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THE PRESIDENCY - 4th Anniversary of the assumption of office President Mahinda Rajapaksa | www.dailynews.lk - Sri Lanka

President Mahinda Rajapaksa:

Most outstanding stateSman of our time

President Mahinda Rajapaksa, within a short period of four years, has successfully carved out a permanent position in the pantheon of political leaders of Sri Lanka. Sri Lanka produced a galaxy of political leaders in the post-independent period and all of them, in some recognized way, made a contribution to the modernization and development of Sri Lanka.

President Rajapaksa, through his commitment to the sovereignty and territorial integrity of this small island nation, took a courageous and bold initiative to eliminate terrorism from the political landscape of Sri Lanka.

The demolition of the LTTE, in the eyes of defeatist politicians, was invincible, and this was the greatest achievement of President Rajapaksa’s leadership and his current regime; the victory over the most sophisticated and brutal terrorist organization in the world was the singular reason which made President Mahinda Rajapaksa the most formidable political personality of Sri Lanka, and his position is unassailable and unchallengeable in the given context of the post-conflict political scenario and he has emerged as the Ruler Imperative in this country which, as its history, both ancient and modern, extends recognition to the charismatic quality of leadership.

With the total destruction of the LTTE which destabilized the country for more than three decades, President Mahinda Rajapaksa has consolidated his formidable position as well as the coalition parties to which he provides effective and efficient political leadership.

In order to effectively achieve this process of consolidation of power within a short period of four years, President Rajapaksa, as a seasoned politician with his feet on the ground, adopted a large variety of strategies based on both ancient traditions and symbols which, in fact, are part and parcel of the political culture of the country.

No political leader in the past adopted such techniques and approaches to aggregate power in our polity, part of which has been nurtured by the traditional symbols and institutions of power.

The unique characteristics of the Sri Lankan political culture has been articulated by President Rajapaksa who, in the course of his presidential political career, made use of the techniques of political mobilization which are very much typical of his own style of leadership. Some of the techniques and strategies, though they are rooted in the island’s political culture, are Nehruvian in orientation and character.

He, like great Jawarhalal Nehru of India, knew how to enthuse the rural masses and he, with his immense understanding of the rural political mind, penetrated the rural segments of the island’s population which, historically, represented the arbiters of the electoral conflict in Sri Lanka.

Therefore, President Rajapaksa, whoever the opponent, whether he is Khaki-clad or not, is certain to carry the entire rural vote with him at the next presidential poll. This is the political reality in the given post-conflict political scenario in Sri Lanka.

President Rajapaksa is a skilful political actor who, through long experience in politics and through his understanding of the rural people, knew how to distinguish between overall approaches and particular tactical actions in politics. He knows how to project his own personality, organization and political circumstances; it is through a combination of such varied factors that he made his fourth year in office the year of achievement.

He, as a leader, effectively maintains a flexible, eclectic and non-dogmatic approach to the main problems of the day, and the whole political strategy of his in the last four years was based exclusively on realistic pragmatism - the ability to adjust his political approaches to the emerging situations.

It was this realistic approach which made security of the Sri Lankan State the main item in his political agenda, and his commitment to the preservation of the integrity of the Sri Lankan State became the major national issue around, virtually the entire Sri Lankan population, was mobilized from the point of view of the need to protect the security of the State.

Max Weber saw the Modern State as a human community that claimed the monopoly of the legitimate use of physical force within a given territory. Max Weber further emphasized that territory is one of the most important characteristics of the Modern State and this Weberian concept of the State, in my view, influenced the strategies of President Rajapaksa who saw the immediate need to restore the security and integrity of the Sri Lankan State.

Sri Lankan State, due to the nature of terrorism, which it experienced for more than three decades, remained virtually bifurcated, and the writ of the State did not touch and reach certain parts of the Sri Lankan State territory. It was in this devastating scenario that he, as a visionary of the common man, saw the necessity to restore the security of the State which has been challenged by a terrorist group with varied international links.

He, unlike all his predecessors in the last three decades, took very bold initiatives to challenge the terrorist organization; he displayed immense courage and bravery in tackling the most brutal and ruthless terrorist organization in the world. He realized that terrorist violence and various kinds of instability which it created were the major obstacles to development and prosperity in Sri Lanka.

Francis Fukuyama, the famous Japanese writer, saw ‘The ends of history’ with the collapse of Soviet Communism; it was his view that the whole basis of conflict disappeared with the triumph of liberal democracy. The developing world was seen as the major beneficiary, but he never saw the devastating impact of ethnic cleavages, which for instance threatened the very foundation of the Sri Lankan State and strong measures were necessary to eliminate terrorism.

The re-definition of the concept of security is now necessary in the post-conflict scenario where it is directly related to the issues of development. New kinds of threats are likely to surface and they need to be tackled in order to accelerate the process of economic development.

A genuine attempt has been made to accelerate the process of economic and social development in the North-East through an effective process of democratization and this kind of change cannot be effected within a short period of time. President Rajapaksa, with a view to eliminating the social and economic reasons which motivated the terrorists to launch an armed offensive against the State, has taken a series of steps to rehabilitate the region with a massive program of infrastructure development.

