Building a Dynasty?

The Rajapakse Presidency – Part VIII

"Do the Rajapakses have a familial project? Is there an attempt to create a new political dynasty with the eldest son succeeding the father? Though it is hard to know for certain, there are many signs indicating the existence of such a project, at least in an embryonic form. Today the kith and kin of the President litter the state and the government; some are qualified for the jobs they occupy while in the case of many the only qualification is that of kinship. Rajapakse’s brothers, nephews and cousins adorn many top jobs in the state sector."
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by Tisaranee Gunasekara

“…going forward boldly into the future in search of an imaginary past”.
Michael Burleigh (The Third Reich – A New History)

(October 11, Colombo, Sri Lanka Guardian) A few days before the commencement of the SAARC summit, more than 300 families living along the railway line in Colombo 2 were dragged out of their houses. Ignoring a court order and citing security reasons, government officials, backed by the riot police, forcibly relocated hundreds of men, women and children to a marshy land at the edge of the city with ill made wood shacks for houses and two toilets (one of which collapsed the next day; better accommodation had been promised but that will take another year – at the least). True, the victims of this arbitrary and inhuman act were unauthorised settlers, but they have been living in these houses for three to four decades; many of them worked as casual labourers in the area while their children went to nearby schools; moreover they were registered voters who paid rates and electricity and water bills. From 1977 (especially up to 1993), the Lankan custom had been to either give such unauthorised settlers legal titles to the land they were on or to provide them with alternate accommodation (in government build flats) close by, so their lives will not be disrupted.

Just the day before the eviction drama took place Presidential Advisor Vasudeva Nanayakkara had informed President Mahinda Rajapakse about the problem. Rajapakse promised Nanayakkara that the evictions will not happen. Less than 24 hours later government officials were acting in complete contravention of this Presidential undertaking, backed by police, tear gassing and baton charging the residents.

Has Rajapakse lost control of his government? Or was his promise a lie?

In its most recent report the UTHR (J) made a comment on the modus operandi of Rajapakse which fits in well with this story of the broken Presidential promise: “Among Tamils who regularly deal with the government, there is fear of its duplicity as well as a sense of hopelessness. After the first meeting with the president, and one might come away reassured, as the members of the Expert Committee to advise the APRC once were. Over time one discovers that the President has no principals and no qualms about letting down with a humiliating bump those whom he invited with honeyed assurances to such august tasks as to advise on a political settlement or to investigate violations. What shows through time is sarcasm, deceit and derision. To the Tamils and the Muslims it has been clear for sometime. The Sinhalese are finding out the hard way” (UTHR Information Bulletin No. 46 – 8.7.2008).

There is always a gap between the words and actions of any politician. With some the gap is abyss-like. Rajapakse seems to belong in this category. He promises; he exhorts; he preaches; but actions often do not fit in with the words. This pattern is evident even in his dealings with the international community. For instance solemn undertakings were given to the Indian Prime Minister, time and again, about a political solution. The case of the massacred aid workers in Mutur was handled in the same manner, grandiose promises followed by little or no action, as the IIGEP found out the hard way. Rajapakse’s policy is one of buying time through dissembling and exaggeration, in the belief that anyone can be fooled with fair words, anytime.

Meanwhile his grand patriotic rhetoric seems to be a cover for a somewhat different project. When a Black Tiger struck in Anuradhapura killing Maj. Gen. Janaka Perera, the Leader of Opposition of the North Central Provincial Council, and 27 others, President Rajapakse made an emotional appeal asking everyone to disregard party politics and unite in the endeavour to defeat terrorism. His lofty rhetoric was belied not only by his past deeds but also by his future actions. The LTTE would have found this murderous deed far more difficult to execute had it not been for the grossly partisan approach of the regime to the task of providing security to public figures. Despite the clear threat to his life from the LTTE and despite repeated requests, the government refused to provide the former Army Chief of Staff with security. In sharp contrast the governing party candidate for the post of Chief Minister was provided with a massive security detail, including 30 soldiers and 28 policemen. A desperate Perera had to go to the Supreme Court to get himself a degree of state protection. After Perera was murdered the regime also refused to provide a helicopter to take his body to Anuradhapura; the PM had promised to do so but his order was countermanded, obviously by someone with more power. Subsequently a spokesman for the Media Centre for National Security (the unofficial mouthpiece of the Defence Secretary) said that no helicopter was promised as none were available thereby giving lie to the PM. (Incidentally a helicopter and a transport plane were sent to bring Mervyn Silva to Colombo when he met with a minor accident, despite the ongoing war).

