Sri Lanka’s Presidential Election & the True Face of the TNA

by Kumarathasan Rasingam, November 7, 2019

The cat is finally out of the bag. The secretly well-kept decision of TNA to back Sajith Premadasa of the United National Party is now disclosed 10 days before the election, after playing the hide and seek and cat and mouse games. TNA leadership particularly Sumanthiran and Sampanthan have been making often confusing and conflicting statements hiding the truth and playing the guessing game, sometimes accusing both Sajith Premadasa and Gotabaya Rajapaksha as unreliable who cannot be trusted and at other occasions leaving it to people to choose and vote for a candidate at their own choice exercising their democratic rights.

As accepted and predicted by political analysts who are familiar with TNA’S tricking wile tactics, Sajith Premadasa is their unanimous choice from day one. Definitely Sajith Premadasa is better than Gotabaya Rajapaksha, as one can trust and hope that Sajith Premadasa will not trample with democratic freedoms and hopefully will not behave like an authoritarian or dictator like Mahinda Rajapaksha and Gotabaya Rajapaksha.

However, as far as the Tamils are concerned, he has bared his soul and intentions quite recently which unsurprisingly do not differ from Gotabaya Rajapaksha or Mahinda Rajapaksha. Sajith Premadasa has rejected the international investigation in to war crimes and crimes against humanity, by guaranteeing immunity and protection for General Savendra Silva and the Security Forces including Field Marshall Sarath Fonseka. Thus he has made a mockery of United Nations and UN Human Rights Council and their Reports and Recommendations. This confirms his rejection of any UNHRC Resolutions past or future.

The door of accountability and justice are thus closed for the Tamil victims of war and they are left to explore other alternatives, including United Nations and International Community’s interventions to redress their piled up grievances.

Sajith Premadasa has clearly rejected any external investigation or participation in settling the 70 year old ethnic problem, thereby a third party’s facilitation is also ruled out. He has not spelt out any clear proposals to solve the issues confronting the Tamils, even not mentioning them by name or even and all their grievances.

As he has already rejected the thirteen [13] demands of the Tamil political parties,  it will be like chasing the mirage in the desert as water to expect him to honor any one of them. He has also refused to repeal the draconian Prevention of Terrorism Act {PTA] and rejected a federal system of Government.

Sajith Premadasa has pledged to build more than 1000 Buddhist Viharas in the North and East [The  traditional and Historical Homeland of Tamils where Majority are Hindu/Christian Tamils, Muslims and few Sinhalese.] thereby endorsing the Buddhisisation of North and East of Sri Lanka which is already in progress. This very clearly shows that he is a leader who will obey the dictates of Maha Sanga and Buddhist clergy.

TNA by deciding to support Sajith Premadasa has exposed the hollowness and opportunistic joint agreement of the five Tamil parties. By taking this decision unilaterally, it has demonstrated its dominance over other Tamil parties while belittling their roles in TNA. TNA leader Sampanthan recently criticized the Sinhalese leaders as unreliable and untrustworthy. Now he finds them trustworthy even without any conditions or negotiations for support, for a second louder cry by him later

Above all, TNA’S leadership for Tamils is a fatal one which is leading the Tamils to their slow and gradual extinction in Sri Lanka. Even Almighty God won’t be able to save the Tamils unless they break free from the politics of betrayal staged by TNA.

It is anybody’s guess as to the worth of this decision by TNA which appears to be a sell-out of Tamil’s rights making a mockery of United Nations and UNHRC Resolutions and Recommendations.

Above all, promises up to the time of election will flow targeting the voters differing for Tamils and Sinhalese, all of which including pledges in election manifestos will remain in paper gathering dust after the elections.

Tamils voters have been let down and treated as fools by TNA and they are left with no choice but must decide to vote according to their conscience and spirits.

TNA’S statement outlining the reasons to support Sajith Premadasa only heaps hopes on Sajith Premadasa who will uphold democracy and address all the Tamils problems after his victory.

The irony of Tamils is the Tamil leaders of past were cheated holding written pacts, agreements and accords and now hoping for settlement with TNA clutching the straws of hope to save them as well as the Tamils who are left in the lurch without a sincere and devoted leadership to fight for the justice and their rights.