A Comparative Analysis Towards Concluding Who Would Be The Best Choice For President!

As the countdown to the Presidential elections continue and the two prime candidates the Prime Minister and Leader Of The Opposition, the frontrunners continue presenting their respective manifestos to the voting public in the manner they see fit towards securing that all important victory sometimes with hazy expectations from the general voting populace.

The themes never fail to evoke many unanswered questions about who is the best candidate for the job as the jockeying for the all important position seems to be based on how much confusion one candidate is able to create about the other's credibility althouth the approach of one seems more acceptable and points towards the greater credibilities of the two candidates!.

Given the political cunning of the Leader of the Opposition there should be no gullibilities on the part of the voters to succumb to some of the Wickremasinghe innuendo intended to discredit Mahinda Rajapakse that is presently being blared through loudspeakers and the rhetoric spewed from hastily constructed UNP platforms as well as the larger than life bill boards and posters intended to sway the undecided voter's mind and the usual mud slinging, galore but visibly one sided!

It would seem foolish and unwise therefore in hindsight to expect the goods which the UNP say they could deliver to the Nation both in the direction of a lasting peace as well as economic stability and growth in the event of an unlikely UNP win as they have had ample time logged in their previous Administrations when they held sway and had delivered precious nothing to the Nation expect further anxieties about where the Nation stands with respect to the terrorist problem.

With the LTTE, having the coffers bilked by indiscriminate thievery of highbrow politicians while synonymously palavering to the needs of the terrorists rather than that of the Nation through a dressed up Peace Initiative which has sent into remission a decades long conflict yet not fully dispelled or locked in as being resolved comprehensively as might have been expected when other international Terror groups such as the IRA and the Terrorists of Aceh in Indonesia etc.by comparison have co-operated towards a laying down of weaponry and merging into mainstream society with the co-operation needed to align with the administration in power towards a realistic resolution for all Sri Lankans from every walk of life.

Realistically when one weighs the range and scope of needed resolutions towards Sri lanka's well being which would be a direct responsibility of the incoming President. One would conclude that they are of a straightforward nature towards maintaining the Nation's Sovereignity and Territorial Integrity offset against the income generating means towards a stable economy which realistically has no place for military conflict even in a worst case scenario.

Somewhat damnably however the LTTE have made this somewhat of a difficult 'fait acompli ' for the Sri Lankan Government as they have continued to violate the Peace Agreement and Ceasefire Accord through all the wretched and apathetic means availabe to them by way of their being tolerated with impunity despite being an organization of terror clinging to veiled support from the Ranil Wickremasinghe camp and theirother Aid de Camp Norway.

Point in case as a prime objective of consideration for Presidential scrutiny towards setting right the anomalies thereby created which is unhealthy and impure by any norms of the free world and democracy and certainly an exercise for the nexrt President!

That the LTTE have backpedalled on the pledges they made when the Peace Accord was signed is no conjecture as their track record on human rights, child recruitment, brazen attacks on the Law Enforcement Agencies of the Land, including many daily provocations and the horrendous assassination of former Foreign Minister Laksnman Kadirgamar now proven which has virtually disentitled themselves from any rational negotiations other than with extreme caution or utter contempt.

Although a concerted attempt should be made to evolve a dialogue of constitutional and political reforms aimed at a permanent negotiated settlement to the unresolved National Question which must show respect, prominence and recognition to the Tamil community rather then the armed, unrelenting and conflict threatening LTTE to whom uttering veiled threats appears to be a last resort in a do or die desperate situation where their verbiage appears stronger than their real insurgent might or capabilities.

Engaging the moderate Tamil democratic community non aligned with the Mainstream LTTE as well as the Muslim community and other minorities in negotiations towards a durable political and constitutionalized settlement to the Ethnic Question as the main agenda showing on the manifesto of the succesful Presidential hopeful would more than carry him into the high seat of Presidential power.

