The President Of All Who Voted For & Against Him

By Jehan Perera –NOVEMBER 19, 2019

Jehan Perera

President Gotabaya Rajapaksa scored an impressive victory at the hotly contested presidential election winning 52.5 percent of the vote when the general expectation was that a second preference count would be necessary as no candidate could get more than 50 percent of the vote. President Rajapaksa’s victory has debunked the theory that victory at a presidential election necessarily requires the support of the ethnic and religious minorities. It has at the same time shown the existence of an acute polarization, and wound, in the body politic that needs healing.

One of the main reasons given for supporting the institution of the executive presidency was that it enabled the minorities to have a say in the election of the president and thereby induce the president to be more sensitive to their interests. But President Gotabaya Rajapaksa’s election campaign, and the election result itself, demonstrated how appealing to the ethnic majority’s sense of being threatened and of being sidelined could unify the ethnic majority population to vote cohesively. The challenge to the new president would be to heal this division that has grown wider since the Easter Sunday bomb attacks six months ago.

The prioritization of national security in the election campaign of President Rajapaksa had popular support in the context of the Easter Sunday bombing which signified a security failure on the part of the government and its leadership. This attack gave renewed life to the existential fears of the ethnic majority who saw the problem of Islamic extremism, and its violence, as extending beyond the shores of Sri Lanka. President Rajapaksa’s election campaign gave reassurance to this sense of insecurity. However, this also enabled the president’s political opponents to evoke fear in the ethnic and religious minorities that this priority to national security would translate into oppression against them.

In this context, President Rajapaksa is to be complimented for his victory speech, where he said he was the president not only of those who voted for him but also those who voted against him, irrespective of which race or religion they belonged to. The election results showed that the ethnic and religious minorities voted for the new president in low proportions. But the fact is that the minorities voted for a presidential candidate who was also from the majority ethnic community, and whose campaign addressed their needs, rather than for a minority candidate.

Urgent Tasks 

Ethnic and religious divides is not a new or recent phenomenon nor is it special to Sri Lanka. Like in many other countries such as in Northern Ireland, Serbia and Israel, these divisions go back several hundred years if not more. The Mahavamsa, the great chronicle of Sinhalese history, records as one of its central themes, the protection of Buddhism and the Sinhalese race from Tamil invasions originating from South India. This memory would be re-invoked by the oath taking of President Rajapaksa at the Ruvanvaliseya in Anuradhapura, which is the sacred Buddhist temple built by the hero king of the Sinhalese, Dutugemunu, nearly two thousand years ago, following his defeat of the Tamil king, Elara.

As the Defense Secretary at the time of the defeat of the LTTE in 2009, the oath taking of President Rajapaksa at this sacred religious site has a symbolic resonance with the past which could also be used for the purposes of furthering national reconciliation. The Mahavamsa records that after winning the war, Dutugemunu treated his dead foe’s remains with respect and ordered the building of a tomb which no one should pass except on foot.

One of the urgent tasks for President Rajapaksa would be to shape and implement policies that will give confidence to the ethnic and religious minorities that they will be treated as equal citizens without discrimination and protected accordingly. Many of them, especially Tamils, have a memory of the period of war when national security considerations took priority over other considerations in the face of LTTE attacks and the possibility of terrorism. The post-war period saw organized attacks on Muslims, which the government of President Mahinda Rajapaksa failed to prevent or to take action against those who engaged in the violence. Indeed it was believed to have been supportive of some of the Sinhalese extremist groups that behaved violently. During the election campaign these memories were brought to the fore by the election propaganda on both sides of the political divide.

There are two major concerns that the minorities will have that need to be addressed. The first is their fear for their personal security and their security as a community. This is reflected in SLMC leader Rauff Hakeem’s congratulatory message to the new president. He said, “The most urgent priority would be to maintain law and order, respect rule of law and nurture the country’s pluralistic and democratic values.” Apart from their security concerns, the minorities also want the democratic space to further their political rights, which the Tamil people in particular have been doing for the past seven decades since Independence.

New Vision 

The issue of personal and community security will be easier to ensure today than it was in the past. The war is now ten years into the past. During the past five years the people enjoyed a great improvement in their freedom from fear which was partly due to the restraint of former President Maithripala SIrisena and the government, which led to the strengthening of institutions including the police, Human Rights Commission and judiciary. This needs to continue by ensuring that the rule of law functions and the police and judiciary act independently without political interference. These actions at the higher levels can be supplemented by actions at the community level, such as the strengthening of district and local level inter-religious councils, which are supported by the police along with support of the local government officials and community leaders.

Read More