{"id":66009,"date":"2019-10-15T20:59:45","date_gmt":"2019-10-16T00:59:45","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/dbsjeyaraj.com\/dbsj\/?p=66009"},"modified":"2019-10-15T21:01:19","modified_gmt":"2019-10-16T01:01:19","slug":"slpp-presidential-candidate-gotabaya-rajapaksa-flanked-by-brother-mahinda-and-supportive-political-leaders-fields-wide-range-of-questions-from-media-at-glitzy-press-conference-held-at-shangri-la","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/dbsjeyaraj.com\/dbsj\/?p=66009","title":{"rendered":"SLPP Presidential Candidate Gotabaya Rajapaksa Flanked by Brother Mahinda and Supportive Political Leaders Fields Wide Range of Questions From Media at Glitzy Press Conference Held at Shangri -La Hotel Ballroom"},"content":{"rendered":"

By Himal Kotelawala <\/strong><\/p>\n

In his first-ever press conference, amid increasingly awkward allegations of evading the media, presidential hopeful Gotabaya Rajapaksa fielded questions today on his vision for the country as well as his performance and track record as Defence Ministry Secretary.<\/p>\n

Flanked by his former president brother Mahinda Rajapaksa and leaders of the alliance led by the Sri Lanka Podujana Peramuna (SLPP), Rajapaksa took questions on, among other things, the country\u2019s human rights obligations, media freedom, foreign policy, reconciliation and development.<\/p>\n

Held in a partitioned section of the glitzy ballroom of the Shangri-La hotel in Colombo \u2014 whose construction, incidentally, began in the Rajapaksa era on prime real estate that had once belonged to the Army Headquarters \u2014 the press conference had all the trappings of a Rajapaksa INC event. Two rows of high tables were reserved for the presidential candidate and his politically colourful entourage, against a mammoth digital backdrop displaying the SLPP\u2019s now-iconic pohottuwa (lotus bud) symbol and the words \u2018Vision in Action\u2019, with blown-up images of the two Rajapaksa brothers on either end.<\/p>\n

As far as inaugural press briefings for a presidential candidate go, this morning\u2019s event was certainly one of the more impressive ones on record, even accounting for the Rajapaksa brand of pomp which rarely fails to impress. In terms of substance, however, there was much to be desired.<\/p>\n

Candidate Rajapaksa himself appeared sufficiently confident that his first powwow with the press would be smooth sailing from start to finish \u2014 and to his credit, it was, for the most part \u2014 but one wishes that more satisfactory answers were provided to some of the more probing questions fired his way.
\nThe very first question directed at Rajapaksa had to do with Sri Lanka\u2019s commitments to the United Nations Human Rights Council (UNHRC).
\nAsked how a Rajapaksa government would proceed with the matter, the SLPP candidate was entirely dismissive of the agreement entered with the UNHRC by the Yahapalana Government.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

\u201cMy personal view is that [the agreement] is not a legal document, but we will always work with the UNHRC to solve any issues they might have,\u201d he said, stressing that he didn\u2019t recognise the agreement as one signed by the Sri Lankan state.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe have already rejected that agreement as a party. It is not a document we signed. On this issue, our policies and the present government\u2019s are far apart,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n

Among the more controversial of Rajapaksa\u2019s pronouncements on the campaign trail has been a remark that, upon assuming office, he would immediately release military personnel put behind bars in the recent past for various alleged crimes. Responding to a question about the implications of this statement, Rajapksa insinuated that the judicial process that ended up trying the soldiers in question was politically motivated \u2014 a familiar refrain.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou already know how these soldiers and others were politically victimised. Two very senior officials from the Attorney General\u2019s Department have revealed the procedure that was adopted. There has never been a situation in Sri Lanka where [such decisions] were made at the headquarters of a political party,\u201d he said, referring to incriminating comments made by former Solicitor General Dilrukshi Dias Wickramasinghe in a leaked telephone conversation last month.
\nAll of the soldiers arrested thus were tried using B reports, said Rajapaksa, insisting that it was not a process that could be justified.<\/p>\n