Synonymously leave the LTTE up a creek without a paddle if the adage was to be fully emphasized as they would not necessarily fit into such an agenda, what with their full blown cry for Eelam which has never subsided. (presently there are journalistic idiots who claim Sri Lanka as a Tamil Homeland and the Tamils as an injured party whose rights have been violated with hardly a word about its realities or to whom the Sinhala Nation rightfully belongs!)

Though somewhat veiled in their post Tsunami recuperations fairly apparent to the Nation as well as the International Community whose condemnations of the LTTE have never waned but to the contrary have increased in momentum the LTTE nevertheless continue in gay abandon!

The European Union being the latest to join the anti LTTE Bandwagon with much kudos to them have opened a window of vision to the entire world that the LTTE are certainly not angels of mercy or a downtrodden law abiding representation of the human race but a group of evil plotting, disoriented, mendacious terrorists!!

There seems a recent trend in the minds of the general voting populace that, calls for a redesigned peace process, a review of the CFA and a microscopic examination of Norway’s real role in Sri Lanka's Peace Process together with sanctions on the LTTE from many quarters do not constitute a 'recipe for war', despite the predictable likelihood that the LTTE would find these positions contentious and revert to their old attrocities even by token means! 0

A slogan propagated in earnest by the UNP Presidential Bandwagon but one which has flimsy credibility as even the former departed Foreign Minister Lakshman Kadirgamar a man of unquestionable wisdom and analytical insight into such matters proclaimed to the Nation and the world that the LTTE do not have the capacity for a fully fledged campaign of insurgency and perhaps in retrospect its realities very plausible!.

The Mahinda Rajapakse Presidential campaign, led by the JVP and supported by the JHU as the candidate most likely to win, has been focusing on the threat to Sri Lanka’s Sovereignty and Territorial Integrity brought about by the policy of appeasement pursued by the UNP whilst in power, at times propped up by indiscriminate Presidential leniency and have not minced any words about how they intend to resolve this particular aberration which has plagued the Nation for decades!

Certainly not through any obeisance to the LTTE notwithstanding the provision of a humane opportunity which some think undeserving! towards sane and civilised negotiations which have been virtually rescinded as reported by their current spokesperson Thamilchelvam which might eventually come back to haunt them!

An evaluation of the current situation as highlighted courtesy of 'The Daily Mirror' insert of Mr Kenneth Loganathan with emphasis on the respective candidates suggets that quote"The Mahinda Rajapakse campaign is quite logically focusing on the danger of the appeasement policy being advanced further if Ranil Wickremesinghe is elected, and the creation of conditions for secession by the LTTE with its ISGA proposals as the precursor.

In other words the options placed before the Sri Lankan People (read: Sinhala) may be summed as follows: If war is to be averted one must continue with the offer of incentives to the LTTE or what could be broadly termed the appeasement approach.

On the other hand, if the territorial integrity and sovereignty of Sri Lanka is to be safeguarded then what one needs is a belligerent defence policy as well as the marginalization of the LTTE.

In reality, what is ignored is that there is a range of options between appeasement and war, which is precisely what the candidates need to focus on instead of dabbling in false dichotomies. In fact neither appeasement nor war is tenable or desirable.

The policy of appeasement has clearly failed to transform the LTTE, as manifest in the wake up call issued by the EU by imposing a travel ban and other restrictions on the LTTE, while reserving the option of listing the LTTE as a proscribed terrorist organization for its continuing terror killings and child conscription.

That the State may be either directly or through proxies engaged in extra-legal and extra-judicial killings is no excuse to tolerate the culture of impunity that is masquerading in the guise of appeasement and incentives to the LTTE. Of course, that is no reason as to why the State should itself benefit from impunity if allegations of extra-judicial and proxy killings leveled against it by the LTTE are true.

Be that as it may, it is abundantly clear that war is not an option that the State or the LTTE would want to exercise at the given juncture. While international pressure and logistical and manpower constraints would make the LTTE think twice before going for a protracted war, it is equally clear that the State would think thrice before going to war.

