Election outcome in SL important for region and world: Former US intelligence official

The outcome of Sri Lanka’s upcoming Parliamentary Elections was important for the region and the world as Sri Lanka was becoming a key transportation hub for South Asia, a former US intelligence official said.

Former United States Director of National Intelligence and retired US Navy admiral Dennis Blair, writing to The Diplomat magazine on the ‘American Stake in Myanmar and Sri Lanka’, said that the two Asian countries were in the midst of major political transformations with important and uncertain outcomes.

According to Admiral Blair, Sri Lanka’s Parliamentary Election on 17 August would determine whether the reforms of President Maithripala Sirisena, himself elected to the surprise of most observers in January, would continue.

He pointed out that the election outcomes in both countries were important for the region and the world.

“In a rapidly developing region, both are becoming key transportation hubs for South and Southeast Asia. Coming out of political isolation, both represent profitable investment opportunities; their annual GDP growth rates are over 6%. Probably most important, both have chosen democracy and open markets for their futures, at a time when authoritarianism and centralised economic systems are claiming superiority.”

The US official noted that in Sri Lanka, the two contending sides contrast starkly while in Myanmar the contrasts are not as black and white.

“Mahinda Rajapaksa was president for 10 years. In 2009, his forces finally crushed the prolonged and vicious Tamil insurgency. The brutal final stages of the Government victory, in which thousands died, were never acknowledged or investigated. Subsequently, Rajapaksa usurped more and more power into the office of the presidency, did little to reconcile the defeated Tamil minority and allowed his family to profit handsomely from their government connections, while his security forces harassed, attacked and sometimes killed critics,” Blair wrote.

Trying for a third presidential term, Rajapaksa was voted out of office in January of this year in favour of Sirisena, who quickly reversed many of his predecessor’s actions, restoring a democratic balance of power in the country.

Sirisena has now called a Parliamentary Election seeking a mandate to continue reforms and Rajapaksa and his supporters are attacking Sirisena and his policies and seeking to return to power to continue their authoritarian and divisive policies, Blair said.

According to the former intelligence official, domestic forces would determine the future of both Sri Lanka and Myanmar.

“Most important will be the results of the elections themselves, both of which appear on course to produce reliable results based on largely free and fair processes. The subsequent manoeuvres and agreements of the leaders of the various factions will play the critical role in the shape and speed of the next phase of democratic reform in both countries,” he said.

He recalled that the United States cooled relations as Rajapaksa’s regime became more oppressive, welcomed Sirisena’s election and Secretary of State John Kerry made a visit to Sri Lanka in May.

According to Blair, Washington has made it clear that the democratic progress must continue and that there must be accountability for the killings at the end of the civil war for bilateral relations to improve.

Noting that Sri Lanka wanted good relations, with more economic investment, the retired Admiral of the US Navy suggested that the US should support and encourage Sri Lanka’s democratic transformation given the recent positive developments in Sri Lanka.

“Brave men and women in both countries are taking risks and working hard to achieve them. We who enjoy these gifts already owe them support and encouragement.”

Admiral Dennis C. Blair is Chairman and CEO of the Sasakawa Peace Foundation USA, an independent American non-profit and non-partisan institution devoted to research, analysis and better understanding of the US-Japan relationship.