Sixth Presidential Election campaign:

President’s aim national amity and economic development

In less than a fortnight the sixth Presidential election will be held to elect the sixth Executive President of the country. Daily News interviewed the incumbent President Mahinda Rajapaksa on the present election campaign and the current political developments in the country. In a very frank discussion the President had with the media he highlighted the vital issues and the policies he seeks to pursue to achieve national amity and economic development

Following are the highlights of the interview:

Wijitha NAKKAWITA

Question : Mr. President, one of the main issues that the country faced, separatist terrorism arose out of certain grievances of the minority in the North and East. What is your solution to the problems offered to the public during the present election campaign?

Answer : I always believe that all ethnic groups of the country should have the same rights and privileges. During my political career of forty years I had treated all ethnic and religious groups equally. During the recent times we appointed an All Party Conference and various committees to suggest a devolution package acceptable to the country. Still no such final solution has been accepted by all these forums. Therefore after the present election I am going to put forward my own solution to the problem. It would then present an opportunity for the other political party leaders to give their views. However this time round I would take the initiative to propose the solution.

The proposal I would make could be discussed by all parties or groups to arrive at a sustainable solution to the problem. But all of us should now try to find an acceptable solution to the problems without trying to gain political mileage on it.

Q: When the Tamil National Alliance met you it was known they had made certain requests from you such as doing away with the High Security Zones and merger of the Northern and Eastern provinces. What was the reason for the TNA to decide to oppose you and support NDF candidate Sarath Fonseka?

A: In the first instance I don’t want to play politics with these problems. For instance the High Security Zones cannot be done away with, just six months after the victory of the Armed Forces. This is an issue related to national security and we cannot play politics with such issues. I could not agree to the TNA proposals including the one about the HSZs. I am concerned with all ethnic groups and there are problems that had to be resolved by arriving at political solution acceptable to the country. But we could not agree to the proposals put forward by the TNA on various single issues they put forward.

Q: However we are now in an election campaign and certain political developments and alignments are taking place. How are you handling your campaign?

A: I am not an ambitious person. I was with the people over a long period. I don’t make personal attacks on opposing candidates. Since I had taken part and led many struggles like the Pada yatra, walking from Colombo to Kataragama with people like Vasudeva Nanayakkara I understood the pulse of the people. I have presented my manifesto Mahinda Chintana Idiri Dekma covering the development of all the sectors as a complete document with details. But the opposing candidate’s policy document has only 12 pages.

The Opposition election campaign is totally a vilification campaign without any political vision. For instances the Opposition alleges that I or the members of the Rajapaksa family are buying various business places or properties. There was one such allegation that I had bought a well-known cafe in Matara. The owner was inundated with so many calls and enquiries whether he had sold the cafe that he had now put up a board in front of it saying that he is the owner of the cafe and it was not sold to anyone. There was another allegation that a member of my family was building a mansion in a salubrious area. The truth was that it was built by the owner of a well-known garment business house. All their allegations are totally false and malicious.

Q: The Opposition charges that the Parliamentary Committee COPE had found corruption by Ministers on a large scale but the Government had not taken action against those responsible. Can you explain why?

A: In the first instance all the corruption that the COPE had found were those committed by the previous UNP Government. Therefore those cases cannot be blamed on the present Government.

For instance if I was corrupt I could have privatized public sector assets like SriLankan Airlines. A former leader had extended the Airlines agreement with Emirates on his visit to a Middle East country and probably profited from it. But we have taken back the ownership of SriLankan, our national carrier. I did not sell any of the public sector assets like Insurance or other ventures. Since the Opposition does not have political philosophy it is relying on making false allegations against me. If I was corrupt I could have privatized valuable public sector organisations like the People’s Bank. You know which party made plans to sell such public sector ventures or assets. But my policy is not to sell or privatize any public sector assets and I would continue the same policy. It was the UNP that had sold most State corporations and assets to private parties or companies. So you can surmise whether I who did not sell State assets or the UNP leadership that sold assets was corrupt.

Q: In shaping the foreign policy you have not followed a pro-Western stance and your critics had said the country’s economic development cannot be accelerated without assistance from those countries. Is there any truth in that criticism?

A: The foreign policy I follow is the policy of non-alignment that was followed by the founder leader of the SLFP Premier S.W.R.D. Bandaranaike and followed by Premier Sirimavo Bandaranaike. Our policy was to forge relations with all countries. For instance we had forged relations with Iran that helped us. Iran gave us oil on interest free credit and helped modernize the Sapugaskanda oil refinery.

Our relations with India as well as with certain countries that others did not wish to have relations with, are excellent. Our policy of non-alignment remains unchanged. That was why we were able to get the support of a large number of countries in defeating terrorists and their international operations against our country.

I remember I went to the UN Human Rights Commission in 1990 to represent matters on human rights violations against the Premadasa regime when thousands of extra judicial killings took place.

Do you know that the LTTE terrorists supported the Premadasa regime abroad at that time, when it was brought in to question? At present there are a large number of countries that support us though our foreign policy is non-aligned.

Q: Your critics say that since the Tamil National Alliance has joined the Opposition Presidential election campaign the Tamil or Muslim minorities will not support you. Is it true that minority political parties would not support you in the Presidential Election?

A: That is a criticism very far from the truth. The CWC and the Upcountry People’s Front that represent a large percentage of Tamil people are with me. The EPDP, EPRLF and TELO as well as the TMVP representing the people of the East are also supporting me in the election campaign. The TNA is also split. Some are supporting the Opposition candidate but some are working for me. I don’t wish to talk about the splits in the TNA as I am not interested in breaking up political parties but I am aware that the people in the North and East and the people in the other parts of the country are supporting me.

When the TNA met me they made certain demands like merging the de-merged Northern and Eastern Province and for self-determination option for a merged North-East. I could not agree as my policy is the unitary status of the country. We don’t want divisions but unity.

Q: One of the issues raised by the Opposition is that the Executive Presidency has too much power concentrated in one person. Therefore the Executive Presidency should be abolished. What is your view and would you abolish it after being elected for a second term?

A: In the first place I was elected Executive President but I did not create it. I have to say that I have not misused the powers vested with me except in the interest of the country. I used those powers to abrogate the anti-national Ceasefire Agreement with the LTTE and to ban that terrorist organisation. Could anyone with a sane mind say that should not have been done?

On the other hand it is impractical to say an Executive President could abolish Executive Presidency. It could be abolished only by Parliament and that too with a two-thirds majority vote. Even after that a referendum has to be held to abolish it. It has to be done by amending the Constitution but a President cannot abolish the Executive Presidency.

Q: You are also criticized for not implementing the 17 th Amendment to the Constitution, not appointing the Independent Election Commission and the other commissions. Why were not those commissions appointed?

A: You say the Election Commission and the other commissions are Independent. Now when a person as Chairman for the Election Commission was proposed by a certain political party it was found that he was an organiser of that party for the Kalutara District. Who nominates members for the so-called independent commissions? Political parties.

Can you say such nominees would be independent. Therefore such commissions cannot be independent but the amendment simply calls these independent. Therefore I personally do not believe such commissions would help good governance.