By

Don Manu

pic: facebook.com/PresidentRajapaksa

Putting his family and associates first before all else, a people-deposed president Mahinda Rajapaksa has declared that he may come back to politics because he is angry that the Maithripala government has filed cases against his family members and associates.

In an interview given to India’s Hindu newspaper published this Friday, he stated that he was angered by the actions taken by President Sirisena and Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe against his family members and associates. “If they didn’t, I would have just supported this government. But now they want to probe, put us in jail, take our passports without any evidence. How can I retire like this? I never said I would retire. At the moment I am taking a rest,” he declared.

Though he has still not confirmed his decision to emerge from semi retirement and make a comeback, all the signs reveal that he is discreetly testing the political waters and coming out of the Medamulana woodwork to stake his claim at least to the premiership. Without a foothold in the political arena, without some semblance of political power to be used as a bargaining chip to thwart the public demand for a crackdown on corruption, it is clear that he, his family and his cronies may not be able to survive the gathering storm.

Already the senseless squander of a nation’s wealth has been exposed. To mention just one instance for example, lavish palaces fit for Third World kings have been built at a cost of over two billion rupees each in remote Kankesanthurai and Panama. They have been euphemistically called International Convention Centres to disguise the glitzy extravagance that the no expense sparing Rajapaksa regime created without a qualm. Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe described it as a mega luxury hotel complex with 58 chalets surpassing even Buckingham Palace in the scale of luxury. When Mahinda Rajapaksa said last week they had been built for future generations to enjoy, he may have meant future Lankan princes to indulge. And these may only be the tip of the ice berg.

Already steps have been taken to prove the various allegations made of corruption on an unimaginable scale. The Lankan Government has requested and received the assistance of the World Bank, the IMF, the EEC, the USA and Britain to launch a worldwide hunt to track down the missing 5.6 billion dollars or Rs. 750 billion the Government claims the Rajapaksa family siphoned off from the national coffers. India has agreed to set up a joint Financial Investigation Unit to assist the Government in their endeavour. The process has begun to collect the evidence. And the Government itself, whether it likes it or not, whether it is politically advantageous or not, is under a sacred duty to ensure that the public money stolen is returned to the people and the guilty are brought to justice, indicted to face the verdict of the courts.

But for Mr. Rajapaksa, as he stated in his interview, had the Government not probed his family members and his cronies, had the Government not allowed the due process to take its course, had the Government decided to selectively enforce the law and had exempted the Rajapaksa Family and their Associates from the crackdown on corruption, then he would have supported the Government and kept his peace with the Government. But the Government hadn’t. So he says:”How can I retire like that?”, making it clear that it is not for the sake of the people’s welfare that he is thinking of making a comeback but purely to safeguard the interests of his family and questionable friends.

He has now embarked on a tour of religious sites where he has begun to give cameo style short speeches to the media. A week ago he declared, “the true SLFP is with me”. On Thursday he went to Mihintale and told the Chief Monk of the temple “giving them to govern is like giving the razor to the monkey.” He charged that good governance and development had deteriorated and some people have been sacked, vengeance has returned. “If this is Yahapalanaya”, he said, “may the Gods have mercy upon us”.

No doubt there will be many more visits to temples and many more asides to newsmen; many more diatribes against the government; and many probes and arrests made in the course of the crackdown on corruption will be denounced as evidence of revenge and not as legitimate activity to bring the guilty to justice.

Now from the doldrums of defeat, the prospect of a Rajapaksa Rising as conjured by the homeless Gang of Four — namely, Wimal, Udaya, Dinesh and Vasu orphaned by Mahinda’s presidential loss and staging their Hamlets without the Prince — seemed to have stirred his imagination, fuelled his hopes and created his belief that Lanka is in dire need of him. Mahinda Rajapaksa maybe a seasoned politician but he has still not transcended the weakness inherent in all politicians: the vanity to think that crowds throng his presence or march up his Medamulana driveway simply because they love him, warts and all, and will vote for him any day. If that were true, he would still be President. But the 5 billion dollar question for him to ponder is why, when the Lankan public effectively dethroned him two months ago from the seat he thought he would hold for life, they would want him back now even before the purple ink daubed at the poll booth had barely vanished from their fingernail; and for what earthly reason the Government, now in the process of establishing a national government with the unanimous backing of the SLFP and the UNP, will be willing to risk public wrath by transgressing its sacred promise to the nation to crackdown on corruption, in return for his support to the Government?

Set to reach the biblical age of three score and ten years this November, Mahinda Rajapaksa deserves his retirement. He should do well to spend the hard earned rest wisely and, perhaps, meditate on the wisdom of the Buddha’s Dhammapada, gems of which he often loved to quote at the end of his speeches at international forums. Hopefully he will find inspiration from it and, if so, should be guided by one gem which states that one is responsible only for one’s own action, not for the actions of others. Taking it to heart, he should cease being the beast of burden, braying around bearing the sins of his kith and kin. He may have enough bags of worry of his own to be burdened with.

Courtesy:Sunday Times