{"id":98318,"date":"2020-01-27T00:58:17","date_gmt":"2020-01-27T06:58:17","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/?p=98318"},"modified":"2020-01-26T17:54:48","modified_gmt":"2020-01-27T00:54:48","slug":"gotas-viyathmaga-to-the-future","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/2020\/01\/27\/gotas-viyathmaga-to-the-future\/","title":{"rendered":"Gota\u2019s viyathmaga to the future"},"content":{"rendered":"

H. L. D. Mahindapala<\/em><\/span><\/h2>\n\n\n

Any critical assessment of President Gotabaya\nRajapaksa must take into consideration the salient characteristics that make\nhim stand out from the run-of-the-mill politicians who had occupied the peaks\nof power. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The first notable characteristic is that he is the\nfirst head of state to come from the Sri Lankan diaspora. Initially it was a\ndisadvantage tangled in legalities of citizenship. Later it smoothened out and\nhas been an invaluable asset to him. His existential experiences as an expat in\nAmerica had widened his horizons and opened up new vistas in his thinking and\nstrategizing. He has acted so far as a leader who had seen the future and is\nbent on taking the nation in that direction. It has all the signs of being influenced\nby the American efficiency in delivering goods and services. The new breed of\nintellectuals he had recruited to run his state indicates clearly that he is in\na hurry to modernise the sluggish nation and usher it into the 21st<\/sup>\ncentury. His first hand knowledge of an advanced nation would hasten him to mix\ntradition with modernity without deracinating the nation \u2013 a critical issue in\nmodernising Afro-Asian countries.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Second: In no other election before \u2013 not even in\n1956\u201d which is considered the Great Revolution of the Sinhala-Buddhists — had\nthe minorities ganged up against the majority with such determined force to\ndefeat a candidate of the majority. In 1956 Badiuddeen Mahamood and C. A. S.\nMarrikkar were staunch lieutenants of S. W. R. D. Bandaranaike. In that\nlandmark year the contest was essentially between the North and the South with\nthe rural Muslims siding with Bandaranaike. It was mainly the rich,\nbusiness-oriented Colombian Muslims that voted for Sir. John Kotelawela. As\nopposed to this the Muslim phalanx ganged up with the Tamils to vote against\nGota in 2019. Only a fragmented section of the Indian Tamils joined him. The\nMuslims in particular threw their lot with Ranil-Sajith combo making the\nopposition of the minorities a formidable front. The Muslim intellectual, Ali\nSabry, was the only outstanding Muslim maverick. An exception to the rule. The\nSinhala Marikkar\u201d of our time. And when the final result exploded the\npost-electoral map defined this division of minority  vs. majority without\nleaving any grey areas of doubt. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Third: Gota\u2019s expatriate background enables him to\ntalk the talk of the new generation attuned to technology and meritocracy. Mark\nyou, he was in IT industry in America and this gives him the ability to speak\nthe language of IT visionaries shaping the new future. He appears to be a man\nof the Fourth Revolution who is attempting to break away from the outdated past\nand make the great leap forward.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

