{"id":87194,"date":"2019-04-12T16:03:23","date_gmt":"2019-04-12T23:03:23","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/?p=87194"},"modified":"2019-04-12T16:03:23","modified_gmt":"2019-04-12T23:03:23","slug":"the-reign-of-mahinda-rajapaksa-part-7","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/2019\/04\/12\/the-reign-of-mahinda-rajapaksa-part-7\/","title":{"rendered":"THE REIGN OF MAHINDA RAJAPAKSA Part 7"},"content":{"rendered":"

KAMALIKA PIERIS<\/em><\/span><\/h2>\n\n\n

Former President Mahinda Rajapaksa    continues to be recognized by Asian\ngovernments. Rajapaksa had a private meeting with Indian Prime\nMinister Narendra Modi when\nModi visited Sri Lanka in May 2017. This was widely discussed in\npolitical and diplomatic circles.\nMany an eyebrow has been raised over former\nPresident Mahinda Rajapaksa\u2019s late night meeting with visiting Indian Prime\nMinister Narendra Modi at India House\nsaid the media. Both sides remain tight-lipped over what was\ndiscussed.  The discussions were “confidential,” they said \n.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Political observers believe it was not for\nnothing that an invitation was extended. “The Indians wanted to send a\nmessage that they haven’t totally abandoned Rajapaksa.\u201d Analysts said that this\nwas probably a high level discussion and was probably initiated by India. Indian\nHigh Commissioner told the media that the meeting had taken place at the\nrequest of the former Sri Lankan president. It was a courtesy\ncall. India wanted to maintain a dialogue with all major political powers in\nSri Lanka. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Mahinda Rajapaksa went on an official visit to\nSouth Korea in 2016 and met the Prime Minister. \nIsland<\/em> newspaper ran a photo\nof the two of them engaged in conversation. Rajapaksa also took a delegation\non a tour of Japan in May\n2017.   The Japan-Sri Lanka Buddhist Organization for\nInternational Cooperation had invited him to participate in a function at the\nMuryoko-in, a Buddhist temple located on Mount K\u014dya<\/a>.   During this visit, Rajapaksa met Yukio\nHatoyama, who had briefly served as Prime Minister 2009-2010 and Nikai\nToshihiro, former Minister of Economy, trade and industry.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Rajapaksa had\nalso met the Sri Lankans living in Japan.  The Sri\nLankans in Japan were frustrated with the Yahapalana government and they\ncalling for a regime change in Sri Lanka, said Mahinda Rajapaksa.  The Lankan businessmen including\nvehicle importers had complained that they were no longer in a position to\nsurvive due to the disastrous government policies, Rajapaksa said. They are asking us, the Joint\nOpposition, to take up this issue with the government .<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Gotabhaya Rajapakse\nalso went to Japan in December 2016, on an invitation extended to him by the\nSri Lankan community in Japan who are supporting former President Mahinda\nRajapakse. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Mahinda Rajapaksa\nwent to Malaysia in 2016, to attend a conference of Asian political parties organized\nby the Malaysian government at the Putra World Trade Centre. This visit had\nmuch drama. A group of Tamils with alleged links to LTTE had assaulted the Sri\nLankan high commissioner to Malaysia, I.S. Ansar in a restricted area of the\nKuala Lumpur International Airport. The attackers had come in search of former\nSri Lankan President Mahinda Rajapaksa, The assaulters came and asked Ansar\nabout the whereabouts of \u2018war criminal Rajapaksa.\u2019 When he replied that they\nshould go and find out from security officers, they beat him and left him\nbleeding,\u201d said a foreign ministry official. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

