Press statement of De Dham Rakno-Daya Wijesinghe 14th January, 2010

This presidential election is different to all previous ones. This is the first time that an army general is contesting for the presidency. One of the principal candidates, President Mahinda Rajapaksa, is a statesman par excellence and an extra ordinary politician who was able to defeat terrorism in spite of the tremendous pressure brought against the military campaign by foreign powers. He was thus able to ensure the security of the people, which no previous President could do. His good and bad qualities, strengths and weaknesses, in respect of governing the country, are known to every one. Mr. Sarath Fonseka, the other principal candidate, is the ex-commander of the army and an able battle hardened soldier. As to how he would perform as the president of the country, one can only infer and guess from the way he goes about his election campaign and from the policies of the parties that are supporting him.

The people are grateful to the President for not only defeating terrorism, but also for preventing disharmony among the people, by resisting demands for more devolution that would strengthen separatism. They admire with pride, how he continues to overcome the conspiracies of western powers to rekindle separatism in the country. Yet, the people have begun to entertain doubts as to whether he could realize for them their future expectations. The reasons are; not making appointments according to merit, the suffering people have to undergo due to corruption, thugery and rising cost of living. All of these are mainly caused by politicization of state institutions that began in 1970, increased rapidly from 1977 onwards, and continues unchecked under the Rajapaksa administration as well. After defeating the LTTE, it is quite right and just for the voter to consider that now the priority should be to establish good governance. It is apparent that to accomplish this task, the people are prepared to consider Mr. Sarath Fonseka, who is a new comer to politics.

At every election since the 1960s, false promises have been made to bring down the cost of living. Since 1977, the bogus promise of righteous governance too has been added. These have become just empty words uttered by politicians at election times. In this scenario, what is the path to good governance?

It is the conviction of our organization, that good governance cannot be established by allowing ourselves to be deceived by politicians who seek election to public office. The solution lies in the patriotic forces of the country endeavouring to create a strong public opinion about it, and by bringing pressure on the government to listen to the people. We doubt whether it can be achieved by foreign funded NGOs holding seminars in five star hotels on transparency, good governance and human rights. Many such NGOs also render support to the agenda of dividing the nation, as required by their western funders. The people are wise to this. As a result, these NGOs do not have wide public support to make an impact on the government.

From the time President Chandrika Kumaranathunga introduced the devolution package in 1995, millions of dollars were spent by NGOs to launch programs through out the country as well as within the armed forces, to change the mind set of the Sinhalese and destroy their morale, so that they would give into the demand for federalism. Yet the patriots, organizing themselves under various organizations big and small, working openly and silently, purely as volunteers and without any resources, were able to defeat the NGO schemes. Similarly, patriotic expatriate groups challenged powerful LTTE organizations in foreign countries, even without the support of our embassies. It is the wide public opinion created in the country by this national movement as a whole, which created the political leadership to defeat the LTTE.

These same organizations should once again be active in defeating the attempts of local and foreign forces to divide the country, through further devolution of powers to PCs. With no less commitment, these organizations should also prevail upon the government to implement legislation that would put a stop to corruption and ensure good governance.

Though our small organization is hardly known, we have been able to prevail upon the government, at times together with other organizations, on certain issues that affected the people and obtain redress. Based on our own such positive experiences, we are optimistic that if several more people’s organizations scattered across the country, act likewise without limiting themselves to social service activities, and get involved in political issues while remaining independent of political parties, it would not be difficult to bring about good governance our country needs.

Nevertheless, we cannot deny the fact that in the event of our country being led by an exceptionaly wise, able and honest person, with the backing of a party whose members in the legislature cannot be bought over by local or foreign interests, we could have good governance even without any contribution on the part of the citizenry, as in Singapore. It is in this light that we have to consider whether the election of Mr. Sarath Fonseka, would realize the expectations of the people.

Unfortunately, Mr. Sarath Fonseka has entered the fray as the joint candidate of the UNP which is in the grip of Mr. Ranil Wickremasinghe, the SLMC of Mr. Rauff Hakeem, DPF of Mr. Mano Ganeshan, Ma faction of Mr. Mangala Samaraweera and the JVP. The first four, not only strongly opposed and ridiculed military operations, but they also supported Western states to stop those operations.