His brother Mahinda meanwhile, responding to a question on debt servicing, claimed without too much elaboration that finding funds would not be a problem.<\/p>\n

The younger Rajapaksa was then asked about accountability for those reported missing during the final phase of the war in 2009.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen this government came into power, they neglected our process and started a new one. We will continue the process initiated by the Mahinda Rajapaksa government. Under the census department, we carried out a survey and found the number of people missing \u2013 whether they were LTTE terrorists or any others.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe produced a document on that, but the foreign investigators, without even listening to us, produced their own reports and numbers. There are a lot of ambiguous documents there. We\u2019re an independent country, where we can follow [the law] without foreign-appointed people producing documents without even coming here,\u201d said Rajapaksa.<\/p>\n

SLPP Chairman Prof. G. L. Pieris interjected at this point, noting that the incumbent government has admitted that some of the commitments made in the UNHRC agreement were contrary to the country\u2019s constitution.<\/p>\n

\u201cNo government, either present or future, can take actions that are in direct conflict with the highest law of the land,\u201d said Prof. Pieris.
\nAsked about combatants said to have surrendered to the army in the last days of the war, the former Defence Ministry Secretary said, with a laugh: \u201cI was not the commander of the army.\u201d<\/p>\n

Rajapaksa recalled how 13,784 people who surrendered were rehabilitated and reintegrated into society in an ambitious programme that even received the commendation of foreign observers.<\/p>\n

Some of surrendered LTTE cadres were recruited to the civil defence force, he said, and some even signed up for the military proper.<\/p>\n

Drawing a distinction between \u201cmissing people\u201d and people who surrendered to the military, Rajapaksa said there were missing people in the government forces too.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere are more than 3,000 officers missing in the military. There were certain instances on the battlefield where we couldn\u2019t even recover our own bodies. In Jaffna Fort, there were bodies we couldn\u2019t recover because the fighting intensity was so high,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

When a journalist pointed out that some of the missing were not, in fact, part of the rehabilitated 13,784 according to some families in the North, Rajapaksa said it\u2019s only an allegation that\u2019s not substantiated by official records of surrender. A rebuttal by the same journalist that a commission appointed by the then government itself had recorded details of surrender was left hanging.<\/p>\n

More questions followed in a similar vein, but the SLPP presidential candidate, it appeared, was not one to dwell on the past. He was keen to move on to what he called his policies as a future president.<\/p>\n

\u201cPeople in the North and East have more important issues: jobs, education, etc, and we can\u2019t hang on to old things; we have to move forward,\u201d he said.
\nThe older Rajapksa brother, on a separate note, said that the SLPP is still open for talks with the Tamil National Alliance (TNA), but denied reports that discussions had already taken place.<\/p>\n

The former president then alluded to disappearances from 1983 onward under the then United National Party (UNP) government, in response to a question about disappearances said to have taken place under his watch.<\/p>\n

The would-be president, meanwhile, stressed that leaders of the Tamil community had talked to the SLPP about \u201cregional development\u201d and solutions to various problems in areas of employment, education and others. <\/p>\n

With respect to development, Gotabaya Rajapaksa highlighted his already stated policies of targeting self-sufficiency in food and economic growth built on the advancement of technical fields.<\/p>\n

\u201cToday, the centre of gravity of development is moving to Asia. Asian countries were developed based on technology. We have to invest more in education, targeting this particular economic development,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Asked about his foreign policy, Rajapaksa said he is committed to neutrality.
\n\u201cWe have to be a neutral country. We can\u2019t get caught up in the power struggles going on between various countries in this region. We were a non-aligned country, and under the present situation we have to be neutral,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

One journalist asked the former military man to elaborate on his philosophy on reconciliation.<\/p>\n

\u201cPeople should live in dignity. [We should] give an opportunity to every person aspiring for a good living, good education and access to affordable housing. These we have to develop irrespective of regions or ethnicities. Because of the 30 year war, certain areas were not developed like others,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

