{"id":113771,"date":"2021-04-25T23:18:58","date_gmt":"2021-04-26T05:18:58","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/?p=113771"},"modified":"2021-04-25T15:52:18","modified_gmt":"2021-04-25T22:52:18","slug":"birth-pangs-of-the-rajapaksa-satrapy","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/2021\/04\/25\/birth-pangs-of-the-rajapaksa-satrapy\/","title":{"rendered":"BIRTH PANGS OF THE RAJAPAKSA SATRAPY"},"content":{"rendered":"

INSIGHT BY SUNIL KUMAR<\/em><\/span><\/h2>\n\n\n

But China has told us take whatever (money) necessary\nand pay back whenever possible.\u201d Parliamentarian S.B. Dissanayake (to Rev.\nKeppitiyagoda Siriwimala Thero \u2013 4.4.2021)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Days after the presidential election of 2010, the\nRajapaksa siblings gathered to enjoy an evening of musical extravaganza.\nOrganised by the state-owned ITN and titled Jaya Jayawe (Victory Victorious),\nthe show was billed as a Musical tribute to the Heroes of the Nation.\u201d The\nevening began with a lullaby about how King Mihindu\u201d and his Chief General\nGotabaya\u201d saved Mother Lanka from demons. Song after saccharine song followed,\nhailing the wisdom and valour the Heroes of the Nation,\u201d Mahinda Rajapaksa and\n\u2013 to a lesser extent \u2013 Gotabaya Rajapaksa. The evening ended with a tribute to\nthe Rajapaksa sibling\u2019s heaven-dwelling mother.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In May 2009, the royal astrologer\u201d had predicted that\nPresident Mahinda Rajapaksa and the Rajapaksas will rule this country for a\nlong time.\u201d Jaya Jayawe was a symbol of this New Civilisation,\u201d veteran\npolitician J.R.P. Sooriyapperuma explained in his guest lecture. The message\nwas clear. The Rajapaksas saved Sri Lanka. Therefore, like in the old folk and\nfairy tales, the country belonged to them. All Lankans owed them a sacred duty\nof obedience.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Monarchy, said Voltaire in A Philosophical Dictionary, is\na system where a single individual exercises absolute power, accumulates all\nhonours and tastes all pleasures, provided he has plenty of money.\u201d Kingdoms\ncan be poor but kings can\u2019t. The Rajapaksas faced this dilemma in 2006, when\nthey came up with the plan to transform the family\u2019s birthplace Hambantota from\na sleepy backwater into a dazzling, bustling metropolis.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The first item on the agenda was the Hambantota Port.\nNeither India nor international lending agencies were willing to shell out the\nnecessary funds. That was when China stepped in. The Rajapaksas needed a patron\nwith deep pockets. China was looking for clients in South Asia. It was a match\nmade in Ti\u00e3n (Chinese Heaven).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Sri Lanka\u2019s gravitation towards China\u2019s orbit accelerated\nwith the advent of President Xi Jinping and his Belt-and-Road fantasy. The\nChina-Pakistan Economic Corridor was gathering steam. An artificial island on\nIndia\u2019s doorstep, built and controlled by Beijing, fitted in with China\u2019s\naggressive moves to become the predominant power in South Asia, a prelude to\nits larger plans to replace the US as the new global hegemon.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Official Lankan propaganda claimed that the idea of an\nartificial island was birthed in President Mahinda\u2019s brain. In reality, it was\ncontained in an unsolicited proposal by the China Harbour Engineering Company.\nGoing by Chamal Rajapaksa\u2019s recent revelations, this was the time that plans\nwere being made to construct two massive reservoirs in the Sinharaja Forest.\nSri Lanka was being transformed into a politico-economic periphery of China. To\nensure their place as Sri Lanka\u2019s overlords, the Rajapaksas were becoming China\u2019s\nsatraps.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

These best laid plans came unstuck in 2015 when Mahinda\nRajapaksa lost the presidency. Had he won, Sri Lanka\u2019s future as a Rajapaksa\nfiefdom and a Chinese client-state would have been set in stone. Though the\nSirisena-Wickremesinghe administration violated many of its pledges \u2013 not least\nthe one to put an end to the Port City project \u2013 it enabled Sri Lanka to be\nfreer internally and more non-aligned externally.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

So the country the Rajapaksas regained in November 2019\nwas not quite the country they lost in January 2015. In the intervening five\nyears, people had lost their fear, and become accustomed to criticise and\nridicule their leaders. The rule of law had been restored to some extent. A\nhandful of Rajapaksas and Rajapaksa acolytes had been charged with crimes\nranging from corruption to murder in courts of law. Sri Lanka, while vulnerable\nto Chinese inveiglements, had ceased being a Chinese satellite on the regional\nand world stage.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

