MAHINDA RAJAPAKSA TO BE SWORN IN AS PRIME MINISTER ;

HE IS THE SECOND MAN TO BECOME PM FROM THE NATIONALIST SOUTHERN PROVINCE OF SRI LANKA.

By Walter Jayawardhana reporting from Los Angeles

Mahinda Rajapaksa, Sri Lanka’s Leader of Opposition in the former parliament, will take oaths as the country’s 13th Prime Minister before President Chandrika Kumaratunga at 10.10 a.m. on Tuesday April 6, a spokesman for Rajapaksa said in Colombo.

Mahinda Rajapaksa, a lawyer who practiced mostly at Tangalle courts in the deep south of the country won the recent general elections obtaining the most number of preferential votes in Hambantota electoral district receiving 107, 603 votes.

This is the second time the Southern Province, an area considered to be strongly nationalist from the time of the epic King Dutugemunu , produced a Prime Minister in independent modern Sri Lanka. The first one was Dr. Wijayananda Dahanayaka who hailed from the Southern port city of Galle. Like Dahanayaka , Rajapksa received his education at Richmond College, Galle.

Political commentators in Colombo said, Rajapaksa’s greatest task would be to find out a simple majority in the parliament to carryon with ruling of his cabinet. His party, the United National Freedom Alliance (UNFA) lacks 8 seats in the parliament to carry on with the day to day activities of the government. Rajapaksa , a man believed to be capable of building bridges across opposing factions , is expected to find the majority among minority groups. Sri Lanka Muslim Congress Leader Rauf Hakeem said that Rajapaksa had already talked to him about the Muslim Party’s support to the minority government.

Mahinda Rajapaksa , was first elected to Sri Lanka’s parliament from the seat of Beliatta, in 1970, becoming the youngest member of parliament ever elected at the age of 24. His late father D.A.Rajapaksa represented the same electorate from 1947 to 1965.

Having deep roots in the Southern Province, he was born at Weeraketiya, received his preliminary education at Richmond College , Galle and practiced law mostly in Southern courts.

During his career as a Minister in the former People’s Alliance governments Mahinda was closely identified with labor rights and the much talked about ‘workers charter’ was his brain child. But strong opposition from Sri Lanka’s private sector prevented it FROM becoming law of the country. His political career was also closely associated with the politically powerful Buddhist monks of Sri Lanka.

In a rare honor , the Malwatte chapter of the Siyam Maha Nikaya conferred on him the honorary title , Sri Rohana Janaranjana.

Mahinda Rajapaksa: A man of the Masses

From the very outset of his career, Mahinda has adopted a centre-left political stance, identifying himself with labour rights and becoming a champion of human rights. His interest in world affairs is manifested from the close interest he has taken in finding a peaceful solution to the Middle East problem within the framework of a sovereign Palestinian state. He is also the President of the Sri Lankan Committee for Solidarity with Palestine for past 25 years.

Throughout his career, Mahinda has given leadership to the cause of uplifting youth, striving to achieve a higher quality of education and training (especially in rural areas) as well as working to reduce youth unemployment. Deeply aware of the violent rebellions of 1971 and 1987, which led to the death of thousands of young people especially in the South, Mahinda has worked tirelessly to prevent yet another such tragedy by striving to strengthen the process of representative democracy and working to reduce social and economic barriers. His remarkable record of human rights activities was honored by the Vishva Bharathi University of Culcutta in India with Professor of Emiratus.

Mahinda proved to be a remarkably successful Minister of Labour, despite suffering a major setback in being unable to bring his brainchild, the Worker’s Charter, into law. The charter sought to establish trade union rights, a Wages Commission, social security, a National Trade Union Training Institute and facilities the adjudication of industrial disputes. He also created the Vocational Training Authority to recognize the rising need of unemployed youth. He was equally dynamic Minister of Fisheries, initiating several important programmes such as housing programme for fishermen to improve the lives and livelihood of fisher-folk, and also strengthen the industrial base of the fisheries industry. Inland fisheries too, benefited from these reforms, with the national harvest almost doubling between 1994 and 2001. Infact he initiated the first ever University for Oceanography known as Sagara Vishwavidyalaya. Establishing a Coastal Guard Unit, a much needed security system for an Island nation was one of his remarkable steps taken as the Minister of Fisheries. In addition to the Portfolio of Fisheries, he also held the Portfolio of the Ports and Shipping for a short period of three months. Within this period he started and gazetted the much needed construction of Hambantota Harbour.

In opposition, Mahinda has been both respected and feared. He stood fearlessly against the autocratic regime of Ranasinghe Premadasa ( 1989-93), bravely opposing totalitarianism and working to restore democracy. His jana gosha, pada yatra, peaceful protest campaigns held the then government to ridicule and precipitated the reforms that followed the ascent of D. B. Wijethunga to the presidency.

Loyalty to principle and party has been the hallmark of Mahinda’s political philosophy. Loyalty was, after all, what his father, D. A. Rajapaksa, was especially remembered. When the SLFP’s founder, S.W.R.D. Bandaranaike, crossed over from the UNP to the SLFP in 1951, he was amazed to find that all his promised allies had abandoned him, but for D.A.R., who crossed with him.

A devout Buddhist and an ascetic at heart, worldly wealth has never beckoned to Mahinda. He was honored by the most venerable Malwatte Chapter by offering him a honorary title of “Sri Rohana Janaranjana” in the year 2000 which is a very rare occasion for a citizen of Sri Lanka. Even when he was a cabinet minister, he shunned security and lived the simplest of lives with the family and his sons continuing to attend a suburban missionary school. He was never tainted with the stigma or corruption, and is widely recognized for his integrity. Despite his strong “Southern Buddhist” identity, Mahinda has carefully steered away from bigotry and chauvinism. He has put his support firmly behind the on-going peace process, while warning of a need to look beyond addressing mere grievances, to realizing the full aspirations of the people, whether of the South or the North-East. Indeed, he has been one of the few post-Independence politicians who have found it possible to cast petty politics aside when dealing with national issues, such as the rights of minorities.

It has been written of Mahinda Rajapaksa, “If there walks on this earth today a man whose heart beats as one with the workers of the world, that man is this man.”
Mahinda is a leader with his finger firmly on the pulse of the people. He is a rebel with a cause and he has the vision to bring prosperity, peace and equity to all the people of Sri Lanka.

Copyright © 2003,2004 by Mahinda Rajapaksa