Wednesday Nov 06, 2024
FT
Wednesday Nov 06, 2024
Wednesday, 6 November 2024 00:20 - - {{hitsCtrl.values.hits}}
SLPP Colombo district candidate Milinda Rajapaksa
President Anura Kumara Dissanayake is following former Presidents – Ranil Wickremesinghe and Mahinda Rajapaksa – when it comes to reforms and infrastructure development, Sri Lanka Podujana Peramuna (SLPP)’s Colombo district candidate Milinda Rajapaksa said.
Rajapaksa, who has drawn his plans for Colombo based on three principles, said the Government lacks innovative approaches for the country’s future and is facing a challenge of keeping the promises they gave before the Presidential elections, alive.
“The NPP was condemning the state intelligence agencies to get a political mileage but now President Anura Kumara’s stance about these agencies is different,” he said adding that the National People’s Power (NPP) will bring senior JVPers more at the ground level to the parliament than the young NPPers.
He told the Daily FT in an interview that he has no regrets for senior politicians leaving politics because that had opened a path for a completely new generation of politicians to emerge, which is a good development in the country’s political landscape.
Following are the excerpts of the interview:
Q: Why do you want to contest from the SLPP, which has lost its vote base and majority of people rejecting its political representatives?
A: My political decision was not based on SLPP’s victory or losing popularity but on the party’s ideology. I have always been aligned to a very clear political ideology and clear outcome which is social democracy. I still believe that the SLPP is the best party which can give a leadership to this ideology. There are thousands of people who believe in this and hold to the SLPP whether it gains a victory or loses in elections.
Q: You have been strongly aligned to the politics of the Rajapaksas; how do you see their survival in politics in the future?
A: I was never aligned with or worshipped any particular political figure or a family but I was strongly following the political ideology, especially former President Mahinda Rajapaksa’s ideological leadership to our camp. Therefore, we always protected him, stood for him and supported him. Your political survival depends on your conduct and how you continue in politics. It belongs to individuals.
When you look at the present political landscape this is clearly evident with a number of senior politicians leaving politics or not contesting at the forthcoming elections and new young political figures emerging breaking the traditional political system in the country.
I have no regret of seniors leaving politics because that has opened a path for a completely new generation of politicians to emerge, which is a good development which has turned traditional political conversations among people which were basically centred on food, electricity or water price hikes. Now people are talking about more complex issues like money printing, inflation, tax rates, negotiation of debt restructuring, the relationship we have with India and China and other domestic and global issues.
Q: However, do you see a future for SLPP and can it secure a sizable portion in the Parliament?
A: I think the problem in present day politics is that no leader is giving proper leadership to the liberal democratic camp. The Samagi Jana Balawegaya’s (SJB) leader Sajith Premadasa has absolutely failed. I believe that the SLPP has a great opportunity to take the leadership of the Opposition, which should agree with the Government with good things and opposing for that will affect the country. We believe the role of the Opposition should not be limited to speeches but it should lobby within and outside the parliament to support or correct the Government’s decisions.
Q: Many new faces like you with no experience of serving people are contesting at the forthcoming General Elections. Do you think, if they are elected to the Parliament, that they can resolve the serious economic and social issues in the country?
A: This will not be an issue. The NPP will be able to secure more seats in the new Parliament but there will not be young NPPers as they will bring more senior JVPers coming from village level to the Parliament. Now, the hopes of a lot of young NPP candidates have been lost. The real new faces coming to the new Parliament are from the SLPP, Ranil Wickremesinghe’s party and SJB. Therefore, a lot of young politicians will not represent the Parliament this time.
On the other hand, those who are coming from the NPP to the Parliament will have serious issues as many are not having experience of even governing a cooperative society. This will be the biggest challenge that they will face.
Q: Some of the top SLPP politicians have been accused of corruption and rejected by people, who want to get back the stolen money and assets from them. How do you respond to this allegation?
A: I am avoiding answering these allegations as I am coming from a very ordinary family, where my mother is a government servant and my father is a farmer. We have nothing to do with those political families and those politicians. I strongly believe in law enforcement authorities and the judiciary, which must do justice if anyone has taken or utilised public resources beyond the authority given. If so, they should be brought before the law of this country to justice. I have no intention to defend anyone who has misused the country’s resources.
