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The ranks of Tuscany have begun to eulogise Mr. Dallas Alahapperuma the Matara district SLFP MP now that he has announced his intention to quit politics ostensibly in disgust. Last week-end at least two Sunday newspapers featured him on page one packing his belongings before leaving his MP's residence at Madiwela while a Sunday English newspaper went to the fantastic lengths of singing his praises in a column.

Perhaps these newspapers which have found a sudden new hero in Mr. Alahapperuma believe in giving a man his due only when he is not in a position to enjoy it. We cannot remember this degree of newspaper enthusiasm for Mr. Alahapperuma during the last two elections he contested, not even last year when he set an example to other candidates by not advertising himself and occupying the same stage as his rivals.

Perhaps they were otherwise occupied or they only recognise a politician only after he or she leaves the PA for whatever reason but let us not quibble too much over these matters. We certainly do not grudge Mr. Alahapperuma his moment of glory.

The English scribes have suddenly come down from their ivory towers to discover that Mr. Alahapperuma had been a journalist before he took to the dirty game of politics and that his wife is a singer. Perhaps this has made him one of the boys as far as these scribes are concerned. But as for us Mr. Alahapperuma's entrance to and exit from politics holds out much more pertinent lessons than a man leaving the game in a sudden access of disgust.

Mr. Dallas Alahapperuma was the news editor of the 'Lakdiva,' a non-mainstream newspaper which took a lot of flak during President Premadasa's regime of media intolerance. As a newcomer to politics he did spectacularly well to get the highest number of preferential votes at the 1994 General Election from the Matara district.

During that Parliament he was a prominent member of the PA backbench which for some unknown reason styled itself the Mulberry Group.

In the last Parliament he was made one of the two Deputy Ministers of Cultural Affairs almost as an after thought. After that Parliament was brought down in a flurry of intrigue, Mr. Alahapperuma decided to call it a day without any rancour but it is the broad hints that he has given that the deserving do not receive their due which has created the present current of sympathy for him.

He certainly has a point. Reasons other than merit propel political leaders when they make their choices for the limited posts that are available at the top of the executive ladder. Most often it is those who come into politics out of a sense of idealism or public service who suffer most. Without being at least a Deputy Minister (and that too in an influential Ministry) one just cannot get close to the pork barrel. But that has been the reality for quite some time which certainly Mr. Alahapperuma should have known as a journalist. The question is how do we rectify this state of affairs in a situation of bitter competition not merely between political parties but also between individuals within the same party which politics has become today ?

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