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What is the Legacy of Percy Mahinda Rajapakse?
Mon, 2007-06-11 02:22 By Geoffrey Evarts * During the last Presidential elections, the UNP camp whipped up sentiments that Mahinda Rajapakse is a ?Sinhala nationalist? since he had the backing of the JVP and the JHU. However, most of the intelligentsia and the people who personally and indirectly knew Rajapakse discarded this view as being mere propaganda cooked up by the UNP to discredit and defeat the man who now holds absolute power. Those who knew and watched the inner workings of power believed that Mahinda Rajapakse was using the JVP and the JHU as a spring-board to power. Indeed he did. (?Pragmatic? was the word most commonly used) * Meanwhile, all those who voted for Rajapakse and those who didn?t, (as well as those who knew him) believed that he is a man who can steer the country from the mess it was in ?Without Abusing The Absolute Power? vested to him by the People/Executive Presidency in the manner all his predecessors did. * Everybody who knew and believed in Rajapakse also automatically assumed that the man who was the Human Rights hero during the JVP insurrection would protect the average citizen?s human rights. However in two very short years, Percy Mahinda Rajapakse has managed to prove his bitterest critics accurate on all three points. 1) Firstly, the President?s ?War on Terror? is (intentionally or unintentionally) pitching him as a Sinhala Nationalist. Things like the increased abductions and killings of Tamils since he assumed power, as well as the recent forced eviction of Tamils from Colombo has been horrendously negative in bridging the great divide between the Tamil and Sinhalese communities. Other factors, like the forcefully excessive verification of the identity of a Tamil citizen more than a Sinhalese (Especially at a checkpoint) is increasingly angering the Tamil Community. It is actually ludicrous to think that an LTTE Terrorists (Yes the LTTE are terrorists!) will travel to the South/East/North/West carrying an ID card stating he/she is Tamil. Other indirect factors/questions (How many top brass in the Army, Navy, and Air-Force are Tamil?) are also tearing the ethnic fabric that enfolds Sri Lanka into shreds as well. And also as a destructive by-product, Muslims are being isolated and attacked as well!! (Displacement and then forcible resettlement is one thorn for the Eastern Muslims) 2) Abuse of power. The President is following CBK?s footsteps when he uses his power to send Sripathy Sooriyarachchy (and other dissidents like the Tiran Alles Saga) to jail. These cases are a clear manipulation of the judiciary by the Executive. The ruler of the country is abusing power when he (slowly but surely) brings Mangala Samaraweera (his own party man) and his supporters to ruin because of dissent. The current President is also abusing power by appointing his siblings and relatives to key positions because HE thinks his relatives can do better than the people with merit. What happened to Mahinda Rajapakse?s sense of Meritocracy? (What happened to the sportsman? What happened to that Rugby player who believed in team spirit?) What about kidnappings? Does anybody remember the times during those heavy-handed UNP regimes when people were kidnapped and burnt to death with tires around their necks? How about the people who were shot dead and their bodies were thrown from helicopters into the sea? Where is the protection of human rights in the reign of Percy Mahinda Rajapakse?? 3) Human rights. What happened to Mahinda Rajapakse?s sense of Human Rights? Where is the Human Rights hero of ?89? Where is the man who campaigned against human rights abuses in the South? Where is the champion of people power, labour and trade unions? Where is the Percy Mahinda Rajapakse the people thought they knew? Where is the man who was ?Actually? pragmatic??.? Only one place I can think where he went. He disappeared under the folds of absolute power. Just like all his peers. - Asian Tribune - |
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