Milinda Moragoda: The gap between promise and reality
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Milinda Moragoda’s on-going mayoral campaign is interesting on many counts. Particularly appealing to me is that it is extremely web media savvy. The campaign’s central website, http://www.ourcmb.com, is leagues ahead of what any candidate, at any election in Sri Lanka has produced. Aimed to elicit public feedback on a 12 point, 100 day plan for Colombo, the website is a model for how politicians can use the web to co-create policy in what is promised is an open, transparent manner. Milinda’s Facebook group, growing apace in the number of fans, is something other candidates have done in the past, but not to this degree of curatorial prowess. He also has a presence on YouTube and Twitter. All this would prima facie suggest a politician unafraid of public scrutiny, genuine engagement on critical issues and uses these tools to be the change he proclaims he wants to see.
Sadly, not so. In an article titled ‘Open-source policy formulation for Sri Lanka’s capital’ the Head, Policy Planning Group, Milinda for Mayor Campaign Prof. Rohan Samarajiva, though he doesn’t identify himself as such in the article, makes a great deal of the approach adopted by the Moragoda campaign. He may not even know it or immediately recall that his son, though far less coherently, first mooted the idea open source government over 8 years ago. Noting the flaws with the traditional approach to manifestos and public policy, Prof. Samarajiva notes,
“The traditional approach is to rely on expertise. Experts formulate policy. Other experts debug it. Not very different from what goes on at the Redmond Campus of Microsoft.”
A more apt description would have been to Apple and Steve Jobs. The message however, for the non-geeks, was clear. Co-creating policy transparently is infinitely better than codifying in closed groups. This is the guiding mantra of the open source movement, a process of production and development that promote access to the end product’s source materials. Jobs recently stepped down as CEO of Apple, but his command and control of the company is the stuff of legend. He has been called a Genius Control Freak, unwilling to relinquish control even over the slightest aspect of design and development, wielding an incredible degree of personal oversight as fondly recalled by Vic Gundotra of Google.
Gotabaya Rajapaksa is to Milinda’s campaign what Jobs was, and perhaps to a degree still is to Apple (coincidentally, Gotabaya seems to be a fan of Apple products!). He, and he alone, determines policy. This is not just our speculation or submission. It is quite openly acknowledged by leading bloggers actually heading the media relations for the Milinda Moragoda campaign as well as mainstream media that it’s Gotabaya who runs Colombo. Not the Colombo Municipal Council. Not the post of Mayor. The Secretary of Defence post-war has branched out into urban renewal, and with the unlimited resources of the Ministry of Defence, is going about revamping the city and its environs as he sees fit. There is no public access to his plans. No one really knows how much of money is involved, to whom tenders are awarded, or on what grounds. We are told there is a plan, and to trust its implementation to the hands of the man who won the war. Few, if any, are willing to question that. Following from this, the central argument to support Moragoda’s campaign is, as the Sunday Leader, succinctly puts it, that ready access to Gotabaya guarantees Moragoda a much better chance than any other candidate of developing Colombo to the city we all want it to become. Amongst the candidates then, he is primus inter pares.
Gotabaya’s singular character traits are well known. Here is a man who conflated terrorists with Tamils and actually defended the overnight eviction of hundreds of hapless Tamils from Colombo a few years ago. We recall his shrill comments on and dismissal of Lasantha Wickremetunge’s murder. We now know through Wikileaks that within government, he was the most intolerant of dissent and the freedom of expression during war. Even today, reading through the cables, it’s mind-boggling the degree to which he was in control of or responsible for the suppression of independent media in Sri Lanka. We know that even before these details came to light courtesy Assange, RSF called him a predator of media freedom. A single word from Gotabaya was enough to send any detractor into panic and flight. Worse, he does so with complete and utter impunity. He was heinous in 2007. Four years on, he is no better, and though less shrill now pontificates on matters of governance to boot. As noted by Dr. Paikiasothy Saravanamuttu years ago,
“The relationship of the Defence Secretary to the President and the structure of power institutionalised by this regime, give his pronouncements and opinions greater weight than that of any other cabinet minister including the Prime Minister. Furthermore, his minister is none other than the President, his brother. Gotabhaya Rajapakse’s behaviour begs the question of the militarisation of government and governance in this country. Shocking though it may seem, there is the story doing the rounds that Sri Lanka has in fact a militarised if not military government without having a military coup.“
Emphasis mine.
