On Tuesday Sri Lankans will elect a president. Their choice is between the incumbent Mahinda Rajapaksa who called the elections two years early in the wake of last year’s defeat of the Tamil Tigers and retired army chief Sarath Fonseka, the general who was instrumental in bringing about the rout of the rebels.
This is without doubt a highly important election. The man who wins will face the immense challenge of rebuilding the peace after quarter of a century of merciless ethnic conflict that cost at least 70,000 lives. On the face of it, the incumbent looks best placed to deliver. Rajapaksa is a seasoned politician with a relatively united political party United People’s Freedom Alliance behind him. Fonseka, by contrast, almost makes a merit of the fact that he is not a politician. The implication is that he is not tainted by allegations of corruption, specifically those that have swirled around the incumbent and his immediate family.
Fonseka’s problem is that he is backed by three opposition parties, the United National Party (UNP), the ultra-nationalist Janatha Vimukthi Perumana (JVP) and the Democratic People’s Front (DPF) in an alliance that has instability written all over it. In the struggle against the Tigers, it was often forgotten that political rivalries within the majority Sinhalese community were hardly less bitter. Fonseka is almost certainly the only candidate the opposition could have fielded with any chance of defeating Rajapaksa.
Sri Lankans wanting a just and lasting peace for everyone in their country will be asking themselves which candidate is better equipped. The JVP which in 1971 itself organized an unsuccessful insurrection against the Bandaranaike government is not notable for its moderate approach to the Tamil minority.
Therefore a Fonseka presidency could quickly run into extremist obstruction of any substantive move to improve the lot of Tamils and reintegrate them into society.
This said, Rajapaksa has hardly made much use of the months since the final crushing of the Tiger rebellion, to reach out to Tamil population. Indeed, the uncompromising treatment of refugees, the spats with the UN and other NGOs over access to these people and the general lack of vision from his administration have already made some observers fear that the seeds of a new Tamil insurrection are already being sown. Fonseka could represent a change, not just of government but also of direction. Even though he was the general responsible for crushing the Tigers, he could perhaps more convincingly hold out the hand of reconciliation.
Unfortunately Fonseka’s entry into politics is widely credited to his anger at his president’s refusal to accord him full recognition for his dominant role in vanquishing the Tigers. He resigned his commission shortly after the victory. Were this true, pique iss a poor motive for seeking to lead his country.
In truth, in terms of the peace and reconciliation that this beautiful country so desperately needs, there is little to choose between the two main candidates. This may prove tragic, as the opportunity to start over, with both wisdom and charity, will not be there forever.
