About President Mahinda Rajapaksa



Mahinda Rajapaksa, is to some an enigma. His rise to power has been phenomenal. His is an improbable story. That story is epic. A few web pages cannot do justice to the road he has walked, the vision he nurtured in his heart and all that he has done for the motherland that birthed his dreams and honed his sensibilities. What is possible is to offer snapshots of landmarks, events that define the journey, the dream and the history that contains the unmistakable signature of a simple man: Mahinda Rajapaksa.

BIOGRAPHY

Today he is the President of a country and a people to whom he gave dignity and self-respect. And yet, he is still a villager from Medamulana; feet firm in his native soil, head held high and proud to inhale the winds that caress the concerns of the most humble and gentle people, conscious of his past, looking to the future and doing what has to be done right now. For his motherland. For his people. Sixty-four years is a long time. Mahinda Rajapaksa achieved so much in this time and remains as energetic, focused, determined and confident as has been throughout his life.

On the 18th day of November, 1945, a child was born in a small hamlet called Medamulana in Hambantota. Mahinda Rajapaksa was the second son in a family of six boys and three girls. He grew up like any rural lad, breathing the air of ancient ways that had sustained a civilization for well over two millennia. He walked an earth nourished by ancestral ash and the sweat of proud labour. He learnt simple ways of being and sharing, the higher worth of community and the power of solidarity.

He began schooling at Richmond in 1951, the alma mater of his father, Don Alwin Rajapaksa and his politically inclined brothers, and later moved to Nalanda and then to Thurstan College in Colombo.

Mahinda has politics in his blood. His father was a Member of Parliament, his uncle D.M. Rajapaksa, a Sate Counsel and his other uncle, George an MP and a Deputy Minister. In 1967 at the relatively tender age of 22, he was appointed as the SLFP candidate for Beliatta after his father’s death. In 1970 he was elected to Parliament with a record majority of 6626 votes. Ever the activist and man of initiative, he formed the SLFP Lawyers’ Association in 1973 after he entered Law College. It was with similar commitment and enthusiasm that he formed the Sri Lanka Committee for Solidarity with Palestine in 1975 of which he remained Chairman for 30 years.

In 1976 he took oaths as an Attorney-at-Law and did his apprenticeship under President’s Counsel Daya Perera. In 1977 began the long period of political marginalization of the SLFP after the UNP scored an unprecedented electoral victory, securing a five-sixths majority in Parliament leading to a new constitution and the creation of an Executive Presidency. Those were dark days for the opposition. It was the hour for the stoic, the strong-willed, the determined. That period saw the political blooding of Mahinda Rajapaksa, which include a three month incarceration in the Magazine Prison in 1985.

He returned to Parliament in 1989 and soon became the unwavering voice of objection to all draconian measures adopted by the UNP regime, organizing protests, demonstrations and all manner of agitation against terror and political oppression. He was the voice of those robbed of a voice, the strength to those rendered powerless, hope to those forced to abandon hope. That was the tempering of the steel that leaders are made of.

In 1994, he was appointed as Minister of Labour in the new government of Chandrika Kumaratunga. Later he was made Minister of Fisheries and Aquatic Resources. Whatever task he was assigned, Mahinda brought freshness, rallied expertise and mobilized human and other resources to deliver that which was thought to be undeliverable. This is when the foundation was laid for the development of fisheries harbours and the island’s university devoted to the study of maritime resources was established.

In 2001 the UNP returned to power for a brief period of 3 years. Mahinda was the automatic choice for the post of Opposition Leader. When the UPFA ousted the UNP in 2004 April he was the obvious choice for Prime Minister.

Adversity has been his constant companion. Humiliation and deliberate sidelining too. He treated these vicissitudes with equanimity as has been the way of his people, his home, his family. In 2005 he triumphed over all odds to assume office as the 5th Executive President of Sri Lanka.

In May 2009 he announced proudly to the world that his country was the first to comprehensively defeat terrorism and thereby fulfilling the most daunting of tasks in the first decade of the 21st Century.

Unflinching against all odds, the man is also endowed with tenderness, good humour, empathy and an amazing capacity to bring together people whose differences were considered irreconcilable.

He was the first Head of State to address the United Nations in Tamil. It was a brief statement but nevertheless amounted to a recognition granted the Tamil-speaking community that none had bothered to give before.

He was called ‘hawk’ and other derogatory names. He smiled and shrugged it all off. Today he has delivered on the promise that no leader before him had come good on: bringing peace to the entire nation.

For many, all this would constitute a lifetime’s achievement; sufficient for contentment and happy reflection in retirement. For Mahinda Rajapaksa, indefatigable and with a voracious appetite for work, it constituted a beginning; nothing more than a foundation upon which the edifice of prosperity can be built with utmost fidelity and sensitivity to cultural sensibilities and the heritage of this country.