This is despite the clarion call by the JHU and armchair militarists that LTTE should if necessary be militarily annihilated. All indications are that the Sri Lankan State and the military machinery is neither psychologically nor materially equipped to wage a protracted war against the LTTE which perhaps may be what promoted Somawansa Amerasinghe to declare that if the security forces cannot defend the country then it should be dissolved!

In any event, what we may end up with is a continuation of psy-ops and proxy or low intensity hostilities by both parties. But then, this is precisely what has been going on from the time that the ceasefire agreement (CFA) was signed and is nothing new.

It must be clearly understood that a peace process cannot be advanced through an endless process of appeasement of the LTTE without reciprocity or by holding the peace process hostage to the constant threat of war.

What is needed in Sri Lanka is a path of development that ensures equity with growth. While growth rates are important, a “fetish” ness may set-in where a high percentage growth rate is seen as the panacea for all maladies, disregarding the quality of the growth centres and the backward and forward linkages needed for sustainable and equitable development.

Likewise the negation of growth and sole emphasis on equity will lead to a situation where there will be no cake from which one could cut a piece! This is how the wealth of nations soon get transformed into the poverty of nations. This then is the real challenge and not a sterile, hackneyed and irrelevant debate as to whether the candidates stand for an open or a closed economy.

In conclusion, it is this writer’s fervent hope that the remaining period of the Presidential Election campaign is utilised to address these real issues rather that get bogged down in the quagmire of false options. Ultimately, the candidates must realize that it is the middle path that would capture the imagination of the electorate and not the clash of extremes. " end quote

At the present there seems to be the single candidate capable of implementing what may be the best for Sri Lanka whose love for his Motherland is genuine, unfettered, patriotic and not based on false pretences, avarice towards personal power and gain and the Nation needs no rocket science to deduce who this is!


