Never let divisions prevent us from reaching our true potential

Interview with President Mahinda Rajapaksa

by Veronique Queffelec

Veronique Queffelec: You are the only country in the world which defeated terrorism with a conventional Army. Do you think the world awoke in this respect?

Mahinda Rajapaksa: It’s true that we are the only country in the world which defeated terrorism after 35 years of suicide attacks, bomb cars, assassinations, etc.... Even our Central Bank blew up. We suffered a lot. We tried to negotiate with the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE), to start a dialogue with them, but they didn’t want to listen. We had to do what we did. The West should understand that. Some understand, others don’t. We faced what the West is now confronted with. Today, many nations ask our advice to defeat terrorists in a decisive way, affecting as few civilians as possible. Yes, I do think the world is awake.

VQ: The West seems united when it’s a matter of defeating Al Qaeda and the Taliban. Why did they hesitate acknowledging your victory over the most dangerous terrorist organisation in the world?

MR: That’s the saddest thing of all. Because they only understood the importance of terrorism after 9/11/2001. When they are attacked, they react. But when a developing country as ours is attacked, they’re just not interested. There’s a double standard applied in these countries, which I still can’t understand. This mentality prevented them from realizing our sad situation.

Central Bank bombing in Colombo(L) and WTC bombing in New York: How are they diferrent?

VQ: You mean that today, whatever group or person eliminating Bin Laden or Al Qaeda, would be celebrated in the whole world as a hero by the same countries which gave the LTTE their moral support?

MR: Just before the end of the war, a few hours before the LTTE leaders were killed in battle, some of these nations showed their hostility towards us because we were refusing to play the role of the weak State when it was about defending our national interests. If we had been the associates of the powerful countries, then they would have accepted it. I can’t see any difference between Al Qaeda and the LTTE.

VQ: Is there a simple and powerful message you would like to send to the West and particularly Europe about the cancellation of the speech you were supposed to deliver in Oxford Union?

MR: We thought the United Kingdom was the cradle of democracy and freedom of speech. We thought they believe in the spirit of your philosopher Voltaire. “I disagree with what you’re saying, but I shall fight until death for you to have the right to express it” I was invited and my speech was cancelled at the very last minute because of the protests of LTTE defenders.

VQ: What were they afraid of?

MR: I would have told the truth on what happened, on the way I defeated the terrorists. About the reconciliation, about our development program in the North, on the way the LTTE destroyed during the last thirty years everything that ever thrived, the railways, the roads and the hospitals. We spent over $ 2 billion in reconstruction. Many terrorist groups that ran away left for the United Kingdom, or Canada. They want visas now and the status of political refugees. This is a good new business for terrorists, they collect money on foreign territories. Unfortunately, for electoral reasons, some Western governments don’t want to consider the activities of the LTTE.

VQ: Why don’t you invite in your country some of the former members of the LTTE to join your government, asking them to deliver a message?

MR: We already have some of them. The former No. 2 of the LTTE chief for example. Our Chief Minister of the Eastern Province is a former child-soldier. He was elected by the population as a member of a Provincial Council. But it seems that the West doesn’t want to listen to them.

VQ: The French media published information on arrests of LTTE members that took place in France, who would have extorted money, like a mafia group. Did you read anything about this?

MR: Yes, I did. Even today they are still acting like that. Some European countries took measures, but others ignore these wrongdoings because these mafia groups have lobbies. For example, Wikileaks showed that in the UK, David Miliband was spending almost 60% of his time on issues related to the LTTE! It has to be for the votes. But there is one clear thing: these politicians who helped the LTTE in other countries all lost their seat in elections.

VQ: How do you assess the nature of your relations with France...... Good? Very good?

MR: Very good, even if sometimes they misunderstand our position. As far as we’re concerned, we’ve always tried to get closer to this country. They’ve made a lot of business here. Just consider SriLankan Airlines. Our whole fleet is composed of Airbuses.

VQ: Are you looking for help to get another loan from the IMF?

MR: For the time being we don’t need it. We have very good reserves. When we obtained a loan on the previous bracket, it was not of the same nature than the one granted to Greece or Spain. We do not know this type of crisis. We managed to reach and maintain a growth at 6.5% since my election in 2005 even on a year of war. Before that the figure was a negative one. In the years to come, my objective is to reach an 8% growth.

VQ: What are you expecting from France?