That was not all. When they heard that Mahinda\nRajapaksa was to visit the Malaysian Buddhist temple, members of the Malaysian\nIndian Progressive association, Malaysian Tamilian Association and Malaysian\nIndian Education Transformation Association, went there and assaulted its Chief\nPriest. They had abused him with vulgarities and then hit him.  They punched him in the face and also kicked\nhim. The group had gathered at the temple \u2018as they wanted to give a stern\nwarning to all Buddhist temples not to allow the mass murderer here.\u2019 they\nwould keep vigil to make sure that Mahinda Rajapaksa did not enter the temple,\nreported Daily News.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Mahinda Rajapaksa\nis recognized by these countries, because he knows how to manage international\nrelations. Answering a question about his government\u2019s relations with China and\nPakistan during his days in office, Rajapaksa replied, in 2018, “Sri Lanka\nhas always had close relations with India, China and Pakistan and these\nfriendships will continue in the future as well. Pakistan is a valued friend\nwhich has helped us at crucial moments during the war and on the diplomatic\nfront. Likewise, China is a valued friend with whom we have had many economic\ndealings. It has helped us on the economic front. Even though the present\ngovernment of India may have had reservations about my government in 2014, I\nbelieve they will look at things differently now.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Sivashankar Menon, former High Commissioner\nfor India in Sri Lanka, said in his memoirs published in 2016, “I\nfound that as the Defence Secretary, Gotabhaya, had a clear view of Sri Lanka\u2019s\ninterests, one that was compatible with ours. Immediately after the war,\nhe reassured Indian troika about the nature of Sri Lanka\u2019s defence relationship\nwith China, and helped Indian companies re-enter the reconstruction of Colombo.\nSecurity was Gotabhaya\u2019s preoccupation, which made him sensitive to India\u2019s\nconcerns, while his brother Mahinda was much more compliant with Chinese\ndemands, having built a political machine on Chinese money.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The war-winning Rajapaksa government had been\nunder heavy Indian pressure to acquire Sri Lanka\u2019s defence \u2018needs\u2019, including\ntraining and intelligence from India. This\nled to the \u2018unprecedented\u2019 post-war bilateral agreement between Sri Lanka and\nIndia in 2014, for the building of two Advanced Offshore\nPatrol Vessel (AOPVs)   for Sri Lanka, built by the\nGovernment of India owned Goa Shipyard Limited.  This\nwas part of a project meant to enhance Sri Lanka\n-India relationship, said Shamindra Ferdinando. The first AOPV arrived in 2017.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Rajapaksa\nalso succeeded in having an arrangement with the USA. in May 2007, Sri Lanka and the United\nStates, , signed the Acquisition and Cross-Servicing Agreement (ACSA), valid\nfor 10 years, to facilitate transfer and exchange of logistics supplies,\nsupport and re-fuelling services. Gotabhaya\nRajapaksa and the then American Ambassador to Sri Lanka Robert Blake signed the\nagreement. This Agreement facilitates\nreciprocal logistic support between the United States and Sri Lankan military,\nfor unforeseen circumstances or exigencies in which one of the parties may have\na need of logistic support, supplies and services of the military forces of the\nother party.  This arrangement was\nbrilliantly used by the Navy, to obtain location information from USA to   destroy the five LTTE weapon ships.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

To the question What\nis your reaction to observations on Sri Lanka moving closer to China, Chinese\ninterests in the Indian Ocean region and the huge investments being made in Sri\nLanka, Maldives and Pakistan\u201d Rajapaksa replied, Sri Lanka has had close\nrelations with the People\u2019s Republic of China since it was founded. The\nrelationship that my government had with China was purely economic. Some of the\nkey projects that China did like the Hambantota Port was first offered to India\nbut was declined and it was then handed over to China. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

 When my government was in power, there was\nnever any move to lease the entire Hambantota free port along with its precinct\nof 5,000 acres to a private company. My government had made plans to lease only\nthe container terminal the same way the terminals in the Colombo harbour have\nbeen leased to private companies. But the free port and its 5,000 acres would\nhave remained under the Sri Lanka Ports Authority. I must say that China also\nnever asked us to lease the free port to them. This idea of leasing the entire\nHambantota free port to a private party came up only after the change of\ngovernment in January 2015.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The economy\nimproved under Rajapaksa. Statistics\nshow that Sri Lanka achieved middle income status, that the general lot of the\nmasses was improving, said Samantha Kumarasinghe. In the last three years of the\nRajapaksa regime, economic growth was high, ranging from 7- 8.5%., said\nSinharaja Tammita Delgoda.\nSri Lanka had the best growth rate among SAARC countries ruing 2009-2014, said Samantha\nKumarasinghe. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Rajapaksa also said he managed the economy\nwell. Rajapaksa said, under my presidency, the\neconomy grew at an average annual rate of 6% from 2006 to 2009 despite a raging\nwar and at 7.4% in the five post war years from 2010 to 2014. No government in\npost-independence history has achieved an average growth rate of 6% leave alone\n7.4%. Because of that growth, the economy was able to absorb the relatively modest\nannual increases in taxation under my government. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The exchange rate\nwas controlled to prevent increases in the prices of imports. So whatever was\ngiven by my government as salary increases actually stayed in the hands of the\nrecipients. During my nine years in office, our per capita income grew by an\naverage of USD 286 per year said Rajapaksa. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

There was never any problem about meeting the\npayments for the Hambantota port because it was paid out of the profits of the\nPorts Authority\u2019. Even though\nthere was this talk of huge debts incurred by my government for infrastructure\nprojects, the loans taken for those projects was actually quite small whencompared with the foreign currency\nborrowings of the present government. Sri Lanka was never in any kind of\nChinese debt trap during my tenure in office even though some sections of the\nWestern media portrayed it as such. Today\u2019s debt crisis has been brought about\nby the present government.\n<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The  Rajapaksa  regime had implemented one of the most ambitious\ndevelopment plans in the world by setting up a US$1.4 billion deep sea port, an\ninternational airport, as well as a tourism zone, conference centre, an\ninternational cricket stadium and some of the best highways in the country,\nsaid Bandula Sirimanne.  The Port city, Colombo\nHarbour south container terminal, Colombo Katunayake expressway,  and the Lotus tower must be added to this\nlist. <\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

