Friday 20th September, 2024

Some presidential candidates seem to believe in their own Goebbelssian claims that their victory in tomorrow’s election is certain. They pretend that it’s all over bar the shouting and they are busy planning what to do after being sworn in! Let them be told that the people have not spoken yet.

Political observers and psephologists have opined that for the first time since 1982, when the first presidential election was held in this country, an unprecedented situation is very likely to play out tomorrow, with preferential votes having to be counted for the next President to be chosen.

The Election Commission (EC) has urged the public to exercise patience in case of a delay in announcing the final results due to the counting of preferential votes. It has explained very lucidly the process of counting votes and electing the next President, and vowed to ensure the integrity of the electoral process at any cost. It deserves public support.

Sri Lankans may be famous for many things, but informed voting is certainly not one of them. They made colossal blunders at previous elections, especially the last presidential contest. Looking for a messiah, they voted for a person, who messed up the economy and showed them a clean pair of heels. There is no end to their search for heroes, and crafty politicians make themselves out to be saviours and capture power. To quote a Brechtian aphorism, ‘Pity the land that needs heroes’.

There is no gainsaying that economic revival must be foremost among the priorities of the person to be elected the next President. There are numerous uphill tasks to be accomplished; they include the resolution of the debt crisis and bringing down the cost of living. But humans cannot live by material goods alone; they cherish their democratic rights, which provide a sense of agency, community and purpose.

It may be recalled that a popular uprising plunged Bangladesh into chaos last month even though there were no queues for essentials, which were freely available. Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina was ousted, and dozens of government politicians, officials and supporters were reportedly lynched. It has been alleged that there was a foreign hand behind trouble in that country, but it was the suppression of democratic rights of the people that made it possible for protesters to rally enough support for their anti-government campaign. Libya used to be a textbook example of a welfare state, under President Muammar Gaddafi, but the people staged an armed uprising, backed by the West, to win their democratic rights. Gaddafi was assassinated. Anarchy is reigning in that country today.

The present-day youth are more conscious of democratic rights and keener to safeguard them than others, and they are bound to rebel if their rights are violated on the next President’s watch. Hence the pressing need to ensure that the person to be elected President and the party he represents have no history of suppressing democratic dissent violently. The mere fact that politicians and their parties contest elections is no proof of their commitment to democracy; even Hitler rose to power through elections, vowing to make Germany great again. It is therefore imperative that the public refrain from voting for any candidate unless they are absolutely confident that they will be able to remove that individual from office democratically in case of his ascension to the most powerful position in the county and subsequent failure to live up to their expectations. Otherwise, there will be chaos, bloodshed and political instability, which will derail the economic recovery process.

There are several possible politico-economic scenarios, one of which can be expected after tomorrow’s presidential election: economy revives, but democracy comes under attack; economy is mismanaged, but democracy is free from suppression; economy is managed satisfactorily and democracy is preserved, and both economy and democracy are in danger. Obviously, the ideal scenario is the one where the wellbeing of both the economy and democracy is ensured. It is crucial for the people to choose a democratic candidate with a competent team capable of managing the economy efficiently and combating corruption, if they are to avoid regrets.

Thursday 19th September, 2024

The mandatory cooling-off period prior to an election is time for reflection. But it is doubtful whether Sri Lankans make the best use of it, for informed voting is a rarity in this country. Promises, rhetoric, handouts, gimmicks such as inflated crowds usually sway voters if the voting patterns at the last few elections are any indication. One can only hope that there will be a difference this time around, and the public will vote wisely.

All formidable candidates in the presidential fray are making various claims and trading allegations. The irony of something that NPP presidential candidate Anura Kumara Dissanayake said at a campaign rally in Kurunegala, on Tuesday, may not have been lost on political observers and analysts. Making a crude caricature of SJB candidate Sajith Premadasa and castigating President Ranil Wickremesinghe, Dissanayake traced the genesis of the present economic crisis to reckless borrowing during the UNP-led UNF (Yahapalana) government from 2015 to 2019. Placing the total value of the loans obtained during that period at USD 13.5 billion, Dissanayake said that they had led to the current crisis; Wickremesinghe, who was boasting of having rid the country of queues for gas, automotive fuel, etc., had been trying to solve the problems the Yahapalana government had created. President Gotabaya Rajapaksa had paid for what the UNP-led government did between 2015 and 2019, Dissanayake said, taking pity on Gotabaya.

If the UNP-led government (2015-2019) had not resorted to heavy borrowing from external sources, fuel shortages would not have arisen, Dissanayake stressed. In saying so, he opened a can of worms for the presidential candidates who claim to be frontrunners and the political parties/groups they represent.

