The Apparent Opposition And The Real Opposition
By Malinda Seneviratne -May 11, 2014 |
Malinda Seneviratne
President Mahinda Rajapaksa knows better than most how to make the best out of a bad situation. He showed once again what an astute politician he is on May Day when he turned things around after key members of the ruling coalition declined to support what has been dubbed the ‘Casino Bill’. He said that there is room in the Government for dissent. More importantly he said that things had come to a point where the only discernible opposition was already within the United People’s Freedom Alliance.
Now, given his readiness to embrace anyone and everyone, the UPFA certainly looks like a massive bedroom housing strange bedfellows. One would expect this to be a recipe for friction, defection and eventual collapse. After being in power for more than a decade it is an indictment on the sad state of the opposition that regime-hating commentators have been reduced to clinging to the casino-opposition as evidence of fissure leading to inevitable regime-collapse.
So far, the UPFA has survived ‘regime-fatigue’, international pressure and regular own-goals at all levels. IfRanil Wickremesinghe’s biggest weakness, the fact that he has no close friends, is also his biggest strength; Mahinda’s biggest strength, the fact that he has many friends, is also his biggest weakness. In the play of strengths and weaknesses, so far, Mahinda Rajapaksa has prevailed. The negatives have not translated to a massive swing to the opposition. It seems, instead, that contrary to the usual trend of regime-displeasure translating into default-support for the opposition, the lack of a credible opposition reduces the people to back the regime according to a ‘known-devil-is-better’ logic. As a three-wheel driver recently summed up, ‘api bena bena aanduwatama chande denava’ (we continue to vote for the government even as we curse it).
This state of affairs, this strange benefitting from the non existence of a default option, is clearly not sustainable. Perhaps the ‘internal opposition’ is a relatively safe safeguard against collapse. But is that the only ‘opposition’ to Mahinda Rajapaksa? Read More
