By

Hemantha Warnakulasuriya

It was very interesting to hear from one of the Opposition big guns, Anura Kumara Dissanayake that Mahinda Rajapaksa could not live in this country as a defeated candidate as he had committed so many crimes including corruption in the awarding of contracts without following any tender procedures, to his cronies, local and foreign, who were prepared to pay him in certain cases as much as 8,000% of the total award, as commission. Therefore, he would never give up his power or position as a democratic leader should do. He went on to say that all other Presidents could go home after defeat or after the completion of two terms as President and live without fear.

Taking a cue from the audacious announcement made by Anura Kumara Dissanayake and the other star of the opposition Champika Ranawaka, the Presidential candidate, Maithripala Sirisena said that he would not permit any of the thieves of public funds to leave the country surreptitiously and he would close the airport. Mr. Sirisena who made that statement in the heat of the campaign denied it later on.

The manner in which the former President left Temple Trees, in the wee hours of the morning, even before the final results were announced gave further impetus to the theory propounded by Dissanayake, that the President left Temple Trees as he could not leave in the morning because the crowds would gather and jeer him and make his farewell an ugly one. The President may have been reminded of the manner in which he had escaped from the Tamil Diaspora, who had congregated at the Heathrow Airport and how he had to land his aircraft at another airport in order to avoid the hostile crowd.

The President left and moved to his ancestral home at Medamulane and at Carlton in Tangalle. People are streaming in and when he arrived at Medamulane there were thousands of people waiting for him, who started crying, showing deep sorrow and anguish over his defeat. Then, there were pictures of these crowds which the media websites and emails quickly displayed saying those were hired villagers imported from various places and had been paid to weep and wail. Those who opposed Rajapaksa never expected the people to behave in that manner. That was something quite new to Sri Lankan politics. When President, Ranasinghe Premadasa, who had rendered yeoman service to the down trodden people of this country died at the hands of a suicide bomber, the public lit crackers.

Then came the episode of electing the President of the SLFP and it was shown on TV that a number of senior SLFP politicians including Sarath Amunugama, were having a meeting with the Executive Committee of the SLFP and Faisar Musthapa as holding fort and stating that a large number of the Executive Committee had appointed many members, who were present there, as officer bearers of the SLFP, and by the fact that Maithripala Sirisena, who was still the Secretary of the SLFP, had automatically become the President of the party. Vijith Wijemuni Soyza said their father had died and no one wanted to keep the body in the house without burying it. The SLFP was split. An appeal was made to Mahinda Rajapaksa that in order to keep the SLFP intact, he must voluntarily give up his presidency in the SLFP and nominate Sirisena. That was done, and Sirisena became the President of the SLFP.

Hardly a day passes without some corrupt deal under the previous government being in the news. Some UNP MPs went into Temple Trees, acted like clowns and displayed swords and toilets and many other artefacts but what they found at Temple Trees had no impact or impression on the public. The search for Lamborghinis and Bugatti were abandoned.

Frustration was in abundance. People expected the corrupt to be hauled before courts and charged and punished. The then Opposition leaders promised that the corrupt would be dealt with within 24 hours of the defeat of the Rajapaksas. In fact, they expected all three Rajapaksas to be arrested and produced in Court. Basil left the country without any protest by anyone. People were flabbergasted and felt the government had let them down.

More and more people are visiting Mahinda Rajapaksa, the ex-president and expressing solidarity with him and requesting him to come back to politics. Three minor parties in the Opposition then started a campaign requesting Rajapaksa to become the prime ministerial candidate at the next election. Wimal Weerawansa announced that there would be a meeting on Feb. 18 to launch a countrywide campaign to make Rajapaksa the prime ministerial candidate of the UPFA.

The meeting was held as scheduled and telecast live via Internet. Wimal Weerawansa proudly proclaimed that more than 500,000 people had attended the meeting. Pro-government social websites pooh-poohed that claim saying that there had not been more than 15,000 people. There was a heated debate on the social media on the number of people who had attended the meeting. That was in the opinion of many independent observers the biggest rally ever held in Nugegoda. In fact, some compared it to the rally held by Lalith Athulathmudali after leaving the Premadasa Government, but, many said the Feb. 18 event was the biggest ever.

At the Nugegoda rally there were several former Ministers a very large representative gathering of the Provincial Councils and Pradeshiya Sabhas. It is only too well known that most members of Provincial Councils, Pradeshiya Sabhas, Municipal Councils, Urban Councils were corrupt and that the Rajapaksas protected them and therefore they extended their unstinted support for the President. Bribery and corruption had become a national character and a way of life. No one could think of a society devoid of corruption. The current president promised to establish a ‘Yahapalanaya’ free from bribery and corruption and got a popular mandate. Sirisena had been a minister of the same set up but he had not sullied his image. Naturally all local politicians, provincial council members and even MPs fear that if investigations are conducted into corrupt deals and abuse of power they will have to pay for their sins.

People may support the SLFP at a future election as there is a feeling that the present government is anti-Sinhala Buddhist. Resolutions passed by the Northern Provincial Council and some of the appointments to high posts may be disadvantageous to the government. Therefore, the representatives of the SLFP would vote and do everything possible to bring back Rajapaksa to safeguard their interests though they are against corruption. Therefore, the present government should do everything possible to prevent these forces of corruption from raising their heads again.

Courtesy:The Island