Rohini Hensman and
Faizun Zackaria
A
time for gratitude
Two disasters were recently averted in Sri
Lanka. The first would have been the re-election of the corrupt and brutal
Rajapaksa regime in the presidential election of 8 January 2015. Its defeat can
be credited, first and foremost, to democracy activists across the spectrum –
Sobitha Thera, trade unionists, students, teachers, women’s groups, political
parties, social activists, artists, lawyers, civil society organisations, the Movement for Social Justice, social media
activists, and so on – who organised the
campaign for a common opposition candidate with such skill and courage that it
succeeded despite the huge amount of money and muscle-power employed on the
other side, and also to the Election Commissioner, who carried out a tolerably
free and fair election against heavy odds. Secondly, to Tamil voters, who
overwhelmingly rejected the Tamil nationalist plea to boycott the election (Weerawardhana
2015). The Tamil National Alliance in particular has played a commendable role
in recent years, affirming their faith in democracy by opposing the continuous
slide into dictatorship under the Rajapaksa regime. For Muslims to support the
opposition should have been a no-brainer after the state-sponsored pogroms
against them by Buddhist thugs of the Bodhu Bala Sena (BBS); that it took so
long for their leaders to disentangle themselves from the old regime is a sad
comment on the corrupt politics of patronage. Hill-country Tamils, most of whom
had hitherto been in the clutches of plantation politicians like Thondaman of
the Ceylon Workers’ Congress which supported the Rajapaksa regime, gave an
overwhelming message that they can make intelligent decisions on their own.
However, there is no way the common
opposition candidate Maithripala Sirisena could have won without the votes of
Sinhalese voters, who voted for change in defiance of the violence, massive
expenditure and racist fear-mongering of the Rajapaksa brothers. An analysis of
the election results shows that Rajapaksa lost ‘because a large chunk of
Sinhala voters who supported him in 2010 voted for the Opposition in 2015’ (Gunasekara
2015). It is notable that even the Buddhist monk party, the Jathika Hela
Urumaya, articulated the need for change and mobilised their constituents to
realise it. The Janatha Vimukthi Peramuna (JVP) played an impressive role both
in the campaign and before it, opposing attacks on Muslims by the BBS and
highlighting the need for a political-economic democratic programme.
Unfortunately, leaders of the mainstream Left parties remained with the
Rajapaksas right to the end, although many members joined the common opposition
campaign.
The second disaster, perhaps even more
ghastly than the first, would have been a coup by Rajapaksa in the wake of his
defeat in the election. For many people in Sri Lanka, this was the greatest
fear. It has been reported that he conceded defeat only after the Attorney General,
Solicitor General, Army Chief and Inspector-General of Police refused to
endorse an attempt by him, backed by Mohan Peiris whom he had installed as
Chief Justice, to stay in power (Sri Lanka Brief 2015). This allegation has yet
to be proved, but if it is true, Sri Lankans owe an enormous debt of gratitude
to these public officials who saved the country from sliding yet again into
bloodshed and chaos.