Living Under Mahinda
Mahinda and Sarath, bus poster near Galle
I for one welcome our new overlords. I think Mahinda won disrespectful and dirty, but he won. A Sri Lankan politician’s job is to stay alive and then to keep power, and Mahinda is damn good at it. He used a bunch of our resources and money, but he also worked harder and smarter than the opposition. I’ve always said that the country will develop under Mahinda, and I think it will. He’s a good king. He’s not the best constitutional President, but so be it. I wish him luck.
What We Lost
Mahinda does not rule by law. With the war he just got it done whatever the costs. It was tragic at the time but it got done and what do I know. In his campaign he just won at whatever expense and whatever detriment to our public institutions. And he won so, again, what do I know. I don’t think this is the right way to go about things, but in a state which has struggled to merely exist, such be the leadership we inherit.
What We Have
Mahinda simply rules. He is the alpha male of alpha males, whether in 100 foot effigy over Horton Place or in collegial conversation with Colonel Khaddafi. To put it frankly, Mahinda is macking it hard. Dude’s got the guns, the money, the power and probably the women. He rules.
What Sri Lanka has lacked is a consistently stable government, which MR can probably provide. It is also, unfortunately, consistently bad, but that is better than chaos. It is also brutal and dictatorial but actually less than, say, Premadasa. Not that this is benchmark, but many people cite it as such.
What We Get
In that perhaps limited capacity and sense, I think Mahinda will develop the country. Or, more accurately, I think the country will develop. He’ll do it at considerably greater cost and with more inefficiency than I consider necessary, but also with more pomp and, dare I say, style. Of course, the whole thing could bubble and pop, but I don’t think so, or rather, don’t want to.
So, in short, I for one welcome our new authoritarian overlords. I do respect their authority. A) I don’t know what else to do and B) I do think everything will be all right. Well, at least mostly right. Or, then, perhaps wrong but OK results. Something like that.
Dude, you are such a sore looser.
Just admit it that UNP does not have a good leader and get on with it.
That is the core of the problem , nothing else.
How many elections has UNP loast under Ranil’s leadership ?
Add this one to the list and plan to grow aleader in the next few years.
That is all one can do.
“I think Mahinda won disrespectful and dirty”
If the margin was razor thin, this would hold water.
But it is not .
So these are just rantings and nothing else, now.
Election mishaps happen in EVERY country.
Afterall Bush did beat AlGore ha ha ha.
“It is also brutal and dictatorial but actually less than, say, Premadasa.”
Mate, you need to revisit your recent political history. No way was Premadasa more dictatorial than MR. Premadasa valued the institutions in place, respected the honesty and professionalism of dedicated public servants, and listened to their wise counsel. MR on the other hand….
Yeah and Premadasa gave arms to the LTTE, slaughtered anyone who opposed him and brought terror to ordinary citizens.
and he suspended the parliament, threatened the speaker and bought/threatened all MPs who opposed him when he was impeached.
Oh, right. Does MR kill off his political opponents like Premadasa did? What planet were you living on? Are you Sajith in disguise or something?
um, yes MR does kill off his political opponents, and pretty much anyone else who calls him out. If not physically kill them, he will kill them career wise or financially or worse.
I would go into specifics but then i might be arrested for waging war against the republic or inciting public unrest or something like that.
Rest in peace Freedom of Speech.
True…he never had 300+ family members holding top posts in the government. He was a guy who wanted disciplined public service. Do we have one now? I doubted…
Premadasa was definitely worse. People were afraid to say anything against him. Like what it would have been under Stalin. There were supposed to be spies in offices. I was relieved when Premedasa was killed. At the moment it’s better but who knows what will happen.
My friend said few weeks back, Premadasa was the worst president because he killed so many people.
“Premadasa valued the institutions in place, respected the honesty and professionalism of dedicated public servants, and listened to their wise counsel.”
Demanding signatures from his cabinet on a blank paper shows that much. Really.
That was JRJ, not Preme as far as I know.
I think that was JR who did the blank paper thing.
This isn’t exactly the best of times – MR has won an election down and dirty against a squeaky clean General in the Army (< He had to be – otherwise we wouldn't have won the War). Looking at bright spark MR is not as bad as Chandrika or half as bad as Premadasa – we'll just have to wait and see how bad he is…
Like the idea of u joing MR, and that what all need to do. I mean all. I dont know how u say MR won “disrespectful and dirty”. Media and govt resource use was disrespectful and was there to see, but the election was not dirty. No violonce, no rigging. Only SF says rigged, but thats sour grape, he is a joker,a loser, a traitor that makes our country ashamed in front of international media. What else would u expect from him after falling down from the hyped world he had been shown with by likes of Mangala and then all what govt did for his personal life and son-in-low? So, dont join that losing band wagon of saying election rigged with no single evident or solid fact to say so. Apart from that, I like your transition, slowly but surely u r joing the patriots leaving the traitors….
