Rajapakse and Fonseka election promises mean nothing to the Tamils
| Election promises made by Rajapakse and Fonseka to the Tamils and Tamil political parties mean nothing to the Tamils, as history has taught them to treat promises by Sinhalese politicians with a pinch of salt. |
Revenge – The Determining factor?
by Dushy Ranetunge
During a previous election many in Colombo and the affluent classes were overconfident of a UNP victory. At the time there was a massive disjoint between the perceptions in Colombo and those in the country. Rajapakse tapped into these rural aspirations, and Prabakaran assisted by excluding the Tamil vote. The rest was history.
Presidential candidate of the common opposition and former military chief Gen. Sarath Fonseka greets people as he takes part in Hindu religious observances during the Pongal festival in Colombo, Thursday, Jan. 14, 2010.-AP pic
The Rajapakse Presidency has performed in terms of delivering a military victory and many infrastructure development projects during adverse global economic conditions. On the negative side, it has mishandled the concluding weeks of the war in its hurry to finish it off before the conclusion of the Indian elections and dragged Sri Lanka to the gates of a war crimes investigation. The Presidency is also ultimately responsible for a string of executions where no progress has been made in terms bringing the guilty to justice, widespread impunity, human rights abuses, abuse of power, endemic corruption and bribery.
In historical terms it’s a gigantic achievement, as before Mahinda Rajapakse, a local ruler militarily united this island only in 1160 AD; Parakramabahu the great of Polonnaruwa. In between, the British King George III of the House of Hanover again militarily united it in 1815.
But yet it seems inadequate to capture the imagination of the electorate.
This aspect seem somewhat reminiscent of the first term of the Jayawardene Presidency, where massive infrastructure projects including the giant Mahaveli scheme and major structural adjustments to the economy were considered adequate to maintain support and dampen rising Tamil militancy. But it was not enough, as the Tamil electorate had been consumed by other considerations than what Jayawardene had in mind.
It’s the same today. This time the Sinhalese electorate is not talking about Rajapakse’s concrete roads, harbours or coal power plants, but about corruption, poor governance, human rights and the quality of democracy itself.
The Rajapakse election strategy of requesting the electorate to show gratitude for his administration’s military victory does not quite work, as it is argued that Rajapakse did not show gratitude to Fonseka and the army.
On election platforms Rajapakse condemns the “katakatha Brigade” but his perceived conduct after suspicions/”katakatha” of a coup, including the manoeuvrings of the Indian army are also not very forthcoming and could be interpreted as even being traitorous and an insult to the armed forces.
The Rajapakse clan is out of touch with the evolving aspirations of the mobile phone generation, zooming around in their three wheelers and motor bikes. They want more, in terms of democracy and governance. This is where Fonseka scores, as Rajapakse is weak.
The aspirations and considerations that brought Rajapakse to power changed overnight on that fateful day in May 2009 to be replaced by a new set of aspirations and considerations with which the Rajapakse’s are increasingly out of sync and are struggling today.
Many criticise that now famous “white flag” expose of Federica Janz in the Sunday Leader and interpret it as being unfavourable to Fonseka. Another point of view is that it has done Fonseka a lot of good, and this includes his statement that he was out of the country during those critical days in May, which perceived to distanced him from the “white flag” events. These two, in could prove critical in a Fonseka victory.
Everyone loves to hate Prabakaran, and an overwhelming majority of Sinhalese thinks he got what he deserves even if he was killed with an axe. But yet, amidst this carnage, the white flag story about the gunning down of surrendering LTTE cadres, their women and children though not discussed, seem to leave an uncomfortable bitter taste that is bothering the conscience of the Sinhalese electorate.
They don’t talk about it, but they say “Its time for a change”, perhaps being polite in their rural way.
Although the Rajapakse administration scoffed at the Western Democracies and dismissed them as LTTE defenders, it is clear that the issues the Western democracies raised in terms of impunity, human rights, governance, and the quality of democracy, matters to a significant portion of the rural Sri Lankan electorate and the arrogance of the administration in this regard has proved to be their Achilles heel. Sri Lankans as a whole do not share Rajapakse’s enthusiasm for Iran, Libya and Myanmar.
Bribery and corruption is eating away at the very fabric of democracy and effecting the quality of governance at a rural level and the allegations made against the first family and the extended family and then there is the clan, does not help.
