Dr. Manodha Gamage says… If we are to raise the question why Sri Lanka is in a mess today, we all would point our fingers to politicians, so called leaders of the country. That may be just a part of the reason and I have a different idea. I believe we have to blame no body else, but ourselves, the general public for this mess.

We always say that most politicians are corrupt, they accept bribes/commissions, misuse public funds and their authority, don’t do their job as expected, don’t care for the future of the country and the public, encourage underworld and crimes, never fulfil the promises etc. This is all true for almost all politicians. It is not only the politicians are at fault with regard to most of the above allegations.

Let me consider a typical government employee, though most of these things are common to employees in the private sector too. We know how hard it is to get any work done at most government offices without offering bribes and how inefficient most of the government workers are.

Most government workers don’t come to their offices at the specified times, though they always leave early. Even if they come in, to mark the attendance before the red line, they are not ready to start work at the specified time. How many workers can we identify, who wish to do their jobs with responsibility? They make all their private calls from the office, use the official vehicles for their private travel, use the photocopy machines and printers for their personal work, always take the stationary, pens, pencils and many other little things home for their personal use, don’t feel guilty to go out of the office during office hours for private matters. These are almost the same wrong doings of politicians. May be these things are not done on a large scale as in the case of politicians, but we have to understand that there are only a few hundred politicians compared to millions of workers in both the public and private sectors. Therefore the impact on the economy through the wrong doings of the general public, could be the same or even more than that of the politicians.

So it is not only the politicians who are at fault for the downfall of the country; but we all are. It is ingrained in Sri Lankan culture to be selfish, lazy, do the minimum work and expect the maximum return, be corrupt, to steal and cheat, break all the rules and regulations etc. Until we change our attitudes, and work hard not only for us, but for the country, we would never come out of this mess. There is not much of a difference between our politicians and the general public. After all, this is a democracy - the politicians are the true representatives of the public!

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