By Third Eye
Former President Mahinda Rajapaksa is back in the limelight again – this time as a candidate of the UPFA contesting from the Kurunegala District at the general elections next month.
Hence, it is once again time to look at Mahinda Rajapaksa, the man who ended the war in the country but whose other activities have posed many questions in the minds of a majority of Sri Lankans.
A rebel by nature, Percy Mahendra (Mahinda) Rajapaksa entered politics merely by chance and that has been the case right along – from his entrance to Law College, to becoming the senior vice president of the Sri Lanka Freedom Party (SLFP), the Opposition Leader, Prime Minister and presidential candidacy for the first term in 2005.
The man from Giruwapattuwa heralded the end of the 50-year rule of the Bandaranaikes of the Horagolla Walawwa.
Mahinda was a happy go lucky schoolboy whose primary care in the world was to make sure that his gang ruled at the Isiapthana-Thurstan big match (outside the pitch of course).
He was educated at Richmond College, Galle, Nalanda College and Thurstan College, Colombo. Recalling his school days at Thurstan, a confidant of Mahinda explained how he would walk around the ground with his gang, always up to mischief.
Born on November 18, 1945 in Medamulana Walawwa, Weeraketiya, Rajapaksa is the third in a family of eight.
Entry into politics
His father, D. A. Rajapaksa was a parliamentarian representing the seat of Beliatta in the Hambantota District from 1947-1965. D.A. Rajapaksa was the second in the family of Rajapaksas to enter politics. The first was D.A.’s father’s brother, D.M. Rajapaksa.
D.A. Rajapaksa was a founder member of the SLFP along with S.W.R.D. Bandaranaike.
Young Mahinda Rajapaksa’s chance to enter politics dawned with the demise of his father, D.A. Rajapakse in 1968. He was then a library assistant at the Vidyodaya University.
The late Sirimavo Bandaranaike, then leader of the SLFP, decided to offer the organiser post of Beliatta which fell vacant by D.A. Rajapaksa’s demise to Chamal Rajapaksa, the eldest son in the family and Mahinda’s elder brother.
However, Mahinda Rajapaksa’s mother did not approve of Chamal entering politics and asked Bandaranaike to appoint Mahinda to the post instead.
Mahinda then became the SLFP organiser for the Beliatta seat.
In 1970, Mahinda contested his first election and secured a place in parliament at the age of 24. Mahinda Rajapaksa came to be known as the “baby in parliament.”
Though the youngest MP in parliament, he played a key role as a backbencher promoting the closed economy policy of the 1970s.
Thus, in 1977, Mahinda lost the general election and did not secure a seat in parliament.
Rajapaksa was by then a law student, thanks to the law reforms introduced by then Justice Minister Felix Dias Bandaranaike.
According to the reforms, any parliamentarian below the age of 28 was given the chance to enter Law College to pursue a career in the legal profession.
Many have since challenged Mahinda’s entrance to Law College, as he did not gain entrance by sitting the normal competitive entrance examination.
Mahinda, who continued to be involved in active politics, also lost in the 1984 by-election for the Beliatte seat.
An attorney-at-law by then, Mahinda began to practice law mainly in Hambantota and Embilipitiya, and sometimes even in Matara.
In 1985, Mahinda was taken into custody over a murder case.
In the 1982 referendum held by then President, the late J. R. Jayewardene to postpone parliamentary elections, saw a victory for the UNP.
However, the UNP lost in 12 electorates, which included Beliatta, Mulkirigala, Agalawatte, Ratmalana, etc.
However, it was then that Chamal, Mahinda’s brother came out to the political front for the first time.
Arrested
A shoot-out that happened in the Mulkirigala electorate during the by-election left one person dead and according to eyewitness reports, it was alleged that Mahinda had pulled the trigger.
Accordingly, he was arrested and was in remand for three months. Mahinda’s mother expired when he was in remand and he was brought for the funeral under police escort.
However, later the courts acquitted him.
It was in 1987 that Mahinda came back into the limelight, this time as the leader of the protest march held from the Dehiwala Bridge to Colombo against the Indo-Lanka pact.
Mahinda then came out portraying an image of a fighter and a leader.
Afterwards, he played a key role in handling human rights cases with regard to the sudden disappearance of youth in the south between 1988 and 1989.
Joining the camp to fight for human rights, Mahinda began to build an image of a national figure.
The not so well known Mahinda, then became a national figure, even taking letters on behalf of Sri Lanka to Geneva, Switzerland. It was Mahinda who introduced the role of the UN Human Rights Commission at the time to Sri Lanka.
His record of human rights activities was honoured by the Vishva Bharathi University of Calcutta in India with the title Professor of Emeritus.
By propping himself as a national figure, Mahinda managed to win his seat back at the general elections in February 1989 and secured a place in parliament. However, he continued with his work in the human rights camp.
Mahinda became a broader figure in the political scene with the Pada Yatra he organised from Colombo to Kataragama on March 16, 1992. The procession ended on April 2.
The Pada Yatra was carried out under four slogans – voicing opposition to the then UNP government’s privatisation policy, a commission of inquiry and compensation for the disappearances in the south, addressing the cost of living and a negotiated settlement to the north east war. The latter slogan even attracted the support of the EPRLF for the Pada Yatra.