Mahinda Rajapaksa: never wanted to be a hero, but was hailed as one; never aspired to sit on the throne, but was nevertheless crowned. Never wanted to be owner or ruler, but insisted that he is the temporary custodian of land, people and resources.

A man without a family in an agricultural society dominated by ethics of solidarity, community and collectivity is a lonely man indeed. Family matters; and that’s the bottom line in politics throughout the length and breadth of the island. For some family is handicap and even curse; for others a blessing. Mahinda Rajapaksa is truly blessed.

He is the proud inheritor of a tradition that was launched by his uncle, D.M. Rajapaksa, the Lion of Ruhuna, who was elected to the State Council from Hambantota in the 1930s. A champion of the rural masses and one of the strongest emerging voices of the nationalist movement, ‘DM’ was identified by the earthy brown shawl he wore, the kurahan saatakaya which was later to take on iconic significance thanks to Mahinda Rajapaksa.

Equally influential was DM’s brother ‘DA’, Mahinda’s father, himself known for integrity, courage, perseverance in the face of odds and an indefatigable champion of the cause of the rural poor. He entered active politics after DM died suddenly in 1945, succeeding his brother in the Second State Council. He was included in the Council’s Committee on Agriculture and Land, prior to independence from the British in 1948.

DA Rajapaksa pushed through a 99-year lease scheme to transfer crown land to landless peasants in five acre plots. For the middle income earners, land extending from 10 to 50 acres was alienated in the same manner; measures that gave a boost to rice and coconut cultivation in the southern parts of Sri Lanka.

Elected to Parliament from the Beliatta electorate of the Hambantota District in the first Parliament of 1947, he was a member of the governing party, the United National Party (UNP), till in 1951 he crossed over to the Opposition on matters of policy, together with the late SWRD Bandaranaike, which led to forming of the Sri Lanka Freedom Party (SLFP) that gave weight to Social Democratic policies. He was re-elected to Parliament from the SLFP in 1952 and 1956 after which election Mr. Bandaranaike was elected Prime Minister of an SLFP-led Government. Mr. Rajapaksa was appointed the Minister of Agriculture and Lands in 1959. He was defeated in the parliamentary election held in March 1960 following the assassination of Prime Minister Bandaranaike in September 1959. In the next general election held soon after in July 1960 he was re-elected from Beliatta from the SLFP then led by Mr. Bandaranaike’s wife Mrs. Sirimavo Bandaranaike. He was appointed Deputy Chairman of Committees in Parliament and subsequently Deputy Speaker. He lost his seat in the 1965 election which brought the UNP back to power.

So when Mahinda entered Parliament in 1970 he brought with him the political blood of his father and uncle, their sensibilities, priorities, vigour, nationalist sentiment and uncompromising and unapologetic tilt towards the rural poor.

Among his brothers, Chamal and Basil were the ones most interested in politics. They’ve left their mark in their own ways, Chamal in the quiet manner so typical of the elder brother and Basil in the more colourful ways often seen in younger siblings. Mahinda was the rock; he was the anchor, the man unruffled, who took praise and blame in his stride, never held a grudge, never forgot a friend, endowed with patience and the rare ability to see beyond war and warrior.

It was after Mahinda became President that the younger sibling Gotabhaya came into the limelight. Gotabhaya, a former Army officer, retired from service, was recruited to the all important post of ‘Defence Secretary’. It proved to be a crucial and deciding move and one that changed the course of the nation’s history.

Among the more profound of Mahinda Rajapaksa’s public statements is the one he made about the family in Parliament following the rout of the LTTE in May 2009. He pointed out the important if silent role played by the family in all his endeavours and indeed in offering encouragement and strength to all those who were risking their lives on a daily basis to protect the motherland from all threats.

It is customary to say that the wife of a successful man is a tower of strength. Shiranthi Rajapaksa had to nurture into manhood three sons, all endowed with the energy and enthusiasm for life so characteristic of the Rajapaksa clan. She did this while her husband fought draconian laws, practices and regimes in various theatres of contention, here and abroad.

Today, as the head of the Seva Vanitha Movement, Shiranthi takes a keen interest in championing the rights of women and children and in advancing the humanitarian policies of Mahinda Chinthana. She has taken an important initiative in helping the women and children who are internally displaced in the north due to terrorism. Under the‘Siriliya Saviya’ organization led by her, special action has been taken to provide cooked food and essential drugs to the IDPs, training in community culinary work among women IDPS and also for vocational training among them to help them have better livelihoods once resettled.

Then there are the sons. All three of them are keen sportsmen and have represented their school St. Thomas’ College, Mt. Lavinia in Rugby. This is not surprising since their father, Mahinda, is himself a very keen sportsman, having represented his school in Athletics in track events specializing in the 4 x 400 metres relay.