The person who is in the forefront of these anti nationals is Mr. Ranil Wickremasinghe. He identifies himself ideologically with the West and endeavours to sway the cultural, economic and political direction of the country to serve western interests. He was successful in executing western directives, as in the case of the cease fire agreement with the LTTE, because he has been able to hold onto the leadership of the UNP. A good part of the population is loyal to the UNP, as it’s past leaders like D.S. Senanayaka, Dudley Senanayaka and Ranasinghe Premadasa, who were eminent figures, are still held in high esteem by the people. To maintain party leadership against internal opposition, Mr. Wickremasinghe very cunningly and discreetly changed the party constitution, so that he can remain as the leader till he resigns or expires. Knowing that he has no chance of being elected as President, it is clear that this time he is trying to fulfill his political dreams through the election of Mr. Fonseka.

Mr. Sarath Fonseka is admired by the people not only because he is a war hero, but also because he was considered to be a nationalist. But the dire consequences of his getting caught in the trap of those anti-nationals headed by Mr. Wickremasinghe are already to be seen. He has been pushed to the state where he makes the false accusation, that Mr. Gotabhaya Rajapaksa ordered Tiger leaders surrendering with white flags be killed. This allegation is one that shows utter disrespect and ingratitude to his superiors. Further, he has betrayed them and made way for them as well as his subordinate officers to be hauled before an international war crimes court as desired by western conspirators. It is therefore not surprising to find Mr. Fonseka yielding to the Tamil separatist parties’ demands such as removal of bases in the North, further devolution of powers to the Provincial Councils and the re-joining of Northern and Eastern provinces. But has anybody the right to hand back to the Tamil separatists the land that the soldiers won by sacrificing lives and limbs?

Though the JVP was vehemently opposed to the above parties on the issues of defeating the LTTE and the sale of national resources to foreigners, it has entered into an opportunistic alliance with them. It is quite clear that it’s main intention is to contest the general election through this unholy alliance, so that it could save itself from the humiliating defeat it suffered by contesting alone at the provincial council elections.

The slogans put forwarded to justify their coming together on a single platform are; ending of executive presidency, eradication of corruption and the establishment of good governance. Yet, just as in the governing parties, there is neither financial transparency nor democracy in these parties too. Besides, corruption and thugery were rampant when they were enjoying state power too. With regard to the JVP, even if we relegate to history the terror it unleashed in ’71 and ’87, we cannot disregard it’s systematic use of thugery, within the bodies it controls. The best example is the cruelty executed through the student unions, in the name of ragging, to exercise control of the student population in the universities.

The Tamil separatist politicians who have been backing the LTTE to the very last, and still vehemently demand self governance for a mythical Tamil homeland, have also now come forwarded to support Mr. Fonseka. He has promised to create, if elected, a corrupt free, peaceful and democratic nation while making the people prosperous. The people have to very seriously consider, whether Mr. Fonseka is sufficiently endowed with qualities of honesty, sensitivity, affability, flexibility, political wisdom and maturity, to patiently steer the power hungry parties with contradictory political ideologies that support him, to achieve his stated goals. The challenges he face are made even more formidable by the fact that the foreign forces that conspire to fragment the country and get hold of it’s resources by rekindling racist separatism, are being backed by the anglophilic political leaders who support him. He should therefore have an extraordinary ability to patiently and tactfully handle the political crises that would arise under such circumstances. This is much more complex than, and completely different to, simply commanding one’s subordinates in the army to fall in line. Ruling a democratic civil society where various groups with different ideologies operate, like an army, would be a sure recipe for chaos and disaster.

In this campaign, very subtle techniques have been adopted to instill not only high hopes, but also hatred and jealousy in the minds of the public, to blur their vision and secure votes. Hence, the voter is faced with the difficult task of making the correct choice, in the interest of the nation and future generations, with a clear mind, by comparing the good and the bad qualities, as well as the strengths and weaknesses, of each candidate.

It is a sacred obligation that we cannot ignore, without being contended that terrorism has been crushed, to use our vote wisely, so that there can be no room for economic setbacks or separatism to raise it’s ugly head.

ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ Daya Wijesinghe 14th January, 2010

The writer is the president of De Dham Rakno and could be contacted at; dedhamrakno@gmail.com