Presidential Election 2010: Its all Politics

26 January 2010 marks another presidential election of Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka. What interesting about this election is that it is the first presidential election to be held after defeating LTTE by the Sri Lankan military and establishing peace over nearly three decades of ruthless bloodshed. It is also interesting since it is held almost two years before the current president’s tenure ends.

His Exellency the President Mahinda Rajapaksha

Many people have already decided their vote depending on what they believe, which is a question as their beliefs are based on information manipulated by media or, rumours. People tend to believe and make judgements based on what they hear or see in media and often do not think or assess those stories to find out what is true and what is not. Because for most, judging is easier than thinking. Some other set of people have decided their vote based on considerably rational thinking but, again based on manipulated information. Having said that, from the handful of people I have met, there are only couple of them who could actually convince me why they support the presidential candidate they are voting for. And they asked me the question, what is my opinion on the two major candidates and to whom I extend my support or rather cast my vote for?

It is a question I ask myself. To tell something about the two major candidates I need facts and figures which I can rely on. I do not want to be another citizen who just goes with the flow.
I have been following the 2010 presidential election for a while now and there are few things caught my eyes. One of them is that, critics of the government question why did in 2005 election LTTE stop Tamils from voting? Why would LTTE let Mahinda Rajapaksha come to power and dig their own grave? May be they saw him as a weak candidate who wouldn’t fight. Did LTTE underestimate him or maybe he was actually not that capable at all. Critics say that it was Gen. Sarath Fonseka who brought his experience into the table and convinced the government that Mavinaaru humanitarian mission could be won if the government trust his instincts, experience and strategies. Actually he did win the mission and thereafter government was left with no choice but to continue fighting.

Common opposition candidate General Sarath Fonseka

Now, here is the interesting bit. I remember reading few comments made by General Fonseka claiming that he was the leading figure behind the victory over LTTE. Everybody now knows that this was not what he said just after the victory in May 2009. He was generously thanked H.E. the president Rajapaksha and the Defence Secretary Gotabhaya Rajapaksha for their immense leadership and contribution towards the victory. Obviously this is contrasting to what he said later. May be he was respecting the seniority and after all, he was then a public servant. Furthermore, in an interview with GTV television, a Europe based Tamil television, the opposition UNP Leader Ranil Wickramasingha mentioned that General Fonseka was just executing the orders given to him by the government. Does that mean Mr. Wickramasingha agrees that it was the President and the government behind the victory? Another important statement Mr. Wickramasingha made is that he had accepted that LTTE represents Tamils which later led him to sign the cease fire agreement. This raises a question in my mind, then why would he support Gen. Fonseka who claims to be the destroyer of Tamils rep and still expect Tamils to vote for him?

Contrasting to the arguments by critics of the government, I remember even before he came to power, H.E the President Mahinda Rajapaksha promised the nation that he would wipe out the terrorism from the country and bring peace. H.E. the President Mahinda Rajapaksha seems to have an astonishing personality and leadership qualities. Throughout the war he displayed and maintained a fearless leadership at all time. Unlike Gen. Sarath Fonseka, who is now happened to be his opponent in the presidential election, he is a good public speaker and makes sure he presents himself to the public well all the time. So far I have not heard him abusing in front of media. He managed to wake up the patriotic feelings inside the hearts of Sri Lankans during the war time and also, being a politician, he effectively capitalised that as well. He finally ended up branding people who support him as patriots and as traitors who are not. His personality did support him immensely in doing this.

Government won many provincial elections thereafter and in each and every one of them they marketed war and patriotism. People supported the government because they believed in the army. And they did not want to be labelled as traitors. End of the day government or rather army won the war. People were overjoyed. They hailed the president, army and most of all, General Sarath Fonseka for the victory. President saw the rising popularity of the general and promoted him to Chief of Defence Staff, which is almost like a desk job with no powers. May be the President was triggered off by the case of Pakistan’s Gen. Musharraf. So in that case, as a politician he did what he had to do. Take care of possible future threats to his own survival.
Besides ending the war he capitalised, there are many development projects being undertaken at the moment under “Mahinda Chinthanaya”. These obviously look great in president’s profile but he also had some issues like Mihin Air, which cost billions of tax payers’ money every year. Also, I believe the funds for those development projects are from high interest rates loans which make the people debtors. People fail to see this side of the government. They fail to see that there is more to economic development than building projects. They fail to see that there is more to peace than not being bombed by terrorists.

When we say we are at peace, we often forget about concerns over rising media and human rights violations. It is recognised in the constitution of Sri Lanka that people have the freedom of speech and expression including publications (Article 14a). Yet, there were 14 journalists murder cases and many more violence in Sri Lanka since 2005. As a matter of fact, I see this is against the definition of democracy. Can we call our country as a democratic country? Most of the people don’t feel the reality and are not affected by this as they are not actively involved in politics reason being it is cumbersome to think critically what these politicians are doing. It is easier to listen to manipulated information and make judgements. After all, our education system is built in such a way in which students’ critical thinking is not developed. Most people deny HR allegations simply blaming and branding people who made those allegations as traitors or so called western supporters. This later term “western” raise the question in my head, why are we so afraid of Westerns? Because, we think, or we are made to believe that Western countries are against a united and self-reliant Sri Lanka because they foster on other countries’ disarrays. As far as I know it is believed that Western countries through various organisations try to influence policies of small developing countries like Sri Lanka to benefit their own countries. Contrastingly, I want to mention what the Secretary to the President said on an interview with Daily Mirror. He emphasized that west is not against us, they like to work with us. If you look at this statement more closely, it doesn’t say anything about the intention of the west or why westerns like to work with us. So be careful when a politician or an associate make statements.

As always does, the topic “corruption” is in the fore front of this year’s election as well. I simply don’t believe any government can wipe out corruption. At least they should try reducing it. If you have been following the election then you must have seen the number or advertisements aired by both government and the opposition. This obviously cost money and the opposition blamed the government for using public money for their election campaigns. May be they are not using public money but money raised from businesses and lobbyists. This information is actually blurred and not transparent at all. There are allegations against government for terrorising opposition supporters. And there are actual incidents reported as well. But can all these be directly linked to the president Rajapaksha? What happens during an election is each party gives people a sense of belongingness in their each respective party and assets. Some people are hopeless and this sense of belongingness brings them a new but temporary life which then they sacrifice for their party and its candidate. These people then start act stupid and work to please their party. They think if the party wins, they win as well. So they do not want any other party to win. Do anything to stop it. They don’t ask if their party can actually deliver what its promises because they are afraid of losing the sense of belongingness. Moreover, they go blind when they feel the power of politicians and work for one of them.

Government suspects that sovereignty and the unity or Sri Lanka will be threatened under opposition government. They accuse opposition of having plans to divide the country and literary sell it to the west. I cannot recall my memory of the time when UNP was ruling. I was busy with my A/L and had no interest in politics. But I do remember that the economy was performing well including the share market. In terms of war, UNP signed a cease fire agreement with LTTE which had its own ups and downs. Some people say it helped LTTE divide into two and later made it easy to defeat them. Some argue that it helped LTTE rearmed and go strong.

This is not something I hoped for when I was given my voting power. How can I know who is acting in good faith? Shall I follow my instincts? Then I would say, known devil is better than unknown devil. I think that is what we have been doing so far. So we do not need to do that anymore. We need to think rationally, argue and construct dialogs with each other with different point of views with respect. This is not the time to engage in gossip, believe them and spread them. It’s high time we woke up.