The Fonseka Effect?
Cartoon by Dharshana Karunathilake, published in Irida Lakbima, 3 Jan 2010. Translation: General Fonseka (on left): “I promise to give you….” President Rajapaksa, interrupting: “Whatever he promises, I promise to give you all those!”
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“Civilization is an interlude between ice ages,” said the noted historian Will Durant. We might adapt that to characterise the current presidential election in Sri Lanka as a brief period of liberty and relief in between long spells state oppression, neglect and impunity.
What else can we make of the government’s new found keenness to simultaneously ease up on a number of fronts where it has been completely unrelenting and uncompromising until now?
Just consider these few illustrative examples.
The militarization of the North remained firmly in place for seven months after the civil war ended in May 2009. Now, the same government is scrambling to dismantle the High Security Zones, resettle the displaced people, and remove restrictions on the A9 road. Yesterday’s suspects have become today’s darlings.
In its triumphalism over winning the territorial war, the government neglected and delayed offering a substantial and sincere political power sharing arrangement to the ethnic minorities. We were told everything would be sorted ‘in good time’. Indeed, the very existence of minorities was dismissed. Suddenly, we find the same president wooing the Tamil and Muslim voters with oh-so-sweet promises.
For years, the government’s ministers and officials pleaded that there simply was no money in the Treasury to increase public sector salaries. Yet, the same mandarins of public finance have found ways to offer an across-the-board hike of Rs. 2,500 for all public servants.
In December 2008, the government soundly ignored a Supreme Court ruling for petrol price to be reduced to Rs. 100 per litre to better reflect world oil prices, which had stumbled. Yet, as December 2009 drew to a close, local petrol price was suddenly reduced to Rs. 115 per litre. Never mind the world prices have been going up again…
Are these signs of rapid democratization — or desperate electioneering?
When it comes to eating their own words or taking complete about-turns with a straight face, few can compete with this government’s (well-paid) spin doctors and (unpaid?) apologists. They have ‘explained’ the spate of recent concessions with convoluted logic and mind-boggling arguments.
They assure us that these not mere election ‘carrots’. They also say that they are very sorry to have kept most of us (20 million people) on hold for over four years. But cheer up, folks: from now on, it is going to be Hakuna matata (Swahili for ‘have no worries’)…
What can explain this sudden and rapid ‘thawing’ of an uncaring government’s hitherto icy cold attitude towards its own people? Surely, it can’t be the much-dreaded greenhouse effect that triggered this sudden warming of hearts?
There is another, simpler reason. Let’s call it the Fonseka Effect.
In some true blue circles, this new-found effect is far more feared – and thus, much more maligned – than the spectre of global warming. (If you don’t believe it, just listen to our fire-breathing Minister of Environment!).
If General Sarath Fonseka’s recent entry into politics surprised some, his rise as the principal challenger to the incumbent at the January 26 presidential elections has transformed our social and political dynamics. The current government (in office since April 2004), and the president (since November 2005), have never shown so much concern about the plight of the ordinary people – as well as law and justice — as they are doing now.
All this would have been funny if the stakes were not so high, and the accumulated frustrations and suffering of the people so enormous. For most of them, the recent concessions come as too little, too late.
But there is no denying that the Fonseka Effect has effectively shattered the smug arrogance of the ruling oligarchy. Certainly, nothing attempted by our long impotent and divided opposition came anywhere close to this.
So what is the choice facing the little man (and woman) who walks into the little booth on Judgment Day, with a little pencil in hand to make a little cross on a (not so) little bit of paper? That is a strictly private and confidential decision for each eligible voter – and long may that remain so!
What more signs of sudden warming and caring might we see in the countdown to the election? This is a moment not to be missed by social activists, trade unionists and other agitators in the public interest. They must seize the moment and quickly press their demands with the ever-agreeable government.
Just remember to mention the seven-letter F word. That seems to works better than open sesame these days!
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Lets have election every other month, please. One, it will bring all these goodies to common man and the other, keep regime occupied in producing card board cut outs and offensive posters about everyone other than who are with them ( you are with us or you are a traitor )
How the minority Tamils vote in this mother of all elections would determine whether Sri Lanka can be veered towards a semblance of democracy.
Democracy died a natural death since indendence when majority Sinhala hegemony made sure Tamils would always be segregated to second class citizens and that the upcountry Tamils who are the pivots of income generation in the tea industry would remai slaves for kingdom come.
They are still living in shanties along with their poultry and cattle and living a hand to mouth existence.
