Manoj Hettige

Many things were written and said on the current political situation in Sri Lanka and the message bringing from this note may not be new, but it is thought that the need of the day should be echoed in every corner and as many times as possible. History is repeating. Sri Lanka once again became to a shape of the stray planet with a defeated nation from the last presidential election. It is the need of this hour to find a political savior to reverse the situation.

Two political fronts mainly appear to have rallied around the common candidate in the last presidential election. Those who wished to bring a UNP Government, purely because of their political alliance, belonged to the first group.  They are inherently UNPs and do not hold any value in political changes. Those who wanted to see the administrative change out of the Rajapaksha presidency belong to the second group. But, many of those may not have thought that country would have to pay back an enormous cost for such a change and found they were mistaken. Generally, humans tend to correct the mistakes once they come to know. But, unfortunately, there are few who do not want to accept their mistakes and still argue that Mahinda should not come back to the active politics, at any risk to the national economy, security and sovereignty of the country.

Some pundits still propagate a myth that forming a new government helped the country; firstly, to face the international war crime charges and secondly, to expedite the reconciliation process in the Northeast.  Those scholars preached similar proverb, prior to the LTTE defeat also, propagating that there is no solution other than peace talks and ceasefire to resolve the LTTE problem, which is now proven false. Despite that blind belief, it is a fact that none of those NGOs and UN agencies has abandoned the plans to bring the war crimes charges. United Nations openly said that they are on a process of entering into an agreement with SL Government to finalize the accountability and reconciliation issues, which would mean to frame Rajapaksha family and Sri Lankan army officers. As the news come out, it is heard that President Sirisena is also using the war crime charges as a threat to keep away Mahinda from politics. The real end of these incidents will easily pave the way to build LTTE very strongly and leave the country divided peacefully as they have planned many times before.

Election of Sirisena as the president gave the backdoor access to Wikramasingha to the premiership of the country, making another blow to the honor and sovereignty of its nation. Nobody was much conscious whether it would lead to a back door access to an UNP government when they voted for an administrative change. Champika Ranwaka, who was a strong campaigner to Sirisena repeatedly, said in the election campaign that Wkramasingha will never become the premier but someone who can win the majority in the parliament. Today, it has become a main objective of the Sirisena Government to punish Mahinda and other officers who fought against LTTE on the name of war crimes in order to appease the LTTE Diaspora and world powers.

Jathika Hela Urumaya, (JHU) who emerges as a Singhalese nationalist political party and self proclaimed as a front guider to the nation on critical national issues has been doing most treacherous act today. JHU who declared that they need a new government only to bring the necessary constitutional changes and establish a good governance framework in the country, was not only unsuccessful in their expectation but also surprisingly, changed their Singhalese nationalistic tune to suit with the policies of the antinational coalition government lead by UNP. This is the second drama they made after their Darma Rajjaya” episode which helped them to gain substantial power in the former Mahinda Rajapaksha government. They now have been sufficiently establishing the fact that they helped not only to bring a UNP government but also to maintain it giving silent coverage to its antinational programme.

It is true that Mahinda’s regime too have had shortcomings which some one, however, can easily justify otherwise. One example could be the accusation on the unsuccessful projects commenced. However, it is a fact that no project ever completed could consider as a 100% beneficial or successful. It is equally true that you cannot see a 100% perfect leader that can make everyone happy. But, what you can get is a most preferable one. In that sense, what was existed in Sri Lanka is a much more preferable government than we have today, which is a fact being experienced by every citizen today.

SL Government today runs in different directions without any concentrated effort to bring the honour, prosperity and good governance to the county. Prime Minister Wikramasingha’s main duty is to monitor and coordinate with FCID to question and arrest those who show allegiance to the former President political front. But, the same rule is not equally applied to those joined with the Government. The Governor of the central bank who made a biggest loss to the country’s financial sector has not been subjected to any action. The MP revealed by the hereon smuggler Wele Suda”, was only questioned but not subjected to any action, once he declared allegiance to the Government. Foreign minister, Managala Samarwaweera’s main duty appears to hold discussions with LTTE Diasporas and make exaggerated accusations to Rajapaksha family only. And, the economy is now day by day getting worse and worse owing to the inability of the government. In this situation, it is very much clear that Maithreepala Sirisena, as the President of Sri Lanka has no control or senses over what is happening or what will be going to happen next in his Government. People’s selection was wrong and Maithreepala Sirisena sufficiently exhibit poor leadership qualities that suit no more than a Civil Servant at village level (Gramasevaka). This is a good situation only for those opportunistic political parties such as JVP, JHU who eyes to grab the power or executive presidency. In this backdrop, it would be a last chance for the Sri Lankan people to enjoy the privileges of a unitary state or prosperous economy, unless we take sensible political decisions in response to the situation.

The president Sirisena pledged that he will not bring his family members to politics or government positions but, did completely opposite. He pledged that he will not come back again as a president and wanted to purify the politics by doing very good things unlike past pesidents. But, what he talks from one end of his tongue does not know the other end. He wants the people to accept him as the sole leader of his party which is the same wish that the former leader of LTTE, Prabakaran too had. Is this the good governance that Mr. Sirisena pledged to deliver as a president of Sri Lanka?

If Sirisena is so unselfish, why he can not allow Mahinda Rajapaksha to come back to politics from SLFP, a party for which 2-3 generations of Rajapaksha family dedicated the good times of their lives. If he can cooperate with LTTE Diaspora and discuss to free the LTTE murderers from the prison, why he can not forgot all the differences and join hands with Rajapaksha (who freed the country from terrorism and earned enough praise from the people) to take his own party, SLFP and the country to the victorious path? If it is not happening, the closest reason is that, Sirisena is executing a political contract to keep Ranil Wikramasingha as the prime minister in his government. On the other hand, Sirisena delivers another message that he is a man of LTTE Diaspora and western powers but not the true representation of the peoples of Sri Lanka.

Thus, election of Sirisena as a president would be a defeat for the nation, but would be something recoverable, if we all give strength to the political front of Mahinda Rajapakshe and vote for him to become as the premier in the forthcoming Parliament election. Some pundits appear to be questioning that why we should not choose for an alternative instead of sticking to only one leader. Because, it is the urgent need of this hour and there is no time to build the leaders in long term plans. When the people like Ranil Wikramasinghe, a man of LTTE Diaspora and Western powers is no more in the politics; we will have good time to test the new leaders. Otherwise, we all would struck in a trap made by the LTTE Diaspora and the western powers by our own means and lead our country to a troubled nation like Egypt, Lebanon or Libya. I wish that I would not be a doomed one to see such a miserable condition in this beloved motherland..!

Manoj Hettige