MR: The French have to acknowledge the threat of the LTTE, not only in Sri Lanka, but also in other countries, from dormant cells to agents of propaganda.

Hard-line terrorists slowly managed to go to Europe and Canada. These people are criminals. Do not forget they invented explosive belts and created child-soldiers. They perfectly can get together with elements in the West who are trying to destroy it. Exporting terror is a very good business. The exportation of terrorism technology is about to reach this country, and it’s a warning I want to send to France.

VQ: Some European countries do not see the strategic importance of Sri Lanka. How do you perceive its growing importance on a geopolitical point of view?

MR: Sri Lanka and its territorial waters are a place where all sea routes of the world converge. You may judge yourself of its strategic importance. The new port of Hambantota (Magampura) in the South shall emerge as one of the biggest activity centres of the kind in the region. Many heads of States sent emissaries and wish now to visit themselves.

VQ: Some believe you are too close to China. They already have a lot of influence in the North and are looking to extend their presence in the South as well.

MR: Some also think we are very close with India! In fact this idea of getting closer to China comes from the propaganda led by the pro-LTTE. When the Chinese came, we obtained commercial loans from them and we bought their arms openly. I had to buy some. We bought some from China, India, Ukraine, Russia, Israel and even Hungary. It’s no secret.

VQ: Many countries in Europe do not see you had to free yourself from terror and just question your respect of human rights. How do you react to this?

MR: As a lawyer I was myself a defender of human rights, so I would never let anyone in my country violate these human rights. Sri Lanka believes in the values of these rights and in the battle against the LTTE, that was what it was about, to restore human rights in the North. I’ve established with authority that our troops should be under strict orders to avoid causing damage among the civil population. We have investigated on crimes during the fights, each time we noted abuses, we’ve punished the culprits and even imprisoned them.

VQ: And about the declarations done in the media and accusations uttered by human rights groups?

MR: Most of these associations are manipulated by the opposition propaganda, by people who want to win money this way. These so-called activists and defenders of the Human Rights and many NGOs getting benefits, thanks to that. If they were writing that there’s no incident to report, they would not make money. To make money they have to say that there is a violation of human rights. Then they go to the West and to their Embassies. Some of these Embassies even refused to grant visas to my Ministers for official economic business, while they gave them to terrorists or suspected terrorists. All they need to say is that my Government is persecuting them and claim refugee status.

VQ: You said you imposed sanctions against those who committed abuses?

MR: Why don’t people talk about the violation of human rights in Iraq, Afghanistan or Pakistan? Our fight against the LTTE comprised direct confrontations on the ground. We did not use time bomb or carpet bombings. It’s the very opposite. On one of the complaints we received, I kept a whole unit of officers suspected of crimes in detention for one year and a half. According to our Law, the government has to prove they are guilty. Without proof, we can’t start prosecuting them. There was no proof. In the end, a Tamil politician (who was not part of the government) asked me to release them, which I did.

VQ: But why aren’t these stories conveyed by the media?

MR: Twenty years ago, when the Muslims were chased out from the North up to the frontline, by the LTTE, nobody talked about it. When the Sinhalese were chased away, nobody talked about it. It was yet ethnic cleansing. The most serious violation of human rights took place when, at the end of the humanitarian operation, the LTTE kept 300,000 Tamils hostage as human shields and shot those who tried to run away. My government aided these hostages and progressively rehabilitated them. And it’s for them that we are rebuilding the North.

VQ: Economically speaking, today Sri Lanka is seen as an ideal destination for investment in the field of tourism but also for direct investment from abroad. What did change?

MR: In the past, people were afraid to come here because the country was considered as dangerous. Now it is safe. The profits we allow make of our country an ideal place to invest. We’ve taken several arrangements to facilitate the freedom of commercial exchanges. Our workforce is cheap and qualified. And most of the means implemented to protect invested capitals are guaranteed by the Constitution. The IMF recently ranked Sri Lanka as an average-revenue country. The New York Times ranked Sri Lanka as the best tourist destination in 2010, among 31 others. National Geographic ranked us as the second best island to visit this year. The number of tourists who visit us doubled this year.

VQ: In which specific fields would you encourage investment from Europe?

MR: We have to have Europeans invest in everything they want to produce here: clothes, textile, hotels and services. The Germans and the French have great projects.

VQ: What are your priorities?

