De-escalate immediately

President Gotabaya Rajapaksa is not known to be a champion of democracy or a true believer in the concept. He was elected on a mandate for efficient leadership, tough decision-making and ‘changing of the system’ that would deliver on a much elusive economic prosperity. Things have gone considerably south since his election into high office in late 2019. 

Due to colossal mismanagement of the economy by the current regime, Sri Lanka is at the brink of economic collapse. People are literally dying on the streets waiting in one queue or the other. Every aspect of civic, social and economic life is affected. Under the weight of the cost of living and the daily struggles for survival it is but natural that people would turn their anger towards those who are responsible for this sad state of affairs. Protests, civil disobedience and even riots have to be expected under these circumstances.

The events at Mirihana, near the private residence of President Rajapaksa a few days ago started as a spontaneous protest by disgruntled citizens. Instead of addressing the issues that have alienated the public who had only two years ago given him a resounding mandate, President Rajapaksa has over-reacted in the worst possible manner. He has called in the military, imposed island-wide curfew, declared a state of emergency and blocked social media. None of these will work to restrain an angry populace that has now had enough of leaders who caused the greatest economic crisis in Sri Lanka’s post-independence history.

The bringing out the military to tackle what is at worst a public disobedience issue will only escalate the situation and open up for further mishandling of an already tense situation. President Rajapaksa of all people should have learnt the lessons of Rathupaswala where in 2013 the military was sent to curb civil unrest resulting in at least three people being shot dead. The military is not trained to handle such public unrest while the police are equipped to do so. Any over reaction by the military could only further ignite the peoples’ anger and escalate the current situation even further. While Rathupassala was an isolated, local incident, the current disturbance affects the whole country and cannot be curtailed even by unleashing State violence. 

Sri Lankans have been used to democracy now for 90 years. It is Asia’s oldest continuous democracy. Despite occasional irrationality, aspirations of ‘tough guy’ dictators and calls for Halters’ the Sri Lanka electorate has not known any other form of governance but democracy since 1931. It is not a citizenry that can be cowed down by threats of violence, arrests, curfews or intimidation. Thus, attempting to stifle the people’s right to protest and free expression is a futile exercise. Any such attempts will only rekindle the democratic instincts within the people, inherent and innate, even without their own knowledge. 

The president’s media unit termed the unrest near his private residence a call for ‘an Arab Spring’ orchestrated by ‘extremists’. It is a peculiar phrasing since the Arab Spring was a peoples’ movement which kicked out many dictators that had ruled several Arab countries for decades. Despite the results of the Arab Spring not being positive across the Middle East, it should be recalled that the main cause of the uprising was years of frustration, intimidation, persecution and repression of peoples’ freedom. 

If President Rajapaksa wants to prevent an ‘Arab Spring’ on his watch he needs to ensure that the people are allowed to express their opinion, freely, without fear or intimidation. Attempting to stifle such free expression will only further destabilise the country and make the eventual rupture more painful. President Rajapaksa should immediately de-escalate the situation, remove curfew, cancel the state of emergency, send back the military into barracks, and ensure the people’s right to free expression including their right to protest and to express opinions on social media.