Is Sri Lanka A Dictatorships?

By Lakshan Wanigasooriya -August 31, 2014

Lakshan Wanigasooriya

Dear reader when I first started work on this article the aim was to find elements of government that would move a regime or leader towards dictatorial rule. No leader has ever confirmed he or she is a dictator however we all know who they are in history and presently. Many who write into the Colombotelegrah and other free media (I use the word very carefully – as I don’t believe there is such a thing as a free lunch!) who are campaigning for establishment of secular, liberal, democracy has been making this allegation that Sri Lanka is fast moving towards being such a state. What I aim to do in the below article is to present some points and element one sees in dictatorial leaders and regimes. History I believe is the best teacher and history repeats itself with a doubt.  

When I first started my interest in politics back in the last 80’s and then choosing politics as part of my degree one of the things that I always looked at from a past tense was dictatorships and authoritarian rule; because for some reason I really failed maybe due to my ignorance that we could ever have emerging dictatorships in the 21^st century the UN all the regional organisations, 24/7 media the internet all seem to be progressive tools against such a force. Dictatorships and authoritarian rule seems a fading concept reserved to the history books.

What makes a dictator, what keeps them going ; what motivates them is it power or money if so surly that must have a limit or are they that don’t have a limit’ or satisfaction in life that fall on to this category? Rewind back the time and lets go back to the 1920’s a 34 year old Hitler was languishing in prison after an unsuccessful attempt to over throw the German government but yet within decade he was the chancellor and one of the most powerful people in Europe; How did he do it? He received two buffets of fate, first the German defeat and then the resulting financial ruin. If you look at dictatorships around the globe unfortunately fate has played a major role. President Rajapaksa also had fate very firmly on his side in his rise to power, take the late 80’s and 90’s and if you asked or said to anyone if Mahinda Rajapaksa was presidential material any answer other than a firm “NO” would have been a good measure of one’s Sri Lankan political knowledge. I am making a very public confession here the strength having come from getting to know the quite recently that President Premadasa foresaw that Mahinda Rajapaksa would make lot of trouble for the UNP. In the late 80’or early 90’s when I still in my teens I read on the daily news that Mahinda Rajapaksa was confirmed the highest honour in Buddhism and I got this thought that one day he might become the president of the country. The reason for this was how come this award was missed by the president of the time or any serious politicians in this era, this showed me his ability to avoid radar and work through stealth until the time was right to unveil.

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