The Best Brother In Arms

by Rajpal Abeynayake

(June 07, Colombo, Sri Lanka Guardian) People talk a great deal about president Rajapaksa and his brothers, and Al Jazeera’s Fauziah Ibrahim, demure lady though she is, could not help ask the president recently about his brothers, when she interviewed Mahinda Rajapaksa.

Well, various people may have various opinions about the president’s siblings and his relatives that Al Jazeera’s Ms. Ibrahim asked so curiously about in her interview.

But, I think the president’s real effective brother is Ranil Rajapaksa.
Ranil Rajapaksa is the leader of the UNP.

It is Ranil Rajapaksa who is insidiously helping the president and his team get away with many issues of bad governance etc., that Fauziah Ibrahim brought up at last week’s interview for instance.

Be made speaker

Ranil Rajapaksa for example, agreed without batting an eyelid, to the proposition that Chamal Rajapaksa should be made speaker.

He should have said no way - - - the institution of speaker cannot be at any time so organically linked to the president — the executive president - - - as that will be highly detrimental to the separation of powers that is a touchstone principle of democracy.

But Ranil Rajapaksa had other ideas. Ranil Rajapaksa was being besieged by his party members after the 14th or so - - we have lost count - - electoral defeat suffered by his party. His leadership was being questioned by the most ardent supporters of his party, including the leaders of the business community, who are traditionally the frontline backers of his political outfit.

So Ranil Rajapaksa played ball with the Rajapaksas and effectively said to the president, “you have your speaker, but have me as the leader of the opposition forever.’

It may seem as if I jest here, but no, not by a long shot.
The government would do anything to keep Ranil Rajapaksa in power because he is the most valuable sibling today, much more valuable than Gotabhaya Rajapaksa, Chamal Rajapaksa or Basil Rajapaksa — in fact absolutely more valuable than all three of them put together.

Ranil Rajapaksa is effectively gradually parleying more opposition MPs to the government side of the parliamentary isle —- and as a result, the two thirds majority of the government would soon expand to a five sixths, very likely...
Ranil Rajapaksa is basically leaving it to the JVP to oppose the government, and he is also directly depending on the substantial government agit-prop machine to save his own political skin within his party.

Playing directly into the hands

All that is fine, had it not meant that he is playing directly into the hands of the Rajapaksa government.

Ranil Rajapaksa is also making it certain that there is no middle ground or opposing territory in the country. For example, today the UNP is clamouring to be majoritarian, and ultra-nationalist, because the people have overwhelmingly voted, it appears, for an ultra nationalist political line.

It is true, people have voted for an ultra nationalist ruling cabal at the top, and this is because of Ranil Rajapaksa’s inability to communicate any other line, effectively to the people, or to market even a rudimentary opposing view.

This had created great agency for the ultra nationalist line, to the point where it can be said that Ranil Rajapaksa is today the chief policy propagandist for Mahinda Rajapaksa.

So there — he is the really valuable Rajapaksa brother today.
Ranil Rajapaksa also has no effective antidote for the Mahinda Rajapaksa line on the so-called Tamil issue.

In theory he is pro Norway and all that, and of course he tried his best to see that Prabahkaran was not killed and that there was no end to the war.
But now that all that is over, Ranil Rajapaksa stays shtoom on the devolution issue. Everybody, meaning everybody and his infant brother knows that this is a time in which a devolution project is being pushed.

The merits and demerits of that — now that’s a different matter. But while the whole world seems to be saying devolve power soon, Ranil Rajapaksa stays mute, congratulating David Cameron for his ascent to the premiership in England, and getting involved in such splendid high-teas and other arcane diversions.

Basically Ranil Rajapaksa is at Mahinda Rajapaksa’s beck and call. Those days he made a grand show of not speaking to the president and getting into bad moods, but now, he knows there is eternal value for a man who is in a weak position as he is, in sidling up to the strong president.

Ceded power

Basically Ranil Rajapaksa has ceded power to the Rajapaksas for the next twelve years at least, and it appears his plan is to have a shot at the presidency when all the Rajapaksas have left the political arena, in 2024 perhaps.

I would say that this Rajapaksa brother, Ranil Rajapaksa, is the greatest asset in the trust department too. President Mahinda Rajapaksa doesn’t tire of saying that his brothers are in top positions because they enjoy his supreme trust. What’s wrong with that, he often asks.

If that is true, Ranil Rajapaksa can be trusted to lose every time he contests for the post of president, and he can be trusted to lead the opposition to defeat each time the opposition faces an election.

Mahinda Rajapaksa can go on absolute blind trust with this brother of his.
He may not wear the saataka but he enjoys the good life, and has grown into the job of opposition leader so much that we can visualise him writing his memoirs - - “A Lifetime of Supporting the Government.’’

Ranil Rajapaksa is the ultimate match-fixer. He has fixed Sri Lanka’s electoral encounters for so long now, that basically the bookmakers know if Ranil is playing, the other side is always without exception handed the victory.

Look, there is no more labouring this point, it’s wholly unnecessary. Ranil Rajapaksa is the most valuable brother that President Mahinda Rajapaksa has in his family. It’s an established verity — save for one detail.

This brother’s real name is Ranil Wickremesinghe.

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