Presidential election: Who will be affected?

By Helasingha Bandara

(January 03, Colombo, Sri Lanka Guardian) Who will be affected by the outcome of the forthcoming presidential election? Certainly not Sri Lanka’s Mark Anthony (reference: oration at the funeral of late Vijaya Kumaranathunga) aka Prof.Carlo Fonseka. For whatever he writes in these columns, be it his decisive comments in the debate between Dayan and Malinda, a review of a Chithrasena-Vajira mould ballet in which he could not but express an old man’s burning desire for the young flesh, or his plea for people to vote for Mahinda Rajapaksha, the outcome of the election would not affect his social or economic status. None the less, I do not fail to appreciate his honesty and straight forwarded ness in saying what he feels.

Thomas Johnpulle’s status would not change either for his attempt to qualify education with quantity. I am not a great believer of paper qualifications (papers are in easy circulation these days) albeit I have respect for genuinely educated people. In his analysis of the qualifications of South Asian leaders perhaps a divine intervention prevented Thomas from mentioning that MR was awarded an honorary doctorate and he is now Dr. Mahinda Rajapaksha.

“Sri Lanka - Mahinda Rajapaksha. He studied law at the Sri Lanka Law College and took oaths as an attorney-at-law. He continued his law practice since 1977 until 1994 and from 2001 to 2004.It is also important to note that most of them were successful in doing a very relevant job to the political office they hold today. This means they are accomplished professionals, not mere graduates”

The absence of a University degree in MR’s CV has, In Thomas’ view, to be compensated by work experience of a relevant job. Fair enough! Then Thomas is either ignorant of or he conveniently ignores the fact that when young people were recruited as officer cadets in the 70’s they had to undergo a two year residential professional course in a military college of a foreign country. The course content includes diverse subjects. Tertiary education means either University or College education. MR had law college education and SF had military college education. Both have professional qualifications, not academic. National security is one of the most relevant aspects of governance. SF has successfully delivered the aspects of his job being the commander of the army. He has over 35 years of experience to go with it in safeguarding national security. I am tempted to disagree with those who try to Portray Mahinda as the most suitable candidate for the top post for his education, experience and the military victory. I can only agree that SF is an unknown quantity. The mere fact that he is unknown quantity makes optimism and pessimism go hand in glove here.

For all to know I would like to say that I have never voted in any of Sri Lanka elections although I belong to a very strong SLFP family that has suffered severely in the hands of the UNP. I sincerely feel that Sri Lanka needs a change. Despite that UNP is hanging around SF he is contesting as an independent candidate and I feel that he is the better of the two. Since SF blurted out some unnecessary garbage at an interview I decided to keep quiet. It is hard to resist the temptation to counter baseless arguments of the so called intellectuals. Hence I am back on track. By the way I am not surprised when Perera said that he has never heard of me. There are millions who have not heard of me because I am not a journalist, a writer, an academic or a celebrity. I just write what I think is right. Dear Perera, if you are that keen to know about me please Google Helasingha Bandara. The same goes for someone who called me a traitor.

Those of us who write in these columns will not be affected by the outcome of this election. It is those who do not read our hair splitting arguments will be affected by the outcome. They are the ordinary majority of Sri Lankans who do not receive goods or services satisfactorily.

There are no roads, power or water supply in many rural villages. No roads, power and water supply mean no good education for their children, no fair price for their agricultural produce, and no social or economic advancement for their future generations. For example Nikaweratiya –Ambanpola road, partly still gravel and in the rainy season impassable. This is the main road for about 40 villages nearby and most of those villages do not have power or water supply for either domestic use or agricultural purposes. The infra structure and the services required can be provided without much difficulty if the politicians do not plunder public wealth. Sri Lanka Guardian revealed how billions have been misappropriated. Had they been saved this country could have reached the developmental level of Singapore in ten years.

MR has been in power for more than 16 years as a strong member of the ruling party, an MP, a Minister, the Prime Minister and the President. Some say that he had only six months to develop the country? During this long period we have not seen much of a change in Sri Lanka relative to the vast strides made by other Asian neibhours. The reason being that most politicians including the incumbent president have self before the country in practice and vice versa in propaganda.

What we can predict with certainty with the past experience is that if MR is elected the people who made MR’s victory possible will be doubly better off and the ordinary people will be doubly worse off. If elected SF’s governance can even be worse. We can only say that with a ‘may be’ not with certainty. We can still live in hope for sometime rather than living hopelessly from the start. The known devil is already known to be a devil. The unknown angel may be a genuine angel. Then again if the expected angel turned demon there won’t be much of a difference between the demon and the devil. In this context it is worth the risk. However, in the fools’ paradise any thing can happen.