There was fast infrastructure  development \n in the tertiary sector too. New\nroads, bridges, schools, hospitals were  built across \nthe  country  Bridges were built in rural areas, within six\nmonths, using new technology. In 2014, the media reported that 210 bridges are\nalmost complete, they include Polwatte oya bridge, in Matale Dambulla,  Weddawala bridge, Hapuvida bridge near lower Rattota\nMatale, Kuda oya bridge at Ethiliyawewa in Balahuruwa, Wellawaya.    major\nhousing schemes, fisheries harbors were launched and completed. the   rural electrification project was extended\nto  remote regions.   <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Mahinda Rajapaksa  was the single most important factor behind\nthese impressive achievements said Rohana Wasala. He  just\nhad  a brief five years after  end of the war in 2009  to accelerate economic development and  achieve social progress in a peaceful environment.\n<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Rajapaksa\u2019s plans\nfor Hambantota  are praised. I remember\nvisiting the Hambantota Port in 2014 and being very impressed with the 10 Year\nplan to develop the region, said Janaki Chandraratne. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Jetwing Air\nDirector Sunil Peiris    had\npositive things to say about  Mattala\nairport. Peiris sees huge potential for the Mattala airport. It has lot of\nunused land that can be developed.\u201d  the,\ndevelopment of the Hambantota Port, extension of the Southern Expressway to\nHambantota, the planned oil refinery, and more luxury hotels opening in the\nSouthern Province, Mattala international airport will be a busy aerodrome in\nthe future,  he  said. with the opening of five star hotels\nlike the Shangri La, Anantara Tangalle, Marriott Weligama, two Hilton hotels in\nthe deep South and other new hotels opening in Tissa and Yala, Mattala will be\na bustling airport in the future. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Peiris  said Jetwing has flown down groups for special\nevents such as weddings and corporate events at the South coast hotels. Peiris believes that in the future tourists\nvisiting the Southern and Eastern coasts will opt to fly directly to Mattala\ninstead of Colombo. Budget airline Flydubai,\nowned by the Emirates Group, has operated uninterrupted  to Mattala since it opened in March 2013 and\ncurrently has four weekly services. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

When the\nColombo international airport was being refurbished, SriLankan Airlines’ China\nbound flights made a stopover in Mattala and saw heavy movement of passengers\nfrom Mattala. Jetwing is also in close talks with the Ministry of Labour to\nhave Sri Lankans seeking employment in Dubai and living in the South and East\nto opt to travel from Mattala instead of Colombo, Peiris said. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Despite \u2018all the\ndents of the last two years\u2019 Mahinda Rajapaksa\u2019s charisma and political appeal\ncontinues to endure said Sinharaja Tammita Delgoda. In 2016, when Rajapakse\nvisited Rathupaswela area to address a public gathering some people tried to\norganize a protest against him but it failed with less than a dozen people\nturning up. Sending the army to quell the disturbances in Rathupaswela was a\nbad mistake but it did not affect the voting pattern of the area either,\ndespite the manner in which the riot was put down. The people of the area  knew that the whole thing was  controlled by agents\u2019 provocateurs, said\nChandraprema. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

In August 2017\nRajapaksa  accompanied his wife,\nShiranthi to the law courts   at\nHulftsdorf as Shiranthi Rajapaksa   had\nbeen summoned by court to appear before it. This could be considered a \u2018private\u2019\nvisit. But  when   Rajapaksa emerged from the law courts, with\nhis wife and got into the  car, the crowd\nwent wild .  Rajapaksa had to get out of\nthe car  and wave  briefly before leaving.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Similarly in August 2017, Rajapaksa attended a\npinkama organized in memory of Janaka Bandara Tennekoon\u2019s father.  That too was a private visit. however,  when he arrived, there were  enthusiastic crowds waiting to greet him. Television\ncameras showed them waving to him. Some had climbed trees to get a  glimpse of Rajapaksa.\n(Derana News. 13.8.17)  (<\/strong>continued)\n<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

KAMALIKA PIERIS Former President Mahinda Rajapaksa    continues to be recognized by Asian governments. Rajapaksa had a private meeting with Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi when Modi visited Sri Lanka in May 2017. This was widely discussed in political and diplomatic circles. Many an eyebrow has been raised over former President Mahinda Rajapaksa\u2019s late night meeting […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":true,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[104],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-87194","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-kamalika-pieris"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/87194","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=87194"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/87194\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=87194"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=87194"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=87194"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}