The Rajapaksa legacy

On the 4th of February 1948, the British territory of Ceylon was granted independence from the British Empire. Unlike the Irish or Americans, the people of Ceylon didn’t have to go to war with the British for independence. Despite their occupiers having some influence on the nation until 1972- through Queen Elizabeth II- the island was largely left to fend for itself.

Sri Lanka’s nickname is the Teardrop of India as it is located south of the Indian coastline. It’s known for many things but recognisable through its colourful and vibrant Sinha flag, the flag’s colours all represent different parts of the nation, such as its high cultural background and its respect for authority and bravery.

Sri Lanka is also known for its exports such as cinnamon and tea, both items that we use regularly in the modern world, as well as being a major exporter of textiles and garments.

However, the economic crisis in Sri Lanka took another major twist in 2022 as the nation ran out of fuel and faces a shortage of other essential products as the country goes deeper and deeper into debt. President Gotabaya ‘Gota’ Rajapaksa fled the nation and is reported to be looking to apply for a US Green Card, a humiliating end for a political family that has held at least one public office since 1936. The Rajapaksa family have been largely blamed for the failure of the nation’s economy due to the charges against the family in 2015; these include fraud, misuse of power, and corruption. The family are also known to have offshore holdings worth millions of dollars and luxury houses full of artwork whilst some of their people don’t have access to safe drinking water. Combined with allegations that they laundered over 5 billion US dollars, the Rajapaksa family have become synonymous with the economic failure of Sri Lanka.

The Rajapaksa family entered Sri Lankan politics in 1937 as a member of the State Council in the Southern region of Hambantota. Don Alwin Rajapaksa (father of the Rajapaksa brothers), became State Councillor after the death of his older brother Don Matthew in 1945.

Don Alwin was reluctant to take the position of his brother, but with a lot of persuasion from people in higher positions, D.A Rajapaksa contested for his brother’s seat in the by-election and won, beginning the reign of the Rajapaksas. Don Alwin was part of the Ceylonese Committee on Agriculture and Land and made major improvements to the land system at the time, he adopted a 99-year lease scheme which is still in use in some places today and gave the peasants of the developing nation land to live and grow food from. So, when the new Sri Lankan constitution was being formed in 1947 it was no surprise that Don Alwin won the new Beliatta seat with the United Nation Party (UNP). The first major politician of the Rajapaksa family tree went on to have an eventful stay in the Sri Lankan Political circle, at one point he switched parties to the dismay of his colleagues but managed to keep his seat until his election defeat in 1965.

Whilst the political career of Don Alwin fizzled out without a chance to run for President, four of his nine children were building their careers in the public eye. However, two of the children went on to become infamous figures in Sri Lankan politics, Mahinda and Gotabaya. Mahinda was older than Gotabaya by 4 years but the pair of them remained supporting each other for all their years in politics, Mahinda even served as Gota’s prime minister in the families’ final two years in charge. Mahinda was a lawyer by profession before being elected into Sri Lankan parliament 5 years after his father had been voted out. Gotabaya, on the other hand, took the military route by joining the army in 1971 and played a part in the Gajaba Regiment in the Sri Lankan Civil War. Gota chose to retire early and move to Los Angeles to work in a Law School. Gota would stay in the United States until he returned to support his brother in the 2005 Presidential Election.

Whilst Gota was doing Military Service, Mahinda was building his political career at a speed never seen before. He was elected into parliament at the age of 24, a record at the time, but as his party declined in popularity he inevitability lost his seat in the 1977 general election. Over the next two decades Mahinda remained a vocal figure in Sri Lankan politics, this period also coincided with the civil war.

The Sri Lankan Civil War was fought between the Sri Lankan State and the Liberation Tigers of Tamil-Eelam (LTTE). The Liberation Tigers were people from the Tamil ethnic group which originated from South India. The Tamils wanted their own independent state on the island similar to the borders of Papua New Guinea and Indonesia in Asia. The LTTE was supported by India through the supply of arms and military training. India also trained the forces of other Tamil Groups that were fighting for independence from Sri Lanka until 1990. The Sri Lankan Government received the majority of the world’s support, with weapons coming from around the world including the EU, the US and even North Korea. India also started supplying arms to Sri Lankan Government forces from 1992 until the end of the war in 2009, meaning the LTTE had to look for other ways to fund their war effort. They turned to crime; in particular, they used large-scale operations such as sea piracy and the mass trafficking of drugs.

The Drug Trafficking scheme was one of the most successful, with many of the drugs reaching the Indian State of Tamil Nadu and some going as far as Europe, a major achievement for a group that were known as terrorists at the time. But by far the most controversial of the means used was money laundering. The LTTE made a lot of illegal money at the time but as of 2022, no member of the LTTE has faced prison sentences for money laundering. In January 2022, newspapers reported that the Tamil Nadu police claimed to have found the way that the Liberation Tigers were being funded, by two sympathisers or members of the group in Germany or Switzerland. The money then reached the group through other bank accounts across India and other people with fake documents in Malaysia, Singapore, India and Canada.

The War ended in 2009 with at least 100,000 civilians killed in 25 years of war, people flooded the streets in celebration.  The Liberation Tigers had been defeated and the nation was once again at peace, an experience that over a quarter of the population had never experienced. Sri Lanka was entering a new era, and its leader wasn’t a new face.

