SOME THOUGHTS ON CURRENT ORTHODOXIES – SUNIL BASTIAN
(File photo: anti Muslim agitation in Colombo; “Don’t forget that there are extreme Sinhala nationalists waiting round the corner to make use of such a situation” says Sunil Bastian)
14/03/2016
The year 2009 is important for the post-colonial history of Sri Lanka, because in that year the most serious armed challenge to the territorial integrity of the country was defeated. Using military means, the territory was consolidated. Not only that, this marked the end of almost four decades of violent challenges to the state. In the process the Sri Lankan state has developed a formidable military machinery.
For the new period of capitalist transition that began in 1977, which emphasised markets, the private sector and openness to the global economy, the separatist demand of Sri Lankan Tamils and the ensuing armed conflict were the biggest challenge. Armed conflict did not allow the full potential in economic growth to be realised. It also had a direct negative impact on the economy. In 2001, for example, this conflict, along with other factors such as the downturn in the global economy and weather, contributed to negative growth for the first time in the post-colonial history of Sri Lanka. Therefore, the end of this challenge has created a better atmosphere for capitalist growth.
The defeat of Rajapaksa
What surprised many was, after the consolidation of the territory through military means, the electoral defeat of Mahinda Rajapakse in the January 2015 presidential election. Rajapakse not only gave political leadership to this historical event, but also ruled for ten years espousing a form of Sinhala nationalism that would have made him the hero of the Sinhala majority. Contrary to this expectation, a section of the Sinhala voters who voted for Rajapakse during the previous Presidential Election held in 2010, voted against him just five years later. If we take the Sinhala majority electoral districts, the drop in the Rajapakse vote between 2010 and 2015 is over 10 per cent in five of them and between 5 and 10 per cent in nine others.
