Friend turned foe – the challenger for Sri Lanka’s presidency
Over a dinner of rice-flour pancakes with his trusted health minister one evening in November, Sri Lankan President Mahinda Rajapaksa observed with a grin that there would be no serious candidate to challenge him in the coming presidential election.
Little did Rajapaksa know then that the man who would stand in his way of winning an unprecedented third term as president of this Indian Ocean island nation was right beside him.
“When he said that nobody was going to challenge him, I was next to him and felt sorry for him,” Mithripala Sirisena later told a campaign meeting on his decision to turn on the president and run as the opposition’s common candidate in Thursday’s poll.
“I came out because I could not stay anymore with a leader who had plundered the country, government and national wealth.”
Branded a “traitor” by Rajapaksa’s close allies, Sirisena has forged many political alliances and now appears to be within striking distance of unseating a president who, just weeks ago, had looked unassailable.
Since Sirisena’s defection, 25 Rajapaksa loyalists in the 225-seat parliament have followed, unleashing a wave of popular disgust with a leader whose once-extraordinary popularity has withered amid complaints of autocracy, corruption and nepotism.
Victory for Sirisena would put a full stop on a reign that brought brisk economic growth following the end of a 26-year conflict with Tamil Tiger separatists in 2009, deepening ties with China and souring relations with Western nations over allegations of war crimes and rights abuses.
Sirisena has vowed to scrap a $1.5 billion deal with China Communications Construction Co Ltd to build a port city and a casino license that was given to Australian gambling tycoon James Packer’s Crown Resorts Ltd.
The 63-year-old leader from the rural heartlands projects himself as a champion of the farming masses, a clean-living figure who has campaigned against smoking and abjures alcohol.
There is no credible and unbiased opinion poll on the election outcome.
A NEW BROOM
Sirisena still represents the country’s Sinhalese Buddhist majority, who account for 70 percent of its 21 million population, and he was acting defense minister when the war against the Tamil Tigers reached its bloody climax in 2009.
However, he also has promised a new broom that has appealed to ethnic Tamils, Muslims and Christians in a country where minorities have felt increasingly marginalized.
He has pledged to deal with war-crimes allegations through an independent mechanism, establish independent commissions to secure the impartiality of the judiciary, police and other public services, and crack down on corruption.
Sirisena was just 16 when he first took on the establishment, joining an anti-government rally organized by a communist party that ended within minutes as police waded in. He ran for safety through the unknown streets of the capital, Colombo, before taking an overnight train to his village.
He was jailed for 15 months in 1971 for alleged involvement in an insurrection led by Marxists, and was arrested eight years later for organizing a public protest.
After joining mainstream politics, he was offered the post of prime minister by Rajapaksa’s predecessor but he declined it.
Few would have believed that Sirisena would now be so close to toppling a president who had basked in popularity after winning the war and skillfully kept his opponents at bay.
Sarath Fonseka, the general who led the military to victory, was sentenced to prison after challenging Rajapaksa in a 2010 election, while a chief justice was impeached after she ruled against a Rajapaksa government poverty alleviation bill.
Rajapaksa had also benefited from the disunity of opposition parties, which have now united behind his rival.
“Today 48 political parties and organizations have united as a common coalition regardless of party policies, ethnicity and religion to defeat Rajapaksa’s corrupt regime,” Sirisena said.
(Reuters)
Latest Headlines in Sri Lanka
- Audit reveals misuse of electric vehicle permits for migrant workers in Sri Lanka November 23, 2024
- IMF approves third review: Sri Lanka secures $333 million tranche under EFF November 23, 2024
- Sri Lankan President urges accountability and unity for a better future November 23, 2024
- IMF third review talks with Sri Lanka successfully conclude November 22, 2024
- Professor Gomika Udugamasooriya appointed Senior Advisor to President on Science and Technology November 22, 2024
Dear Citizens,
We go to the polling booths tomorrow to exercise our fundamental right for universal franchise.,
I am the son of Late Appapillai Amirthalingam, long standing member of the Federal Party, originator of the TULF, the only Tamil speaking leader of the Opposition.
I appeal to the Tamil speaking voters of Sri Lanka.
My father was brought home in a box with bullet holes across his upper torso his heart was in smithereens, little pieces of flesh scattered inside the body cavity.
My mother was brought home in a box with bullet wounds across her chest, the very chest that she used to feed me into life when I was less than 4 weeks old.
I wish no one in this world has to go through such trauma, a trauma caused by a megalomaniac to whom lives were meaningless, a megalomaniac who treated human beings worse than cockroaches.
As you walk towards the polling booth, my dear fellow Tamil speaking citizens, ask yourself one question
Who saved us from this megalomaniac and at what cost?
Who spilt the young blood to redeem us?
It is only one man who saved us and it is the only man who can protect us. He is our father, our leader and our protector.
This message concludes with one request and that request is if we are to survive as a freedom-enjoying peoples of Sri Lanka, vote Mahinda Rajapaksa.
May Nallur Kandaswamy bless the Nation.
If sirisena so honest & strait forward, why he was under MR’s table & was dealing rice, black stones, etc..? Can’t he do the good governance without US dollars, US visas, satellite phones, CBK, etc…? Or some body teached him the good governance now? Hasn’t he had a backbone to come forward without being a dupe? Isn’t he voice under influences of others? Who knows what he does being a president without a personality? Doesn’t his candiditure behalf of others? It said above that sirisena is a friend turned foe! Hasn’t he ate hoppers appearing a friend of MR while being an enemy in mind? Who knows how this teacherous sirisena treats votes after his win? Truth will be out despite, who is the winner. Sirisena is in trouble if MR wins. All are in trouble if sirisena wins.! This’s the time to see what gods do in the world.
Amden,
I agree with you. A Blgoger in this site consistently refers to Mr MY3 as the “bleating goat” and now, I am sure, he is a bleating goat.
Dear Dr Amirthalingam. P.
I am sorry about the murder of your loving father and mother by the evil VP and the LTTE. They are all in hell for all eternity as they deserve to be. This is God’s punishment to them, who were led by Satan.
I thank you for bravely supporting our true patriotic FATHER OF THE NATION, Hon Mahinda Rajapaksa, and calling all Tamil patriots to vote for Hon MR, as SL is their country also, their Mother Land, and we are ONE NATION.