5th Column

Dear Mr. President,

I thought I will write to you while you are still savouring the euphoria after what was a short but hectic, intense and gruelling election campaign. As you read this, you might be waiting to see whether a second count would be necessary but I’m sure MaKo will not keep us in suspense for much longer!

Mr. President, there are many reasons for your victory and I am sure you and those who worked with you over the past few months will reflect on them in the next few days. I hope you will also think about why your predecessor didn’t run for the job, or more accurately, why he couldn’t do so.

As you know through your own discussions with him, Aiyo Sirisena wanted to stay in the job for five more years. In the end he realised that if he ran the race again, he would come a distant third. As you take on your new job, Mr. President, you must seriously ask yourself why that happened.

There was a reason why Aiyo Sirisena was elected. People were unhappy with the government of the day. They wanted a change. They wanted new people in power and a new way of running the country. Aiyo Sirisena promised to deliver that. He could have, but didn’t. So, he couldn’t run for office again.

I am saying this to you now because you need to keep that in mind as you prepare to take your oaths and guide our Paradise for the next five years. You made a lot of promises during your campaign, so much so that we were wondering how you would keep them. People now expect you to honour them.

Mr. President, I know you think that you won because of your appeal, your charisma and your ability. That is indeed part of the reason why you won. However, you must realise that you won also because of your family connections, because of who’s who you are and because of your surname.

That might be a blessing but that might also be a curse in disguise. You will know, better than all of us, that those same family connections are not associated with the best of memories for all of us. There are many people who have bitter experiences because of that. You need to be mindful of that.

Much was made of those family ties during your campaign. Promises were made, saying that you will continue the family tradition by pursuing the same policies. I hope, for everyone’s sake, that this does not include stories of journalists who come to grief because of what they dared to write about.

Mr. President, while the election that just ended was a tough one, we know it was tougher for you to get the nod to run the race on behalf of your party. There were so many obstacles placed in your way. Some of them opposed you openly and even questioned your suitability to be the candidate.

You managed to overcome those challenges in your own way. You will need to show the same courage and singleness of purpose in the years ahead because you can be certain that those who tried to undermine you will continue to do so as you take on the task of leading the nation.

Mr. President, I am sure that after your victory, you must be feeling quite happy and confident because the majority of voters have placed their trust in you to guide our Paradise for the next five years. So, you must be feeling as if the entire nation is with you as you embark on this journey.

You did get enough votes to win the election but you would have got even more if not for those around you. I want you to look around you, at those who shared the same platform with you. Aren’t most of them the same, old, tired faces we have seen for decades, who didn’t keep their promises?

My question to you is whether you will have the courage to take our nation on a new path, getting rid of these people who have managed to fool the masses all these years, while being corrupt to the core? I hope you do because if you don’t, you too are sure to become one of them in five years’ time.

Whatever you do, I hope you will not to have anything to do with Aiyo Sirisena with whom you have been talking in recent months. He has said that he still has more to contribute. We have all had enough of his contributions over the past five years, so make sure that it is now ‘Cheerio Sirisena’ for him.

Mr. President, we wish you well. That is not because we like you more or because we like your rival less. It is because the people have spoken and, as a democracy, we respect the majority view- and also because if you are indeed able to keep all your promises, Paradise will be a better place for all of us.

Yours truly,

Punchi Putha

PS- Mr. President, your first duty as President should be to appoint an ambassador to Naaga Land and pay your first official visit to that land. After all, wittingly or unwittingly, it would have helped you because it would have convinced at least some voters to vote for you, so you should be grateful!