Congratulations and cautionary notes

Here’s wishing Anura Kumara Dissanayake heartiest congratulations on behalf of all those bleeding hearts that yearned for systemic change 

The ‘too close to call’ Presidential poll has been called and lo, the name of Anura Kumara Dissanayake (AKD) heads all the rest. Case closed, with the pundits who predicted the necessity to appeal to the preferential voting silenced? Perhaps not, for there is cause for proceeding with caution:

In the first flush of a famous victory, AKD and his colleagues may be inclined to interpret their fearless leader’s electoral landslide as incontrovertible proof of his popularity, as much as a mandate to implement the National People’s Power (NPP) manifesto with aplomb and despatch. 

But it is best for ‘business as unusual’ to sound a warning note in the bell-like ear of the Janatha Vimukthi Peramuna (JVP) stalwart who is now unequivocally Sri Lanka’s tenth Executive President. 

For nations, peoples and electorates that once proceeded on the appeal of the ‘Great Man’ theory of political leadership have come a-cropper in less time than it takes to say “I am the state”.

It is not being churlish to chide any careless interpreter of the election result as an endorsement of Marxism, socialism or communism in any form. As the enemies of change mistakenly – or maliciously – alleged were the planks AKD’s platform stood on. 

It would also be churlish not to thank outgoing President Ranil Wickremesinghe for steering Sri Lanka between the Scylla of post-bankruptcy desperation and the Charybdis of a House and State captive to elites and vested interests, although in the same breath we may well condemn the absence of legitimacy in an albeit legal interim tenure that only strengthened the ancien régime. 

To more discerning minds uncluttered by propaganda then, as much as unbiased appraisals seeking clarity and cohesion for the sake of country and communities on the way forward now, we must be unequivocal in praise for an adroitly managed centrist campaign based on the hopes of real change inspiringly commingled with visionary ideas about what social justice may look like, under a regime reliant on republican virtues rather than cronyism, connections and corruption.

After us, the Deluge – that is the warning (if AKD has read his revolutionary history right) that must resonate in the heart and mind of a resolute yet realistic leader who recognises that despite his fantastic headlong rush into the corridors of power and influence for the first time in Sri Lankan history that a ‘third-force candidate’ managed, half the country did not vote for him.  

So without pulling any punches or presuming to preach proceeding with caution to our new President, here’s wishing Anura Kumara Dissanayake heartiest congratulations on behalf of all those bleeding hearts that yearned for systemic change since the Aragalaya flared up and was fought down by the old guard, now trounced and soon to be denounced? 

As much as hopefully urging our new Head of State to be more of a unifying factor for all citizens desirous of living with peace with justice, as well as prosperity with equitability.

Before we go, and lest we be compelled to repeat the bitter lessons of our shared grief in recent history, permit us to sound a cautionary note amidst the voiced congratulations of a country and whispered condemnations of a city sulking about equity being bad for ‘business as usual’.

This is potentially the beginning of a new era of equitable representation for all people and non-partisan interests. If the early years of an AKD presidency get it right in the indubitably challenging days and weeks ahead, the right signal may well be sent out to a polity straining at the leash for a Parliamentary reset. 

Between aiming for dissolving a House with an Old Guard rump stymieing any hope of real change, managing the IMF’s hopefully more social-equity oriented and nuanced approach to fiscal management, and delivering on promises made to sundry demographics on the campaign trail, AKD has his work cut out for him.

Here is hoping that the country’s bubbling enthusiasm won’t have cause to cool down any time in the next five years.   

| Editor-at-large of LMD | ‘Change, Social Justice & Risk’ v. ‘Continuity, Stability, Same Old Stuff’ |