CELEBRATING 75 YEARS OF BANKRUPTCY

Sri Lankans have run short of patience for meaningless promises that are designed to be broken and the practice of spending millions on ego trips as the island bleeds more

MARKING national Independence or founders days are important for nation states. While they may be sober, understated events or full of pomp and pageantry, the idea is to remind nations of collective aspirations and achievements. They are reminders for resets, honest reflection and taking stock.

For Sri Lanka, 75 years of self-rule should have been cause for celebration. But most Sri Lankans are not just vexed by the political tribe for their failure to be accountable but are angrier due to the lack of delivery and politicians’ refusal to steer towards a new economic and political order despite being in the face of a deepening crisis.

If the recent large-scale protests had one message, it was the collective public outrage towards Sri Lanka’s failed political elite. For the large majority of Sri Lankans, February 4 should have been the day to mark a resplendent island’s proud history but instead, it is now a reminder of a legacy of irreversible damage, of self-destruction.

Never have Sri Lankans been as critical of anational celebration as they were of the February 4 event. Overlooking the public outrage, President Ranil Wickremesinghe decided to mark the event at a cost of nearly USD 529,997 and in his address to the nation, called for a course correction by rectifying errors and failures”. Sri Lankans by now have run short of patience for the meaningless promises that were designed to be broken, and the practice of busting millions to go on ego trips as the island continues to bleed.

However, there is the counterpoint by a fraction of the society that national days are important as the idea is to mark such events as a collective”, with emphasis being laid on the collective celebration.