reason the amendment will even have a hope of being passed into the law books today is because a section of the opposition members have pledged their support to the Government and their proposal. Without such an expression of support, which has led to the garnering of a 2/3 majority in Parliament, this amendment would probably have ended up as just another fanciful dream of a ruling regime.
Now this is where I would like to step in and make my feelings known, even if it is just on an obscure blog such as this.
At the past general elections, I personally voted for the opposition in the hopes of having a controlling influence in parliament and also with the hope that at least some of sort of checks and balances would be in place to control the government from passing laws which are detrimental to my point of view.
While some people may think me quite naive for actually expecting a politician to stick to his promises and have some sort of ethical backbone, I actually exercised my voting privilege with the expectation of the person I was voting for would prevent the 2/3 majority being given to the government. But now it seems that the ground situation has taken a drastic shift.
Opposition MP’s who were voted in on the platform of opposing the government and striving to bring about a change in the way things were being done, have suddenly done an about face and are expressing their exuberant support to the very person and government they campaigned against!
What bloody right does an MP have to suddenly shift his allegiance after being voted in on the hopes of the common man who wanted a change? I mean, if I wanted this government to have a 2/3 majority and do whatever they please, I would have voted for one of their candidates instead right?
Having being given the impression that my voice would be heard in the highest of legislature, I suddenly find myself carried over to the ruling party, thanks to the spineless vacillations of the opposition MP’s! My vote, which I actually do value quite a bit, has basically been taken from an opposing position and perverted to one that supports the person I voted against! How is this democracy??
Right now as I sit at my desk and read the various SMS’s that keep flowing in to inform me how more and more opposition MP’s are kissing the feet of the ‘King’, I feel nothing but a sense of betrayal and anger that nothing is being done to prevent my voting rights being perverted and misused by a bunch of back-boneless tarts!
I guess in essence, what I have been shown by the members of the so-called highest legislature in this country, is that my vote is worth about as much as a piece of paper that someone would wipe their butt with!
So for me, 8,9,10 will definitely go down in my personal history books, as the day my vote became worthless…
TheKillRomeoProject 