The 20th Through The Eyes Of A Helpless Citizen

The majority who voted at 2019 presidential polls are silent about the present head of state’s fondness to retain the presidency and give the position more powers. The powerful position JR created for himself gave him wings and made him invincible or better untouchable In a way Gotabaya wants to be like a ‘king’ and a Sinhala Buddhist nation like Sri Lanka, is not new to this concept

- Ravi Nagahawatte

In the mornings now the traffic on the left lane in Colombo areas moves painfully slowly. The word painfully is closely associated with life and politics in Sri Lanka. We as a nation have learned our lessons quite painfully; for example voting for a president like JR Jayewardene (JR) who created a powerful post for him called the executive president.

That powerful position JR created for himself gave him wings and made him invincible or better untouchable. That was the time the United National Party was in power and though the ‘greens’ spoke of democracy and consensus what they did to destroy the JVP uprising in the late 1980s showed how dictatorial the regime was.

Though the executive presidency was portrayed as tailormade for the UNP or the elite class doing politics and the prime ministership was a tool to work closely with the masses subsequent presidents after JR got the taste of being in this immensely powerful position and chose to safeguard it. Starting with Chandrika Kumaratunga, Mahinda Rajapaksa and President Maithripala Sirisena they all spoke of abolishing the executive presidency when on the ‘hot seat’, but changed their minds.

The same thinking is shared by the present regime headed by Gotabaya Rajapaksa. What’s strange now, after so many years of frowning at this presidency, is that the majority who voted for Rajapaksa at the 2019 presidential election are silent about the present head of state’s fondness to retain the presidency and give the position more powers. Some posts on social media are scary. One post states that Sri Lankans voted for a dictator and there is nothing wrong in that.