Q: Colombo district was turned into a modern and clean city due to several initiatives taken by the former President Gotabaya Rajapaksa, when he was the Defence Secretary. As a contestant from the Colombo district, what are the issues that you are looking to solve, if you are elected?
A: Most important thing that I have realised from former President Rajapaksa’s experience is that people are not thankful or grateful for implementing such infrastructure development. Former President Mahinda Rajapaksa completely elevated Sri Lanka as a model for a developed country with modern infrastructure and Gotabaya Rajapaksa transformed Colombo to a modern city. But people in Colombo never voted supporting both of them as political divisions are much greater than the service that the politicians delivered to the Colombo district.
My entire campaign is based on three principles – liberty or freedom, equity and justice. I meant by liberty that there should be freedom to anyone who comes to Colombo to achieve their dreams with no discrimination as people from four corners of the country come to Colombo mainly to fulfil their dreams.
Secondly it is equity. Colombo is a city where both the poorest and richest persons are living and we have to give them both equal opportunities and we should allocate different resources to people who are coming from different backgrounds.
Justice is the third pillar. Today, 75% of Colombo city is based around a few schools where people try to use fake addresses and teach lies to their young kids to get them admitted to these schools which people think are the best schools in the country. How can we do justice to people coming from different areas and different backgrounds if few resources are centred on few schools and locations? I think irrespective of your social and educational differences, law and order should be equal to everyone in Colombo.
Q: Why do you think people of Colombo should vote for you and why are your plans different from the other contestants in Colombo?
A: Apart from the three-principle concept, there are four pillars – health, education, model infrastructure development, and children and youth friendly administration – in my campaign which is different to the plans of other contestants. I will intervene only in the law making and policy making processes. The mental health aspect is one key area that I am looking at and the other is Non-Communicable Diseases (NCD), which will be improved through healthy lifestyles and food habits in this big city. I have been living with diabetes as a young person and I know how unfriendly the Colombo city is for young persons with NCD.
Under education, I am looking at improving facilities in schools in Colombo suburbs like in Maharagama or Avissawella, where facilities are equal to a school in Anuradhapura or Polonnaruwa. My plan is how best we can have equitable facilities for these schools in Colombo. Under this plan I am also looking at whether we can convert Colombo to an educational hub where kids from around the world come for education with improved facilities including security at schools and universities.
When you take infrastructure development in Colombo, it is completely unsustainable and these facilities do not cater to young children, elders and the differently abled persons.
I want to have a youth and children friendly governance system, where their voices are heard through a friendly dialogue to understand their problems. I will also have plans to provide opportunities for young people to contribute innovatively to enhance the city of Colombo.
Q: As a young politician what is your reading about President Anura Kumara’s six-week-old Government and if you are elected are you willing to support this Government?
A: Honesty, I am happy about what he is doing because he is not doing what he has promised but doing what we promised. He kept all senior officials, including the Central Bank Governor and Treasury Secretary, whom he said he hated and would remove immediately and put in jail once he was elected. But all of them are now performing with him. He is having the same privileges that all the previous presidents had even Prime Minister Harini Amarasuriya is enjoying all the facilities and luxuries that others had. He keeps borrowing money. He has made very good progress with the IMF and issued bonds. The President is very much liberal and democratic while being very much capitalist. This is what we also wanted.
If I am elected to the Parliament, I will work hard to execute the promises which my party and political ideology that I am aligned with. Since the President is also doing the same thing, I will be able to support most of these things and if he goes against them and if he pushes much towards leftist communist ideas then we will go against him.
It seems that the NPP Government does not have any new or innovative ways to run the country. President Anura Kumara is just following the path that Ranil Wickremesinghe took in terms of reforms and Mahinda Rajapaksa when it comes to infrastructure development. He follows both the leaders. With regard to national security, he can follow Gotabaya Rajapaksa. Earlier, the NPP was condemning the state intelligence agencies to get political mileage but now President Anura Kumara’s stance is different. This shows he is now on the correct path by following all previous leaders.
