COLOMBO, Nov 16, 2019 (BSS/AFP) – Sri Lankans voted Saturday for a new
president in what could mark a comeback for the Rajapaksa clan, lauded by
supporters for crushing the Tamil Tigers but condemned by critics for war
crimes, corruption and cosying up to China.
Almost five years after political heavyweight Mahinda Rajapaksa lost power,
his brother Gotabaya, 70, is running for the top job, promising development
and security in the wake of Islamist extremist attacks that killed 269 people
in April.
His main opponent is Sajith Premadasa, 52, from the governing liberal
United National Party (UNP), son of assassinated former president Ranasinghe
Premadasa, who is also pushing security and development as well as free
sanitary pads for poor women.
Polls opened at 0130 GMT and results could be known as early as midday
Sunday if there is a clear winner. Security was tight with 85,000 police on
duty, election officials said.
Just under 16 million people are eligible to vote, with a record 35
candidates, including two Buddhist monks but just woman, on the monster
ballot paper.
Even before polling stations opened, dozens of people were seen queueing up
outside schools and public buildings where the 12,600 polling booths were set
up.
“My appeal to voters is go to the polls as early as possible,” Election
Commission chief Mahinda Desahpriya said.
The Rajapaksas are adored by Sri Lanka’s Sinhalese majority for defeating
the Tigers and ending a 37-year civil war on the Indian Ocean island in 2009
in which around 100,000 people lost their lives.
For the same reason, the brothers are detested and feared by many in the
Tamil minority, who make up 15 percent of the population, not least due to
the way the conflict ended with some 40,000 Tamil civilians allegedly killed
by the army.
During Mahinda Rajapaksa’s presidency from 2005-15, Gotabaya was defence
secretary and effectively ran the security forces, even allegedly overseeing
“death squads” that used white vans to abduct, torture and in some cases kill
political rivals, journalists and others.
The grey-haired retired army lieutenant colonel, dubbed the “Terminator” by
his own family, denies the allegations.
“If Mr. Gotabaya Rajapaksa returns, the white van culture will return,”
Alfonso, a half-Tamil man living in Colombo, told AFP. “Nobody can speak
against him. Nobody, not just us.”
Many Muslims in the Buddhist-majority country of 21.6 million are also
worried, having already witnessed increased hostility since the April
attacks, including hundreds of homes and shops being trashed in the immediate
aftermath.
After the civil war ended in 2009, Gotabaya “presided over the opening up
of a new area of conflict, which was the Sinhalese majority versus the
Muslims,” analyst Paikiasothy Saravanamuttu told AFP.
“We had a number of incidents of violence against the Muslim community and
Gotabaya was seen to be very much as a sponsor and supporter, particularly of
an organisation called Bodu Bala Sena (Buddhist Power Force).”
– Chinese subs –
What also concerns Western countries, as well as India, is that
strategically located Sri Lanka moved closer to China under Mahinda, even
allowing two Chinese submarines to dock in Colombo in 2014.
Beijing loaned and granted Sri Lanka billions of dollars for infrastructure
projects under China’s immense Belt and Road Initiative spanning Asia and
beyond. Mahinda says credit was unavailable elsewhere.
Sri Lanka was forced in 2017 to hand Beijing a 99-year lease on the port of
Hambantota after being unable to service a $1.4-billion Chinese loan,
highlighting for critics the debt dangers of the Belt and Road scheme.
An airport in the south has failed to retain a single international
airline. Another white elephant is Colombo’s unfinished “Lotus Tower”,
believed to be South Asia’s tallest free-standing communications tower.
“Chinese entities were also credibly accused of fuelling corruption,
illegally funnelling money to favoured political candidates, and inserting
sovereignty-violating provisions into their infrastructure agreements,” said
Jeff Smith, a research fellow at US think-tank the Heritage Foundation.
He added though that Gotabaya may have “learned some lessons from his
brother’s tenure; that he recognises the downside risks of backsliding on
democracy and human rights, and of excessive dependency on China.”
Western capitals “should give a fair chance to us,” Basil Rajapaksa,
another brother, told reporters. “They can’t be monitors of this country.
They must be partners.”