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- Teachers for Democracy and Human Rights, University of Peradeniya

As teachers who always stood for democracy and human rights we consider it a social obligation of ours to address you this moment when we are on the eve of another Presidential election. According to the Constitution that is in force now the President is the Head of State, Head of Government and the Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces.

Powers vested in him by the Constitution endows him with immense multi-dimensional authority. Our Constitution has no checks and balances that curtail his power. Therefore our decision concerning the choice of an Executive President at this moment should not be one that we would repent in the future. Nor should it bring us remorse later. For that very reason we should consider several factors.

We would like to place before you certain facts based on our knowledge derived from having studied varied subjects and having conducted research on them for a long period of time. The decision taken by you as well as by us at this election would only have a relative meaning.

To put it simply, we have to decide upon the better candidate. Since the contest is between two principal camps we have to select only one of two candidates. Either we can choose Prime Minister Mahinda Rajapakse or we can choose Opposition Leader Ranil Wickremesinghe.

We believe it would be most correct on our part to choose Prime Minister Mahinda Rajapakse. He is our choice as a person and as a friend of pro-people forces. He is also our choice on the strength and significance of his Manifesto.

Permit us briefly to say why we recommend you to vote for him.

We live in a world that is gripped by globalization steered by global capitalism. These forces exert tremendous pressure on countries like ours. We could pursue a path of development utilising the opportunities made available by globalization while limiting the pressures brought about by it and maintaining our identity only if we have an independent and strong state.

Here we do not mean a state that directly involves itself in every sphere of the economy. We mean a state that provides security to people of various strata to develop using their own potential. For a country like ours that has not reached a developed stage yet the state should not be confined to the sole task of maintaining law and order. Inevitably it has a wider role.

The mighty benefit by market inequalities. In the context of globalization this might is wielded by transnational corporations. Hence the state should give fillip to the peasantry, the petty producer and the local manufacturer. The low-income consumer has to be protected. A comparison of the manifestos of the two candidates has convinced us that Ranil Wickremesinghe refuses to provide such state protection.

The objective of his economic policy is to benefit his local and foreign friends taking cover behind openness and the market. This should be rejected totally and uncompromisingly. Some years back South Korea and Malaysia chose an economic policy that does not favour crony capitalism and that does not open the economy for robber barons.

They chose a policy that opened a wider framework of action for local producers. Today India and China are pursuing a similar policy. Mahinda Rajapakse proposes the strategy of a balanced economy where there will be parallel interventions from the market and the state and the economy would be opened in a systematic time frame. This is not only pro-people. It would also generate economic prosperity. This is our first reason in voting for Mahinda Rajapakse.

Rulers have a serious responsibility to achieve an honourable peace between nations. The Constitution should be framed to form a state structure in which all communities could participate in governance equitably. The present Constitution gives no room for such a structure.

We see Mahinda Rajapakse's proposal for a Constituent Assembly as a practical methodology to achieve such a state structure. Though there was a favourable national and international environment in 2001 the UNP Government failed to make use of the situation by proceeding beyond the Ceasefire Agreement.

The continuation of the ceasefire shows that necessity of a leadership capable of properly utilising this favourable situation. Ranil Wickremesinghe pledges to continue on the same old path without change. He proposes to implement again his previously unsuccessful strategy. It is this strategy that reduced the Eastern province to a land of internecine strife. A new strategy is necessary. We believe Mahinda Rajapakse's proposal to talk directly with the LTTE and to build a Southern consensus should be given a chance. That is our second reason in voting for him.

Ranil Wickremesinghe says his first task after victory would be to meet President Bush. He approved the US invasion of Iraq. Does this signify a change in the foreign policy we followed for long? Normally a Sri Lankan ruler would first visit New Delhi. We need not remind you of the damage caused by J. R. Jayewadene's anti-Indian pro-American foreign policy.

A small country like ours should follow a foreign policy of developing more friendly relations with non-aligned and neighbouring countries. Mahinda Rajapakse and the forces represented by him have always stood for such an enlightened foreign policy. It should be carried forward. That is our third reason.

According to our Constitution the Presidency is the most powerful office. The person who gets elected to that office should be one who has in practice stood for democracy and human rights. We hope you have not forgotten the human rights violations by the Government during 1988- 90. Then Ranil Wickremesinghe was a member of that Government.

The alternative media at that time like "Ravaya" and "Yuktiya" described Ranil Wickremesinghe as a person who was at the forefront in committing anti-democratic actions. We witnessed the killings in Kandy.

It was Mahinda Rajapakse and few others who took the message of these human rights violations from Hambantota to the United Nations in Geneva, Switzerland amidst many obstacles. Here the choice between the two is very easy. Ranil Wickremesinghe has a history of notoriety with regard to his anti-democratic conduct. Mahinda Rajapakse has a history of fighting for democracy in a difficult era. The fourth reason is the testimony of history.

Whosoever is the ruler the people should be constantly vigilant. It is the right and duty of citizens to intervene in political decision making even after electing the rulers. As University teachers we pledge to be vigilant about the words and deeds of rulers even after the Presidential election. We also seriously pledge to intervene constantly based on our knowledge and the principle we accept. It is essential that you take the correct decision at this moment.

Sgd. by Professor Navaratne Bandara and Dr. Vijitha Nanayakkara on behalf of the Teachers for Democracy and Human Rights, University of Peradeniya

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