Why Sarath Fonseka will not be president
With the election fever in high gear the Colomboites are praying for yet another political saviour. Many are confident of a regime change and some of us in the background who are realistic can’t help but smile. After many elections this year I haven’t got a vote which leaves me an unbiased observer to speak only of facts which I base my OWN opinion on. Yes I know a few people who haven’t got their vote which can be classified as rigging.
I also belong to the middle class minority in the country who gets crushed whichever government comes to power which makes my vote insignificant anyway;
we pay taxes (the higher we earn the more we pay) for everything including our savings
we cannot drive peacefully on the roads without being pushed around by dark shuttered fourwheel drives, private buses and even three wheel drivers; and we get no freaking benefit from any political party which comes into power.
The rich usually does not get affected too much by either party coming to power as the politicians need them and they switch sides or support both parties which results in rewards such as tenders and deals being passed as favours. Just look at the stickers on the flyovers and you will get my drift.
70% plus are the chosen people who receive manna from the heavens. They are promised free education, better roads, better jobs, foreign employment, subsidised fertiliser, lower pass marks to enter university and the list is endless! It is this minority that matters for the elections. To their credit they gave a chance to the present President to deliver his promise of beating the LTTE.
If the UNP was voted into power the broken peace accord would have been still effective with the LTTE having the freedom to destruct or disrupt the country anyway they felt. The famed General whom they now support would have been retired and the LTTE would have been even stronger.
The worst blunder made by Velupillai Prabhakaran was to ensure Mahinda Rajapaksha was made the president which resulted in the total annihilation of the worst terrorist group in the world. Hence I believe the people made the right choice.
Why will they vote Mahinda Rajapakse for a second term?
Let’s see the negatives of the President
He is accused of corruption, does it really matter to the masses?
The Colomboites complain that people are starving. But are people actually starving? Is there death due to starvation in this country which as is prevalent in the US, Europe and India.
Positives
He stopped the war which resulted in an immediate stop to our youth being maimed or killed. The majority of whom belongs to the 70% who will vote for him.
He is building the south (ironically Hambantota is his district) which is the region that started the first insurgency in 1971 way before the LTTE was formed and again in 1987 due to the frustration faced by the youth.
Rapid development is taking place in the East but I feel he will lose in that region due to the lack of support from the Muslim parties
At the last election the president did not get the 900,000 voter base in the North and East. But this year he is sure to get some of it which would be gratitude votes.
UNP has a voter base of 4.5 million of which all will not vote for the Genearl as the President gave them national pride and some view Ranil as a weak leader.
JVP has a voter base of nearly half a million which is now broken and has an alliance to Wimal Weerawansa. For many he is the JVP. Also the hard core would have got disgruntled with the party for joining the UNP! Even the University Student Councils are backing the government for the first time. JVP also lost badly in the South at the recent provincial elections.
Why the general will lose
There are many who view the present alliance as a stop gap which will never last, hence the country will be at a stalemate.
In his statement made to the Sunday Leader Editor Fredrica about the killing of LTTE leaders made the General lose respect with many as he broke the oath as a military man.
His wanting state benefits upon retirement which consist of 600 personnel, 12 vehicles and the right to occupy the army commander’s house which is a blatant misuse of public funds might make one wonder about what he will demand as executive president.
His taking the full credit for the victory will not sit well with the other forces. Agreed, the army faced the brunt of the attack but they were well supported by the other forces who were managed well as one team by the Defence Secretary, Gotabaya who is also a decorated military officer.
His reason for coming forth as a common candidate was purely for personal gain of getting back at those who pushed him out once the deed was done.
UNP is still accused of being traitors for having a secret pact with the LTTE and the recent media burst with regards to The General and the UNP signing a secret deal with the TNA is being exploited by the challenger’s camp.
My estimate would be that President Mahinda Rajapakse will win by a greater margin than he did the last time he was elected president.
Image credits : Wikipedia
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Decent analysis except being from Colombo u hv not looked at the effect of high cost of living on the rural folk. They know corruption is linked to it. It will be close. As close as previous election or closer. But Mahinda will win and hopefully make some changes to prove that he is not going to plunder our tax money Via his family and friends. He deserves another shot for winning the war but he must change
Thanks Arun for your comment and I have spoken to some not many from the villages. Hence my comment on the eastern province. The people who actually work are suffering as salaries are not enough to sustain their families. But there are a lot of people who are self employed and also work for a daily wage. They build their dreams on the false hopes which are given by the politicians. This is the group who the UNP haven’t struck a cord with after the death of their last president.
good post . you are right.
Although this purports to be an “unbiased commentary”, I’m afraid the extreme bias of this one-sided article (without equal prominence to the massive corruption and nepotism of the present regime) doesn’t leave much to imagination ole chum…no harm having your own political favourite (that’s our democratic right)…BUT we must be honest enough to say so!!!
CW what I am trying to convey is that massive corruption and nepotism of the present regime will be relevant to only a few. As mentioned at the start of the writeup we belong to the middle class minority my friend.
Maybe true…
BUT how sure are we that EVEN what little “positive influence” we managed to rub-off on others was actually ALLOWED to be expressed this time??
Does this not point to ONE of ONLY TWO possible scenarios:
1. That the majority of this country are SO POLITICALLY HOODWINKED that they will even tolerate a “democratic King” (and a Royal family), and will overlook EVERYthing else, be it open corruption, massive abuse of state power etc?
OR
2. That the majority actually DID REALISE the danger, BUT even the will that they expressed was not allowed to be manifested due to those same reasons of unlawfulness bordering on anarchy?
EITHER WAY is there then ANY POINT in THOSE LIKE US even trying ANYMORE to:
1. convince the “un-convincable” as in situation (1) above?
OR
2. uphold a purported “rule of Law” that only seems to exist in books, as in situ (2) above?
CW