For instance, he is not promising farmers any\ncomputers like the way Ranil Wickremesinghe did in his election campaigns in\nthe past. Instead Gota is talking of centralising data bases to consolidate\ninformation into one coordinated and convenient point to eliminate bureaucratic\nblocks that lead to corruption and frustrate the public. He is cutting into a\ndysfunctional system to make state institutions a viable source for the people\nto use it without time-consuming bureaucratic red tape. Making the bureaucracy\na servant of the people is a prime necessity in Afro-Asian countries stuck in\nthe old colonial mode of centralising power in the hands of public servants who\nassume the role of demi-gods in deciding the fate of helpless citizens. \nWhen  President Ranasinghe Premadasa launched the Gam Udawa\u201d he used it\nas a force to make  the panjandrums in the bureaucracy to leave their\nair-conditioned offices and go down to the village level. Gota is making a bid\nto implement that principle in his own way through modern technology. It is a\nquiet revolution without much fanfare. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Fourth:  Gota is less of a politician and more of\na hands-on administrator seeking pragmatic solutions to the grinding,\nday-to-day problems faced by the people. This comes not only from his American\nexperience but also from his time in the Army where he had to deliver goods and\nservices to the soldiers fighting to save the nation. Soldiers march on their\nbellies, as the old saying goes. So do the politicians in power. Both are\ndoomed if the prime necessities are not delivered in time to the places where\nhelp is needed most. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Besides, making the state work for the people takes\nthe burden and the blame away from the political masters. Politicians have been\npaying heavily for the stupidity, lethargy, inefficiency and corruption of the\nbureaucracy. Example: Easter Sunday attack by the Muslim terrorists. Ranil\nWickremesinghe paid dearly for the failure of his hand-picked IGP. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Fifth: His style of governance. It\u2019s a pragmatic\napproach where he gets down to brass tacks not only to keep the bureaucrats on\ntheir toes but also to get to the root of the problems to find out solutions.\nHis approach is not that of cheap populism to win votes. Or of appointing\ncommittees to avoid responsibilities and take the easy way out.  His is\ncommitted to make the system work. Most leaders have failed because they could\nnot make the system work for the people.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Sixth: His sound grasp of the ground realities rooted\nin history. The current system of political bargaining at the highest level\nbefore elections is to sell the family silver to the minorities to get their\nvotes in return at the polls. For instance, promises will be extracted by the\nminorities to get (roughly) (a) five ambassadorships (b) four heads of\ndepartments (c) at least two governorships (d) government land in selected\nareas to strengthen their vote bank (e) funding for the money-making minority projects\n(f) protection and pardons to their criminals engaged in illegal and criminal\nactivities etc., etc. Gota didn\u2019t have to cut such deals because he was, going\nit alone. He was banking primarily on the downgraded historical forces to rise\nand save the nation. It was the forces of hidden history that rushed to crown\nhim with the victory he scored on November 16, 2019. No doubt, the victory was\npre-planned with precision long before he launched his final lap in the\nelectoral campaign. But his strategy was based on tapping into the dynamic\nforces of Sinhala-Buddhist history that was awaiting a new leader. And Gota\nplayed that role strategically and delicately without over-stepping the decent\nboundaries of electoral politics.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Seventh: The Presidential crown was his second great\nvictory. The first was on the banks of Nandikadal in May 2009.  The second\nvictory consolidates the political gains of the first. It points to the fact\nthat arrogant and dictatorial minoritarianism must adjust its unrealistic political\nagenda aimed at dictating terms to the majority. Gota\u2019s victory has delivered\nan unmistakeable lesson to all political theorists who concluded that the\nminorities have the upper hand in determining politics within a divided\nmajority community. Gota\u2019s victory has blasted this political myth. In fact\nGota\u2019s victory has stunned the theoretical dodos that were consoling each other\nwith their warped and convoluted psephological mathematics.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

After Gota\u2019s victory it is now clear that\nminoritarianism cannot avoid the realistic politics of numbers that would help\nthem to co-exist without treading on the toes of the majority. This election is\nringing loud bells declaring that there are limits to which the minorities can\npush the majority. In this election only a limited combination of the majority\nbeat the minority. What would be the fate of the minorities if one fine day the\ntwo major parties gang up to corner the minorities? Or what would happen if a\npopular majority should adopt Modi\u2019s legislation of excluding one particular\ncommunity? Minorities might react claiming that it would lead to violent\nextremism. As things stand now it is only a remote possibility. But before they\ngo down that path they must also consider what benefits had they derived from\nthe extremism of Prabhakaranism and Zaharanism. In the case of the Tamils it is\nthe leaders who fomented extremist minoritarianism that were eliminated by the\npolitical  children they bred. In the case of the Muslims it is their\nbusinesses, mosques and leaders who had to face the brunt of Muslim violence.\nUltimately it is people at the ground level who were misled by the minority\nleaders that had to suffer most.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Minoritarianism, which can be as corrosive as\nmajoritarianism, must know its limits. It has to acknowledge that numbers can\nplay a decisive role in determining the future of peaceful co-existence \u2013 the\nindispensable priority in mapping the destiny of all communities.  Among\nother critical factors, it is the weight of numbers that won the first and\nsecond victories of Gota. For instance, when Prabhakaran put out one boat to\nsea Gota put out ten. No one can beat that in any war. Political calculations\nthat fail to recognise the power of numbers are doomed to fail sooner or\nlater.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Eighth : This is perhaps the most significant\ncharacteristic of Gota\u2019s electoral victory. It is that November 16 will go down\nin history as a fine defining moment as great as his first victory on the banks\nof Nandikadal. No other political leader has had such indelible and illustrious\nvictories, lined up in a row, in the post-independent era. Both victories have\nrescued the nation\u2019s threatened history. Both will reinforce the historic power\nof received legacies from the over-determining past. Both victories go beyond\nmeretricious triumphalism to give meaning to the future. Both victories mean\nthat the nation has been saved from two of the deadliest forces \u2013 1. from the\nNorth and 2.from the West — that could have easily destroyed the legacies of\nthe historic journey traversed down the ages by our pioneering ancestors. Gota\nstood up for them all and assured them that they had not journeyed in vain.\nThat is what goes to make great leaders. They make history for generations to\nremember. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