It is important to not forget who Gotabaya is, what he is capable of and how unbridled his real power is. If and when Milinda Moragoda wins these elections, it’s Gotabaya who will run our city. It’s Gotabaya’s plans, vision and apparatchiks that will define our city, not, emphatically, Moragoda’s frameworks of public engagement and accountability. In many ways, this is going back to the Premedasa era of governance, where most are interested in getting stuff done, not on how it’s done and at what cost. Ergo, Moragoda may speak of Right to Information, but this is rendered nonsensical given the regime’s vice grip on everything, and everyone. To argue therefore that Moragoda’s candidacy is viable above all others because of access to this individual is in effect to suggest that constitutional rule, the rule of law and civil administration – all of which have been systematically and egregiously undermined by the Rajapaksa regime – are non-issues in these elections. In fact, the single most important factor in Moragoda’s campaign was flagged by Wikileaks,
@MilindaMoragoda “enjoys the confidence of & direct access to President Rajapaksa & his two brothers” http://t.co/UVGc52a Need we say more?less than a minute ago via Twitter for Mac 
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Groundviews
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Interestingly, the head of Milinda’s Policy Planning Group, Prof. Samarajiva, writing in 2010 noted,
“The events of the past few months (and indeed the past few years) in Sri Lanka have puzzled me. The President and his coterie are flagrantly violating the Constitution and laws. That is shocking, but what is more shocking is the casual acceptance of this behaviour by all concerned. What is surprising is not that the President violates the law and disregards explicit directions from lawful authority, but that the citizenry seem to accept it. Not that the President tries to impress university teachers by inviting them to dinner at Temple Trees, but that most of them go, and some even kiss the hands of their host. So it appears that the political elite’s dalliance with Constitutionalism has about run its course, 60 years after independence. We are reverting to our native Feudalism: not just the ruling family but large swaths of the populace, including opinion leaders and intellectuals.” From Sri Lanka under Rajapakse regime becoming feudal kingdom with constitutional veneer
Emphasis mine. If he looks in the mirror, one wonders if Prof. Samarajiva recognises that what he warned us against is what he has allowed himself to become?
The Ranil factor
On Twitter, and defending his decision to back the Moragoda campaign, Prof. Samarajiva observed,
#NalakaG assumes political parties exist. All we have: conglomerations around a person. No internal democracy. Ur apprch Rx for inactionless than a minute ago via web Favorite Retweet Reply
Rohan Samarajiva
samarajiva
A lot of the arguments around supporting Moragoda are anchored to, politely put, the ineffectiveness of the Leader of the Opposition, Ranil Wickremesinghe. Interestingly, the media relations / campaign manager for Milinda Moragoda and Prof. Samarajiva’s son was, on the Sri Lankan blogosphere, one of the first and most vocal champions of Ranil Wickremesinghe, only to lose interest by 2010 and ask him to leave his office. He’s not the only one disillusioned. Wikileaks mentions Moragoda around a 148 times. The cables range from January 2003 to December 2009. Moragoda’s character, role and relevance to various governments at various times is evident when reading through them in chronological order. Equally evident is his growing disenchantment with the UNP’s leadership. To quote the US Ambassador in Sri Lanka in 2007,
“There is no doubt that a substantial part of the UNP is unhappy with Wickremesinghe’s autocratic leadership style, and with some of Ranil’s strategic decisions. There are others who, nearing the end of their public lives, may in fact simply be yearning to end their careers as ministers. Basil Rajapaksa’s assurances notwithstanding, the President has aroused expectations of change by announcing publicly that he would undertake a major cabinet reshuffle and expected a number of UNP crossovers. Ranil will have his work cut out to head off a defection by the dissidents in his party and get the President to back off on his plan to recruit them for his cabinet.”
In 2011, the very real prospect of an electoral loss in Colombo for the UNP is what the fall of Killinochchi was to the LTTE, the end of the road. An enervated Opposition today will become a ceremonial one, which then refocusses our attention on Prof. Samarajiva’s point – are voters only left with individuals who promise what they do because of who they know and have access to? I think not. A year ago, the Professor agreed. To quote again from his seminal essay,
“Constitutionalism is not words on paper, but broad acceptance across society that certain kinds of words on paper have binding authority and must be respected. It is what will give meaning to the word of a candidate… The larger question is the governing framework. Do university teachers rush to kiss the ring and vice chancellors prostrate themselves before presidents in modern societies? Can we have a modern economy, when the largest companies in the country obey patently illegal directions from regulators? Is it normal to name a government-owned, money-losing airline for the head of state and paint the tail of the leased aircraft with his campaign livery? These are symptoms of a transition from a Constitutional State to a feudal one.”
