President Mahinda Rajapaksa gestures to supporters as he arrives at a political rally for the presidential campaign in Colombo, January 13, 2010-Reuters pic.

This war is as decisive to the island nation as the civil war it experienced, though many may not have realised that yet.

The people who were living in fear of terrorism are now torn between the problem of corruption on the one hand and possible dictatorship on the other. Both are evils but the dilemma is in selecting the lesser evil. While corruption directly interferes with the economic development of the country the dictatorship directly interferes with freedom and liberty.

Corruption had been the bane of this country during the last three decades and it reached unprecedented proportions in the late seventies during the presidency of J R Jayewardene. It continued during the presidency of Premadasa, and after his death at the hands of an LTTE terrorist the president who took over, D B Wijetunga did not have the muscle to curb corruption.

President Chandrika Kumaratunge who assumed office in 1994 after a17-year UNP rule was determined to wipe out corruption and in fact did her best to do so during her first two years in office. However, a few business tycoons who were friends of hers lured her into corruption of scales never experienced before. She started, among other things, to sell prime assets of the Government for a pittance to her allies who allegedly were hand in glove in business with her and some of these decisions including the SLIC deal and the Water’s Edge deal were made null and void by the Supreme Court after her term was over.

Physically disabled former soldiers and veterans attend a rally in the streets supporting Presidential candidate Sarath Fonseka in Colombo, January 13, 2010-Reuters pic.

The next President, the present incumbent, his critics allege, did little to turn the tide and allowed his kith and kin to rob the country big time.

So the story of politicians plundering the country continues unabated but life goes on.

While the story of corruption is that the closest the country had come to a dictatorship was during the second term of Sirimavo Bandaranaike. She was elected Prime Minister in 1970 for the second time and crushed an attempted revolution by the JVP ruthlessly. After successfully overcoming the JVP rebellion, she governed with an iron fist and did many unconstitutional acts including extending the life of parliament well over the stipulated five years.

However, a series of crippling strikes and demonstrations forced her to dissolve parliament and go in for elections which she lost very badly.

J R Jayewardene who had a sweeping victory took revenge by stripping Mrs B of her civic rights on a highly questionable display of absolute power. J R Jayawardene also did a few "undemocratic" deeds such as obtaining undated letters of resignation from his MPs and also extending his term of office by way of a referendum.

The next President, R Premadasa, was accused of many acts of violence and killings though no one was certain about his hand in these undemocratic acts. He was killed by a terrorist suicide bomber at the May Day rally in 1993.

Whilst D B Wijetunge did little to harm his reputation as a harmless man the next to take up the leadership showed streaks of arrogance and was also accused, fairly or unfairly, of using killer squads to attack opponents.

Mahinda Rajapaksa the incumbent President also is accused of attacks on journalists and for not controlling the notorious white van menace which is suspected to be the work of his goons.

Though we have experienced varying degrees of democracy or the lack of it, during the last 40 years we have never ever come close to a dictatorship proper.

However, it would be naive for us to think that there is no possibility of a dictatorship emerging in this country. To be a dictator one only needs power and a will to destroy democracy.

Ruthless, vindictive, self centred and over ambitious individuals could very well fit the bill. Idi Amin, Saddam Hussein, Hitler and even Pol Pot are individuals with one or more of the above characteristics.

Though correctly gauging an individual is not easy at all one can make use of the past behaviour of the person concerned in making a reasonable assessment.

It would be important to uphold democracy and ensure that Sri Lanka is not destroyed by a dictator. In fact, powerful nations who thrive by destabilizing countries which are strategically important would do anything to have a dictator at the helm of affairs in this lovely land of ours, which has not seen the rule of a dictator since the end of the rule of the kings, the last of whom was Sri Wickremarajasinghe, whose cruel deeds are well known.

Let us exercise our franchise responsibly and cautiously. Maybe we would not have the ideal choice but it would be important to preserve democracy and freedom by electing a man who is less likely to be a despot.

The world does not want any more Hitlers (or Pocket Hitlers), Idi Amins, Saddam Husseins or Pol Pots.