By Rear Admiral Y. N. Jayarathna (Retd)
The recently held presidential election in Sri Lanka has opened the doors for a new and younger political leadership in the island nation. Anura Kumara Dissanayake’s ascension from a third-party candidacy to President was not a journey of comfort and pleasure, since along the way he was pitted against two traditional family-driven political moguls.
However, the organization and thinking that AKD represented endured all these and today his party are in power. I believe that all young potential political leaders from all parties should work to protect and thrive this newfound freedom by supporting the President in his drive for political reforms.
It goes without saying that this was the change even my generation has been yearning for, even in our fifties! None of the traditional political parties here allowed young energetic political leaders to emerge. The newly created Pohottuwa (the Sri Lanka Podujana Peramuna), as we learnt soon enough after it won presidential polls in 2019 and parliamentary elections in 2020, was no different, as it was tightly controlled by family interests and agenda.
Unsurprisingly, this trend is even visible in Tamil and Muslim political parties as well, where traditional leaders simply keep on dominating and bargaining for favors at the expense of the younger generation.
What is significant in these so-called minority political parties is that they always lean on ethnicity and follow a strategy of bargaining with traditional parties. They thrive on such strategies but, in my view, have lost a grand opportunity to push forward the cause of national unity and reconciliation.
I believe strongly that in the upcoming general election these elements – that is, the family centric political parties – will all gather around to protect the political and voting culture that is beneficial to them, at the cost of nation’s next level of leadership.
The signs were already there at the recent election, with then President Ranil Wickremesinghe himself declaring that the economy’s recovery depended on him winning. Similarly, within the Opposition, it was visible from the leadership in those parties how centralized the decision-making process was, with no room for Young Turks.
The failures of both the then incumbent and mainstream Opposition to absorb new thinking patterns among voters cost them heavily at the election.
It is not that we lack true political leaders in our parties, rather that the avenues and pathways for them to perform beyond expectations has been limited. I surmise that, in this regard, even Namal Rajapaksa’s decision to contest was bold and courageous, despite the drubbing he was sure to get at the polls.
Rajapaksa endured, and I am sure he is now aware of his actual political base, away from diehard supporters of his family who are now with Ranil Wickremesinghe. He should continue to build on the base he secured and should convince supporters, potential and actual, of his intention to carve a new political trajectory, away from the past.
Regarding other parties, in the SJB, the likes of Harsha de Silva and Eran Wickramaratne were somewhat curtailed by the top-tier leadership in their party. Yet they represent a different way of thinking in our political landscape. I think the same can be said for Field Marshal Sarath Fonseka. Yet in our political culture, my guess is that he may never succeed so long as everyone rejects him on the grounds of thinking differently from the leadership.
A similar fate has befallen minority leaders. I do not think anyone will give an opportunity for a young, budding figure like Arun Siddarthan, as traditional political parties would not want to see any Jaffna based young leadership rise up to challenge them!
These “Colombo Cocktail Circuit” Tamil politicians, who were educated in Colombo schools and domiciled in Colombo, want their vote base intact in Jaffna, even at the cost of national leadership. They will surely not groom the next generation coming up from the grassroot level despite how good these youngsters are. What of the potential for a new younger leadership within the Muslim community. Even here, prospects are dim.
Under these circumstances, I opine that the new young emerging political leadership should stand on their feet. They be bold enough to challenge and to succeed. Politics is a challenging field and anyone who chooses to pursue it will be in for much disappointment. But where is the fine line we must draw between the vagaries of politics in Sri Lanka and the severe constraints that the new political leadership class are facing?
I firmly think this is where the public should come in, with think tanks and media managing things more sensibly and much more responsibly. Government officials also have a role to play. Be they divisional secretaries of military officials, it is for the common good of Sri Lanka that they all, and we all, need to nurture our next line of political leaders.
For this I believe the senior generation has got lot to do. Unfortunately, this generation has failed by us massively. As an analyst, I can candidly say that I too have failed, because when I point out these issues, my superiors have done everything they can to cut me off, thereby killing the messenger rather than understanding my concerns and working to address them.
Yet it cannot be denied that political cultures change, some much faster than we normally assume. This phenomenon is applicable to all countries, and not just Sri Lanka. In the 1990s, for instance, the Indian Parliament had more warlords than it does today. Yet now, they all are being replaced by efficient, educated intellectuals. Let us hope President AKD’s ascension will give more room for the next line of leadership. Sri Lanka needs it, urgently.
Rear Admiral Y. N. Jayarathna (Retd) was the Chief of Staff and Chief Hydrographer of the Sri Lanka Navy and Joint Chief Hydrographer to the Sri Lankan Government. On retirement his services have been secured by the United Nations as an International Consultant for Undersea Cables. He is presently engaged in consultancy role on matters maritime on freelance basis. He can be reached at ynjayarathna@hotmail.com.
Factum is an Asia-Pacific-focused think tank on International Relations, Tech Cooperation, and Strategic Communications accessible via www.factum.lk.
The views expressed here are the author’s own and do not necessarily reflect the organization’s.