Sans any real democracy in Sri Lanka, http://www.ourcmb.com is actually not a framework for public engagement. Rather, it is essentially a platform (arguably a rather parasitical one) to get the best ideas from amongst us and make them hostage to the parochialism of a single ruling family that circumscribes in turn what Moragoda – if he should win – can and should do as Mayor. Ironically, in this position, he is akin to party leader he left behind – both largely symbolic figures sans any real authority, one a hostage to a blinding ego, the other never able or willing to question the excesses of a regime that in effect demarcates the boundaries of his power. If this is too dystopic, consider the following video. This was broadcast on public TV. It isn’t the creation of someone against the Rajapaksa regime or the Moragoda campaign. In fact, it features the President’s son speaking in public. At around one minute in, Namal Rajapaksa says something quite revealing in a tone and expression that doesn’t translate, but a Sinhala audience would understand full well,
“But, Mr. General Secretary, I told the President that if they don’t give us votes, go put them elsewhere [Applause] Why (should we) make houses and others get the votes? Isn’t it? But no one will be put outside this area. But remember what I told (you) earlier.”
I asked Moragoda about what his response to this thinly veiled threat was, especially in light of Point 6 of his manifesto which notes,
- The Government has to relocate people in certain circumstances to fulfill its commitment to give decent, liveable housing, but I will ensure that no citizen is relocated outside of metropolitan Colombo. (See here)
- Before any relocation plans are made, communities will be included in the process and consulted. (See here)
To date, the candidate has not given an answer, which in a sense, is its own answer.
The foibles of the campaign
Moragoda’s adoption of new media could suggest he’s actually a more engaged candidate with those online. Colombo’s surely got the highest per capita penetration of broadband in the country. Though nowhere close to what Obama did with his online campaign in the US, but is about the most sophisticated we’ve seen to date. Which sadly, isn’t saying much. Moragoda created his Twitter account in 2010. He abandoned it on 7th April, days before the General Election. No public engagement till 6th September this year. Not a single tweet, not a single word about what he was doing to champion what he stood for even out of power. From the 6th this month to the time of writing, there are around 23 updates, one or two of which are system generated (i.e. automatic cross-posting from Facebook updates). Not a single tweet has engaged anyone who has included him in their tweets, which is a complete reversal from his behaviour on Twitter in 2010, when he actually did have conversations over the medium and engaged his detractors. He hasn’t answered a single question directed at him, which is one of the reasons one would assume a Twitter account is set up, and what in fact he did over last year’s campaign. The tweets Groundviews posted directed at Moragoda included observations about those who were part of his campaign, questions over allegations of his corruption noted in Parliament, several ideas for improving Colombo city, a request that his manifesto is translated into Sinhala and Tamil, and observations about the complete turnaround by some in involved in his campaign. In one of our tweets we simply asked the campaign to look at the Melbourne City website and learn from how they had made it into the world’s most liveable city this year. We also flagged several serious concerns,
@samarajiva Trust deficit here @MilindaMoragoda celebrates diversity http://t.co/v4uCM8h A racist Gota evicts Tamils http://t.co/21mM39mless than a minute ago via Twitter for Mac Favorite Retweet ReplyGroundviews
groundviews
@samarajiva Local issue for the day: Where’s @MilindaMoragoda’s declaration of assets? http://t.co/wcfGrGe mere words for others? #lkaless than a minute ago via Twitter for Mac Favorite Retweet ReplyGroundviews
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Groundviews immediately chastised for a hidden agenda, and asked if we were paid to ask hard questions. When we said real power lay with the Ministry of Defence and not with the Colombo Municipal Council, we were told that “This is a local government election. Dealing with garbage & traffic. Why conflate with grand issues?”
The somewhat farcical public engagement extends to Facebook. When I attempted to engage on the Facebook platform, the response from Milinda Moragoda’s campaign manager was tragi-comic, almost as if the fan page was set up for adulatory messages instead of real, hard engagement on vital issues. In response to the questions we published on Facebook, the son of Prof. Samarajiva, Milinda’s media campaign manager, accused the Centre for Policy Alternatives, in fact no stranger to the candidate himself of ‘coordinated personal attacks’. Note the word personal. And what were these ‘attacks’? The following questions apparently, amongst others that are in full public view,
On the issue of religious tolerance
On the Right to Information
Sampath, Chief Editor of Vikalpa, makes the point here that the copy and paste tactic of the campaign demonstrates the paucity of original thought and genuine engagement.