The President, who wants all Sri Lankans to back the war effort, acted in a grossly partisan manner in the provision of security to a former Army Chief of Staff threatened by the LTTE; even his funeral arrangements were impeded by some of the real power-wielders within the government. Clearly the defining line is not anti-Tigerism when it comes to honouring friends and harassing enemies. This is obvious from the way this government decides who should be protected and who should not. Under previous regimes security was provided based on an impartial threat assessment carried out by the intelligence agencies. Under Rajapakse rule, the provision of security has become an instrument to reward friends and punish opponents. Nonentities, if they back the government, are provided with large security details while those who are under clear threat by the Tigers are denied any security if they happen to displease the President, his brother or even the Army Commander. Parliamentarian and SLMC leader Rauf Hakeem’s security was drastically downgraded the moment he left the government. Gen Parakrama Pannipitiya, a serving officer who played a leading role in the recent Eastern campaign against the LTTE, had to go to the Supreme Court to get himself some protection. His security was removed (despite the obvious threat to his life) supposedly because he fell foul of Gen. Sarath Fonseka, the powerful army commander.

The message, therefore, is clear; protection will not be provided to opponents of the LTTE if they are not with the government. This places in particular jeopardy those Tamils anti-LTTE but find themselves unable to support the Sinhala supremacist actions of the regime. If they speak out, they may find their security downgraded or removed. (This attitude of the Rajapakses has ensured that the anti-LTTE Tamil political space is dominated by those Tamil politicians who are willing to kowtow to the regime unconditionally).

Partisanship is thus a hallmark of the Rajapakse administration. Limitless protection and patronage are available to anyone willing to back the Rajapakses. But even serving officers or retired military men with a clear anti-Tiger record will find themselves out in the cold, unprotected, if they are not on the side of the Rajapakses. Perhaps such blatant partisanship should have been expected of a man who named his Presidential election manifesto after himself. The name Mahinda Chintana was obviously an omen of things to come since it was the first time a major political party named its election manifesto after its presidential candidate.

Other attempts at creating a personality cult followed, soon after the new President took power. The regime’s budget airline (which has cost the country Rs. 3 billion so far) is named Mihin Air; the far from effective housing programme of the regime is called Mihindu Sevana and its infrastructure programme Mahinda Randora. A plan to build a Chaitya (a religious building) named after the President has been abandoned for the time being. The city and its environs are dotted with cut-outs adorned with Rajapakse’s picture. There have been posters (obviously printed and pasted with government patronage) hailing the Rajapakse brothers as the saviours of the nation. Even bill boards warning the public to beware of terrorists planting bombs carry pictures of Rajapakse in various heroic poses!

Sri Lankans are noted for their political humour. A recent e mail joke doing the rounds draws a word picture of the state of affairs under Rajapakse rule – it is a caricature albeit a recognisable one: ‘Today there was total confusion in Sri Rajapaksistan (formerly Sri Lanka) when thousands and thousands of people changed their name to Rajapakse to get appointed as a member of parliament or even to get a job…. Hospital authorities were reporting that all new born babies are named Rajapakse by their parents (also called Rajapakse) and several babies have now got mixed up….. Even the police and the courts are having trouble with most victims and offenders having the name of Rajapakse, said Police Inspector Rajapakse of the Pettah police. A high court trial (state vs. Rajapakse and Rajapakse and Rajapakse) came to standstill because the victims, the suspects, the advocates and even the judges were called Rajapakse. Even most jurors were called Rajapakse’.

Do the Rajapakses have a familial project? Is there an attempt to create a new political dynasty with the eldest son succeeding the father? Though it is hard to know for certain, there are many signs indicating the existence of such a project, at least in an embryonic form. Today the kith and kin of the President litter the state and the government; some are qualified for the jobs they occupy while in the case of many the only qualification is that of kinship. Rajapakse’s brothers, nephews and cousins adorn many top jobs in the state sector. His eldest son is the head of an organisation called Tharunyata Hetak (A Tomorrow for the Youth) which enjoys massive state patronage. The necessary line of demarcation between state and family is steadily evaporating, as the First Family occupy larger and larger swathes of the state and uses it to tighten its stranglehold on power.

A stable state needs a broad base of stakeholders. If the stakeholders are few and/or are relatively non-representative of society, that state can be endangered from within. Under Rajapakse rule, the stakeholders are becoming less representative of the intensely pluralist Lankan society. Sinhala-Buddhist extremists occupy positions of importance in the power-bloc in a manner unseen since the days of 1956. They are using anti-Tigerism and patriotism to remake the state as a Sinhala-Budddhist entity. At the same time, the state is heavily biased towards the First (extended) Family and the coterie of people clustered round it. This is a recipe for discontent, alienation and dissent, from within.

A commentator recently identified “blindness to one’s own shortcomings. Blindness, that is, to the breadth and depth and height and shape of what one does not know” as the most profound of President George W Bush’s shortcomings (Bradley Burston - Haaretz – 16.9.2008). This weakness is evident in Mahinda Rajapakse as well, coupled with a profound belief that what he does not know does not matter, equating the unknown with the unimportant. This weakness and its disastrous results are becoming evident on a number of fronts, from relations with the West and India to the economy and governance. The war and the patriotic grandstanding of the regime are being used to gloss over, cover up or excuse these significant failures, stemming from ignorance, inefficiency and hubris. The success of any Rajapakse dynastic project will depend – perhaps decisively – on the efficacy and longevity of this Grand Camouflage.

Concluded.
- Sri Lanka Guardian