LankaWeb Weekly Editorial

Feb.12th. 2011
Perhaps food for thought for the present administration, to heed judiciously relative to a recentƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚  newsƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ item as quoted citing the turn of events in Egypt which hasƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ stated very accurately that “The president tinkers with the constitution to suit his personal ambitions. The legislature and the judiciary remain subordinate to his whims and fancies. Corruption shoots through the roof and the first family and its cronies control the lion share of the national wealth. After thirty years in power, the ageing autocrat plans a dynastic succession. His party wins sham elections with massive margins. Sounds familiar?ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚  which indeed it does as applicable toƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ the right circumstancesƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ ~ “But, all hell breaks loose for the ruling regime within a matter of days. Hundred of thousands take to the streets, demanding the leader quits. A popular upheaval that began with a revolution in Tunisia is spreading to other countries in the region. The Arab spring has begun.

How feasible it is to have a colour revolution in Sri Lanka? Opposition leaders would savour at the thought. In fact, Mangala Samaraweera, MP believes that a change is coming soon. He told a press conference last week that feudal, autocratic regimes were crumbling worldwide. Sri Lanka cannot be an exception to this trend, he quipped enthusiastically.

After an attack on a peaceful demo of the opposition on Friday, UNP General Secretary Tissa Attanayake told this newspaper that the freedom for peaceful protest has been denied to the countryƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ¢-¾‚¢s main opposition. Sri Lanka is on a perilous path to become a dictatorship, he warned.”

While no real analogies can be drawn to these scenarios in Sri Lanka they do provide food for thought for the ruling party to heed as preventive measures needing to be taken to avoidƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚  what went wrong in Egypt over the past three decades as some of the pointers do attest to the possibility that any oversight leading to the wrongful perception by the masses that the President has indeed taken the same direction as Egypt’s Mubarak could easily project turmoil and unrest within Sri Lanka albeit the chances of it transpiring are remote and mythical as there are no comparisons to the circumstances beyond perhaps speculative paranoia projected by those opposed to the Rajapaksha administration.
ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ 
The rhetoric of the likes of Samaraweera and Attanayake amongst others of similar idealogies carry bias and discontentmen leaningƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚  towards their own ambitions and agendas which have no relevant bearing to what transpires in Sri Lanka today and proven true by the populace and their contentment as a majority augmented by many returning Sri Lankans in acceptance of the progress made by the present Adminstration’s attempts towards making Sri Lanka a better and saferƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ place to live in than ever before despite a few rough edges needing smoothening as part of the recovery and reconciliationƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ process!

What sounds more familiar is the slogan relative to “PeopleƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ¢-¾‚¢s power revolution” which has always been the ambit of the JVP overly optimistic with no fodder for their cannon except hot air that, ƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ…-People will rise up very soon. The days of this government are numbered.ƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ”š‚ which in the face of what the present Administration has accomplished thus far in post insurgent Sri Lanka is pure conjecture and somewhat laughable!

Perhaps in the face of the ambitions of “People’s Power Revolitionaries” and the nerve thereof,ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ part of the Administration’s future agenda should beƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ linked to all its acheivements in ridding Sri Lanka of the oppression which plagued the land for the past three decades.( an uncanny coincidental numerical analogy with Egypt) It should justifiably entail the eradication of revolution based political parties which have no place in a free democratic society and are obstacles towards progress and development of a nation so nearly torn apart through internal armed insurrection and succesfully thwarted off by this Administration and its armed forces.

Furthermore it seemsƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ inappropriate that the termƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ ‘a peopleƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ¢-¾‚¢s power revolution’ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ would be applicableƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ Sri Lanka primarily because Sri Lanka’s leadership is not an implant of foreign imperialist powers and has never been in the past whereas in many world troublespots ranging from certain Middle East, Latin American, South and East Asian as well as African countries this has been the malaise which facilitated the build-up of many mass protests if one were to assess and evaluate the cirumstances which led to them and prior to it as recorded in history the dictatorships of Dynastic Monarchies which projected revolution by the impoverished and suppressed masses tantamount to the same discontent which eventually deposed the leadership nonetheless.

In the case of Sri Lanka it is the leadership that is revered and adored by the masses for what was accomplished in ridding the Nation of what threatened to imperil and destroy its very existence and it will be wishful thinking by some that the sequence of events which deposed Egypt would apply to Sri Lanka where the mitigating factors are totally inapplicable to the latter despite imagined analogies and hopefully will never be the case as Sri Lankans remember for a very long time what the present Administration and its leadership has accomplished for the NationƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ .

The newsƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ item refered to initially also suggests very appropriately that “The absence of space for political participation through regular multiparty elections. Disenchantment and the anger of the public which built up for years exploded in mass protests, ousting aging autocrats.” is not at all true in the case of today’s Sri Lanka, has been in the past and perhaps foreseeably will never be in the future if the administration is wary of the circumstances that could project these all over again while also taking into consideration the pragmatic wisdom of the present leadership whose patriotism and love of motherland and ambition to project Sri Lanka into the upper echelons of global recognition while creating peace tranquility and contenetment synonymously are indisputable.They alone would be the strongest contending force for any eventuality to the contrary!

Taking all these into consideration a Copycat Scenario In Sri Lanka In The Aftermath Of Egypt Needs To Be Portrayed As Wishful Thinking By Some ~ Albeit a Cue For The Administration To Heed!