On Namal Rajapaksa’s comments
Note there is no engagement at all here with Namal’s comments. And the ‘Milinda Moragoda’ isn’t really Milinda Moragoda. More on this anon.
On Moragoda’s non-compliance with election law in 2010 and again during the present campaign
On the inability of the campaign to deal with hard questions (in Sinhala)
On attempting to dodge hard question by facile logic
This question alone generated an exchange of over 25 comments between the media campaign manager, Prof. Samarajiva and I. It is evident the campaign cannot come up with an answer to the questions asked, most notably why Moragoda to date has not made public his declaration of assets, as per election law (and never did in 2010 either). What is also evident is a media campaign manager who cannot manage hard questions, and a Head of Policy Planning, infinitely more capable of dealing with vital issues yet unable to engage as robustly as he can on account of a day job. In sum, a rather dysfunctional campaign to deal with anything other than the sporadic citizen input, and that too if sycophantic or supportive in nature.
It gets worse.
The optics of engagement, or lack thereof
Twice during the day on Moragoda’s Facebook page, I noticed that ‘Milinda Moragoda’ said something that in minutes was magically attributed to Rohan Samarajiva. I flagged this to the campaign.
Yes despite assurances this has been fixed, one sees strange anomalies. For example, the following notes that even though the identity that appears is ‘Milinda Moragoda’ its a member of his ‘staff’ that is posted the response.
However, in the case of the example below, that which appears to come from Milinda Moragoda, one suspects actually comes from Prof. Samarajiva.
This may well be a temporary technical glitch. I’m not suggesting that Prof. Samarajiva deliberately misleads voters, but this is just not the way to build public confidence in authentic online engagement. Moragoda we are told only posts content himself in the morning and the evenings. We aren’t sure then whether this post on Milinda’s avowed celebration of diversity was actually posted by himself or not. There is no comment moderation policy. There is certainly comment moderation (not all comments that are submitted go up), but this isn’t made explicitly clear. What you see on Facebook may only be a subset of what is received by the campaign, with content published at their discretion not really giving a sense of what fans really send in, want to see and think. What one immediately notices is that up until today, there was not a single hard question or policy related discussion on the Facebook page. The only status a bit different to the rest was this hilarious yet revealing post,
Is any of this of consequence?
“I am persuaded that Constitutionalism, the rule of laws, not men, is most conducive to the happiness of our people. But I am open to persuasion that what is appropriate for the Sri Lankan climate is something else.” Prof. Rohan Samarajiva, Sri Lanka under Rajapakse regime becoming feudal kingdom with constitutional veneer
Prof. Samarajiva may have been persuaded to believe that supporting the proxy of a feudal kingdom is the best way forward. So too, many others? Now famously quoted, the Gallup Poll reveals that the President’s popularity is at 91%. A recent poll by Social Indicator, the social polling arm of the Centre for Policy Alternatives on perceptions of post-war democracy in Sri Lanka indicates that 58.8% of Sri Lankans think that the country has been the most democratic under President Mahinda Rajapaksa’s period. This view is shared by 69.9% of Sinhalese respondents. 62.2% of respondents in the 18 – 30 age category consider the country most democratic under President Mahinda Rajapaksa. The latest age breakdown for Colombo’s inhabitants I could access was from 2001. It’s clear though that the appeal of the Rajapaksa regime will possibly translate into votes for Moragoda in a city with a younger demographic. The concerns Groundviews noted below are quite possibly non-issues to the majority who vote.