All these issues have dramatically eroded the credibility of the Rajapakse Presidency to an extent where it is no longer possible for the President to secure a second term on the Sinhala vote alone. It is doubtful if this was ever possible although some radicals thought so.
The Fonseka campaign seem to have realised this at the very outset and beat Rajapakse to Jaffna.
It is suspected that the Muslims will vote in large numbers for Fonseka.
It seems that the Tamil vote, which was disenfranchised by Prabakaran at the last Presidential election might very well prove to be the determining factor in a few days, and as to how the Tamils would vote is open to debate.
It is unlikely that they will vote out of “gratefulness” for being “liberated” from the “LTTE menace” and for being “looked after” in “welfare camps” by the Rajapakse’s. These perceptions are pipe dreams of Sinhala nationalists and is far away from reality.
Out of the many comments from Tamils about their voting intentions, two are worth mentioning.
One comment was “Mahinda has treated us so badly, no one else can treat us any worse, so I am voting for Sarath”
Another comment by a Tamil journalist of the Uthayan newspaper in Jaffna was “we are asked to choose between the one who ordered the killing and the one who killed”
With Rajapakse’s credibility within the Sinhalese electorate greatly eroded, the Tamil vote will be critical and “revenge” could emerge as the determining factor in this election.
For the Tamil mind there is nothing between the two candidates. Both candidates are tarnished by a brutal and a bitter war that has dragged the republic to the gates of an international war crimes investigation.
Election promises made by Rajapakse and Fonseka to the Tamils and Tamil political parties mean nothing to the Tamils, as history has taught them to treat promises by Sinhalese politicians with a pinch of salt.
What remains is revenge.
To achieve by the ballot, what could not be achieved by the bullet, for the death and the suffering of Tamils, for bussing them out of Colombo, for rounding their people in camps like the state had never done to the Sinhalese after crushing the JVP, for so many broken promises, for the children gunned down in Trincomalee, for the incidents depicted in the channel 4 video, for those who died having faith in the white flag and above all for the utter humiliation inflicted upon their people, which has created one of the worlds largest and hostile Diasporas.
13 Comments
Revenge is not in the lexicon of Tamil culture. When the Tamils vote in their large numbers it will be largely because of the cumulative injustice and humiliation imposed on them particularly in the past 4 years - some of which is illustrated in the last para of this piece. Denying economic opportunities in the traditional Tamil areas of the NEP; ignoring infra-structure development there;
surreptitious and open action to change the demographic pattern and the CoL which this Govt has proved incapable of brining down are some of the other factors. The two main candidates Tamils are asked to chose would be similar to what the jews would have been
asked during WW2 - chose either Hitler, Goering or Goebells. Or even the Turkey being asked to vote for Christmas - if you like.
ISS
General Fonseka and broad based alliance has fired the imagination of all those who are fed up with the current administration and want a change. We have had quite enough of this one man show and its time for us to move on and build a prosperous nation for all.
Otherwise we will always be divided into the Patriots and the Conspirators. How does he expect to develop the country by dividing people from the word go?
Excellent analysis. I was at a time an admirer of MR for standing up to Chandrika, plucked out the nomination from the party and went on to win the Presidency. But then, as luck would have it, with the war victory, he was beginning to dream of being a King of Lanka and began to spin a family empire. Several eye-brows were beginning to raise with Mervyn sponsored cut-outs naming him the Maharajah. It is people like Mervyn, in their inimitable way, started poisoning the mind of Mahinda. That really started doing it to him in the voter base. Those high jumpers from the UNP made it even worse.
The fundamental mistake he made was that he began to get rid of all those who untiringly toiled for his victory, starting with Sriplath and Mangala. when Sripathy tried to expose a deal he paid with his life. Most of the cover ups are so transparent, pleople began to get jittery about the future of democracy in this country. That is part of the reason why he lost credibility even among his ardent supporters.
Correction: Sapumal Kumaraya, son of Parakramabahu VI, united the country again in the 15th century. He was ordained as Buvanekabahu VI. The intermittent Tamil kingdoms existed for brief periods in the Jaffna peninsula but in larger part under the suzerainty of the king of Kotte/Kandy etc.
