The Northern Election And Historical Stumbling Tower Blocks By Dharisha Bastians The weight of political memory is proving a crushing force in the island’s north and south, as the country prepares for one of its most significant elections since the end of the war. Will Sri Lanka’s political baggage result in the loss of a major opportunity to move forward? Earlier this week, Economic Development Minister Basil Rajapaksa made what was possibly the most remarkable ruling party promise yet during its electioneering in the Northern Province. Thus far, UPFA election speeches have been confined to pleas of gratitude for liberation from the LTTE and post-war reconstruction, coupled with dire warnings about the ulterior motives of the Tamil National Alliance, which is likely to claim victory in the 21 September poll. Minister Rajapaksa struck a different note. Addressing a meeting in the Vaddukoddai electorate, considered a historic location in the timeline of the country’s ethnic conflict, Basil Rajapaksa vowed to hand over the Government’s much touted Uthuru Wasanthaya or “Northern Spring” programme over to the Provincial Government on 22 September, once the poll results were declared. Under the Minister’s Northern Spring programme, the formerly embattled province has seen rapid reconstruction and astounding infrastructure development, arguably the ruling administration’s one major accomplishment in terms of genuine nation building in the post-conflict phase. The reconstruction and physical development is constantly lauded, by visiting dignitaries, cynical locals and even the UN in Geneva, which views the fast-paced growth as being an important milestone in bringing former conflict zones up to speed with the rest of the island. Giving away the trump? If the Economic Development Minister is serious about what state media has called his ‘Vaddukoddai Declaration’ that would mean the Rajapaksa Administration is poised to give up one of its most prized trump cards to a provincial administration over which it will likely have little influence when the election is fought and likely lost, on 21 September. Perhaps that is why Minister Rajapaksa added a caveat: “There is a choice for the people on September 21. They should decide whether they want freedom, peace and development with self rule in the province by their own representatives or on the other hand they want a group that will lead them back to the dark era with rhetoric of self rule without any means or resources to develop the province.” The allusion is clear; a provincial administration backed by the Government will be heir to virtually unlimited resources and therefore able to carry Northern development activities forward at the same pace, while a TNA led Council will possess limited funds with which to improve living conditions in the North. The statement encapsulates in an almost tragi-comic way, the Government’s dilemma with regard to the Northern election. Why won’t Northerners bite? From the outset, Government insiders say, there has been a sense of resignation within the ruling coalition about the outcome of the Northern election. The UPFA is fighting in the Northern Province in essence to prevent a TNA sweep of the poll. The resources at its disposal are immense and the full might of the regime, including the formidable factor of personnel and military infrastructure available in the region, are being put behind candidates fielded by the Douglas Devananda led EPDP, a coalition ally of the Government. From the perspective of the regime, the Northern people have no reason not to vote for UPFA candidates. The end of war has meant the most to the people in former conflict zones and the areas are seeing more modernisation and development than any other part of the country. Economic growth in the region has been immense. A great deal to be thankful for as far as the ruling party is concerned. From its ‘reconstruction is reconciliation’ paradigm, the Rajapaksa regime will continue to view the peoples’ overwhelming preference for the TNA as being ethnically motivated or more likely consider it an endorsement of its own opinion that all those who reside in the north continue to be sympathetic to separatist ideologies – because after all, its own candidates in the fray are ethnic Tamils too. Why else would a ‘liberated’ people decline to support its ‘liberators’ and choose time and again the proxies of their enslavers? Read more: https://colombotelegraph/index.php/the-northern-election-and-historical-stumbling-blocks/
Posted on: Thu, 12 Sep 2013 04:59:49 +0000
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