His electoral victory came at a critical time when the\nnation was teetering on the brink surrendering to the minorities who were\nboasting that their 30 per cent combined with the Ranil Wickremesinghe\u2019s\npercentage can make them kings again. Ranil had no qualms about selling the\nSinhala-Buddhist heritage to the West and to the minorities to remain in power.\nHe was appeasing both dismissing the angst of the Sinhala-Buddhist who were\nreeling under the alien pressures of the combined forces of NGOs, the West and\nthe minorities. Ranil was tying ropes of pirith nools<\/em><\/strong> round his\nwrist to protect himself and not the nation <\/p>\n\n\n\n

In the presidential campaign the opposition consisting\nof the minorities ganging up with Sajith Premadasa provoked the majority to\nreact defensively. Their threatening political rhetoric and alliances made it\nclear to the majority that they had no alternative but to rally behind Gota,\nthe only alternative. The dividing line of them vs. us\u201d was never so clear in\nother elections as in this one. It was the minority that threw the challenge to\nthe majority driven by Ranil\u2019s divisive and anti-Sinhala-Buddhist \npolitics. Example:  Mangala Samaraweera\u2019s self-destructive statement This\nnot a Sinhala-Buddhist country\u201d virtually sealed the fate of the UNP. In this\nbackground Sajith failed to convince the electorate that he was not Ranil\u2019s\npuppet. The Gota-led campaign didn\u2019t have to do much to convince the majority\nthat behind Sajith was Ranil\u2019s anti-Sinhala-Buddhist forces. He was still the\nleader of the Party who was the chief patron of Mangala Samaraweera arbitrarily\nlaunching international resolution in Geneva against the soldiers who saved\ndemocracy from the Tamil tyranny of Prabhakaran. Ranil and Mangala were a\ncouple married to the ideology of undermining the basic interests of the\nmajority. Besides, Ranil\u2019s appointing Sajith as Parliamentary leader only,\nretaining the critical and overall policy\u2013making decision of a leader in his\nmanipulative hands, confirmed that he could make Sajith dance to his tune. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

But the electorate, including the UNPers, was not in\nthe mood to accept Ranil\u2019s failed leadership. The people were looking for an\nalternative to Ranil. And they found that\nalternative in Gota. They saw Sajith merely as a ventriloquist acting as the\nmouthpiece for Ranil. Rightly or wrongly. the people rejected Sajith because\nthey saw him as Ranil\u2019s puppet. Sajith\u2019s strategy should have been to provide a\nconvincing and radical alternative to Ranil.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In November 2019 the people who were frustrated by the\nfailure of the Yahapalanaya to protect their heritage were demanding their\nheritage back. In 2015 they voted for Ven. Madulowawe Sobitha and Maithripala\nSenanayake because these two were presented as credible Sinhala-Buddhist\nleaders. Yahahapalanaya gained credibility as the protector of the threatened\nSinhala-Buddhist heritage under their combined leadership. They emerged as\nBuddhist leaders who would restore their lost moral kingdom. But after winning\nRanil hijacked the state with his 19th<\/sup> Amendment and his FCID and\nwent in the opposite direction to the West and the minorities who were out to\ncut down the majority. Not until the people knocked him senseless in the last\nelection did Ranil realise that he had alienated the Sinhala-Buddhists. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Most reluctantly Ranil let Sajith contest Gota hoping\nthat, if Sajith wins, he could manipulate him like the way he did Maithripala\nSirisena.  But with the ghost of Ranil haunting Sajith he could not win.\nThe electorate had seen how Ranil had hijacked the Yahapalanaya regime.\nMaithripala Sirisena was putty in his hands initially. Sajith too would have\ncaved in with Ranil manipulating the numbers, particularly the numbers of\nminority MPs, together with his compliant partner in Parliamentary crimes, Karu\nJayasuriya who holds the strategic position of Speaker.. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