@aufidius Sadly though, the reality is that principles, decency and honesty are victims of expedient politics and parochialism.less than a minute ago via Twitter for Mac Favorite Retweet ReplyGroundviews
groundviews
@aufidius Is Ranil or Gota or Mahinda together or alone to blame for this? Fear not – voters get who they vote for & real change eludes us.less than a minute ago via Twitter for Mac Favorite Retweet ReplyGroundviews
groundviews
Nalaka Gunewardene (a close friend of Prof. Samarajiva’s), along with Groundviews, attempts to hold Milinda Moragoda accountable to a higher standard than the rest of the candidates via frequent engagement on Twitter. As Nalaka avers,
Yes, I do hold @MilindaMoragoda 2 a higher standard precisely becos he invokes liberal ideals unlike most politicos. He must walk da talk!less than a minute ago via web Favorite Retweet Reply
Nalaka Gunawardene
NalakaG
@ThilinaRa One difference: @MilindaMoragoda campaign projects him as da most honest & open politician. So let’s test that claim! #lka #MiMoless than a minute ago via web Favorite Retweet ReplyNalaka Gunawardene
NalakaG
Perhaps Nalaka and I are wrong in seeing him differently to any other politician, particularly during elections. But Moragoda says, repeatedly, that he is different. Wielding the tools of public engagement online, Moragoda suggests that he is capable of robust conversations on engendering real change in a participatory manner. He wants to deal with issues. Yet, he eludes the inconvenient ones. He wants to bring about a new expression. Yet his campaign wastes no time in precisely the kind of expression his opponents are vaunt to use. He says he is for the Right to Information. Yet he flouts election law by not revealing his assets. Despite all this, I have little doubt he will win Colombo. On Facebook, Prof. Samarajiva wanted me to “Nail us (meaning Moragoda and himself) to the wall if we do not deliver after getting the mandate. That seems to be the only practical course, if you do not want to get all candidates to adopt RTI.”
My response to him on Facebook is a good note to end,
“Thanks again, but I think the thrust of my point is at variance with your submission. My point is the trust deficit – not a hum in support of RTI after his defeat last year, on *principle*. One can not be in a position to implement, but stand up for something nevertheless? I get what you are saying too, but I think you place too much of power in my / voters hands. Once and if elected, he is the frontman for a regime that trucks no check or balance, no critical question. Moragoda himself closed Twitter and YouTube the day after he lost in 2010. What gives us hope he will continue to be held accountable through these fora once elected? Your involvement in the campaign and your early tweet “… we are serious” is that much more cruel in this context. You may be, but the context of electoral democracy in this country is just not set up to ‘nail’ you (or any politician) on performance. You and Moragoda ask for faith, in essence. I have little of it in Moragoda, and none at all in the regime that backs him.”
Many of course will disagree, and say that Moragoda is the best choice in an irrefutably illiberal context. I do wonder how we got here.
I really enjoyed this–top stuff. Will also look forward to the rebuttal either on indi.ca or on GV. Haven’t been following the polls but would love to know which way the minorities (who wield some clout in Colombo) will vote. One of the first elections where the anti-govt and anti-UNP (or anti-Ranil) blocs overlap. Very interesting.
Exultant analysis. Sanjana
Bravo Sanjana – for sheer persistence and sustained focus! Such is polemics made of – something that I would expect an ex-marxist like Rohan Samarajiva to appreciate and engage with in the true spirit of serious debate rather than quibbling over motives and ‘agendas’ of the questioner.Whatever your agendas may be, still, a genuinely transparent politician would rush to answer your queries – whether or not that answer is a humble admission of failure.
Rohan Samarajiva an ex-Marxist? Is there something I don’t know. Can someone enlighten me about this? I know Rohan’s father is a proper old Marxist but Rohan himself?
For a moment there, following the launch of his election campaign, I honestly thought we have found in Milinda someone we can believe in based on evidence, integrity and past/current conduct. That was a big mistake (too good to be true!). Instead, this candidate like all the others, wants us to believe in him as a matter of FAITH.
Sorry. No can do. Been there, done that. And lived to regret it more than once. Won’t fall for it anymore, mate! So you gotta come up with something more credible.
As the colloquialism has it, [edited out] and his behaviour now and in the recent past has proved it in spades! As for someone’s expectations of a higher level of conduct from his father by virtue of his “credentials” as a Marxist of yore…give your head a shake, friend! Don’t we have enough evidence of “principled behaviour” by Marxists past and present to prove that they can be as unprincipled as the worst?
No, I would suggest that the real investigation that needs to be made here is about what the pay-offs are to be to this coalition of unprincipled individuals. Isn’t that what the “realpolitik” of Sri Lanka is all about?
nice sir….. we all with you!!!!! all the best of luck sir!!!!!
Good Article and a much needed analysis.
politicians and their acolytes remain politicians and their acolytes, no change ! Whats new?
I can’t easily find it online now (maybe deleted?), but the self same Indi Samarajiva wrote around 2008 that “the Rajapaksas shouldn’t breed” (his exact words, mind you, which stuck in my mind because they were strong) as their clan has enough members already destroying the country (in Indi’s view).
