In July 2022, angry Sri Lankan protesters stormed government buildings such as the President's House, the Presidential Secretariat, and the Temple Trees (the official residence of the Prime Minister). This spelt the downfall of the Rajapaksa political dynasty (Gotabaya was president who resigned during the period). The family's regime used populist terrorism and demagogy to assert power, and was infamous for its strict organic-only pesticide policy that infuriated farmers (read more), the persecution of Muslims (read more), the rehabilitation of the firebrand Buddhist monk Galagoda Aththe Gnanasara Thero of the extremist group Bodu Bala Sena (BBS; Buddhist Power Force), the "One Country, One Law" policy, and the majority ownership of PR China to Hambantota Port, the country's second largest port.
But what infuriated the Sri Lankan masses the most is not the democratic backsliding but the extensive expenditure for the PRC-backed white elephant projects and the resultant economic crisis. The Rajapaksas' popularity waned, as they deserve it, but a new disturbing force is ready to replace them, abusing the spirit of the Aragalaya-- the Struggle in Sinhala-- the movement that toppled the Sinhala far right.
Opposition forces contributed in the movement, and one of which is the National People's Power (NPP), a left-wing alliance; its leader is Anura Kumara Dissanayake of the far-left Janatha Vimukthi Peramuna (JVP; People's Liberation Front), being one of the two frontrunners of Saturday's elections, the first since the success of the Aragalaya. The Islamophobia and Tamilphobia are absent, and Dissanayake and Gnanasara clash with each other, but those are no guarantee to national progress under the NPP.
Foreign policy is a critical criterion for me, so I give an automatic red flag to one party for alignment to anti-democratic forces. JVP had a history of supporting and receiving support from despotic movements, like the Arab Socialist Baath Movement (Saddam; download JVP history as PDF here) and the Workers' Party of Korea. In the case of the latter, Dissanayake condemned the Sri Lankan authorities for imposing UN sanctions against DPR Korea, claiming it was a socialist state to be supported. I stumbled upon a video uploaded on the subreddit r/srilanka, and I tried to look for its source but failed, but I don't question its content about Dissanayake's praise for DPRK and the Castrista regime of Cuba, given JVP's explicit support.
So does the NPP support the regimes of Vladimir Putin and Xi Jinping? The alliance posted updates on its website on Russian and China Communist Party officials meeting party officials. China. Rajapaksa. Projects. It will be a repeat of the white elephants, I'm sensing more Hambantota ports on the way. This is desecration of the Aragalaya.
Opinion polls show nobody reaching 50%, so likely there would be a second round, but Dissanayake and Sajith Premadasa of Samagi Jana Balawegaya (SJB; Uniited People's Power), another Aragalaya adherent, are the favourites. Sri Lanka will go wrong with electing the former; this would just show the masses learned nothing from the horrors of the Rajapaksa regime.
Article posted on 19 September 2024, 22:04 (UTC +08:00).
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