As Sri Lanka is currently going through an unbearable economic crisis, starting in March there was a massive call for Gotabaya Rajapaksa to resign from the presidency and the ruling Rajapaksa family as a whole to vacate their government posts. Gotabaya was adamantly against resigning, but the protests resulted in him eventually resigning on the 14th of July following him leaving Sri Lanka to the Maldives and then Singapore. Gotabaya Rajapaksa was the most incompetent unqualified leader Sri Lanka ever had who ruined the country and its economy. I am going to give my personal views on Gotabaya Rajapaksa’s resignation and its aftermath.
I wanted Gotabaya to resign and I didn’t think he would do it when the protests began. Throughout the protests, Gotabaya kept deciding to do things that went against his nature such as talking of restoring the 19th Amendment and admitting his organic fertiliser policy was a mistake. I saw these statements as desperate attempts by him to stay in power. It seemed to me that eventually he would have nowhere to go except by resigning. There was the whole fiasco of him leaving Sri Lanka to the Maldives & Singapore and taking time to send his resignation letter. These protests made the impossible possible as Gotabaya Rajapaksa finally resigned as President.
Opposition politician Ranil Wickremesinghe had become Prime Minister in May following the resignation of Gotabaya's brother Mahinda as Prime Minister. He had been the Acting President since Gotabaya left Sri Lanka. Soon after this, the process of electing a new President occurred in Parliament. The Presidential candidates were expected to be Ranil Wickremesinghe, leader of the United National Party (UNP), Anura Kumara Dissanayake, leader of the Janatha Vimukthi Peramuna (JVP), Sajith Premadasa, leader of the UNP breakaway party Samagi Jana Balawegaya (SJB) and Dullas Alahapperuma of the Sri Lanka Podujana Peramuna (SLPP).
While I’m not a fan of Opposition Leader Sajith Premadasa, I was hopeful he would do the right thing to secure the Presidency for Sri Lanka during this difficult time. I’m so displeased with him for backing out of the Presidential race to support SLPP candidate Dullas Alahapperuma. In my view, the negative qualities of Ranil does not make Dullas a good candidate. SLPP is the party of the Rajapaksas and Dullas has been staunchly pro-Rajapaksas. He once held the lion only flag at a political protest in 2015 which implies racism. Incidentally, this protest was against the summoning of Gotabaya Rajapaksa by the Bribery Commission.
The JVP candidate Anura Kumara Dissanayake has made good critiques of the Rajapaksas, but I disagree with the communist ideology of his party the JVP. I don’t think the JVP would be a suitable party to be in government due to their inward looking economic policies including criticism of the International Monetary Fund (IMF). The JVP’s violent past is also concerning.
Ranil Wickremesinghe is very hated in Sri Lanka. I personally do not think Ranil is of the same league as the Rajapaksas. I think he is neither terrible as most people believe nor brilliant as his small minority of supporters believe. My view is that he is somewhere in between. I think Ranil does have a desire to improve Sri Lanka. I do think the other candidate Dullas Alahapperuma is in the same league as the Rajapaksas. Ranil Wickremesinghe ended up being elected President by Parliament. Even though most people don’t want him, I think he is the least objectionable of the three candidates.
Unfortunately, if most of the key Sri Lankan political figures became President, you could list major reasons why they shouldn’t be leading the country. This is an example of what’s wrong with Sri Lankan politics. I wish that Parliament was able to elect a President who wasn’t so deeply unpopular & controversial, of a better quality and didn’t harbour Presidential ambitions. I would have liked it if Dr. Harsha de Silva of the SJB could have been elected President by Parliament.
It’s sad that the SLPP are involved in the two leading candidates as Dullas is SLPP, Ranil consists of SLPP support with Dinesh Gunawardena as the new Prime Minister. Dinesh is the leader of the party Mahajana Eksath Peramuna (MEP) which is part of the SLPP alliance, so he is de facto SLPP. The SLPP damaged Sri Lanka with their inward looking nationalism. I would prefer a UNP-SJB combination instead of an UNP-SLPP or SLPP-SJB combination. It’s a pity Ranil & Sajith couldn’t come together for the sake of the country.
I am greatly distressed by the violence carried out by the military and police against protesters and journalists on early morning Friday 22nd July at Galle Face. I fully condemn this inappropriate conduct. Ranil is wrong to have used the security forces in this way. The State of Emergency he declared needs to be revoked and the crackdown on protesters must stop. The protesters in fact agreed to withdraw from the area on that Friday afternoon. Ranil must not continue down this path. It’s imperative that he does not be the terrible President most people believe him to be. Gotabaya had been militarising governance which was disrespectful to the traditions of governance. Ranil should demilitarise governance and work on restoring the state of law in Sri Lanka.
I am of the view that the Executive Presidency needs to be abolished as I believe it contributed to much of Sri Lanka’s problems. I am especially concerned as the Executive Presidency currently consists of the strengthened powers brought in by the draconian 20th Amendment during Gotabaya Rajapaksa’s presidency. I think that the Executive Presidency should be replaced by a ceremonial apolitical President. Sri Lankan parliamentarians are sadly of such a bad quality right now. A general election needs to be held over the next year to elect suitable representatives for Sri Lanka and the right leaders. We need to change Parliament for the better. It’s disheartening to see all the corruption, bribery, lies and deceit that goes on.
It’s an impressive achievement that the protests and activism was able to get Mahinda Rajapaksa and Gotabaya Rajapaksa to resign as Prime Minister and President as well as the Rajapaksas no longer being part of the government. It’s unfortunate that we were unable to transfer to suitable leadership that people have confidence in. Getting rid of the Rajapksas was the easy part. The more difficult task ahead is ending the queues, getting the economy functioning properly without the suffering & hardship, securing the IMF program, abolishing the Executive Presidency and holding a General Election.
I don’t know what’s going to happen going forward. There’s a risk of things getting worse. I however choose not to be cynical about Sri Lanka and its future. I believe we can go forward. We need to push Parliament to abolish the Executive Presidency. This government definitely won’t be the good government we need, but the current activism can help make that dream a reality one day. May Gotabaya’s resignation be the start of a path to better things for Sri Lanka.