The eldest son Namal, in addition to studying law in the UK, is the vibrant and inspiring organizer of Tharunyayata Hetak (A tomorrow for Youthfulness) that seeks to empower youth in the rural sector for the purpose of uplifting the rural economy.

The second son Yoshitha is a Sub-Lieutenant in the Sri Lanka Navy after training at Dartmouth in the UK and the youngest, Rohitha is pursuing higher studies in Aeronautical Engineering and Astronautics at the University of Southampton, UK.

Mahinda is a proud father, but a strict one, able to show great affection but also one who does not tolerate sloth or insensitivity; a father who despite all his numerous responsibilities has never once abdicated his nurturing role.
PEACE-MAKER

Mahinda Rajapaksa was not given a chance by the community of so-called humanitarian activists. He was called ‘hawk’ the day he took oaths as President. He was called ‘war-monger’, accused of pandering to racists, chauvinists and extremists. His approach to dealing with the LTTE would see Colombo being reduced to rubble, people were told. He delivered a nation free of terrorism, free of suicide attacks, a nation where citizen could be citizen and not a cowering apology for one, haunted by the shadow of terrorism. more >>
DEVELOPMENT

Sri Lanka is a country that is classified under the tag ‘Developing’. Sri Lanka fought a war against the world’s most ruthless terrorist, taking on the LTTE and its vast network of support outfits here and abroad. Sri Lanka still maintained a healthy growth rate exceeding 6% despite facing the inevitable shocks of global financial meltdown and other conditions that are generally skewed against the ‘developing’ world. Mahinda Rajapaksa was adamant that development does not suffer. He made sure that the war effort did not sidetrack his plans to uplift the lives of his people, build necessary infrastructure and implement projects, large and small, that generate prosperity while ensuring that resources will be used in a sustainable manner. more >>
A LEADER THROUGH AND THROUGH

What are the qualities of a great leader? You name it, Mahinda Rajapaksa is blessed with it. In abundance. His path to the highest seat of power was never easy. He suffered all manner of humiliation. He was insulted, marginalized and ridiculed at every turn, often by those in his own party. And yet this country has not seen anyone who could bring together people, unify them, forge friendships, build trust and give a sense of dignity to every citizen, cutting across all divisions.

He bore all this with a smile, never once losing composure, never uttering a word in disgust, never holding a grudge. He had faith in his ability. He drew strength from the cultural soil on which he stood firmly and with great pride. He had the pulse of his people and knew that his destiny to lead would be tied to their destiny to want a different nation, a nation they could identify with, whose name they could utter with pride and to whose development they could contribute with utmost generosity.

Mahinda Rajapaksa is perhaps the greatest unifier the country has known since Independence. He has the rare gift of bringing together disparate forces and groups, individuals who are at odds with one another. After all he has succeeded in forging a coalition made of groups ideologically and historically diametrically opposed to one another and this in the midst of executing a war against the world’s most ruthless terrorist organization. He thus secured the political stability so necessary for the successful completion of that thrust.
INTERNATIONAL RELATIONS: A RESPONSIBLE MEMBER OF THE GLOBAL FAMILY

Mahinda Rajapaksa was a villager from the Giravapattuwa, Hambantota. What could he know about foreign affairs, the experts sneered. He was expected to trip, to get tongue-tied. He would be all at sea, everyone thought. If the success or otherwise of a country’s foreign policy is measured by whether or not its foreign relations are robust, the Mahinda Rajapaksa achieved what his predecessors failed to secure: widespread support for the military thrust against the LTTE. He secured more international assistance in his current tenure than any of his predecessors and more than many of them put together. more >>
CHAMPION OF HUMAN RIGHTS

From the beginning of his career, Rajapaksa adopted a centre-left political stance. He undertook with responsibility and enthusiasm the hard and unforgiving work of a human rights activist long before such advocacy constituted a promising career option.

He was a leading member of the Parliamentarians for Human Rights, and in the days of grave human rights violations under the UNP government in 1988/89 took the lead in agitating in defence of human rights, taking the issue before the international community. more >>
COMPASSION IS HIS WATCHWORD

In keeping with the Mahinda Chinthana, in the social sphere, the Rajapaksa administration has introduced policies to curb addiction to tobacco and alcohol, and also prevent substance abuse and drug addiction.

In a major initiative in humanitarian policy, President Rajapaksa has ordered a stop to the killing of dogs for rabies eradication, carried out under British colonial law, and initiated the introduction of modern, humane and scientific methods of rabies control recommended by the World Health Organization. A new law on the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals has completed the drafting stage. The Government is also carrying on an important programme to improve animal husbandry in the country, with the expectation of achieving self-sufficiency in milk production in the medium term.