So how come the same Rajapaksas are suddenly so very acceptable for Indi to become a proxy campaigner for them?
There is a Sinhala saying: Kanna thithunama kabaragoyath thalagoya wenawa. Go get that machine-translated, Indi (or just ask dad). That is probably the explanation for your 180 degree turn about the Rajapaksas.
By the way, there has been some rapid revising going on this week on the Wikipedia entry about Milinda Moragoda. Any guesses about who is involved in making those changes? http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Milinda_Moragoda#Allegations_of_Corruption
The revision history can be accessed here.
a) I edited the Wikipedia article yesterday. Before that it was just a whitewash of Milinda. You’re welcome.
b) The GV commenting form is annoying. Once I click reply I have to scroll all over the bloody place and look for the form.
c) The main article… tl;dr
d) I don’t have to read this to know I agree. Moragoda is a [edited out]. Good on Sanjana and the GV folks for taking him on.
Sorry about (b), if there’s any issue, we’re just an email away.
Hmm……..
Knowing political stance taken by Indi previously ( for which he was vilified by pro-establishment bloggers)its kinda curious to see this turnaround.
But of course we have a private TV channel that once was a staunch backer of Mr. Ranil Wickremasinghe, now behaving towards the Opposition Leader in a manner far more worse than the State run media ever did,so this is hardly a surprise the way things are going on around here
Here’s another “gap”: the “gap between 14 Sept. and 18 Sept” I.e., finding that CheeLanka’s link didn’t QUITE work, I therefore went to the revision history of the wikipedia article: http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Milinda_Moragoda&action=history
… and from that page, you can get a comparison of two versions (14 Sept. versus 18 Sept) of that article, side by side:
http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Milinda_Moragoda&action=historysubmit&diff=451122521&oldid=450448443
It’s interesting to look at the “stuff” which the 18th Sept version has removed from the 14 Sept version. Revision History shows the 18th Sept version was done by an user account called “Peiris”.
Why did “Peiris” remove that info — oh dear dear dear, whatever’s happened to “Right To Information” on the Web…? gasp
(To be fair, should also notice that maybe the 14 Sept article slightly violates some of the policies at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:BLP E.g., “tone”, “verifiability” of a few facts, etc.
But still then, surely “Peiris” should have left a comment explaining this; or better, could have simply rewritten the facts in a neutral tone.)
Sanjana
Thank you for highlighting the problems of Mr. Morogoda’s mayoral candidacy. The quotation of Prof Smarajeeva in 2010, “We are reverting to our native Feudalism: not just the ruling family but large swaths of the populace, including opinion leaders and intellectuals” reflects the feudal nature of politics and political order in Ceylon/Sri Lanka since 1948. We are not just “reverting back”. We have been in it for a long time without doing anything about it.
Ceylon/Sri Lanka is a feudal political system with a fragile veil of democracy. The veil is now in tatters and replaced with a mighty Kinsmen Rule supported by a subservient armed forces and ethnocracy. I hope an evolution of political order and governance that adheres to the Rule of Law can be instituted in Sri Lanka by its people. Such an evolution can take place if those who govern us and administer government policies are prevented by law from distributing state powers to uncles, nephews, siblings and children or they inheriting such powers. History tells us that such evolution of political order came from violent upheavals for many years. Morogoda and Namal are tiny rivets in the system. But what they hold up is a monstrous juggernaut.
I have my doubts as to how much Moragoda’s online outreach will really affect his post-campaign decisions. he is however, excellent at marketing himself and has now surpassed Muzammil completely in terms of visibility. This alone will probably provide enough momentum for him to win. But who are we joking really, any mayoral candidate cannot be expected to hold the reigns in urban decision making the way things stand. Like you said, he has been inconsistent in the past and there is no reason to believe that he will be any different this time.
Some are wondering what the minority response MM is. Some sentiments”He bluffed us and got the highest votes at the first general election which he contested.Half way through he ditched all these voters and turned around to support those who were diametrically opposite to what he proclaimed to his would be voters on the campaign trail. ” Need we say more.
Sent via email:
Dear Sanjana,
An arresting critique (pun unintended) with some persuasive power and a plausible prognosis, which however, misses the mark in certain crucial respects.
Born and raised in Colombo, I would have voted for Milinda had I been back home, for much the same reason that Northerners vote for Mr Sambandan: Milinda Moragoda is a much closer projection of Colombo and its self-image; he represents the Colombo component of my identity far more than does Mr Muzammil, a smart, witty and irascible chap, whom I have met. However- and this is vital- the choice would have hardly been so automatic, had Imtiaz Bakeer Markar been the alternative.
