The CHOGM-Showgm Week And The Cameron Challenge
Rajan Philips
The Rajapaksa Government’s weeklong tryst with CHOGM is over. Well witted Sri Lankans, ever ready for political wordplay, have aptly dubbed it: Show-gm! CHOGM and Showgm provided quite a week of political medley that saw a Youth Forum in Hambantota, the island’s investment centre-of-gravity; a People’s Forum in Galle, whose old charm is now fading away in Hambantota’s new glitter, and where no ordinary people were to be seen but only government dignitaries who travelled all the way from Colombo perhaps in the new summit limos to welcome and listen to President Rajapaksa and Commonwealth Secretary General Kamlesh Sharma; a Business Forum in Colombo where President Rajapaksa again touted his government ‘robust hub-strategy’ for economic takeoff but omitted mentioning casinos as the only hub that the government might ill-advisedly create; a Ministerial Meeting for Small States including a lecture-lunch by External Affairs Minister GL Peiris struggling as always to sustain his relevance amidst all the goings on; and the plethora of committee meetings that are standard conference fare for scurrying bureaucrats.
There were also before-and-after birthdays. Prince Charles celebrated his 65th birthday before the summit in the company of all the members of Sri Lanka’s first family. After the summit comes President Rajapaksa’s 69th birthday; and the current occupants of the old Wijeywardene Lake House have already announced Pirith celebration and Sangika Dana to 69 chosen Bhikkus to mark the occasion. Not to be outdone, the Ministry of Public Administration and Home Affairs decaled a National Flag Week from November 14 to November 19, calling on all households to fly the National Flag to observe, as the Ministry noted in a mouthful: “the Third Anniversary of the Second Term of the Presidency of President Mahinda Rajapaksa and the CHOGM meeting”.
A sideshow that could become a politically significant development was the attempted disruption of the Human Rights Festival at Sri Kotha by government thugs. The festival was organized by the United Force (Samaga Balavegaya) of opposition parties at Sri Kotha, the UNP headquarters, after no other venue could be found in Colombo due to fear of government retaliation. The thugs even targeted the vehicle of Opposition leader Ranil Wickremasinghe as it was trying to enter Sri Kotha premises. The upshot was that the new Leadership Council of the UNP decided to officially ‘boycott’ all Commonwealth ceremonies and events and instructed Ranil Wickremasinghe not to attend any of them. In the end, none of the opposition parties were present at the Commonwealth ceremonies and events. If the UNP Leadership Council were to play an equally assertive role in the future it could change the opposition political dynamic that has for so long been made dormant by whatever understanding that Ranil Wickremasinghe has been having with President Rajapaksa.