The JVP was instrumental in paving the way for the election of Maithripala Sirisena as President and the formation of the UNP-led government in 2015. While that administration was on a borrowing spree, issuing as it did International Sovereign Bonds, the JVP was honeymooning with the UNP, and therefore there is no way the JVP/NPP can absolve itself of the responsibility for the disastrous outcome of heavy borrowing between 2015 and 2019, and the resultant aggravation of the country’s forex crisis. The JVP unwaveringly stood by the UNP-led government and went so far as to help Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe retain a parliamentary majority following an attempt by President Sirisena to dislodge that regime in October 2018.

Moreover, the JVP/NPP derived a turbo boost for its election campaign from Aragalaya, which came about mostly due to the country’s foreign reserve crisis. Is it that the JVP/NPP has gained mileage from a crisis it helped create, albeit unwittingly, by helping the Yahapalana government remain in power until 2019? Isn’t the JVP culpable on multiple counts for the people’s current predicament. This is the blowback of Dissanayake’s scathing attack on Wickremesinghe in Kurunegala.

Interestingly, all other prominent presidential candidates also cannot deny culpability for what has befallen the country during the Yahapalana government and the incumbent regime. Dilith Jayaweera has credited himself with the successful propaganda campaign that propelled Gotabaya to power in 2019. Sajith was a powerful minister in the Yahapalana government, which worsened the country’s debt crisis. Namal is one of the Rajapaksas, who mismanaged the economy, ran away, catapulted Wickremesinghe to the highest position in the country and provided him with a parliamentary majority. Wijeyadasa Rajapakshe was in the Cabinets of both the Yahapalana administration and the current government.

All these candidates pretend to be on a mission to deliver the hapless Sri Lankans from their suffering, but Dissanayake has unintentionally thrown light on the sins of the self-proclaimed saviours.

Wednesday 18th September, 2024

There has been an increase in the recirculation of videos of past incidents via the Internet to confuse the public ahead of the forthcoming presidential election, the police have said, requesting the public not to be misled by such misinformation campaigns. They have warned that stringent action will be taken against those who are responsible for circulating such videos.

One can only hope that the public will be able to see through such propaganda ruses. It may be recalled that on the day of the 2010 presidential election, while voting was in progress, some state-owned media outlets stooped so low as to float baseless stories which were detrimental to the interests of the then common presidential candidate of the Opposition, Sarath Fonseka, but thankfully the Election Commission (EC) moved in swiftly to stop them. No such action may be possible against errant social media outfits which have become a law unto themselves.

Anything is possible in this digital age, as is common knowledge. The Internet is awash with doctored videos and other such propaganda material. Artificial Intelligence (AI) has made possible what was considered impossible a few years ago, and AI-generated videos are in circulation, promoting or vilifying presidential candidates.

Propaganda campaigns are being carried out, according to Rafferty’s rules in the digital space, which is polluted by half-truths, mistruths and lies. Deepfake has become the order of the day if the sheer number of digitally manipulated images and videos doing the rounds on the Internet is any indication. The situation is bound to take a turn for the worse during the mandatory cooling-off period, which commences tomorrow.

The mainstream media outfits, save a handful, usually abide by the guidelines set out by the EC, which has warned that noncompliance will be severely dealt with, but they usually prove ineffective in regulating social media.

Misinformation has become a money-spinner. Cyber manipulators are already in overdrive, and what they will do during the mandatory campaign blackout period is anybody’s guess. Literally, they have the potential to set the country ablaze, as was seen in the aftermath of the savage SLPP goon attacks on the Galle Face protesters in May 2022, when the flames of retaliatory violence which left a government MP dead and many houses belonging to the ruling party politicians gutted were mostly stoked by social media posts. Besides, Sri Lankans have earned notoriety for mass hysteria, episodes of which are numerous.

One may recall that hundreds of thousands of people rushed to a village in Kegalle, during the Covid-19 pandemic, to buy an untested herbal syrup touted as a miracle cure. There have also been several instances where large crowds gathered near some religious statues, claiming that rays were emanating from them. Many people also fell for a story that a massive cobra had emerged from the Kelani Ganga ahead of a past presidential election. In the aftermath of the Xpress Pearl ship disaster in 2021, some social media activists triggered panic buying of salt, of all things; they claimed that there would be a shortage of table salt owing to sea pollution. Salt remained in short supply for weeks on end. The possibility of some sinister elements active on the Internet scaring the public into stocking up on food and fuel in a frenzied manner in view of the forthcoming election cannot be ruled out. It behoves the government to go all out to counter such moves.

Let the police and the EC be urged to redouble their efforts to prevent disruptive elements from spreading misinformation to confuse the public and plunge the country into chaos at this crucial juncture.