Sunday Times 2
Voting at elections: Is it Hobson’s choice?
The general elections on 17th of August will decide which political party will rule this country for the next five years. The two main contending political parties are the UPFA and the UNF. It will be one of these two major political entities either with or without forming a coalition with other minor political parties that will ultimately form the next government of this country.
Think before you vote
The main accusations levelled at the UPFA government are with regard to nepotism, large scale corruption, misuse of state resources, not upholding law and order, interfering with the judiciary and for ruining the economy. It is indeed a fact that nepotism did thrive during the term of the last UPFA government. Even though it is true that President Mahinda Rajapaksa, Speaker Chamal Rajapaksa, Economic Development Minister Basil Rajapaksa and Member of Parliament and Namal Rajapaksa were elected by the people, there were many other Rajapaksa relatives appointed to positions of power by the previous regime, possibly accepting the view that blood is thicker than water. However, it needs to be said that nepotism has been practised in this country since independence and that there has been a gradual increase in this practice over the years.
The accusation of massive scale corruption against former President Rajapakse and his government has been rampant. However little or no proof has been forthcoming to substantiate these allegations even though a Financial Crimes Investigation Department was appointed as soon as the Ranil Wickremesinghe government came into power to take necessary action in this regard. After having established peace by defeating LTTE terrorism and its separatist agenda, President Rajapaksa did have a golden opportunity to abrogate the 13th Amendment to the Constitution that was forced upon this country sans the approval of the people through the Indo-Lanka accord. Not only did he fail in this regard but he also failed to establish a credible law and order situation in the country for there were several murders and abductions that were not properly investigated by the Police due to political interference.
The accusation of interfering with the judiciary is not without grounds. No right thinking person will agree with the procedure adopted by the Rajapaksa government to impeach Chief Justice Shiranee Bandaranayake. However, interfering with the judiciary is not an entirely new practice that could be attributed only to President Rajapaksa as President J.R Jayewardene was equally guilty of interfering with the judiciary. The accusation with regard to the misuse of state resources has also some validity because this occurred in a scale never experienced in this country before.
However, despite the faults of the Rajapaksa regime, one has to admit that there was much development in the country during his government. The war torn Northern and Eastern provinces were rapidly developed with the dawning of peace. The railway line destroyed by the LTTE was reconstructed to link Jaffna with Colombo. In the rest of the country we witnessed the construction of new express ways and improvements to the existing road network, the construction of new power plants, the implementation of new irrigation projects and the construction of new ports and airports.
In Colombo, we witnessed the launch of a port city and the lotus tower. We also witnessed the removal of shanty dwellings in Colombo with these poor people being provided flats in high rise buildings. The pavements in Colombo were made available to pedestrians by constructing buildings with market stalls for pavement hawkers. Construction work on a world class security forces headquarter complex was started at Pelawatte in Battaramulla. The spectacular beautification of Colombo and its suburbs such as Nugegoda and Sri Jayawardenapura Kotte are achievements that need to be highly commended. Taking all the above facts into consideration we need to truly appreciate the efforts taken by the Rajapakse regime to develop our country.
When considering how the Rajapaksa regime had managed the economy the best source available are the economic indicators available in the Central Bank report of 2014 published by the present government. The said report indicated the following achievements during the period 2005 to 2014. The GNP had increased from US$ 25 billion to US$ 75 billion and the loans taken in comparison to the GNP had come down from 96% to 75%. This is the first time that such a reduction has been recorded in this country. The individual personal income index had increased from US$ 1310 to US$ 3400. There had been a reduction of inflation from 10% to 5% while there had been an increase in investments from US$ 1800 million to US$ 7500 million. The stock market index had increased from 1800 to 7500. Unemployment had reduced from 7% to 4.3%. Availability of mobile telephones had increased from 47% to 120%. Availability of pipe borne water had increased from 36% to 48%. University admissions had increased from 14% to 18%. Therefore it would be difficult if not impossible to argue that there had been a downward trend in economic development during the Rajapaksa regime.
Let us now take a look at the achievements of the Wickremesinghe government which came into power after the last presidential election. The argument that the present government was unable to enact legislation of its choice due to the fact that it was a minority government with the opposition stronger than the government in parliament is true. That the present government did provide some relief to the consumer by reducing the price of fuel and gas is also a fact. However, with regard to corruption the present government proved to be no better than the previous UPFA government as the Central Bank Bond scam shows. Wickremesinghe need not have tried to prevent the report of the Committee on Public Enterprise from reaching the people by getting parliament dissolved if there was no scam.
To develop a country that succeeded in defeating terrorism after three decades of conflict, security needs to be maintained at a high level. To reduce such security and to disengage the Security Forces from participating in nation building to please the TNA that helped to defeat President Mahinda Rajapaksa at the Presidential Election is indeed a big folly made by the present government because it has failed to realise that the best method to utilise excess manpower in the security forces without resorting to demobilisation is to use such manpower for nation building.
Wickremesinghe’s criticism of the Rajapaksa regime with regard to using the excess manpower in the security forces for nation building was nothing but an act aimed at gaining cheap popularity among the rank and file of the Security Forces.
The UNP governments of both President Jayewardene and President R. Premadasa failed to defeat LTTE terrorism. Taking the position that the war against LTTE terrorism and separatism was not winnable it was Wickremesinghe who as Prime Minister from December 2001 to April 2004 who signed a peace agreement with the LTTE without informing the then Executive President Chandrika Kumaratunga or even his own UNP cabinet. It was this peace agreement that divided the country into two with one under the complete control of the LTTE and the other under the control of the Sri Lanka Government. It was also during this period that a safe location housing the Long Range Recommence Patrol of the Sri Lanka Army in Athurugiriya was raided exposing its cover that resulted in many intelligence officers in the Sri Lanka Army and their informants being killed by the LTTE. How can a person responsible either directly or indirectly for such treachery be trusted with governmental power in the future?
During the eastern campaign when the Security Forces captured Thoppigala, Wickremesinge criticised this victory saying it was only a hill feature with dense jungle. His present Minister of Finance Ravi Karunanayake had the audacity to ridicule the Sri Lanka Army during its northern campaign at a debate in parliament by describing the Alimankada victory as Pamankada and the success at Kilinochchi as Medawachchiya. Wickremesinghe’s present Foreign Minister Mangala Samaraweera said that General Sarath Fonseka was not even fit to command the Salvation Army. Will the people of this country vote for such critics of our brave Security Forces at the next General Election?
If the UNF fails to get a clear majority at the forthcoming general election there is a distant possibility that they may form a coalition government with the TNA, which has once accepted the LTTE as the sole representative of the Tamil people and is now advocating federalism.
Therefore, people who have not forgotten the sacrifice made by our brave security forces to protect and preserve the unity and territorial integrity of our nation for posterity will refrain from voting for any political party that may join hands with the TNA. To such people, voting at the next General Election will not be a Hobson’s choice. However, to those who are not worried about the Constitution of our country being either unitary or federal and are only thinking about good governance voting at the next General Election will indeed be a Hobson’s choice.