His responses to further questions seemed to illustrate Rajapaksa\u2019s \u201cit\u2019s the economy\u201d reading of the ethnic issue, as he went on to highlight post-war economic interventions of the Rajapaksa government in the North and East.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe then government should be given credit not only for ending the war but also for post-war development. We pumped a lot of money into the region. The road network, the two railway lines, electricity for every village, drinking water and irrigation canal rehabilitation projects were carried out,\u201d he said.
\nRajapaksa also insisted that his brother\u2019s government was responsible for releasing some 90% of the land in the North.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen we took over the government, Jaffna peninsula was like a camp, with bunkers all around. Both the LTTE and the military were occupying the land. In 2014, more than 90% of the land had to be released,\u201d he said, adding that 300,000 people were resettled in their time.<\/p>\n

\u201cUnfortunately, nobody talks about this,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

The SLPP candidate was more evasive about the matter of the controversial ACSA and SOFA agreements with the United States.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe agreement we signed was a different one. It went on for 10 years. Nothing actually happened with that. The benefit was for us, but not for them. The present agreement is a different matter. I\u2019m always for a sovereign independent nation. I will not do anything to harm our sovereignty. Any government that negotiates has to start with me as president,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

A question about constitutional reform and abolishing the executive presidency went unanswered by the candidate, but his brother, the would-be Prime Minister could be heard saying: \u201cWe\u2019re of the position that the executive presidency should be abolished. It is up to the Parliament.\u201d<\/p>\n

Many of the questions that followed were either softball questions, if not outright full-tosses, that weren\u2019t especially challenging to either the candidate or his entourage. It must also be noted that the organisers did little to ensure that as many journalists as possible got an opportunity to ask questions, what with the microphone being repeatedly passed onto those who had already asked more than one question. However, when the inevitable question of media freedom finally arose, the response from the panel took a predictably opportunistic flavour.<\/p>\n

Said Gotabaya Rajapaksa: \u201cI didn\u2019t start a white van culture. Everyone\u2019s forgotten how people were abducted not just in white vans but white lorries in 1989. A period of burning tires, torture chambers \u2014 everyone including journalists have forgotten that period.\u201d<\/p>\n

Asked about disappearances reported during his tenure as Defence Ministry Secretary, Rajapaksa said: \u201cThe people who did this are on that side now.\u201d<\/p>\n

Pivithuru Hela Urumaya (PHU) leader Udaya Gammanpila, meanwhile, chimed in with a recollection that four presidential commissions appointed by President Chandrika Bandaranaike Kumaratunge in 1996 had found that abductions using white vans took place in the late 1980s.<\/p>\n

He also recalled a question he had raised in Parliament about how many abductions or murders of journalists were carried out in the second term of President Mahinda Rajapaksa from 2010 to 2015.<\/p>\n

\u201c[UNP Minister] Gayantha Karunatillake answered in Parliament that the number was zero,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Pronouncements were made to the effect that a victory for rival presidential hopeful UNP deputy leader Sajith Premadasa could spell a possible return to the dark days of the late \u201980s, one of the bloodiest periods in the country\u2019s history, under the presidency of his late father Ranasinghe Premadasa.<\/p>\n

To expect this occasion \u2014 where journalists themselves were confronting the Rajapaksas on their press freedom record \u2014 to have been seized for the opportunity that it was for the SLPP campaign to turn it into a moment of sombre reflection, if not a mea culpa, would be naive. It was instead reduced to an exercise in abject whataboutery, as was par for the course.<\/p>\n

But if Gotabaya Rajapaksa is serious about winning over the media, a more sincere dialogue would likely yield more dividends than a micro-managed PR drive masquerading as a press conference.<\/p>\n

Courtesy:Republic Next<\/em><\/p>\n

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By Himal Kotelawala In his first-ever press conference, amid increasingly awkward allegations of evading the media, presidential hopeful Gotabaya Rajapaksa fielded questions today on his vision for the country as well as his performance and track record as Defence Ministry Secretary. Flanked by his former president brother Mahinda Rajapaksa and leaders of the alliance led …<\/p>\n

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