		CLASSIFIED \| POLITICS \| TERRORISM \| OPINION \| VIEWS
		The Lankaweb Weekly Editorial
FRONT PAGE NEWS . CLASSIFIED . DHAMMAWEB . SANDUN UYANA . ANTENNA . EVENTS DIARY . LONDON DIARY . FEATURES . LETTERS.		A Comparative Analysis Towards Concluding Who Would Be The Best Choice For President! As the countdown to the Presidential elections continue and the two prime candidates the Prime Minister and Leader Of The Opposition, the frontrunners continue presenting their respective manifestos to the voting public in the manner they see fit towards securing that all important victory sometimes with hazy expectations from the general voting populace. The themes never fail to evoke many unanswered questions about who is the best candidate for the job as the jockeying for the all important position seems to be based on how much confusion one candidate is able to create about the other's credibility althouth the approach of one seems more acceptable and points towards the greater credibilities of the two candidates!. Given the political cunning of the Leader of the Opposition there should be no gullibilities on the part of the voters to succumb to some of the Wickremasinghe innuendo intended to discredit Mahinda Rajapakse that is presently being blared through loudspeakers and the rhetoric spewed from hastily constructed UNP platforms as well as the larger than life bill boards and posters intended to sway the undecided voter's mind and the usual mud slinging, galore but visibly one sided! It would seem foolish and unwise therefore in hindsight to expect the goods which the UNP say they could deliver to the Nation both in the direction of a lasting peace as well as economic stability and growth in the event of an unlikely UNP win as they have had ample time logged in their previous Administrations when they held sway and had delivered precious nothing to the Nation expect further anxieties about where the Nation stands with respect to the terrorist problem. With the LTTE, having the coffers bilked by indiscriminate thievery of highbrow politicians while synonymously palavering to the needs of the terrorists rather than that of the Nation through a dressed up Peace Initiative which has sent into remission a decades long conflict yet not fully dispelled or locked in as being resolved comprehensively as might have been expected when other international Terror groups such as the IRA and the Terrorists of Aceh in Indonesia etc.by comparison have co-operated towards a laying down of weaponry and merging into mainstream society with the co-operation needed to align with the administration in power towards a realistic resolution for all Sri Lankans from every walk of life. Realistically when one weighs the range and scope of needed resolutions towards Sri lanka's well being which would be a direct responsibility of the incoming President. One would conclude that they are of a straightforward nature towards maintaining the Nation's Sovereignity and Territorial Integrity offset against the income generating means towards a stable economy which realistically has no place for military conflict even in a worst case scenario. Somewhat damnably however the LTTE have made this somewhat of a difficult 'fait acompli ' for the Sri Lankan Government as they have continued to violate the Peace Agreement and Ceasefire Accord through all the wretched and apathetic means availabe to them by way of their being tolerated with impunity despite being an organization of terror clinging to veiled support from the Ranil Wickremasinghe camp and theirother Aid de Camp Norway. Point in case as a prime objective of consideration for Presidential scrutiny towards setting right the anomalies thereby created which is unhealthy and impure by any norms of the free world and democracy and certainly an exercise for the nexrt President! That the LTTE have backpedalled on the pledges they made when the Peace Accord was signed is no conjecture as their track record on human rights, child recruitment, brazen attacks on the Law Enforcement Agencies of the Land, including many daily provocations and the horrendous assassination of former Foreign Minister Laksnman Kadirgamar now proven which has virtually disentitled themselves from any rational negotiations other than with extreme caution or utter contempt. Although a concerted attempt should be made to evolve a dialogue of constitutional and political reforms aimed at a permanent negotiated settlement to the unresolved National Question which must show respect, prominence and recognition to the Tamil community rather then the armed, unrelenting and conflict threatening LTTE to whom uttering veiled threats appears to be a last resort in a do or die desperate situation where their verbiage appears stronger than their real insurgent might or capabilities. Engaging the moderate Tamil democratic community non aligned with the Mainstream LTTE as well as the Muslim community and other minorities in negotiations towards a durable political and constitutionalized settlement to the Ethnic Question as the main agenda showing on the manifesto of the succesful Presidential hopeful would more than carry him into the high seat of Presidential power. Synonymously leave the LTTE up a creek without a paddle if the adage was to be fully emphasized as they would not necessarily fit into such an agenda, what with their full blown cry for Eelam which has never subsided. (presently there are journalistic idiots who claim Sri Lanka as a Tamil Homeland and the Tamils as an injured party whose rights have been violated with hardly a word about its realities or to whom the Sinhala Nation rightfully belongs!) Though somewhat veiled in their post Tsunami recuperations fairly apparent to the Nation as well as the International Community whose condemnations of the LTTE have never waned but to the contrary have increased in momentum the LTTE nevertheless continue in gay abandon! The European Union being the latest to join the anti LTTE Bandwagon with much kudos to them have opened a window of vision to the entire world that the LTTE are certainly not angels of mercy or a downtrodden law abiding representation of the human race but a group of evil plotting, disoriented, mendacious terrorists!! There seems a recent trend in the minds of the general voting populace that, calls for a redesigned peace process, a review of the CFA and a microscopic examination of Norway’s real role in Sri Lanka's Peace Process together with sanctions on the LTTE from many quarters do not constitute a 'recipe for war', despite the predictable likelihood that the LTTE would find these positions contentious and revert to their old attrocities even by token means! 