For Mahinda as he begins his second term
How does one dissect the results of an election? I could slice
through the numbers and make cuts in terms of ‘province’, ‘district’ and
‘electorate’. I could set these pieces with equivalent slices from the
2005 election, side by side and check out how Sarath compares with Ranil.
Who weighed more, I could ask and the numbers would answer. I could
check out what’s happened to Mahinda in the past four years: Mahinda up
or Mahinda down? I could add volume to direction and try to figure out
the factors that came into play.
I could also re-read articles which dubbed the election ‘too close to
call’ and tried to artificially create a ‘tight race’. I will do that,
because a lot of these self-appointed political analysts should be shown
up for the charlatans they really are, but not today.
I could break up the numbers in terms of ‘strongholds’ for party,
candidate and key backers. I could send the numbers through a colour-separator
called ‘ethnic identity’ and check out how Mahinda, for example, has
been embraced, ‘aloofed’ or slapped by this or that community. I could
slice things up into city and village if I can find that line which is
supposed to separate urban from rural. I could find some proxies to
dabble with the ‘class’ factor and perhaps even ‘caste’.
Takes time. I am still in the ‘morning after’ as I write this. Some
numbers strike me as they would anyone else.
The people of this country have given a massive signal of approval to
Mahinda Rajapaksa. According to latest reports he’s heading for a
majority close to 1.8 million.
He has secured close to 60 percent of the total vote. This is
‘massive’ whichever way we look at it and if anyone has any doubts, just
consider the fact that JRJ got just 52 percent in 1982 against Hector
Kobbekaduwa. So, whichever way we look at the numbers and however we cut
them, they spell ‘endorsement’ (underlined, bold, I might add).
The numbers tell a lot about the defeated also, but this is not the
moment to dwell on Sarath Fonseka and the parties and individuals that
backed him. This is Mahinda Rajapaksa’s moment. So let me speak to him
in the manner that he often speaks to us.
Mahinda. Good show. Incredible. Congrats. Enjoy. Take 24 hours. We
will not grudge you that. Indeed, the vast majority of our voting
population living in vast swathes of our beloved nation would smile with
you today and for a few days more.
I am writing in advance something I hope you will return to once the
celebrations are done.
First of all, you’ve got a solid endorsement. You have won an
endorsement of a kind that none of your predecessors were given by the
voters when they ran for a second term (both J.R. Jayewardena and
Chandrika Kumaratunga barely squeaked through, in comparison). As such
you don’t have to keep looking over your shoulder. You can look forward
instead.
You can look at those areas you were not allowed to look at because
you were busy fighting a terrorist organisation while being harassed by
two-bit spoilers in Colombo or because you didn’t consider them
important at the time.
You can and must focus on the key issue in a post-terrorist Sri
Lanka: development. While you ‘do’ development, you must understand that
you cannot ignore other issues such as correcting the seriously flawed
institutions of governance that lazy and crooked leaders and inept
law-makers built over the years.
You have won a second term. There will be talk of Constitutional
reform to enable you to revert to an Executive Premiership. That could
be something that you want to think about. What ought to underline your
second term, what should be your waking-up thought and your
going-to-sleep thought is this: legacy.
What kind of legacy do you want to leave behind, Mahinda? How do you
want to be remembered by history? What kind of lettering would you like
to be used when the name ‘Mahinda Rajapaksa’ is written? What colour?
Would you be happy with a remark such as ‘Did a little, could have done
more, had potential but fell short’ to follow your name? How about this:
‘Wore a kurahan saatakaya but could not drape the kurahan saatakaya on
every element of political, economic, social and cultural life and
thereby return to the sons and daughters of the soil a nation that had
been robbed from them by weak colonial clones intent on supervising for
former lords and ladies the humiliation of a people and the robbing of
resources’?
There are other possibilities: ‘He was positioned like no other had
been to turn the country around; he didn’t’. Mahinda, you must
understand that you were not and are not perfect. You must understand
that not all the criticism can be sourced to political bitterness. You
must understand that there is a certain vulgarity in the way people
close to you conduct themselves. You may have suffered them in silence
due to reasons of expediency. The people have forgiven but they have not
and will not forget. There are things you need to fix.
There is a problem that all leaders have: sycophants. You have shown
you have the eyes to distinguish friend from foe. You have shown that
you don’t hold a grudge.
Now you have to use those eyes to figure out who is causing you the
greatest harm. You cannot afford to let the behaviour and indiscretions
of such people dictate the wording of the tablet that history will
construct in your name. Yes, ‘legacy’ is something you should think
about.
There is another small factor: your power is diminishing even as you
breathe for that is the Constitution-driven reality of a second-term
president.
The more time you take doing things the harder it is going to get.
Tomorrow is a day for reflection on these lines and I hope you take
this as ‘friendly advice’.
But celebrate. By all means. The nation is with you. For now. Enjoy
the warmth. The people have said they are grateful.
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