MR: We want to develop the air and sea sectors, knowledge, trade, and activity centres. We are making very good progress. Since our independence until my election in 2005 (that is 58 years), the income per head reached $ 1000 a year. These last five years of my mandate we doubled it to $ 2000. I want to make it double again in the five years to come to reach $ 4000 per head. You see then, that even fighting one of the most brutal terrorist organizations of the world, it took me only 5 years to reach the first step. For the next one, Europe is welcome to invest in our growth.

VQ: The United States seems to get closer to Sri Lanka. Do you think countries like France have been left behind?

MR: But why should we leave any country behind? With the general use of English, a literacy rate of almost 90%, a rate of information and communication technologies established at 30% and highly competitive salaries. Sri Lanka is converting its post-war economy of a tea and textile producing island, into an economic centre of high-level subcontracting.

Thousands of Sri Lankans are already working in sectors of subcontracting, as in IT and the development of computer software. Almost 50,000 persons in Sri Lanka are employed in a form or another of subcontracting. This figure increases 20% per year. What is exciting and brand new for us in this field is accountancy. We are expecting fallouts of this specialization in subcontracting, with revenues that shall triple to reach a billion dollars by 2015.

VQ: You’ve met delegations from Europe and elsewhere. Can you share with us the content of your discussions regarding economy and politics?

MR: They are ready to invest and we invited them to take part in our economic development. The international community has to acknowledge that we defeated terrorism and help us get developed after thirty years of conflict. They shall not try to intervene and change governments elected legitimately and legally. The people have to change that, not foreign countries.

VQ: There is not enough information available regarding the trade opportunities your country offers, especially in Europe. What can you suggest to become more efficient in your communication?

MR: We need to spread information better. We have to go more on the offensive in the search for media coverage, to counter negative prejudice. We are currently examining several possibilities.

VQ: What kind of opportunities are there for SMEs?

MR: New companies, like one department of the publisher Pearson & MphasiS, a technology company belonging partly to Hewlett-Packard, just announced they were going to hire 2000 people here within the three years to come. In the tourist sector, Shangri-La is to be the first luxury hotels group to settle in the country, because our objective is to increase the number of hotel rooms from 15,000 to 50,000 by 2016. There’s a significant capacity for SMEs, that is why we established new policies to facilitate investment coming from abroad.

VQ: How can the budget aid you are offering attract European companies and in which particular field?

MR: We encourage foreign investors with a quite low tax rate for companies. We are going to implement Special Economic Areas in Trincomalee, Hambantota, Colombo, among many others. We are among the few countries in the world to authorize the repatriation of 100% of foreign investments.

VQ: Can you give us clear examples of opportunities for SMEs?

MR: In jewellery, clothes, specialised clothes, embroidery, excellent quality hand-stitched lace, agriculture, computing.

VQ: And for the use of sea resources?

MR: The sea is the second most important economic zone for Sri Lanka. It is our main source of titanium, petroleum, together with its wealth for the fishing industry and in any activities of the sea world.

VQ: France has one of the biggest research institutes in the field of sea resources. Would you be ready to invite them to cooperate and start new relations?

MR: If you could convince them to come, they could open an institute here. We can attract foreign students to Sri Lanka. We would be delighted to create new campuses and welcome universities like La Sorbonne. We already have 13 universities for higher education. But only 2% of the students have the capacity to attend these universities, in spite of our literacy rate of 90%. Almost 3.8% of our GDP is dedicated to education. We give education, books, clothes, lunches to our school pupils for free and there is no enrolment fees in our universities.

VQ: What kind of mediating role could Sri Lanka play in negotiations with sensitive countries like Iran, knowing that the government leaders of these countries trust you?

MR: If I’m asked to play a part in the re-establishment of relations between countries, then I believe it is my duty to help them in the interest of harmony, human rights and world peace.

VQ: According to you, what is your greatest success since the end of the conflict ? What is your vision of the future?

MR: To see this country develop in a context of peace and conciliation. Without peace there is no development, and without development there is no peace possible. This country belongs to us all. I shall pursue my efforts to unite all the people of our country, whether they live here or somewhere else. If we’re all united we have a great future. If we leave divisions dominate us, we shall never reach our true potential. We already have thirty years of conflicts and divisions behind us. We now have to ensure sustainable peace and harmony for all Sri Lankans.

This interview was published in France’s Entreprendre