{"id":95221,"date":"2019-11-14T16:34:42","date_gmt":"2019-11-14T23:34:42","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/?p=95221"},"modified":"2019-11-14T16:34:42","modified_gmt":"2019-11-14T23:34:42","slug":"biggest-challenge-facing-the-intelligent-voter","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/2019\/11\/14\/biggest-challenge-facing-the-intelligent-voter\/","title":{"rendered":"Biggest challenge facing the intelligent voter"},"content":{"rendered":"

Janaka Perera<\/strong><\/em><\/span><\/h2>\n\n\n

More \nthan any other past Presidential Election the one that is to be held tomorrow \n(November 16) poses the most difficult challenge to intelligent voters. \nConsidering over two decades of unwelcome experiences and a continuing corrupt \nsystem will it be a Hobson\u2019s choice for them?  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Will \nthey have to vote for the best of the bad lot?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This \nis also a presidential election no former president or prime minister is \ncontesting.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

I \ndo not wish to blame all ordinary citizens (except dyed- in-the wool UNP \nsupporters) who voted for the so-called \u2018yahapalanaya\u2019 in 2015 because many of \nthem expected a genuine change since the Rajapaksa regime failed to meet \nobligations expected of it after the war victory of 2009.  Instead \nthey sat on their laurels.  This undoubtedly led to much \ndisillusionment. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

There\u2019s \nno point in trying to find silly excuses saying a Western-Indian conspiracy was \nthe sole cause of the previous government\u2019s downfall.  It is like \nthe simplistic argument of some communists that a CIA conspiracy was behind the \ndownfall of the Soviet Bloc. Foreign conspirators and their local agents no \ndoubt were involved in varying degrees but no external force can succeed unless \nthere are internal contradictions or internal crisis that can be exploited to \nits advantage.  This is what happened to both the Soviet and the \nRajapaksa governments. This is the hard fact we need to recognize.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It \nis obvious that no other candidate but only Gotabhaya Rajapaksa or Sajith \nPremadasa will win. They may not be bad as individuals but the real question is \nabout many of those around them.  We find that in both camps the \nold faces \u2013 the same dubious characters, who have faced all kinds of allegations \n(which have never been probed and action taken) actively campaigning for the two \ncandidates. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The \ncrooks and thugs on both sides appear to think they will suffer little or no \npunishment whoever wins.  In addition we see on both sides \npoliticos who have jumped from party platform to another over the past two \ndecades.  How much influence will they wield if either candidate \nwins?  Either way, we as ordinary citizens can expect no \nfundamental change in this corrupt system no matter who wins.  The \nmain reason is balanced and objective thinking is alien to the majority of our \nvoters irrespective of their political views.  They can never \nunderstand the complexities of a situation and suffer from selective amnesia. \nThey look at issues through tinted glasses, depending on their political \npreferences. Many of them are blind loyalists of leaders and\/or parties. They \ncannot bear to see or hear any criticism of their idols. They are like the three \nproverbial monkeys.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It \nis the utter disillusionment with the past performance of the two main parties \/ \nalliances that an unprecedented number of independent presidential candidates \nare contesting this time.   The blind worshipers of the three main \ncandidates however seem to think that all such candidates are trying to \nundermine the support for this or that main candidate <\/p>\n\n\n\n

What \nshould the intelligent voter do?  Should his\/her vote go for the \ncandidate in whom he\/she has full confidence?  Can anyone have such \nfaith in a candidate until we see his performance?  Hence \nregardless whom we elect we are compelled to take a risk. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

We \nmust also make note that the 19th<\/sup> Amendment has limited presidential \npowers.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Although \nmany of the independent candidates have excellent proposals unfortunately they \ncannot draw the attention of the majority, the since the latter always go on the \nbeaten track. We cannot envisage a third group \/ alliance coming to power in Sri \nLanka unlike in Pakistan in the foreseeable future.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The \nonly option for most people then is to vote for person \u2013 out of the two main \ncandidates – whose campaign raised less doubts regardless of whether he gets the \nfirst or second preference.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Voters \nneed answers at least  to the following.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The \nPodu Jana Peramuna and the JVP both appointed their candidates without much \ndelay whereas until the last minute the UNP-led New Democratic Front could not \ndecide on a candidate. Party leader Ranil Wickremesinghe was dilly dallying. \nConflict of opinion within the party on who should become the candidate came out \ninto the open. Some seemed almost confident that Sajith would not be selected. \nBut since their hopes were dashed they are now compelled to back him. Will this \nfriction surface again? Will Ranil allow him to do as he wants?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Since \nSajith Premadasa is a Cabinet Minister of the present Government how many of the \npromises he is now making has he been able to fulfill during the past four \nyears? If it is very little, why was it so? Was he obstructed at every turn? \n<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Then \nthere\u2019s the hullabaloo over Gotabhaya Rajapaksa\u2019s alleged U.S. citizenship. \nSajith supporters have already lost a court case on this issue.  \nThe American Embassy in Colombo has stated that it will take several \nmonths for the Federal Government to release the lists of all those who have \nrenounced U.S. citizenship.  Therefore it would not be possible for \nthe embassy to provide answers right now to whether this or that individual is \nno longer a U.S. citizen. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

If \nthe New Democratic Front says it cannot accept lawyer Ali Sabry\u2019s denial that \nGotabhaya is a U.S. citizen then the NDF should provide irrefutable proof in a \ncourt of law that the documents Ali Sabry showed to the media are forgeries. \nMerely speculating and raising suspicions are an exercise in futility since \nthese have no bearings on the Elections Commission.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

If \nthe NDF is very sure that Gotabhaya is still a U.S. citizen they have time to \nfind proof even after the election.  If such proof is found and \nassuming that Gotabhaya has won his victory can still be declared null and \nvoid.  When Rajapaksa supporter Geetha Kumarasinghe announced that \nshe had renounced her Swiss citizenship no one questioned her claim. \n  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Then \nwhy was this hurry to prove that Gotabhaya is still a U.S. citizen and get him \nout of the way?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

These \nare points to ponder.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

 Anyway, \nwhoever wins the election we need a strong independent (not guided by party \nloyalties) opposition \u2013 watch dog to keep the government on its toes.  \n<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This \nis long overdue. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Janaka Perera More than any other past Presidential Election the one that is to be held tomorrow (November 16) poses the most difficult challenge to intelligent voters. Considering over two decades of unwelcome experiences and a continuing corrupt system will it be a Hobson\u2019s choice for them?  Will they have to vote for the best […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":true,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[82],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-95221","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-janaka-perera"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/95221","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=95221"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/95221\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=95221"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=95221"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=95221"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}