Editorial

President Gotabaya Rajapaksa reopened Parliament this week with what was meant to be him outlining the course he hoped to chart for the country under his leadership currently under increasing pressure from his fellow citizens undergoing almost unprecedented difficulties in their daily lives.

For many it was a damp squib in that he enumerated the obvious, viz., the foreign exchange crisis that has sent the economy into a tailspin of chaos, the botched agrochemical policy which he blamed on everyone but himself, the delays in investigating the Easter Sunday bombings and so forth but with no specific plans to overcome these issues. He ventured to make a passing reference to the country’s long established neutrality in foreign affairs by refusing to get dragged further into geopolitical, big power rivalries, and in a welcome departure from previous policy statements, referred to embarking on a campaign for reconciliation among the communities.

Some may argue that external circumstances more than internal obligations have forced the President to move in that direction. His Government has been under the cosh from Western powers at the United Nations Human Rights Council (UNHRC) to investigate alleged human rights violations during the closing stages of the military campaign against the LTTE, which later extended to concerns over more recent events. Though initially the Government adopted an aggressive approach towards this inquisition, announcing a unilateral exit from the resolution against Sri Lanka at the UNHRC, President Rajapaksa appears to have softened his stance partly due to economic factors aggravated by the COVID-19 pandemic and its fallout on the global and local economy.

The pandemic disrupted the President’s painstakingly laid plans which he had optimistically titled ‘Visions of Prosperity and Splendour’ when he asked the people to vote for him in November 2019. Not that the people read his manifesto, but he was seen as a refreshing change from the run-of-the-mill politicians who had failed to deliver on their promises.

As always, the higher the hopes, the greater the disappointments. The pandemic dislocated all plans. He relied on the Army to combat a virus. Yet not all the setbacks of the Rajapaksa the Second Presidency can be placed at the door of the pandemic. There were disastrous decisions in the past two years, and Rajapaksa the First, the Prime Minister, seems to have acknowledged these mistakes and urged the people to forget these past two miserable years and let those who wish to dwell in the past analyse them.

Instead, he asked the people to look to the next three years of this Government’s term with hope.

Rajapaksa II, the President, also vowed to make good his promises during the balance three years of his term when addressing the public after he opened a section of the Central Expressway last Saturday putting a lid on a remark he made earlier that led to speculation that he was looking for a Referendum to extend his term by two years because of the lost years due to the pandemic.

In his reference to reconciliation, the President strained, but struck a conciliatory note of healing the wounds of the minorities whose own political leaders have kept peddling hard luck stories about discrimination without doing very much else for “their people”.

His reference in recognising the observations of the International Community — read the Western powers — that use human rights as a weapon to bring uncooperative nations to heel, is noteworthy. It is a recognition that it is one thing to be subservient to the diktats of foreign powers, and another to be a victim of the economic backlash from unnecessarily provoking them — especially when the country’s export trade is heavily dependent on those very countries.

Through the UNHRC, these Western powers have been threatening to invoke universal jurisdiction on Sri Lankan military and political leaders. To change what he calls are the “misconceptions” of this so-called International Community, the President already has in his possession the LLRC (Lessons Learnt and Reconciliation Commission) and (Justice) Paranagama Commission findings and recommendations which were trivialised by the then Opposition but could be used as sign posts to smooth the rough edges with the country’s minorities.

It is a welcome change nevertheless on the part of the President. Yet, merely saying “we reject racism” at a ceremonial opening of Parliament may not be sufficient to appease the minorities. Such cliches may be seen as mere platitudes from the pulpit unless words are turned into deeds. He is correct when he says the majority of the minorities are more interested in their economic upliftment than granting power to politicians.

The President called upon all politicians to desist from inciting the people “for narrow political gain” and urged those in the North and East in particular, to join him in uplifting the living conditions of the people of those provinces. He, however, didn’t spell out a detailed programme for reconciliation which left the political representatives of the North and East in Parliament searching for answers. The initial reaction, though, seems to have been a rejection of this Presidential exhortation with the same old refrain demanding greater autonomy and the recognition of a separate homeland.

The President also rode to high office on a nationalist platform and it will not be easy for him to shake off that image. Venturing too far to appease the minorities on the other hand might leave him stranded, minus his vote base in the South. He cannot afford to further weaken the Centre’s grip on the North either by giving added concessions through the 13th Amendment. That is why he seems to have limited his offer to amending the PTA (Prevention of Terrorism Act) and the reduction of the military’s patch in the North. He can’t be seen to capitulate to foreign pressures over 13A demands of the North for the sake of emergency financial assistance which is already knotted in exchange for real estate in Sri Lanka.

In the overall scheme of things, the President, at least, appears willing to change course even if to a limited degree in reaching out to the minorities. Earning points by mere optics will not help. If the Northern politicians wish to dig in their heels and remain rooted to their perennial demands for more devolution and a homeland, reconciliation will always be an illusion.

It takes two to tango or else this country will remain divided, with its citizens unable to march to a single drum, even 74 years after all its diversed communities joined hands to regain Independence.