0 A slogan propagated in earnest by the UNP Presidential Bandwagon but one which has flimsy credibility as even the former departed Foreign Minister Lakshman Kadirgamar a man of unquestionable wisdom and analytical insight into such matters proclaimed to the Nation and the world that the LTTE do not have the capacity for a fully fledged campaign of insurgency and perhaps in retrospect its realities very plausible!. The Mahinda Rajapakse Presidential campaign, led by the JVP and supported by the JHU as the candidate most likely to win, has been focusing on the threat to Sri Lanka’s Sovereignty and Territorial Integrity brought about by the policy of appeasement pursued by the UNP whilst in power, at times propped up by indiscriminate Presidential leniency and have not minced any words about how they intend to resolve this particular aberration which has plagued the Nation for decades! Certainly not through any obeisance to the LTTE notwithstanding the provision of a humane opportunity which some think undeserving! towards sane and civilised negotiations which have been virtually rescinded as reported by their current spokesperson Thamilchelvam which might eventually come back to haunt them! An evaluation of the current situation as highlighted courtesy of 'The Daily Mirror' insert of Mr Kenneth Loganathan with emphasis on the respective candidates suggets that quote"The Mahinda Rajapakse campaign is quite logically focusing on the danger of the appeasement policy being advanced further if Ranil Wickremesinghe is elected, and the creation of conditions for secession by the LTTE with its ISGA proposals as the precursor. In other words the options placed before the Sri Lankan People (read: Sinhala) may be summed as follows: If war is to be averted one must continue with the offer of incentives to the LTTE or what could be broadly termed the appeasement approach. On the other hand, if the territorial integrity and sovereignty of Sri Lanka is to be safeguarded then what one needs is a belligerent defence policy as well as the marginalization of the LTTE. In reality, what is ignored is that there is a range of options between appeasement and war, which is precisely what the candidates need to focus on instead of dabbling in false dichotomies. In fact neither appeasement nor war is tenable or desirable. The policy of appeasement has clearly failed to transform the LTTE, as manifest in the wake up call issued by the EU by imposing a travel ban and other restrictions on the LTTE, while reserving the option of listing the LTTE as a proscribed terrorist organization for its continuing terror killings and child conscription. That the State may be either directly or through proxies engaged in extra-legal and extra-judicial killings is no excuse to tolerate the culture of impunity that is masquerading in the guise of appeasement and incentives to the LTTE. Of course, that is no reason as to why the State should itself benefit from impunity if allegations of extra-judicial and proxy killings leveled against it by the LTTE are true. Be that as it may, it is abundantly clear that war is not an option that the State or the LTTE would want to exercise at the given juncture. While international pressure and logistical and manpower constraints would make the LTTE think twice before going for a protracted war, it is equally clear that the State would think thrice before going to war. This is despite the clarion call by the JHU and armchair militarists that LTTE should if necessary be militarily annihilated. All indications are that the Sri Lankan State and the military machinery is neither psychologically nor materially equipped to wage a protracted war against the LTTE which perhaps may be what promoted Somawansa Amerasinghe to declare that if the security forces cannot defend the country then it should be dissolved! In any event, what we may end up with is a continuation of psy-ops and proxy or low intensity hostilities by both parties. But then, this is precisely what has been going on from the time that the ceasefire agreement (CFA) was signed and is nothing new. It must be clearly understood that a peace process cannot be advanced through an endless process of appeasement of the LTTE without reciprocity or by holding the peace process hostage to the constant threat of war. What is needed in Sri Lanka is a path of development that ensures equity with growth. While growth rates are important, a “fetish” ness may set-in where a high percentage growth rate is seen as the panacea for all maladies, disregarding the quality of the growth centres and the backward and forward linkages needed for sustainable and equitable development. Likewise the negation of growth and sole emphasis on equity will lead to a situation where there will be no cake from which one could cut a piece! This is how the wealth of nations soon get transformed into the poverty of nations. This then is the real challenge and not a sterile, hackneyed and irrelevant debate as to whether the candidates stand for an open or a closed economy. In conclusion, it is this writer’s fervent hope that the remaining period of the Presidential Election campaign is utilised to address these real issues rather that get bogged down in the quagmire of false options. Ultimately, the candidates must realize that it is the middle path that would capture the imagination of the electorate and not the clash of extremes. " end quote At the present there seems to be the single candidate capable of implementing what may be the best for Sri Lanka whose love for his Motherland is genuine, unfettered, patriotic and not based on false pretences, avarice towards personal power and gain and the Nation needs no rocket science to deduce who this is!
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