America's effusive praise for Sri Lanka
By Taylor Dibbert
Richard E. Hoagland, Principal Deputy Assistant Secretary in the US
State Department's Bureau of South and Central Asian Affairs, recently
spoke at the Washington International Business Council. He began by
speaking about Nepal and then moved on to address improved US- India
ties.
He also spoke about Sri Lanka, Bangladesh, Central Asia, US business
interests and the commercial advocacy work undertaken by the US
Government.
This was a pretty standard speech and Hoagland even managed to find a
few nice words for China.
Regarding US - Sri Lanka relations, Hoagland said the following:
Democratic elections have also brought about a sea-change in our
relationship with Sri Lanka, a mere 35 miles across the Palk Strait from
India's southeast coast, where the new president has moved the country
away from divisive politics and crony capitalism toward a new path of
reconciliation and inclusive development.
We plan to do a lot to support Sri Lanka's pursuit of that new path,
to strengthen its governance, especially its judicial and financial
institutions. This new path will be a boon for the Sri Lankan people,
but also for US interests: We can now work together with Sri Lanka to
promote good governance and human rights abroad, as well as improve
maritime security in the Indian Ocean.
The Obama administration shows no signs of ending its love-fest with
Sri Lanka's newly elected president, Maithripala Sirisena.
Hoagland's reference to Washington's support for Sri Lanka's judicial
and financial institutions deals directly with the range of corruption
investigations, (for actions which occurred when Mahinda Rajapaksa was
in power), which are currently underway. To some extent, the possibility
of the recently ousted Rajapaksa making a comeback remains the elephant
in the room. Sirisena is still having trouble controlling the political
party which he leads, the Sri Lanka Freedom Party (SLFP).
This is a chaotic time in Sri Lankan politics. There have been
reports that Sirisena will dissolve parliament and hold important
parliamentary elections in August, yet that decision remains his alone.
Besides, transparency hasn't exactly been a hallmark of the Sirisena
administration and, in theory, the current parliament could run until
April 2016.
With US Government assistance, streamlining corruption investigations
would be one way to tarnish Rajapaksa's brand in the run up to those
polls.
Sirisena has made it clear that he would not let Rajapaksa run as
prime ministerial candidate for the United People's Freedom Alliance (UPFA),
the political alliance which is led by the SLFP.
Nonetheless, many SLFP members would like to see Rajapaksa contest
and so there has been some talk that the former president may break away
and form a different political force.
Sirisena's performance as president has been decent, although not
great. It's tough to predict how things will play out in the coming
months. For now, at least two things are clear. First, that Sirisena
needs all the help he can get, especially as it relates to support from
within his own party. Second, that no matter what happens, Sirisena is
not Rajapaksa.
And since that's the case, it looks like the honeymoon period of
renewed US - Sri Lanka relations will continue for some time yet,
especially if Washington's unbridled support undermines a Rajapaksa
comeback.
-Huffington Post
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