THE PRESIDENTIAL POLL
TIME TO SINK OR SWIM

he nation’s future lies not in the hands of our politicians, after all. Instead, it’s us – the people of this country – that have a choice… perhaps as many are now saying, between ‘two evils’. Whilst there are more than two candidates contesting the 17 November presidential poll, the reality is that the pre-election machinery of the two major parties is so well oiled that the winner of the crucial contest must surely emerge from within their ranks. “They are two evils – but we need to pick the lesser of the two evils,” lamented the nation’s most outspoken business leader of our time, in a recent edition of the TV programme presented by LMD. Rienzie Wijetilleke – the veteran banker who chairs the nation’s leading private-sector bank – was responding to a question put to him on BENCHMARK.

Whilst the pundits are predicting a close contest, many ordinary Sri Lankans who care less about party colours and symbols – not to mention the reams of paper that go to make their manifestos – ponder on whether they should exercise their right to vote.

Broken promises which have been the order of many a post-election era in this country, deep-rooted bribery and corruption instigated by a majority of our politicians, and visionless leadership have rendered many a high-ranking politician look like a prophet of evil in the eyes of a growing number of the citizenry. So is there any likelihood of a ‘no show’, whereby a majority of Sri Lankans exercise their right not to vote?

The simple answer is ‘no’… but who knows; if there’s not a sea change in the modus operandi of the powers that be very soon, we may witness something of this order in the years ahead.

The 17 November election is crucial because the winner could well wield power for as long as the next 12 years – and he will be entrusted with shaping the destiny of a battered nation… this, perhaps, being our last chance, to find our way back to where the real world is heading.

Radical solutions are desperately needed to reduce our shameless levels of poverty. The curse that rears its ugly head in the form of bribery and corruption must, however, be addressed first – because it contributes in no small measure to our ‘poor-nation’ status (with a handful reaping the rewards that belong to a nation at large). “I would bring in capital punishment to deal with bribery and corruption, and to minimise waste,” says Wijetilleke… too right, sir.

In addition, it goes without saying that Sri Lanka must maintain its open-economic policies to ride the 21^st-century wave of globalisation – and it needs a gentleman who knows what it takes to run a technocratic regime efficiently, and someone who doesn’t bow to the demands of chauvinists… ethnic and religious harmony are musts for a nation as small as ours.

And last but not least, given the status quo, the nation’s immediate future is surely better served by a coming together of the powers that be… a strong ‘national government’ led by an honest president could be the panacea for our many ills, because it’s simply the only way to weed out the piles of rubbish that have infested politics in recent years – without the threat of being held to ransom by power-hungry politicians and their gangs of thugs.

Perhaps, yes… we should vote for the lesser of two evils just one more time.

Some of us will be voting for the candidate who espouses unity in a divided nation… better swim than sink.

 – Editor-In-Chief

COUNTDOWN TO 17 NOVEMBER
Election Trump Cards
A president who has an uncanny knack of holding the trump cards
in the game that is politics may deal a winning hand once again…

resident Chandrika Kumaratu­nga’s political wizardry surpasses any-thing that any of the presidential candidates can ever hope to offer. She has ruled for 11 years, through thick and thin, by virtue of her political astuteness. In fact, she could well have ruled for another year… she played ball with her playmate of old, Ranil Wickremesinghe, in what many refer to as a marriage that wasn’t consummated. The ‘Ranil-Chandrika Pact’ in the 1990s brought a glimmer of hope to many peace-yearning Sri Lankans who viewed it as being the only way forward, the best hope of taming a battalion of blood-thirsty Tigers.

She then chose to play Russian roulette with a gang of red-shirted ex-insurgents, who won her government an election it wouldn’t have won on its own. She’d done the same a few years ago, to hold on to power. On both occasions, however, the marriage of convenience simply didn’t last – their ideologies were simply poles apart. She is now poised, much to the surprise of many, to make a graceful exit from the executive presidency she once wanted to abolish – but she may very well prove to us all that she still holds the balance of power in Sri Lanka’s political minefield.

The two weeks preceding the forthcoming presidential poll are likely to be make or break time for the two main contestants who, by all accounts, are running neck and neck at the time of writing. And their destinies – and ours – may well be in the hands of the incumbent…

Firstly, the olive branch that is being offered to her by Ranil Wickremesinghe could turn out to be a ploy that tilts the balance in his favour. Should Kumaratunga reach for his outstretched hand, hundreds of thousands of voters who are presently sitting on the fence may choo­se to back the horse that not only espouses national unity, but has the support of a lady who has the strength to deal with the demands emanating from the north… and the charisma to win many a friend in the international corridors of power.

Her willingness to tie a knot with the leader of the opposition once again – to bring to fruition something that even remotely resembles a national government – will also please no end many of us who continue to play that broken record… calling for a national government (in any shape or form) to strengthen the fabric of politics in a country that is going nowhere but to the dogs.

Secondly, if there’s any truth behind reports of her willingness to pardon a man who is behind bars (or under guard, in hospital) before 17 November, Wickremesinghe’s election campaign will be turned into a celebration that could be the cynosure of the masses. Indeed, ‘S. B.’ (Dissanayake) has proved that he is extremely popular amongst the rural folk – which means that he may coerce many disillusioned Sri Lankans to give his candidate one more chance to put them out of their misery.

And thirdly, her approval in the eyes of the people of the UPFA’s fiscal budget – which, in all honesty, is a virtual non-event – could make or break Prime Minister Mahinda Rajapakse’s chances of winning on 17 November… although the opposition should have had the foresight to counter this by releasing a ‘shadow budget’ with a bagful of counter promises of its own.

But the lady in blue surely holds the trump cards, as she has done during her turbulent presidency.

– Editor-In-Chief