Hi Sugeeshwara,
From 1215 to 1619 there was a kingdom in Jaffna, longer than the life of the United States of America. It was briefly annexed by Bhuvanekabahu VI, also known as Sapumal Kumaraya, in 1450 but lost control of it by 1467.
I did not count 17 years of Sapumals unity as being relevant as its of such short duration and other than his conquest of Jaffna, it is not quite clear if he had control over the whole island, other than Kotte and Jaffna (for 17 years.) For example Kandy and even the Batticaloa and Panama etc does not have any mention or evidence of Sapumals control to the same extent as Parakramabahu and Rajapakse.
suzerainty over Jaffna was indeed claimed, but no evidence of it being enforced.( No Kotte, Kandyan troops stationed in Jaffna etc) If it was, there would have been no reason for Sapumal to launch his conquest and for there to be such fanfare about it.
In fact there is evidence to indicate that suzerainty of Jaffna was more towards the South Indian empires (Vijayanagara) rather than Kandy or Kotte.
Some invaders and rulers of Jaffna were also from Thailand - ChandraBhanu. Perhaps explains the place name Java-kachcheri
What you have set out is the standard Sinhalese nationalist interpretations of history, which is not accepted as being serious.
There is more to life than nationalism which is in essence racism or tribalism which we saw after the LTTE conquest of Elephant pass by the Tamils and by the flag waving Sinhalese in May 2009.
Rajapakse and Sinhalese nationalism seem incapable of rising above a certain ceiling to truly unite our many peoples and bring peace to our land. Perhaps its his rural conditioning.
regards
Dushy
For quoting history here Dushy will be placed into the Hit List of the Supremacist cabal – that elite Club of Nalin de S, Gunadasa A, SLG, Gomin D, Champaka et al. Nalin will rupture a vein in his rage if anyone were to question his “massaged history” Tamils were brought here by the Dutch from Malabar only 400 years ago. And, he is a Professor teaching graduate students? No wonder we are breeding a whole host of the mendacious as leaders.
There is hope for unity and the future when men of learning – armed with historical evidence and statistics – speak out and say boldly “there is more to life than (pseudo) nationalism which is racism/tribalism” than fooling some of the people some of the time. Will we soon have politicians of the calibre of the Amarasuriyas of Galle, UB Wanninayake, MD Banda, Dudley Senanayake et al to whom politics was serving the people with unquestioned honesty – more the poorer people – than the present version of “family business” where pilfering the family silver is more the norm. Some of those revered men dissipated much of their personal and family wealth in the wake of an altruistic goal.
ISS
Election promises mean nothing to Tamils and they don't
mean much to anyone else either.The irony is,elections
are coming because the clock is ticking.Promises are
coming because this is a buying process.People sell
their votes to the highest bid.This is buy now pay later business for politicians and sell now and see
stars for voters.And the best part is,it's all about
repeat customers.But unforunately some rebellious customers in the south and north at different times and
intervals tried to show stars to the traditional buyers
for different reasons.They were not matured enough and
they lost.Remember,the caravan moves on.Buying selling back on track,this time around, the consignment is
full with non traditional items and the buyers themselves are bloody smelly.Still,paradisians have no escape routes.Buy from the less smelly until another
batch of "bad boys" are born to get full refund.Who
knows,a new paymaster might payback.
Thank you Mr. Ranetunge.
All the best to you in 2010!
People like you is what missing in the SL government, otherwise the Sri-Lankan state would have been a fair, fine and first class state like it was prior to and immediately after the Independance.
Hope MR dust the bite for all his cruelties (late Lasantha and thousands of innocent Tamils)) and nepotism and SF restore democracy and then again how SF is going to wash his sins in orchestrating the attack on Mr. Keith Noyar and failed attempt on Mr. Iqbal Athas's life? will he dismantle the ARMY death squads?
What a pathetic choice/dilemma our voters are facing.
I cannot tell you who will win this election but I can tell you who will lose. The Sinhalese, Tamil and Muslim people, the ordinary working masses toiling to feed their families, they will be the losers. They always have been.
With a few precious words Anoma has spoken for us all. This is more an indictment against the system we "proudly proclaim" as Democracy.
