Sunday Times 2
Twenty First Century Fox
View(s):It was that famous journalist of yesteryear, the chief editor of Lake House Mervyn de Silva, who dubbed President J.R. Jayewardene the Twentieth Century Fox.
Shrewd and calculating, Machiavellian to his fingertips, his hooded brows hiding his thoughts from those to whom he spoke, JR was able to outmanoeuvre opponents and detractors in his own party, emasculate (by depriving them of their civic rights) his closest rivals in the opposition and rule this land for almost eleven years as our first elected president.
He provided posts in his cabinet to clever and able subordinates as well as less educated and less scrupulous parliamentarians who happily used their newfound power to make a few quick bucks. It was said that Duke William of Normandy, having conquered the Saxon kingdom of England in 1066, brought his catchers and help-kaarayas (the famous “robber barons”) from across the Channel to plunder the conquered kingdom. JR on the other hand was described by Mervyn de Silva as having done it even better than William – he made Barons out of local Robbers. After all, JR had to keep onside and under control all those MPs of his party who could, if they so felt like, crossover and cast their votes against him and his policies.
So too it is happening with JR’s nephew (actually the son of his first cousin) who is now our president. Whether Ranil shrewdly outmanoeuvred his rivals to gain the presidency or whether he just happened to be the right person at the right place at the right time, only history will tell. However, he too seems to be embarking on making Barons out of Robbers – or in 21st century parlance, making ministers out of convicted felons, murderers and those facing court cases.
Is Ranil as shrewd and calculating as his “Uncle JR” – or is he just a puppet parachuted to the presidency purely to protect the Rajapaksas? True, he comes across as more eloquent and more knowledgeable on an international level than both Mahinda and Gotabaya — and he can speak more sense than Basil, his predecessor as Finance Minister. But can he outfox the Rajapaksas, who surely look upon him as just a convenient Night Watchman who was selected to keep the presidential seat warm for the next Rajapaksa?
Does Ranil have the capability and confidence to keep the Prasannas and Nimal Siripalas in his cabinet under control? Will he just allow all of them to continue business as usual, as William the Conqueror allowed his Norman barons to plunder the poor people in 11th century England? Will he use his presidential powers to curb corruption and ensure that wrongdoers who happen to be in parliament are duly prosecuted and punished — or will he show his gas only to the Aragalite protesters whose actions enabled him to get his current job?
Ranil must be well aware that for the moment, as long as he has to work with the members of parliament currently in office, he needs to keep them onside lest they turn against him and he loses his job. Misery has certainly made for some very strange bedfellows — cohabitants who have to stay together and support each other to ensure their own survival.
Mervyn de Silva once recounted the story of how Ranil’s father Esmond Wickremesinghe, a friend and close supporter of JR, was talking to an acquaintance soon after JR was elected prime minister in 1977. This person was talking to Esmond at some cocktail party and bemoaning the fact that JR had appointed several (sic) “crooks” to his cabinet – whereupon Esmond with his characteristic chuckle observed “Anybody can run a country successfully if he has a cabinet of honest ministers. It takes a clever man like JR to rule with a cabinet containing dishonest people!”
For our country’s sake, let us hope that Ranil is clever enough to keep the crooks under control, nurture those
parliamentarians who are honest and capable — and outfox his detractors.
Because if he fails, I dread to think of who will succeed him.