Understanding the leadership style of NPP

BY M.H.M. Faizer

The current NPP leadership, represented by President Anura Kumara Dissanayake, deserves analytical research to explore how AKD became a stunning leader in no time. With only three members in the parliament and a vote base of less than half a million, he was suddenly found to be the most loved leader to millions of people who elected almost 150 members of his party into the Parliament!

What differentiated AKD from other leaders? I intend not to reproduce the textbook reasons that make up and differentiate a successful leader. 

The very essence of leadership is the followership. All leaders may not have a large number of followers. For instance, the current president of Venezuela. Some political leaders acquire leadership by exploiting a loophole in the parliamentary system. We witnessed this in the Sri Lankan parliament about two years ago. The leader subsequently lost the election due to no quorum in the population vote. We also witnessed a political leader emerging by advocating a pro-Sinhala racist agenda but again being rejected by the masses within a very short period. Hence, some political analysts argue that this transformational support base for AKD was because people were sick and tired of these previous leaders. However, some were convinced that the SJB headed by Sajith Premadasa would provide a competitive edge against the NPP since it was felt that Sajith was standing tall for the job if elected. Unlike the other parties, which are tainted with large-scale corruption, Sajith’s party had some able and reputed politicians. But Sajith was found to be not a threat to the NPP. Even though AKD did not have a well-known team like the SJB Trio, people still wanted AKD. This is because they perceived him as the true leader. This essential criteria of honesty and integrity for leadership is fully met by AKD.

Despite being a tough, principled leader, he co-adopts the features of ‘Emotional Leadership.’ AKD has effective communication skills unmatched by others. He means what he says. He is not blunt but firm and straightforward. He is not selfish but self-interested. His decisions are purely based on merit and nothing else. For instance, the non-appointment of a Muslim minister in his new cabinet. He is not a split personality or a dual personality. He governs by ethics and morality. He is quite rational in his approach but has a rationale for his rational behaviour. He does not mince or swallow words. He believes in wisdom more than intelligence. He is wise but not cunning (the fox theory doesn’t apply to him). He has the courage, capacity, confidence, commitment, and competence to lead with a high sense of compassion. 

Wisdom in politics is more important than intelligence. Your intelligence may make you stubbornly argue to win against your opponents, but your wisdom guides you to reconcile and compromise. The basic attitude of the leader is not to control your juniors but to navigate the team towards achieving the goals of success. A good leader will translate his own vision and mission into meaningful goals and objectives set for his juniors to achieve. The leader will not force his own set of values and beliefs but will discuss the ways and means of incorporating them into party philosophy. The leader will easily distinguish truth from falsehood, hypocrisy from truthfulness, selfishness from self-interest, lies from manipulation, rational from irrational, want from greed, passiveness from aggression, etc. This is AKD.

The ‘People Power ‘ has given rise to a new political culture led by AKD and his team. People had installed a new government and a new leader. The ownership of the country has returned to the people, and the people have placed their trust in NPP (AKD). It thus becomes the responsibility of the government to uphold its status of being a corrupt-free regime while achieving the best economic results. Enhancing the living standards of its citizens is a priority as much as maintaining law and order. Pressure groups and people with vested interests will try to create chaos and incite racial disharmony. The government must be well prepared to counter all these terror attacks. The journey for AKD and the team is not going to be easy. Controlling the street thugs is not a difficult task, but countering the intellectual mafia is a great challenge to the government. For instance, the Colombo stock exchange was on a rapid bear run in the first two days of this week. 

This is the first time in the post-independence history of Sri Lanka that we are blessed with a participatory style of leadership. With the willingness and genuine support of the opposition, this style can be converted into an inclusive governance model. 

In the past, we have seen a dictatorial style of leadership with a strong bias towards a self-centered approach. This regime did not last long since the masses rejected it. We also have witnessed a laissez-faire regime where the leader preferred things to take their own course. This period was like a Sinhala comedy. We also saw an aristocratic rule by an Iron Lady. Yet another regime was more like a country club approach where the leader was compelled to oblige the whims and fancies of guys who were now part of the government but technically belonged to a different party. So though the leader was intelligent and well experienced, he never won the sympathy of the masses. Perhaps the longest period was ruled by an exploitative, benevolent leader. The masses during this period were carried away by the leader liberating the country from a long, protracted war. If not for the unabated level of corruption during his government, he would have continued in office.

The leadership style of AKD is truly remarkable and differs distinctly from all the previous leaders. What matters most is the ‘leadership attitude’ as opposed to ‘leadership style.’ Many of our leaders were clever in the facade of their style that did not reflect their attitude. But the masses sooner or later will realise this deception of the leader. You can fool a few people all the time and all the people for some time, but you can’t fool all the people all the time. In the case of AKD, attitude and style coincide to superimpose each other so that people are convinced that his style truly reflects his attitude. 

All in all, ADK shines out in almost everything. With his determination and positivity, he has the capability and capacity to make Sri Lanka another Singapore. He must initially succeed in cleaning the country to look beautiful by eliminating corruption at all levels while making Sri Lanka a top-ranked destination for ease of doing business. He will be credited for creating that positive aroma in the governance of this island nation.

(The writer is the former Deputy Director General of the Board of Investment of Sri Lanka.)