It is through such a process that hearts and minds of the affected minorities could be won and the Government led by President Rajapaksa is quite aware of its dividend in building an united and stable Sri Lanka. In the same way, rural re-construction programs have been launched in all areas of the country and all public policies are being formulated from the point of view of the needs of the rural people.

President Rajapaksa’s primary concern, as Mahinda Chintanaya amply explains, is to eradicate poverty and to eliminate the social and economic inequalities among the rural people in the country. President Rajapaksa, through a wide variety of such programmes, has effectively activated the formidable base of the Sri Lanka Freedom Party which still derives immense inspiration from the ideology and aspirations of the rural masses of the country.

The impact of this political strategy paid enough dividends at the last Provincial Council Elections in the country. The results of the elections which registered a polling rate of more than 60 per cent for the Alliance led by President Rajapaksa, demonstrated that the electoral dynamics have undergone a massive transformation.

It was primarily due to this style of leadership which President Mahinda Rajapaksa displayed and mounted at these elections, which offered him an opportunity to penetrate into the rural electorates and it was through this kind of populist style of political leadership that he successfully articulated the grievances and aspirations of the common man in the village. Therefore his base in the rural Sri Lanka is very solid and formidable, and this is largely the natural and traditional base of the Sri Lanka Freedom Party, which, throughout its history since 1951, stood for the rights and aspirations of the rural man, primarily the rural poor.

It was the Sri Lanka Freedom Party which, in the years of power, took those rural issues into consideration in formulating public policy. The system of proportional representation which the United National Party introduced to remain in power for ever has now undergone a change, and the Sri Lankan polity experienced a plethora of political parties which, instead of projecting a national agenda, specialized in narrow communal, regional and parochial agendas; such political parties have introduced an element of instability into the system which hitherto remained stable. Kenneth Wheare, arguing against its introduction to the United Kingdom, stated that such a system increases the number of political parties.

He, opposing the multi-party system, argued such a system makes stable government difficult or impossible and this is what Sri Lanka has experienced. President Rajapaksa, with his style of penetrating into the rural vote, has demolished the very thesis on which the proportional representation system was constructed. He, through a mode of campaign which was very much Nehruvian in character, changed the mood of the electorate which, in fact, over-turned the very system of proportional representation, which destroyed certain aspects of competitive electoralism in Sri Lanka.

The Opposition which experienced the worst defeat in its history, especially the United National Party, has now been reduced to a mere name-board with its base eroding fast. Its failure to understand the political culture of the island has been the fundamental reason for its visible and steep decline, whereas President Rajapaksa came to terms with the country’s political culture and successfully captured the imagination of the entire national electorate.

In concluding this brief assessment of the role of the most outstanding politician of our time, it would not be inappropriate to refer to his foreign policy strategies and postures which he mounted during the course of the humanitarian offensive against the LTTE. The issues which arose during this particular period demanded proper management of foreign policy issues, and he, unlike his predecessors in high office, looked at them from the point of view of the national interest, and he focused on it so much that he never vacillated from his approach to the destruction of the most ruthless terrorist organization.

Eric Hobsbawn, the celebrated British Historian saw the LTTE as a very ferocious organization capable of destroying the very foundation of a State. In maintaining an offensive against it one has to adjust the foreign policy as its tentacles have reached all corners of the Western world. It was President Rajapaksa who understood that one cannot talk of a future for Sri Lanka without eliminating the LTTE, and it was this perception, despite the musings of the Western world, which guided him to make the necessary adjustments in foreign policy to achieve his objective.

He, as he managed power within the Sri Lankan State, which was under threat from organized separatist ideology, managed the intricacies of foreign policy to see that no nation, power or otherwise can be allowed to interfere in the internal affairs of a sovereign nation. Sri Lanka’s commendable achievements in the sphere of foreign policy and the traditions associated with it, offered enough support to President Rajapaksa to make the necessary choices in the vital area of foreign policy.

In addition, he indulged in summit diplomacy to cultivate new friends and to manage and control the noises of the traditional friends who saw the process of destruction of the LTTE from a different angle.

He was interested only in managing foreign policy issues on the basis of the fundamentals of security interest of the Sri Lankan State. In this sphere too, specially in managing contentious issues in foreign policy and all those pertaining to the neighbours, President Mahinda Rajapaksa showed his capacity and statesmanship as the most outstanding leader of our times.
 


The President’s Words...

”We follow a pro-poor development strategy with a focus on regionally balanced growth. Our objective is to achieve overall development, while raising the income levels of the poor through the empowerment of communities living at grassroots level. In this connection Sri Lanka hopes that debt forgiveness will continue to be expanded to encourage the development of developing countries. It is only right that those who reached the heights of development should pause to lend a helping hand to those who have fallen behind due to circumstances.”

- at the Sixty-First Session of the United Nations General Assembly, 2006

 

 

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