Thondaman tried but Upcountry Tamils and Muslims remain swing voters.
Few of these ethnic groups benefited but still we see upcountry Tamils and Kathan kudy Muslims living in abject poverty.
It takes a very generous soul be he a staunch Buddhist, Hindu, Christian or Muslim with unselfish motives to make Sri Lanka, this serendip isle a haven for all its inhabitants.
Past leaders have failed and present leaders are bent on creating a nouveau royalty at the expense of vanquishing Tamils in their thousands.
But all is not lost.
We have exactly 11 days to determine who is the best possible of the worst lot to deliver.
As long as the voting populace desist from voting fo he Rajapakses. we have hope.
“Nothing focuses the mind like an impending hanging.” – Dr Samuel Johnson
Nixon asked Mao Tse Tung “How often do you have elections?”
Mao replied “Every morning before breakfast.”
It is one thing for Rajapaksa to bend over backwards to outpromise Fonseka in every respect. But the entire nation is curious to know one thing. Why did he not consider or attempt any of these gestures for the 3 years he was Prime Minister and 4+ years he was Executive President (with more powers vested in his office than even the US President)?
If he pleads that it was the war that prevented him from doing anything else, are we to conclude that he is such a single-track person (one thing at a time)? And if that was the case, what good was the 116-member Jumbo Cabinet and over 200 Presidential Advisers who have been such a drain on public funds even while the war was being waged? Surely, they were not all part of the war effort?
Pearl, first you say…
Democracy died a natural death since indendence when majority Sinhala hegemony made sure Tamils would always be segregated to second class citizens and that the upcountry Tamils who are the pivots of income generation in the tea industry would remai slaves for kingdom come.
Then you say…
But all is not lost.
We have exactly 11 days to determine who is the best possible of the worst lot to deliver.
As long as the voting populace desist from voting fo he Rajapakses. we have hope.
So let me get this. You say democracy is dead in Sri Lanka. Then you urge people to vote for the opposition because you think a democratic choice will change things. You’re being extremely deceitful in what you’re saying aren’t you? Little bit more honesty and people may seriously think about your rants.
Deception is not my game dear Observer. Otherwise I would have entered politics long time ago. Perhaps I should have said `we may have hope’. Hope in the sense that the nepotic governance, extra-judicial killings, corruption and megalomaniacal attitudes among the recently elected politicians from Rajapakse family would cease.
I still do not think the presidential candidates have any genuine desire to right the wrongs done to minorities. But we have been living with that for a very long time. At least we could live our daily lives without fear of being arrested, imprisoned and murdered by goons of the govt. is what Iam hoping for.
Oh well then, I just couldn’t help but notice the oxymoronic comment. That’s all!
In any case, if this is any help, I generally find that following the laws of the land may greatly alleviate the fears you have. Works for me.
Anyway, good luck not getting arrested! You work hard on it, don’t give up! It’s possible.
Dear Pearl Thevanayagam,
I am unable to comprehend the reason the SL Govt. wants to arrest and imprison a sweet belle like you. I say, you should still take a chance and go with a bunch of cameramen in tow. Pearl, sweet belle, if ever the SL Govt. harasses you, we will have the mother of all demonstrations here in London.
Dear London Dole,
Some 38 journalists were murdered since 1990 starting with Richard de Soysa. FYI, I was arrested while working for Sunday Leader. Since you seem to know something about me why not google my name and then decide if it is safe for me to return to SL.
Nothing would give me greater pleasure than reporting in Sri Lanka.
Those who demonstrated in front of Defence Ministry for my release were my Sinhalese colleagues in Free Media Movement. And it was chandrika who gave direct orders for my release because they could not find a single charge other that I was doing my duty as a journalist.
As for my sweetness or sourness I do not need patronising. And I am growing old graciously.
As Matilda in Sunday Leader in the nineties would say, `I say, aren’t we digressing.’
RSF’s Press Freedom Index of 2009 (http://www.rsf.org/en-classement1003-2009.html) has assigned Sri Lanka No 162 out of 175 countries ranked. This means the Paradise isle is among the bottom 15 in the world, among the worst places in which to practise journalism. Keeping company with Sri Lanka in this bottom 15 are our new found friends Vietnam (rank 166), China (168), Burma (171), Iran (172) and North Korea (174). At the very bottom of the index is Eritria (175), the latest country with which Sri Lanka has established diplomatic relations and dispatched an ambassador to.
Pearl, do you need more compelling evidence on how ‘safe’ it is to return to your beloved Sri Lanka?