By Rohana R. Wasala
The high rating President Mahinda Rajapaksa has got at the online 2011 TIME 100 Poll (4th place on the list) may be taken as an unintended New Year gift (and in effect, it would give some consolation) to the beleaguered Sri Lankans at a time when they are facing an onslaught of diplomatic terrorism as a punishment for the crime of having put behind them thirty years of relentless terrorist violence unleashed on the nation by a fascist organization with the moral and material support of outsiders. Whether this event itself is the result of a misfired ‘international’ political stratagem against the country is yet to be seen. But it has positive implications for us.
Following is how Mr Rajapaksa was introduced to the potential voters (the TIME readers):
Age: 65
Occupation: President of Sri Lanka
Previous TIME 100 appearances: 0
Since ending Sri Lanka's 26-year-long war against the Tamil Tigers in 2009, and grabbing control over once independent institutions like commissions on human rights and elections, Mahinda Rajapaksa has come to dominate the institutions of his nation more than any other democratically elected head of state. He challenged the U.S., the European Union and the U.N. to prosecute him for war crimes, confident that Russia, China and India would not support it — the latter two have billions of investment at stake in Sri Lanka.
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