Anon,
What on earth are you saying. There was no democracy under Premadasa, he ruled the cabinet with an iron fist and fired government servants on his whims. Just like today, the state media was abused unceremoniously. And you should read the election commissioners report on the 1989 election. 60000 odd people were slaughtered by the army in 89′, most of them were innocent civilians. He killed Gen. Kobbekaduwa as well as supply arms to the LTTE.
Things will be good, and Sri Lanka will shine
Sri Lanka shares at new record on post-poll buying
Sri Lankan shares .CSE hit a new record on Monday as retail investors bought shares in heavy trade, banking on post-election stability and economic recovery after President Mahinda Rajapaksa’s re-election on last week.
Reuters
Personal opinion, Premadasa was the best president we’ve had – sure, he was a dictator o sorts in his methods, but he was never one to take no for an answer, he did more for rural Sri Lanka than did any other president before and after – just look at the housing schemes, the roads that were built during his tenure. The current incumbent has taken corruption to unbelievable heights, we all expect some skimming to take place, but this?!!
Premadasa eventually succumbed to the illness that befalls all Sri Lanka presidents, they begin to actually believe that they are gods or kings or whatever.. loosing touch with what is good and fair and compassionate…
Sri Lanka needs strong leaders, yes, sadly, along with that required trait, we seem to get a host of negative ones too!
Premadasa was a curse and it is a blessing his rule came to an end. No one has matched the level of corruption, terror and violence that Premadasa brought upon the country. Of course, UNP supporters such as yourself will never see that fact.
Lol – I didn’t know I was one!!
hyuck hyuck, of course not!!
Agree wtih V. Remember Premadasa drop bombs from planes. How violence it was!
Even if Mahinda make Sri Lanka a Singapore (common benchmarked used by our politicians), at least half the 40% people who voted will never accept that Mahinda is a good leader. Not even you, will accept that. Because, you measure the quality of the leader not based on their effectiveness, but based on your political biasness.
Mahinda is the most effective leader we had after independence. Most people know this from their heart, but never want to speak out loud enough and tell.
1) He was effective in ending the war.
2) He was effective in managing the economy, while facing a war and facing a global economic meltdown
3) He was effective in resettling people in North (of course with minor mistakes)
4) He was effective in solving the power (electricity) problem. For last 4 years we didn’t have “energy saving power cuts” which was a common thing during previous governments.
5) He was effective in uplifting the quality of highway system in SL. There are rarely “Ali naawana maha walawal” in Sri Lankan highwas, as mentioned in that Sunil Perera songs.
6) He was effective in uplifting the life of farmers. During last 4 years no farmer commited suicide. That’s why Mahinda reached over 60% in agricultural areas (and you still believe the result is a “computer fruad” :-) )
If anyone can prove the above things are wrong; please come forward with your evidence. This is what we expect from a good leader. Person who can deliver results; not just words.
Of course under MR, your “posh Colombo” society wouldn’t have enjoyed special privileges, tax concessions for black money you earned etc. That’s why Mahinda lost Colombo city area. If he did a computer fraud, why didn’t he do the same for Colombo city? Why not for Galle electorate?
Those who voted SF in this election should be thankful to those who voted MR for saving Sri Lanka from a serious death trap. You will realize that we (58% of voters) made the right choice, in another 4 years. But still you will not accept it, merely because of your political biasness. You will still find 100 plus one reason to blam Mahinda, and not appreciate what he has done.
We don’t want perfect leaders! There are no perfect humans to begin with. Not even Obama a perfect leader. In Sri Lanka, we have found the leader who really got the willingness and ability to MAKE THINGDS HAPPEN. We trust him, and we will vote him again and again and again! The day he fail to deliver results; we will vote someone else. Till then, we don’t want any “miserable change”
Last provincial election showed the floor UNP could hit.It is 27%-30%.SF was not a factor then.That percenatge reflected people who would vote UNP no matter what .Even if Lord Buddha was head of SLFP ticket these people will vote for UNP.Blood in their veins are Green.Let’s cap that at 30%.Then you have 5% JVP .Which makes it 35%.
This makes 8% who SF convinced to vote for him which sounds about right to me.
If it is computer fraud ,the people who did it has gone into great detail to give Galle electorate to Sarath and the rest of Galle to Mahinda.As somebody who who is familiar with local politics in Galle the above did not come as a surpirse to me.If it is fraud why did they make north vote 20% and gave the majority to Sarath ?They might have done that at 30% and split it evenly among SF and MR?That would make Mahinda cross 60% ,challenging Chandrika’s total in 1999.Election fraud cannot be eliminated but it did not swing the election one way.Ask any UNPer and they will tell you their tricks in the trade.Usually things cancel out.
Making bizzare charges of massive computer fraud make the accuser look stupid.
Lasantha Wickramatunga. Poddala Jayantha. Keith Noir. Ekneliyagoda… The great work continues
Who is Eknaligoda anyway? Some misfit who ran a gossip website of throwing mud at government. Only valuable part of that website is “Star of the day”.
I bet, this guy is now safely migrated to another country and enjoy the money earned by undertaking the dirty contract of spreading rumours about Rajapakshe’s.