Pluto would turn in his grave and so would Lincoln about what passes here aas democracy which MRs team has turned to demonocracy with the vermin taking the lead. Noam Chomsky comments the Barak Obama victory was the first "people's combined effort" against those institutions that are already set in place for the American people to vote - The Republican and Democratic Party;s in the main. And Wall Street and Big American Business, which fund both makes the decisions behind the scene. Beginning from collecting US$10 and 20 Barak Barak a mighty election machine to match the resources of the giant Corporations and won. Mainly students, University Dons, housewives and workers joined in and created history there. It was not merely Barak - but more the American people that prevailed. We too must begin grass roots movements to save our own democracy and learn from the rot we bred from the UNP, SLFP, JVP, the Leftists, JHU etc., Our lot has fooled some of the people some of the time.
We must not allow them to fool all the people all the time. I can see people becoming more aware now than before. Sarath Fonseka has the opportunity in our own history to join the ranks of Park Chung Jhee, Charles de Gaulle of the uniformed and of LKY of Singapore to unite and turn Sri Lanka to realise its tremendous inherent potential in ushering peace, unity and prosperity. Do it, WE CAN.
ISS
I agree with Anoma in toto... no questions about it.....thanks Mr Dushy for a touching analysis. Your last para talks for all of us......
Hi Dushy
Thanks for your reply.
My observation was not based on any nationalism- Sinhala or Tamil. It was a comment on your assertion that “as before Mahinda Rajapakse, a local ruler militarily united this island only in 1160 AD; Parakramabahu the great of Polonnaruwa. In between, the British King George III of the House of Hanover again militarily united it in 1815”.
Two important sources of history pertaining to this period are the Kotagala & Madawela inscriptions and the works of Portuguese historian Father Fernao de Queyroz who wrote “The Temporal and Spiritual Conquest of Ceylon”.
There is no denying that there was a Kingdom of Jaffna from 1215 to 1619. This kingdom for most part acknowledged the suzerainty of the Kingdom of Kotte, Gampola,Sithawaka, Kandy etc (whichever kingdom was more powerful) by paying taxes to the kings that governed. Sometimes the Aryachakravarti king asserted authority leading to conflicts such as those with Sapumal. Another example was during the mid-14th century when the Aryachakravarti king pushed his authority and even controlled some west coast ports until he was defeated by Alakeshvara from Raigama, a Minister in the court of Wickramabahu III (whose seat of administration was Gampola). Please see “The Arya kingdom of North Ceylon”, 1961, Journal of the Ceylon Branch of the Royal Asiatic Society, New Series Vol VII, part 2, pg 174-224.
Therefore your assertion that “suzerainty over Jaffna was indeed claimed, but no evidence of it being enforced” is again not true. I’ll leave you with a quote from De Queyroz’s book (translated by Fr. S.G.Perera,1930, pg 49) :
“ Of these the first that tried to free himself from the subjection to the king of Cota was Ariaxaca Varti who being naturally proud and not brooking haughtiness of the officers of that king, took the life of the one that governed there, and the king of Ceylon preparing to punish him, they say, he went to meet him at Ceytavaca and took him some verses wherein he so flattered him………and left him completely vainglorious and satisfied…..he not only made him desist from war, but obtained olas from him and the title of king of Jaffnapatam which his successors preserved paying in acknowledgement only some tribute………”
P.S: This is a detail of history forming a small part of your argument. I agree with the thrust of your main argument that the country post-Prabhakaran needs a leader who is able to rise above petty nationalism/tribalism and unite all communities.
Best Regards
Sugeeshwara
Sugeeshwara:
In as much as Tamil rulers in the North-East paid tribute to rulers in the South they also, at various times, made these contributions to rulers across the North (i.e.the South of present India)
This depended on who was more powerful at a given time. The point here is there were Tamil rulers and kings here in the 12/13th centuries and prior to that. This debunks the theory of mischievous
Pseudo-nationalist teachers here who have poisoned the vulnerable minds of their young Sinhala students here - in the past 3 decades in particular - that Tamils are new to the North-East and were brought here by Dutch for tobacco cultivation. These students were then to flock to extremist political parties in the country and are prepared to lay down their lives “to defend the Sinhala motherland from recent invaders” Our young need to be protected from these scheming academics – political activist nonetheless – most of whom are rejects from the many major political parties but somehow find space for their skullduggery through regular Press columns. Of late we note the target of their ire is the small Burgher community here.
ISS