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| Sunday, 11 September 2005 |
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Features |  |
| News Business Features Editorial
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On his way
to the top
by Lalith Edrisinha
Prime Minister Mahinda Rajapakse claims his just reward for unstinted and unfailing loyalty to the Sri Lanka Freedom Party (SLFP) as he wins his party's unanimous selection as the nominee to face the hustings and be elected fifth Executive President of Sri Lanka. The SLFP was his natural political party choice when the sudden demise of his father SLFP founder member D.A. Rajapakse left a void. Mahinda as he is popularly known needed no persuasion to take over the mantle then and strut the political stage, for politics was in his blood and the rough and tumble of politics suited him more than the discomfort of the whispering atmosphere of a library, walled in by books at Gangodawila where he was engaged in a twin capacity of pursuing studies at tertiary level and fending for himself as Library Assistant at the then Vidyodaya University now known as Sri Jayawardenapura University. When Mahinda Rajapkse was born on November 18, 1945 the world had not yet recovered from the harrowing holocaust of World War II. The Japanese had surrendered only a month earlier and the "gosha" of guns and bombs had only hardly been silenced. His father Don Alvin had just four months earlier entered the second State Council uncontested when elder brother Don Mathew had passed away unexpectedly while serving a term in the long State Council that sat from 1936 until 1947 with no election in between because of prevailing war conditions. Medamulana, Weeraketiya was a long way off the Southern capital Galle at the turn of the 20th century when motor cars were rare, bullock drawn hackerys and horse carriages and carts facilitated the little long distance travel that people engaged in then. But Mahinda's elders, father DA and uncle DM schooled at that far away premier southern school Richmond College. Decades later Mahinda having cut his teeth at Richmond, progressed to Colombo to be tossed about in the metropolis than mollycoddled in a placid outstation township. As he once quipped, he had been to many schools so he had many friends, what, with one school after another felicitating him on being named Prime Minister. Many wished that he will bring honour to their school by reaching the pinnacle when his turn arrived. And now that turn has arrived. It was only the other day that President Chandrika Bandaranaike Kumaratunga laying to rest all those canards about the succession ranging from her machinations to stay put in power and passing over Mahinda for her brother Anura for the candidacy of President urged the nation to vote for Mahinda addressing the mammoth gathering at the Race Course on the occasion of the 54th anniversary of the Sri Lanka Freedom Party. Mahinda in turn has had to work his way up building a broad power base. Taking the cue from the party's former leaders and that of President Kumaratunga he has painstakingly forged a grand coalition of all those forces opposed to the United National Party (UNP) which is looked upon as representing alien interests and the upper classes at the expense of indigenous interests and the middle and working classes. In short, Mahinda has only had to build on the firm foundations of the SLFP which its founder S.W.R.D. Bandaranaike set up to usher in a people friendly Government. He achieved it with overwhelming success when he formed the Government in 1956 which the people hailed as "Ape Anduwa". It was Mrs. Sirima Bandaranaike who as the leader of the SLFP then picked Mahinda to succeed his father for which he remained ever loyal to Mrs. B, the party and principle for well nigh four decades. So, Mahinda has a wealth of experience to draw from and make a new beginning to address the problems of the country that would naturally plague any leader here or abroad. There are no quick fixes for the complex situations that the country finds itself in. While not rejecting the helping hand of neighbouring and other friendly countries Presidential candidate Mahinda Rajapakse has announced that he would deal direct with LTTE leader Velupillai Pirbakaran while discounting his claim to be a sole representative of the Tamil people. In short, Mahinda hopes to create space for the entire Tamil community to participate in mapping out a future for themselves within a framework of a united Sri Lanka. Mahinda has always been looked upon as a friend of the working class. This need not raise fears among the captains of commerce for recognising that this little island has to integrate with a wide, wide world Mahinda will gainfully tap foreign capital investment to increase local economic growth striking a balance between the need for adequate compensation for labour and return for investment. If he can reduce red tape and minimise if not eliminate corruption much can be achieved in not much time. But these are easily said than done. With the advance in information technology money transactions take place the world over at the bidding of a mouse at a window. So the task of keeping track let alone controlling the mafias that operate will be a gigantic task. But Mahinda is quite up to it. Within that broad frame of his is a doughty fighter. Once he sets his sights on a target he can be relied on to painstakingly work towards that in an unobtrusive way so characteristic of the man. His unobtrusiveness is sometimes seen as non- committal posture almost guile by those who are hellbent on needling him into embarrassing situations but Mahinda the Attorney-at-Law is clever enough to argue out his case before the court of the people and obtain a favourable verdict. As things stand, with the SLFP hierarchy solidly backing him and those social forces that have always found content in the SLFP home accepting him as their leader he has now almost sealed the issue with the more radical Janatha Vimukthi Peramuna throwing their weight behind him. He will be using his persuasive powers and ways to retain the support of some Tamil and Muslim groups led by Douglas Devananda and Ferial Ashrof and welcoming others now coming on board from the Up Country People's Front possibly from the opposition UNP. The Jathika Hela Urumaya has taken time to arrive at a correct decision to support Mahinda and strengthen his stand and the Government to prevent anti-state forces gaining an upper hand. So, all in all, it appears that Mahinda has all but sewn it up as far as the Presidency goes. It is only a matter of time then that 'janagosas' of the morrow will not be howling protests but joyous hailing of the fifth incumbent of the Presidency of Sri Lanka. But a word of caution. Powerful forces will be arraigned against him and his support base. The most outrageous charges will be levelled against him. A seasoned campaigner though he may be one has to be alert to new strategies that opponents will adopt. A casual aside may be blown up, out of proportion, a misjudged manoeuvre may halt what could be a cake walk to President's House, come his 60th birth anniversary. |
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