It was also during the Pada Yatra that Mahinda adopted his position as being with the common man.
Origins of the shawl
At the end of the procession, G. I. D. Dharmasekera (Castro Dharmasekera), took the brick brown shawl worn by Chamal and put it around Mahinda saying that he too should take up the colour of the common man – the colour of the kurakkan grower of Giruwapattuwa. However, the origins of the colour and the shawl came from Mahinda’s father, D.A. Rajapaksa.
During the state council elections, no symbols were used for voting. It was done on colour and each candidate had a colour.
The colour chosen by D.A. Rajapaksa was maroon – brick brown, it was then given a theatrical dressing as the colour of the kurakkan grower of Giruwapattuwa.
From then on, Mahinda too began to adorn the brick red shawl, ‘the mark of the common man in the south.’
He built on the exposure he received through the Pada Yatra in July the same year with the Jana Gosha protest organised more or less on the same themes as the Pada Yatra.
In 1994, with the People’s Alliance (PA) government assuming office, Mahinda became the labour and vocational training minister. Mahinda then mooted the idea of a Workers Charter.
However, President Chandrika Bandaranaike Kumaratunga put her foot down and stopped it from being implemented owing to it being lopsided – being too much in favour of trade unions and not employers.
The charter sought to establish trade union rights, a wages commission, social security, a national trade union training institute and facilitate the adjudication of industrial disputes.
This became one of the first instances where Kumaratunga clashed with Mahinda.
During his tenure as labour and vocational training minister, from 1994 till 1997, he also created the Vocational Training Authority in 1995, which he said was established to recognise the needs of unemployed youth.
Wise move
He also used money from the ETF to buy shares from the private sector companies. As a result, ETF bought shares in the plantation sector.
Another unsuccessful proposal forwarded by Rajapaksa was the establishment of a hospital for workers.
A land too was allocated for the purpose, the land adjoining Odel Unlimited, which is now used as its car park, at Town Hall, Colombo 7. This proposal too never saw the light of day.
His tenure as fisheries minister, from 1997 to 2001, was equally eventful. He initiated several programmes such as a housing programme for fishermen and also strengthened the industrial base of the fisheries industry. Inland fisheries too, benefited from these reforms, with the national harvest almost doubling by 2001.
The first ever university for oceanography known as Sagara Vishwa vidyalaya and the Coastal Guard Unit were also established during his period as fisheries minister.
In addition to the portfolio of fisheries, he also held the portfolio of ports and shipping for a short period of three months. Within this period he gazetted the construction of the Hambantota harbour.
The Malwatte Chapter honoured him by offering him the honorary title of ‘Sri Rohana Janaranjana’ in the year 2000.
The year 2002 was a milestone in Mahinda’s life. That was when he became the leader of the opposition.
In 2004 when the United People’s Freedom Alliance (UPFA) government was formed, Mahinda became prime minister.
Presidential candidate
In 2005, the SLFP central committee named Mahinda its presidential candidate. Mahinda’s candidacy for the presidential polls was also due to his touting of the Sinhala Buddhist ideology. Though the SLFP presidential candidate, on national issues he is yet to take a stand.
Mahinda’s colleague from the 1970 parliament is current Posts and Telecommunications Minister, D.M. Jayaratne.
Mahinda emerged victorious at the 2005 Presidential election.
Helping Hambantota
However, during his tenure as Prime Minister, Mahinda and a handful of select officials were accused of siphoning off a colossal Rs. 82 million of monies given to the Prime Minister’s Fund as tsunami relief and reconstruction, into a private account called ‘Helping Hambantota’ maintained at the Standard Chartered Bank in direct violation of Presidential directives.
The actions of the Prime Ministerial team also raised serious issues, which bordered on offences under the Public Property Act, given that the four signatories to the account are private persons not connected to the Prime Minister’s office.
Ending the war
After assuming office as the President in 2005, Mahinda started to wage war against the LTTE in 2006. Mahinda together with his brother, Defence Secretary Gotabaya Rajapaksa and members of the armed forces defeated the LTTE in May 2009.
However, there have been accusations leveled against the Rajapaksa government for the manner in which the war was carried out. In fact, Sri Lanka continues to face queries on alleged violation of human rights laws before the UN Human Rights Council.
Second term
After ending the three decade long war, Mahinda recorded a resounding victory at the 2010 Presidential election. Interestingly, the war victory along with the public support enjoyed by the Rajapaksa administration resulted several members of Mahinda Rajapaksa’s family as well as a few close confidants becoming “untouchables” in the country.
The arbitrary actions of some these individuals resulted in the fast erosion of Mahinda’s popularity.
Accusations
The Mahinda Rajapaksa government has been criticised for its corruption. During his leadership Sri Lanka scored extremely low in the Transparency International Corruption Index.
Most of these accusations were leveled against Mahinda and his government during his second term in office. Some of the main issues that led to Mahinda’s defeat at the January eighthPresidential election this year were the rampant corruption, threat to media freedom, nepotism and the non implementation of law and order in the country.
Mahinda hence became a much loved President to one whom the people rejected when he tried to seek a third term in office, which he tried to secure by introducing a piece of legislation that is viewed as one of the most anti-democratic pieces of legislation to be seen in recent times.
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