Mahinda Rajapaksa worked as an attorney and opened his own legal practice after losing his seat as an MP; he stayed in politics and was elected as the leader of the opposition party and given the role of Prime Minister 3 years later in 2004. The Sri Lankan Freedom Party selected him to lead the party against the UNP and he did so successfully, winning the vote by a slim margin and gaining the support of other groups in Sri Lanka.

Not willing to leave his younger brother out of the fun, Mahinda brought Gotabaya back from America to take the role of Minister of Defence in 2005. This position was one of vital national importance. By the time Gotabaya was appointed, the Sri Lankan people were tired of war and wanted an end very soon, if the Minister of Defence did a poor job the lives of many soldiers and civilians in the nation would be unnecessarily lost. The final years of the civil war, overseen by Gota, would end with one of the many controversies of the Rajapaksa era.

Starvation of civilians, forced labour, raping civilians; there seemed that there was nothing that the Sri Lankan government forces wouldn’t be willing to do to end the war. In the months leading up to the Liberation Tigers’ surrender, there were an uncountable amount of war crimes committed, all overseen by Gotabaya. Sri Lankan forces were also involved in the UN Stabilisation mission in Haiti, the mission was criticised by Human Rights Organisations due to reports of atrocities against civilians. In 2007 some of the members of The Sri Lankan group were investigated for sexual misconduct, this included vile cases of sexual assault on citizens, something that was reported frequently during the Sri Lankan Civil War.

The next major controversy didn’t take long either. In Mahinda’s narrow election win, he defeated Lasantha Wickrematunge, a former friend of his.  Lasantha owned the newspaper Leader Publications and was an important figure in Sri Lankan journalism as much as he was in politics. Two years after his election defeat, Lasantha reported on a purchase by Gota and his cousin, Udayanga Weeratunga. The MiG Fighter aircraft came to a fee of $14,661,944.24. The money was sent to a company in the UK going by the name of Bellimissa Holdings; the Sri Lankan Air Force bought the jets from another Ukrainian company whilst giving Bellimissa a final payment. Lasantha used a lead from another Sri Lankan Journalist by the name of Iqbal Athas. Iqbal revealed that the aircraft was sold for an absurdly high price compared to what they were sold to previous governments last time. After many months of work, Lasantha managed to discover that Bellimissa Holdings didn’t even exist putting him at a touching distance from solving the puzzle.

On the 8th of January 2009, Lasantha driving was on his way to work as usual. After much struggle, Lasantha had an opportunity to speak to a judge about the corruption in the arms deals by Gota a few days later. People on motorcycles blocked the car of Lasantha before proceeding to open fire on the journalist in broad daylight, despite the best efforts to save his life Lasantha passed away at 2:10 PM due to head injuries sustained from the shooting. He was only 50 years old.

Mahinda Rajapaksa denied any responsibility for the death of the journalist but was pressured into starting an investigation into his death. As you would expect, no arrests were made and justice has still not been served. Despite the Rajapaksa’s best efforts, Wickrematunge’s legacy is still alive today. His quotes were on banners during the 2022 protests and people are still fighting for justice. In his daughter’s article for the news site Groundviews titled The MiG Deal: Why My Father Had to Die, she wrote,

“When I first heard the phrase “MiG deal” as a kid in 2007, I never expected that less than two years later, the printing of those two words in my father’s newspaper would lead to my standing over his open grave on the darkest day of my life. It has long been clear to me, and to all those familiar with the evidence, that had my father not exposed the MiG deal in The Sunday Leader, he would still be alive today, still writing, still exposing wrongdoing, still standing tall against the powers that be. He knew the risks of exposing a man who cherished his holier than thou public persona, but the risk did not stop him from doing his job” – Ahimsa Wickrematunge

The brothers were embroiled in controversy leading up to Mahinda’s election defeat in 2015 but the former president was still unwilling to give up his position. When news came out that he was losing, he attempted to stop the count by seizing polling stations and allegedly attempted to stage a coup on the night of the election. His reason for trying to defend his position so aggressively may have been because of the money that kept on coming to his circle. This included 297,000 dollars in ‘gifts’ to supporters, this was also combined with multi-million-dollar donations to the volunteers in his Temple Trees residence just to name a few. These all came from China who saw the Rajapaksa family as an ally and provided the financial backing that they believed he needed to secure another term in office.

Gotabaya was next to take up the role of President in 2019, this came at the time of his US lawsuit regarding the death of Wickrematunge but still managed to overcome this and win the presidential election. What happened next would be one of the worst presidencies any country has ever seen. In just 3 years Gota had sent the country into crippling debt, mass unemployment and a situation where working-class families can’t fuel their cars and make enough to put food on the table.

The Rajapaksa brothers and one of his Mahinda’s sons were all in power at the time when Gota fled the nation, and all three have failed miserably. You would think that Mahinda’s son Namil could improve on his dad and uncles’ record in politics, but in his role as Minister of Sport, the Sri Lankan football team failed to qualify for the AFC Asian Cup. So it looks like he hasn’t

Sri Lanka is an example of what happens when you let people enter politics for their own personal gain instead of focusing on the good of the nation. It’s an example of a nation that the world forgets about until there’s a major incident. The warning signs of Sri Lanka’s economic crisis have been there for years, but we’ve all been too blind to see them.