Round The World

New Delhi, 2 February 2010

Rajapaksa Victory

TIME TO WIN PEACE, RECONCILIATION

By Monish Tourangbam

Research Scholar, School of International Studies, JNU

Sri Lanka has just undergo1ne one of its most important yet controversial elections with the incumbent President Mahinda Rajapaksa crowned the victor. He has been riding high after the ouster of the dreaded Tamil Tigers. Though his main challenger, the erstwhile Army Chief Sarath Fonseka gave a tough competition, it was undoubtedly discernible that Rajapaksa will eventually overtake.  The President is known to have a way with masses and was cashing in on his image as the one who led the successful offensive against the Tamil insurgents. But, in the island nation severely divided and ravaged by a civil war for more than quarter of a century, winning a war might turn out to be easier than winning peace.

The nation is in a transition, definitely there is a change. But the implications of the changes are yet to be seen. It is a crucial time for the people and the leaders who have the opportunity and the challenge to help direct the country towards a future of prosperity, stability and hope.

Though the next President is chosen now and the focus should be on the future, questions raised over the nature of the elections reflects that peace might still be elusive for some time to come in the island nation. Election monitoring groups have expressed concerns regarding the misuse of State resources in election-campaigns. It is alleged that the State media, particularly State-run TV, provided blanket coverage of the incumbent President's campaign.

Moreover, independent observers have been very skeptical with the amount of pre-election day violence and the level of cynicism and negative energy that pervaded the campaign process. Independent media has been very critical of the way the Rajapaksa administration has tried to influence opinions and intimidate dissident voices. Media groups have charged the government of destroying freedom with the closure of the pro-opposition Lanka Weekly and the detaining of its editor Chandana Sirimalwatte. The President has also been accused of high-level corruption and nepotism, appointing his brothers and several relatives to top government positions.

Even on the day of the election, which was deemed to be relatively peaceful, there were reported cases of violence, mainly in Tamil-populated northern Sri Lanka. The Centre for Monitoring Election Violence reported six explosions before and just after voting began in Jaffna.  Two blasts struck Vavuniya, the town near the huge camps for people displaced by the war. Grenade attacks were also reported in the Sinhala-dominated centre and south. These attacks could best be explained as tactics to scare away voters and influence the polling numbers.

The nature of the campaigns, the election process and the poll statistics have hardly provided any indication that the nation is heading towards reconciliation. The ethnic divide looks more emphasized and the opinions are fractured and cynical. The symptoms of the disease that the new administration has to grapple with are right there for all to see in the form of the mandate provided to the new government. President Rajapaksa has a sizeable number to prove his popularity, but numbers do not tell the whole story. The Challenger General Fonseka won in the north and the east, largely dominated by Tamils and Tamil-speaking Muslims.

According to sources, some 70 per cent of Sri Lanka's 14 million-strong electorate turned out to vote. However, turn-out in the Tamil areas in the north-east, where the fiercest fighting occurred during the conflict, was less than 30 per cent. Gen. Fonseka has alleged vote-rigging and has lodged several objections with Sri Lanka's electoral commission by letter, many of which are actually backed by independent monitoring groups. After the results, the atmosphere in the capital Colombo was subdued reflecting its support for the ex-General. Thus, the mandate given to the new President seems to be fractionated, mirroring the ethnic political and social divide that has marred the economic developments of this island nation, located along strategic trade routes.

The intoxication of power is indeed ironical. The President and the challenger General Fonseka were once close associates and allies who engineered the ouster of the LTTE and ended the civil war. But, once the war was over, the alliance fractured both accusing each other. The former army chief accused that the government had sidelined his importance once the war had been won. On the other hand, the Rajapaksa administration accused the military leader of courting separatists. Both wanted to bask in the glory of the military success and take maximum credibility. In the process, the accusations and allegations snowballed into a vicious personal rivalry that threatens to derail the peace process even after the election results.

Much depends on how the victorious side and the re-elected President handle the situation. The civil war is over and the changes that it has brought about should be reflected in the policies of the administration. The authoritarian style that was deemed necessary during the military campaign against the LTTE is no longer valid and clear messages should be sent out that the establishment does not intend to continue. The focus should now be on the rapid re-settlement of the displaced minority and give them a livelihood of dignity and engage them in the nation-building process.

Long years of civil war have corroded any sense of unity and fraternity across the ethnic divide in Sri Lanka, clearly evident in the nature of the mandate given during the recent election. The ethnic Tamils seem to be hardly convinced that the present President could listen to their grievances and give them an equal platform in the national spectrum. For that matter, even the challenger General Fonseka who polled a lot of votes in the Tamil and Muslim dominated parts of the island seems to have been seen as the “better devil”, preferred in a situation of no-alternative.

Moreover, the political set-up and structures of other State establishments need overhauling. The prescribed powers and responsibilities of the different provinces should be better spelled out, to assuage any misconceptions and fears of Sinhalese-domination. More emphasis should be given to the representation of the Tamil language in all forms of State deliberations and the Sri Lankan military and the police forces should quickly reflect the changes, focusing on the recruitment of ethnic Tamil minorities.

In the final analysis, the war is hardly won for President Rajapaksa. For that matter, the real plunge has just begun and if he moves towards confronting these challenges with sincerity, he can expect more cooperation from the minorities and also from the international community who have been very skeptical about the way the war against LTTE was handled. Rajapaksa defied international pressure for a ceasefire and criticism over civilian deaths. The world hopes and waits for a leader, who would be remembered as the one who not only won the war but also won peace and took Sri Lanka towards stability, harmony and prosperity. ---INFA

(Copyright, India News and Feature Alliance)