In the election Sajith had to fight not Gota but Ranil\n\u2018s rejected politics. His struggle to project a different \/ nationalist image\ndid not go down well with the people. In the end, he had nothing to offer\nexcept seeni-bolas<\/em><\/strong> to boys and tampons to girls. None of them\nworked. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

There is no doubt that in the last election the\nminority got what they deserved. They asked for it and they got it. They can\u2019t\nblame anyone else. The defeated forces were\ndeprived of even the usual tactic of crying\nfoul because it was one of the cleanest elections. So they have resorted to the\ntired old game of scare-mongering. They are projecting the Rajapaksa brothers\nas the ogres out to destroy democracy, freedom, liberty, human rights \u2013 you\nname it! But the stunts they have pulled so far \u2013 the Swiss embassy\nfarce,  Rajitha Senaratne\u2019s bahu-bootha  tele natya, <\/em><\/strong>and\nRanjan Ramanayake\u2019s tapes \u2013 have boomeranged on them. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Rajapaksa\nbrothers are sailing smoothly to the biggest victory in their lives if they win\ncomfortably in the Parliamentary elections. They are on their way to the second\nhistoric victory of a combination of brothers. The fist was in Poland. Prime Minister\nJaroslaw Aleksander Kaczynski and President Lech Kaczynski are twin brothers\nwho were the first siblings to be the President and the Prime Minister\nsimultaneously.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Both brothers are\nnecessary to complete the mission they began. Gota is giving a new image to the\nRajapaksa rule. He is acting cautiously to wipe out the old image and build a\npeople-oriented, trustworthy regime. He has been are acting cautiously to\ncounter the scare-mongering used by NGO-UNP gang to discredit Gota in\nparticular and the Sinhala-Buddhist  forces he represents in general. Gota\nis signalling that the Rajapaksa brothers have learnt from their mistakes of\nthe past to move forward into the future.  The opposition bowlers are\nmaking a desperate bid to force the batsman at the crease to make mistakes.\nGota is bound to make mistakes. He  did not score his victories in the\npast without making mistakes. But he has shown the capacity to bounce back from\nhis mistakes. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

One positive sign is that the coming Parliamentary\nelection has all the signs of the people willing to give him the legislative\nstrength he needs to lead the nation to a higher moral and material ground. Then he will have all the opportunity he needs to\nmake good the promises he  made to the nation. He is now on his third\nmission to save nation. It is going to be  his  Third War. His\nprimary mission is to lift the nation from the depths to  which it has\nfallen and lead it to the great heights expected by the people who voted for\nhim.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The people who were promised the purity of a moral\nheaven by the Yahapalana-ya-kos were let down mercilessly, disgracefully. Gota\ncan\u2019t do that again. Gota has to stand by the people who trusted him. If he\ndoes  that the people who trusted him will undoubtedly stand  by him.\nHe has to do it because he  is the last hope for the nation to come out of\nthe moral and material mess left behind by the immoral vandals who promised a\npure Yahapalana-yak. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Every bad thing must come to an end and it is Gota\u2019s\nchance to do it. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

H. L. D. Mahindapala Any critical assessment of President Gotabaya Rajapaksa must take into consideration the salient characteristics that make him stand out from the run-of-the-mill politicians who had occupied the peaks of power. The first notable characteristic is that he is the first head of state to come from the Sri Lankan diaspora. Initially […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":true,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[18],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-98318","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-h-l-d-mahindapala"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/98318","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=98318"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/98318\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=98318"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=98318"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=98318"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}