That semi-democratic interregnum has compelled the Gotabaya-Mahinda\nregime to start from square one. Familial rule has to be restored and dynastic\nsuccession assured. Sri Lankans have to be returned to the old habit of\nunquestioning obedience. Sri Lanka needs to be placed back in China\u2019s orbit.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Little wonder the family is in a hurry. To quote the\nimmortal Khayyam, the Bird of Time has but a little way to fly\u2026\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The House of Rajapaksa<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In Little Dorrit, Charles Dickens introduces the reader\nto the Circumlocution Office. This unique institution has a finger in the\nlargest public pie, and in the smallest public tart,\u201d and is peerless in\nperceiving how not to do things.\u201d From the economy to pandemic-control, from\nenvironment to corruption, the performance of the Gotabaya-Mahinda regime\nresembles this Dickens\u2019 invention. But when it comes to protecting core\nRajapaksa interests, the Siblings move with a speed and a focus that leave\ntheir opponents scrambling to understand let along respond adequately.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Rajapaksas have also mastered the art of timing.\nLasantha Wickremetunga was murdered one week after the taking of Killinochchi\nand one day before the fall of Elephant Pass. Shani Abeysekara was arrested\nfour days before the 2020 parliamentary election. Hejaaz Hisbullah was arrested\non the day before the Sinhala and Tamil New Year in 2020.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This New Year season was an extra busy time for the\ngovernment. On April 13, civil society activist Asela Samptha was arrested for\npoking fun at tuition master-turned-economic guru Bandula Gunawardane\u2019s relief\npackage.\u201d Minister Sarath Weerasekara used the holidays to announce government\nplans to amend the penal code to punish those who disseminate fake news\u201d or\nengage in extremist propaganda\u201d on the internet.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

On April 9, Premier Mahinda tabled a resolution in\nparliament which aims to free Rajapaksa siblings, sons, nephews, cousins, and\nacolytes from all legal entanglements. Never mind that this amounts to a gross\nviolation of the doctrine of separation of powers, as the BASL points out. The\nonly separation of powers the Family is willing to tolerate is the one within\nthe Family. The UNHCR Resolution 46\/1 is spot on. Under Rajapaksa rule, all\ndoors to justice and accountability will remain closed and bolted.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Rajapaksas also used the festival season to unveil\nanother seminal piece of legislation, the Colombo Port City Bill. The Bill\nturns the Port City into a Chinese enclave. Unsurprisingly. Why else would\nChina pump money into creating an artificial island off Sri Lanka, but to\ncreate its own exclave? The raison d\u2019\u00eatre for Colombo Port City is to give\nChina a secure foothold on India\u2019s doorstep. The Rajapaksas ignoring this\ndanger was understandable. They were doing a deal, Chinese patronage for Lankan\nfealty. The rest of us have no right to be surprised or outraged. The Colombo\nPort City was never going to be anything but a Chinese city. If we didn\u2019t see\nit, it was because we opted not to.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The world seems to be on the verge of a new cold war,\nwith Asia as its main theatre of conflict. This week, top US intelligence\nofficials provided the American Senate with their assessment of threats facing\nUS interests globally. China tops the list. Avril Haines, director of national\nintelligence, described China as a near-peer competitor challenging the United\nStates in multiple arenas, while pushing to revise global norms in ways that\nfavor the authoritarian Chinese system.\u201d President Joe Biden\u2019s first virtual\nengagement was with the leaders of the QUAD countries, a loose formation\ngrouping US with India, Australia, and Japan, aimed mainly at containing China.\nMr. Biden\u2019s first in-person meeting was with the Japanese prime minister, with\nChina being the number one item on the agenda.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

When big powers are lining up against each other, the\nbest place for small countries like ours is the sidelines, aligned with none\nand opposed to none. If ever there was a time to stick to a non-aligned\nposition vis-a-vis both the US and China, that is now. But thanks to\nRajapaksas\u2019 power hunger, Sri Lanka is placing herself right in the middle of\nthe battle zone.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Two back-to-back happenings this week serve as a warning\nof the pitfalls of our new dependent status. On April 13 it was reported that\nthe Chinese Defence Minister will visit Sri Lanka later in the month. On April\n14 an Indian navy destroyer made a sudden visit to Sri Lanka for a two day\nvisit.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The future of the House of Rajapaksa cannot be secured\nwithout Chinese patronage. The price of that deal is likely to be Sri Lanka\u2019s\ndisastrous entanglement in the coming cold war. When big powers want to prick\neach other, the chosen method is slashing the other\u2019s proxies. So it was in the\nlast cold war. So it will be in the coming one.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A revolt in the Rajapaksa temple?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

At his one and only media conference as presidential\ncandidate, Gotabaya Rajapaksa admonished the journalists for asking questions\nabout his past.  You are talking all the\ntime on the past, no. Ask the future. I\u2019m trying to become the president of the\nfuture Sri Lanka. If you concentrate on the future, I think it is better,\u201d he\nsaid, interspersing his words with his signature laughter.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The past Gotabaya Rajapaksa wanted us to forget is\nhaunting two men who laboured more than most to make him president. Wijeydasa\nRajapakhse, by his own admission, used his authority and influence as justice\nminister to keep Gotabaya and other Rajapaksas out of jail. Muruttetuwe Ananda\nThreo turned his temple into the Rajapaksa political headquarters, when the\nelectorate ousted the Brothers from power. This week, these two Rajapaksa\nacolytes reportedly had a taste of Gotabaya Rajapaksa\u2019s ire.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

