Ninety eight per cent success: Fact Or Fiction?

By Gamini Weerakoon

(January 11, Colombo, Sri Lanka Guardian) During our college days long years ago, those who claimed to have scored 98 per cent were either called cribbers or geniuses.

Last week our President Mahinda Rajapaksa claimed that he had scored 98 percent of his election manifesto — the Mahinda Chinthanaya — presented at the last election while his Secretary, Lalith Weeratunga said on TV that his boss had scored 92 percent. Never mind the discrepancy, you know who will correct whom. But this claim of 98 per cent is stupendous and cannot be ignored. It is like other great claims of the great man.

Growing rice and pines on the moon

The problem for us in checking the veracity of the statement is that we don’t have the text of this sacred Chinthanaya with us nor have we read it. Now don’t blame us. Who reads election manifestos — the turgid prose that promises the horses, asses and the masses everything on earth? Now that there is a shortage of rice in the Pettah market caused by the genius of Trade Minister Bandula Gunawardena and with reports that they have found water on the moon, there is quite a possibility of rice being imported from the moon as the erstwhile leader of the SLFP, Sirima Bandaranaike, promised in the sixties when the Soviets and Americans were trying to reach the moon.

It may be even possible that our export promotion enthusiasts will now attempt to grow pineapples on the dark side of the moon purely for export purposes while assuring the annasi eating yakkos that Gampaha Annasi will be aplenty for them.

No military solution in manifesto?

There are others who have cast doubts about this 98 per cent performance and this is only natural during election time. We went to the internet to find out about the successes and failures of the Chinthanaya and there appears to be quite a lot of doubters about this Chinthanaya magic. Some bloggers are even contesting the main claim of Rajapaksa: military success in defeating LTTE terrorism. The Chinthanaya, it is said, promises that on Rajapaksa winning the elections (in 2005) he would conclude negotiations with all political parties inside and outside parliament, clergy of all faiths, Tamil and Muslim organisations in the north and east within three months of coming to power and while the above process is underway, he would start direct discussions with the LTTE (that had not entered the democratic process) and for this purpose he intended meeting its leader as well.

Thus, it is argued that a military solution was not included in the Mahinda Chinthanaya and did not have the approval of the people. On the contrary Mahinda Rajapaksas’s greatest claim is that he had won the 30-year-old war on LTTE terrorism and this counts for 98 percent of his promises. If the military victory is taken away, the achievement will be close to zero.

Of course, the military victory today is hailed by most people but it has to be said that it was not in the original Rajapaksa thinking. It was all precipitated by the Mawilaru episode. The grand visionary, it appears has strayed from his own sacred text although now everything good that follows in this country, it is claimed, stems from this Chinthanaya.

Colossal disasters

As to the 98 per cent success claimed, the internet writers have listed a long list of disasters which we are not certain whether the manifesto has touched upon or not.
Some of the disasters unleashed on the people and the country quoted are: Rs 33,000 million fraud as stated in the COPE report; Loss of Rs. 6.6 billion by Mihin Lanka which had been given an additional Rs 3 billion; SriLankan Airlines losses of Rs.9.98 billion; CEB loses of Rs 39 billion; Ports Authority losses of Rs 3.5 billion; Petroleum Corporation losses of Rs 7.1 billion; SLTB losses of Rs 4.5 billion, Road Development Authority losses of Rs 9.9 billion; Tsunami donations unaccounted for Rs. 47 billion; Foreign Employment Ministry fraud Rs 100 million; Expenditure on 22 President’s Advisors Rs 150 million; 29 ministers ask for Rs 2.5 billion for over expenditure in buying luxury vehicles; Maga Neguma Project loss of Rs 1000 million; SriLankan Catering losses of Rs 9,000 million (last year’s profit being Rs 400 million).

Obviously there are much greater losses incurred during the four year rule of Rajapaksa such as on defence expenditure. It does appear that a billion rupees during this period was equivalent to a peanut, not even a cadju nut as we Sri Lankans used to say, because cadju nuts are so expensive. These figures do not account for the tragic loss of human lives that included 14 journalists killed in cold blood. Nonetheless the Chinthanaya bandwagon rolls on merrily.

Knee jerk racism

An ominous development last week was the reaction of the ruling party to the announcement that the Tamil National Alliance would extend their support to General Sarath Fonseka. The knee jerk reaction of the ruling party was an age old reflex: “Secret Pact between the TNA and Sarath Fonseka to divide the country.” This disgusting manthra has been repeated ad nauseam from the days of the Bandaranaike–Chelvanayakam Pact, Dudley-Chelva Pact, JR’s agreements with the TULF, Chandrika’s attempts at reconciliation and Ranil’s Ceasefire Agreement. What would happen to Mahinda Rajapaksa’s passionate pleas after May last year, for communal amity and unity?

If (A Serendipitous Find)

With apologies to Rudyard Kipling for distorting his famed lines.

If you can keep your head about you,
When your General is claiming victory which you say is your’s,
If you can keep your head cool about you,
When those around are doubting you and your brothers too.

If you can carry trays of flowers to appease the gods,
And take along camera crews and other odd bods,
You can make the masses believe that you are an arahat
Though the masses may say that’s all cock hat.

If you can be aloof to truths told about you and your brothers;
And call your accusers: rogues, scoundrels and traitors,
While you and your hurrah squads are all patriots true,
And all good people are SLFP Blue.

If you can swear to abide by the constitution,
And the next day call it a bahubootha abomination,
Ignore not only the 17th Amendment,
But whole of the damn JR Constitution!

Ban cut-outs and posters throughout the island,
And get Kudu Gemunu to plant them all round the land,
Get your hurrah boys to call you Maharajano,
And tell the masses you haven’t lost the common touch.

If you can do all that and more,
No one could touch you — no General, no Ranil Wicks.
On Jan 26 you can lead a happy band, And make Sri Lanka your family land!