That’s at the crux of the matter. Imtiaz would have had a very good chance of winning, given his combination of a deserved reputation as a gentleman, his multi-lingualism and Ananda College education, his distinguished political lineage and his ability to appeal across ethnic fault-lines, to Colombo’s underprivileged and marginalised (the Ranasinghe Premadasa constituency).
Now, where were those who criticise Milinda’s candidacy, and warn that it will be but a mask for another power centre, when the only chance for an Imtiaz candidacy came and went?
Where were these voices when possibly the last chance to prevent their own worst-case scenario, presented itself?
That last chance was the effort made by the Reformists within the UNP, to replace its leadership or at the least, have Imtiaz as the candidate.
The civil society intellectuals and opinion makers, by remaining silent or supporting/wishing for a continuation of the Ranil-Mangala-Ravi leadership and line, have contributed to the outcome which they detest and dread.
When the results come in, their current warnings may turn out to have been ‘a day late and a dollar short’.
Furthermore, the attitude of “getting things done” while oblivious to the methods used, is not a throwback to the Premadasa period, but the Jayewardene or Jayewardene-Athlathmudali decade. That period included, in Colombo, the bashing of Prof Sarachchandra on the head, the caning by Police of a demonstration by BLIND weavers, the trampling of Vivienne Gunawardena by the Police in the Colpetty cop-shop, the promotion of the Policeman who stomped on aged Vivi, the shooting to death of an unarmed campus student on Havelock road, etc. In the Premadasa period, the CONTENT of policy — the WHAT of what was done– was different, with a successful emphasis on growth WITH EQUITY. As for methods, recruitment to public service jobs through competitive exams was re-introduced by Premadasa, and opposed by Lalith’s DUNF. Today’s civil society intellectual-activist types (clustered in and around the mag Counterpoint) OPPOSED Premadasa and supported the DUNF!
Dayan Jayatilleka
Via email:
Reader ‘PB Jayasundara’ is openly sceptical about Prof Rohan Samarajiva’s Marxist past, but seems to know about his father, Ainsley. Rohan and I have had divergent, even opposed political and ideological positions for many years, during which he worked for Chandrika, Ranil, Milinda and Mangala, having adopted a neo-liberal economic perspective. He did however play a very positive part in the de-regulation of telecommunications, opening space for the mobile phone revolution in SL. He and I also stood on opposite sides during the last decade and a bit, on the issue of war and peace with the LTTE and the Ranil-CBK years of appeasement. Finally, I supported Mahinda Rajapaksa from before his candidacy till now, while Rohan did not. That said, there can be no dishonesty about his Marxist, indeed radical, even revolutionary past. He was older than I, a university student when I was in high school at Aquinas, and he was about to leave Peradeniya when I entered. We were both members of ‘Mitipahara’ (Hammer Strike) a Marxist-Leninist group in the early-mid 1970s, which was subject to state suppression due to (unsuccessful) militant direct action. He and I were among the few who had studied Louis Althusser and Nicos Poulantzas, though he preferred Henri Lefebvre and I supplemented my Althusser with Regis Debray and Charles Bettelheim.
Rohan was so good a writer in English that my father, Mervyn de Silva featured an article by him in the Edit page of the Daily News while he was still an undergrad. Rohan’s Dad was a highly ethical and respected civil servant and a progressive Christian.
Rohan may have moved away from his ideological roots, and I have too, albeit differently, but none should doubt that he was a convinced Marxist-Leninist, and a heck of a lot more intelligent and literate then and now, than all the Marxists (especially the Tamil Trotskyists) writing in the Lankan papers these days.
Dayan Jayatilleka
Dayan,
I did not know about this part of Samarajiva’s politics. Very interesting. Thank you!
Dear friends
After watching debate over the past few days I am wondering what is the focal point, CMC election, Milinda, Rohan, Indi or Sanjana?. In the final analysis the choice is between Milinda and Muzammil. Everyone in the city of Colombo knows the background, values, wisdom and character of these two individuals. Can anyone in the right frame of mind say that Muzamil be a better Mayor for Colombo than Milinda?.
@Luxman Siriwardena
No we cannot say if Milinda or Muzammil will be a better mayor. But if Muzammil wins, at least we will know that not everything is in the pockets of the Rajapaksas’.