President Gotabaya\u2019s alleged conduct towards Mr.\nRajapakshe and Muruttetuwe Thero bears a striking resemblance to Defence\nSecretary Gotabaya\u2019s reported conduct towards the then Sunday Leader editor,\nFrederica Jansz. In July 2012, Ms. Jansz called Mr. Rajapaksa over a Swiss\npuppy. An enraged Mr. Rajapaksa reportedly called Ms. Jansz a shit eating pig\u201d\nand threatened her. In less than three months, a Rajapaksa cipher purchased the\nSunday Leader. Out of a job and fearful for her life, Ms. Jansz fled the\ncountry.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Threatening critics is in the Rajapaksa blood. On\nNovember 25, 2007, the Sunday Leader reported the details of an alleged conversation\nbetween President Mahinda Rajapaksa and editor Lasantha Wickremetunga. I will\nshow you what it is to be scared,\u201d the President allegedly told the Editor. I\nwill rest only once I have destroyed you.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In some places, the past is the present and the future.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I am not reconciled to a world in which a gesture or a\nword misunderstood can cost a life\u201d, wrote Heinrich B\u00f6ll in Billiards at Half\nPast Nine. Thanks in part to men like Wijeydasa Rajapakshe and Muruttetuwe\nThero, Sri Lanka is back in that world where words can have lethal\nconsequences. There might be a shade of poetic justice in what is happening to\nthem. Still, so long as they remain victims of Rajapaksa vengeance (they might\nshift to a song of obedience soon, as they did during the 20th Amendment\ndrama), they deserve the solidarity of those who value their own freedom.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The spat, irrespective of its final outcome, is important\nbecause it demonstrates that the Rajapaksa project rests on just one lynchpin,\nPremier Mahinda. He is the only Rajapaksa who is capable of hegemony. If his\nsiblings and sons were to stay in power, after him, their rule will be based\nprimarily, even exclusively, on dominance. Only Mahinda Rajapaksa can hold the\ndisparate coalition together, only he can prevent the base from cracking.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The art of gaining the consent of allies with the optimum\nmix of persuasion and coercion, a Mahinda Rajapaksa forte, is clearly beyond\nthe capacity of President Gotabaya. The image of him as a hegemonic figure was\nan artificial construct, an illusion that has not worn well. President Gotabaya\nis Defence Secretary Gotabaya in a bush shirt. If anything is restraining him \u2013\nand the family as a whole \u2013 it is probably the Magnitsky Act which became\nglobal only in 2016. That piece of legislation is used by the United States and\nseveral other Western nations to identify (some) human rights offenders, and\nimpose travel bans and asset freezes on them. Not a prospect the Rajapaksas can\ntake lightly, given their familial connections with the US.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The essence of Gotabaya-Mahinda rule is restorationist.\nThe Rajapaksas fought to regain power not to enthrone their loyal acolytes (lay\nor ordained) but to enthrone themselves. The purpose of every controversial\ndeed of the last 17 months was to set the House of Rajapaksa on a solid\nfoundation. That those very deeds are exacerbating the divisions within the\ngovernment is a result of the changed politico-psychological landscape the\nreincarnated Rajapaksa project is compelled to navigate.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The House of Rajapaksa came into being with Mahinda\nRajapaksa. Can it survive sans him? What role will the military play in a\nGotabaya-Basil-Namal (or a Basil-Namal) government? What will Beijing do to\nensure its political, economic and security interests are not undermined by its\nclient\u2019s internal political developments? Will we find ourselves in the same\nunenviable condition countries like Guatemala, Chile, Grenada et al found\nthemselves during the Cold War, subject to coups and conspiracies, paying the penalty\nof being a super-power\u2019s dependent?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Mahinda Rajapaksa is our king\u2026. King Rajapaksa\u2019s name\nwill be written in history in letters of gold\u2026\u201d a boy barely older than a\ntoddler lisped at the 2010 musical extravaganza. Will those gold letters be in\nmandarin?<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

INSIGHT BY SUNIL KUMAR But China has told us take whatever (money) necessary and pay back whenever possible.\u201d Parliamentarian S.B. Dissanayake (to Rev. Keppitiyagoda Siriwimala Thero \u2013 4.4.2021) Days after the presidential election of 2010, the Rajapaksa siblings gathered to enjoy an evening of musical extravaganza. Organised by the state-owned ITN and titled Jaya Jayawe […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":true,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[31],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-113771","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-sunil-kumar"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/113771","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=113771"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/113771\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=113771"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=113771"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=113771"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}