K. B. H. Colombo-06 Courtesy The Island

January 5, 2018, 9:59 pm
The Jappanaka Sutta could be a lesson to the voter for the forthcoming Local Government Elections. Does “Yahapalana Regime” qualify to the teachings of the Buddha in the Jappananaka Sutta, which is based on six animals, the crocodile living in water, snake living in an ant hill, a bird flying in the sky, a fox living in a cemetery, a monkey living on trees and a dog living in a village are tied together by a rope. Descriptive analysis is made as to the consequences of such a tie up and is vividly described in the Sutta.

The pattern of behavior of six are different, they are not similar to each other’s. The Buddha gives an example. Those six are tied up separately from six pieces of rope. The remaining ends are tied up together. Now all the six animals are tied together are attempting to go to their usual areas of habitat. Then the crocodile pulls to water, the snake pulls to creep into the anthill, the bird tries to fly in the sky, the monkey tries to climb trees, the fox tries to run to the cemetery, the dog pulls go to the village. All six are pulling in six different directions.

The Jappanaka Sutta was preached to explain “Sati’ when one gets engaged in meditation. One can compare this situation in the context what is happening in good governance under the “Yahapalana” regime today. This unholy alliance of political parties, evolved due to fortuitous circumstances, has put the voter in a quandary. Many voters have expressed they shall not exercise their votes as there are no suitable candidates to cast their votes for. So the opportunity has been created for large scale impersonations for which the elections commissioner remains helpless.

The Yahaplana regime is loosely bonded together, due to greed for power and, unprecedented perks bestowed on Parliamentarians by the yahapalana regime during the three years of their good governance, and hatred prevailing within the established parties towards party leadership where the party discipline had been shattered due to greed for power.

Unfortunately, what has happened, is that the poor voter is suffering while the politicians who get elected accumulate wealth, enjoy power at the expense of the average voter.

So the voter should be sensitive enough to cast their votes so that a scenario of the Presidential election or the subsequent general election shall not get repeated in the future, for the de-establishment of the country, in the guise of good governance.

K. B. H. Colombo-06