@Luxman Siriwardena,
It would be necessary to contextualize your remark with the knowledge that you are a close friend of Milinda Moragoda and you head Pathfinder Foundation that he set up and finances. That is his and your prerogative, but when you extol the virtues of your friend cum employer, that is different to holding a detached view.
The voters of Colombo DO have choices on Oct 8 when they vote for CMC:
1. They can vote for UNP and cast their preferential vote to Muzamil and 2 others; OR
2. They can vote for UPFA and yet their 3 preferential votes to candidates other than Milinda (ones who are more honest in their claims); OR
3. They can vote for another political party and prefer 3 of their candidates.
There can be other choices too, but I can at least think of three. So please don’t say the choice is simply between two individuals running for Mayor. That is misleading the public like the Milinda campaign seems to be doing often.
Sri Lanka today is filled with people like Prof Rohan Samarajiva, his son Indi, Dayan Jayatilleka, Milinda Moragoda, Sirisena Cooray etc [edited out]”
The good people who stood up for their rights are either six feet under or vanished like Lasantha and Pradeep Eknaligoda…to name just a few. While thugs like Mervin Silva who got about 2000 votes in Colombo a couple of years ago, now gets one lakh fifty thousand votes from Kelaniya…Paba the teledrama actress gets more votes than Karu Jayasuriya…and need I say anything about Anarkali or Sanath Jayasuriya?
Quo vadis? Whither goest Sri Lanka?
Hey, PresiDunce Bean!
Why should politicians have all the opportunistic (or pragmatic) benefits? Why not the intellectuals too? (No, that tag doesn’t apply to the little kolla. I meant the rest.) After all, they have the brains to see far and thus make their calculated moves. What is wrong with that?
@CheeLanka
[Edited out]
“For what shall it profit a man, if he shall gain the whole world, and lose his own soul.”
- Mark chapter 8 verse 36 -
…there are lots of soulless intellectuals living in this country today and the biggest one of them all is the pseudo Gramscian who keeps some of us in stitches on groundviews with his words of wisdom.
Ha…ha…ha…thanks groundviews for this link.
http://indi.ca/2005/11/why-i-support-ranil/
…I nearly died of laughter after reading it. I’m still laughing. Vaasi paththata hoi yaa!
“So Milinda Moragoda is a sop to Colombo’s middle/upper classes. His task is to be an innocuous-façade for the anti-democratic intents and larcenous plans of the Siblings. An opposition-led CMC can seriously impede the Rajapaksa grand-design of installing an unelected authority (Colombo Metropolitan Corporation) above the CMC and five other councils. If the UPFA bags Colombo, its Puppet-Mayor can gift the city to the Rajapaksas with an ingratiating-smile.”
Lying To Win… – By Tisaranee Gunasekara, http://www.thesundayleader.lk/2011/09/18/lying-to-win…/
Good analysis, worthy of a place in a critical academic journal, but sadly I think the effort is wasted on something that we all know (including the samarajivas) !
I note that Mr Ethirveerasingham, who takes great exception to the ‘ feudal’ character of Sri Lanka’s political culture, wasn’t exactly writing in to GV or anyplace else, to criticize Mr Prabhakaran and the LTTE’s political culture and that of those who rolled barebodied on hot tarred roads in the noonday sun behind the portrait of Prabhakaran the Portly, during the Pongu Thamil events (at least one of which was attended by Prime Minister Ranil Wicks’ representative Saman Athauda).
I also note that no one has taken on – or taken up– my point about the Imtiaz Bakeer Markar mayoral candidacy that almost was…and then wasn’t, thanks to the UNP’s entrenched leadership. Has Imtiaz been the candidate he might have won, impeding anyone’s chances of being a puppet who handed over Colombo for sacking and looting to the same lot that the rest of the country (barring the Northern peninsula)has, and democratically too, for who knows what consceivable reason (though one can guess at those reasons if one persuses the CPA poll). Now, greedy for Colombo’s resources though they doubtless were, it wasn’t quite the ruling troika’s white vans and ‘grease demons’ that stopped Imtiaz from being the Opposition’s mayoral candidate, was it?
Hey PresiDunceBean, wanna get together, debate Gramsci sometime with me or Rohan Samarajiva?
I wonder what the Samarjivas’ who support Milinda Moragoda have to say about UNP Muzammil’s supporters being brutally attacked at Shrubbery gardens, Bambalapitiya. As usual no one has been arrested so far.
http://www.lankaenews.com/English/news.php?id=12271