“The program lasted for more than one hour. The entirety of the program was about the reason as to why the people of the country should express their gratitude to Mahinda Rajapaksha by voting for him.”……………………………………………….
(December 31, Colombo, Sri Lanka Guardian) Today’s (31st December 2009, 7 am Sri Lanka time) ‘Subharathi’ program was completely devoted to election propaganda in favour of one of the candidates, Mahinda Rajapaksha, with direct and indirect adverse and damaging references being made throughout the program against another candidate, General Sarath Fonseka. The program called people to vote for Mahinda Rajapaksha at the election on the 26th as an act of gratitude by the people of the country to their greatest leader.
The program producer was Sumith Bandara and the two persons interviewed during the program were Venerable Walpola Piyananda, a monk based in the United States, and Anagarika Dharmasekara. The theme of the program was on gratitude. It was meant to be a discussion of the Buddhist approach to the understanding of gratitude. However, the program was a cheap propaganda piece expressing adulation to Mahinda Rajapaksha and extorting people to vote for him as an act of gratitude. The other candidate, General Fonseka, was portrayed as an ungrateful person who should be shunned.
Though meant to be a religious discussion, in fact it was entirely a political discussion clothed in Buddhist language, making references to Arahath Mahinda and Sangamitha. Mahinda Rajapaksha was elevated in the discussion to the same status, and also compared with historical personalities such as Dutugamunu and other great kings. It was a piece of the most vulgar form of political propaganda.
The program lasted for more than one hour. The entirety of the program was about the reason as to why the people of the country should express their gratitude to Mahinda Rajapaksha by voting for him. Even the questions from outside through telephone were organized in a way to exemplify the virtues of Mahinda Rajapaksha and to portray General Sarath Fonseka as a villain.
During an election, the use of state media for propaganda on behalf of one of the candidates is a direct violation of the election law. The election commissioner should call for the recording of the program to be sent to him and should take further steps to ensure that the directors of the SLBC be warned against abusing the state media for election propaganda directly or indirectly. The ‘Subharathi’ program on the 30th of December (yesterday) was also designed for similar purposes.
The SLBC directors should initiate a disciplinary inquiry into the conduct of the program producer Sumith Bandara and the program directors that are conducting the ‘Subharathi’ program, and prevent these persons from carrying out any other programs during the period of elections. While pending inquiries, the employees of SLBC should be interdicted.
All opposition candidates should watch for the abuse of state media. The organizations monitoring the elections should monitor this aspect, and take these matters up with the election commissioner and in their reports.
-SLBC Watch
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