Sri Lanka: The Spectre of a Putsch

 The actions, language and policies of the current President are reminiscent of many countries in South America in the latter half of the 20th century.

People in Sri Lanka 

 

by Michael Cooke-June 21, 2020

Views expressed in this article are the author's own

 

Since being granted independence in 1948, Sri Lanka has been burdened with authoritarian and charismatic leaders from the two majority parties (SLFP and the UNP). They have taken power during the political and economic crises created by their rivals. This happened in 1956, 1970, 1977, 1994, 2015 and 2019. What has been the political result? A weakening and in some cases the hollowing out of democratic institutions, something that affects the judiciary, parliament, social harmony and commitments to social justice. At the same time these leaders have enriched their clans and political allies at the expense of the nation, leaving the country even more indebted. The current President was at the heart of his brother’s reign between 2005 and 2015. This regime was marred by communal triumphalism, corruption on a grand scale and an escalation of human rights violations. Given that record, the country should be sceptical of the claims made by His Excellency Gotabaya Mahindpala, President of Sri Lanka that what he is doing is for the good of the nation. It is in this political and historical context that I will be looking at the current actions of the President.

 

The COVID-19 pandemic exposed the unsustainable economic model that Sri Lankans have endured for decades. A country where the national question has been exploited by the same political and economic elite who looted the public purse and failed to move the Island from a neo-colonial plantation economy to an economy based on manufacturing and tertiary sectors. The country still needs to import many necessities, including food, cars, televisions and mobile phones. Most of the population, following the example of the political and economic elite, do not pay tax. As a result the country is burdened with a poorly paid and corrupt constabulary, a barely functioning education system, and a moribund health-care sector. Lanka’s main income generators (tourism, remittances and the garment industry) are contracting at an alarming rate. Lanka’s indebtedness to world financial markets and the Chinese government is reaching financially unsustainable levels. Yet His Excellency has done nothing to tackle this. Instead a crisis is manufactured to divert our gaze, using ethnic scapegoats – something which worked wonderfully in the past and which is sure to work again. Scapegoating and shutting down legitimate debate are the only means presently available to His Excellency to cover the economic and social fissures exposed by the Pandemic. In the end, a putsch could be the only option for the Rajapaksa clan and its cronies, engorged with the wealth of the nation.

 

At the moment the parliament and the executive Presidency are at odds. The courts have ruled that, until new elections take place, the President must bring matters like fiscal expenditure to parliament. He has refused to reconvene parliament. By ignoring this normal procedure, the President is creating confusion and a distrust of democracy. By manufacturing this ‘constitutional impasse’ he is sending a message that current democratic norms might not be equipped to handle a ‘national crisis’. Could this be the prelude to a putsch?

 

The number of human right violations has increased. Most of the victims are civil society activists, protestors, journalists, opposition MPs and government officials. Worrying also is the announcement made on April 1 that those found to be criticising the shortcomings of the government will be arrested. A typical example was a human rights lawyer who had appeared for and had been a vocal supporter of the rights of minority communities; he was arrested on trumped-up terrorism charges. He has been denied access to a lawyer, which is a fundamental right. An officer who was involved in a key corruption investigation suddenly found himself removed from the case, without explanation. An officer being prosecuted for killing protestors in 2013 was promoted. At the same time, noted human rights violator Prasanna de Alwis, an officer credibly accused of torture, has become the new Director of the CID.

 

Currently public servants, such as police officers, public health officers and excise officers, face harassment and reprisals. Their tormentors are never brought to book. All this is done under the baleful eye of the President, whose authoritarian tendencies are well known. He has said that the 19th Amendment of the Constitution, which reduces Presidential power and gives some teeth to oversight bodies, is a hindrance to the nation. A putsch would lead to even more human rights violations and an even greater weakening of the democratic space and militarisation of the public service.

 

On June 2 this year the President appointed a task force led by the Secretary of Defence Major-General Kamal Guneratne to oversee the management of archaeological sites in the Eastern Province. It includes Major General Suresh Sally, the recently appointed Director of Intelligence. There are credible allegations of war crimes committed by Major General Sally during the civil war. One such allegation, never investigated, was that he played a pivotal role in coercing a doctor to give false testimony by illegally detaining and threatening him, a doctor who was treating Tamil civilians attacked by both sides during the civil war. How unbiased can Sallay be when assessing their claims? The task force includes two Buddhist priests, one of whom is chief priest of the northern and eastern provinces. Their bias towards pan-Sinhala ideology seems to be the reason they were appointed, despite their lack of archaeological and historical expertise. The bona fides of many of the task force are questionable and no women were appointed. Tamil-speaking people are the majority community in the area, but given the makeup of the task force their culture and tenure of the land are unlikely to be taken into account.

 

The President has used the paralysis of parliament to appoint a military-heavy task force dedicated to creating ‘a virtuous disciplined and lawful society’. The irony would verge on the absurd if the views of some of its members were not so chilling. The Chairperson Major-General Kamal Gooneratne’s views on democracy are well known. In a recent speech in the presence of the President, and with his fans openly applauding and laughing, he stated that those who want to change the constitution are traitors. He wants them dead. But that is not enough: he doesn’t want to give them a proper burial. Buddhist priests should be banned from blessing them and providing consolation to their grieving families. This is where the mask of civility drops and not even lip-service is given to the key norms to a civilised democratic society – the right to dissent, political pluralism, accountability, transparency, social justice and communal harmony. These become the very things that must be extinguished in the name of a lawful society. And those who do it are above the law.

 

The actions, language and policies of the current President are reminiscent of many countries in South America in the latter half of the 20th century. A corrupt and malfunctioning state, riddled with nepotism and with a self-serving elite beholden to a foreign power, gives rise to a charismatic leader with a military background and mindset. He promises to clean the country up and talks of national self-renewal, but the corruption and maladministration worsen, and his family and supporters steal the nation’s wealth. In time the democratic forces regroup and try to clean up the economic and political mess these despots leave behind. Such leaders can currently be found in Brazil, Hungary, the United States and India. The current President’s political manoeuvring and rhetoric is eerily similar. They do enormous damage to the social and economic fabric of a nation.