If Sarath Fonseka doesn’t talk between now and the election he might be OK. When he talks, however, the illusion comes crashing down. Candidate Fonseka talks about his house, his guards, his life. All important to Sarath Fonseka, but I’m not Sarath Fonseka. I have my own problems. I’m concerned about our economy, our security, our lives. Candidate Fonseka speaks to none of those concerns. As far as I can tell, Sarath is running for himself.
Candidate Fonseka
His recent interview with The Sunday Leader was actually shocking in its pettiness. He is basically using all the national attention to complain about losing his perks. A smart candidate could pivot and say that he is now homeless like our IDPs, our dispossessed, that he understands and is with us. Instead Sarath is filing a Fundamental Rights case for his own accommodation.
Indeed, his resignation letter doesn’t read as a national platform as much as list of how Mahinda Rajapaksa has dissed him. That’s fine for a break up letter, but it’s not very inspiring. As it is, he just comes off as selfish and hurt, not a selfless and strong common candidate. I don’t care if he really is in it for himself, but he could at least take the trouble to lie to us.
Subcandidate Ranil
However, another selfish character here is Ranil Wickremesinghe. By clinging onto power he has made this extremely weird situation possible. Ranil choked the UNP so much that they are unable to field a viable candidate for the first time in their history. Then this bruised ego pops out of the Rajapaksa coterie and Ranil thinks he can somehow control him more than Mahinda did. But he can’t.
Ranil looks like a fool claiming the PM spot like it’s some sort of consolation prize. In Sri Lankan politics there is no prize for second place. I think Ranil is a decent and intelligent man, but sometimes such men fail. An honorable man should bow out before taking their whole party down with them.
An Uncommon Candidate
Compared to this selfish behaviour, Mahinda starts to look magnanimous, radiating out from the new 1000 Rupee notes. Indeed, he looks almost humble. At least he shows rather than tells. I’ve been reconsidering him, until another candidate asked for my endorsement. I asked him for a lunch packet and was shocked when he demanded a lunch packet for himself. ‘Mama venuwen mama,’ he said. I for myself.
Malinda Seneviratne is a columnist launching an ‘uncommon candidacy’ for president. He’s running under the mirror symbol and his colour is colorless. He’s running purely for his own interests and promises nothing to develop or uplift the country. He just wants to be on TV for a while and then quit. I think I’m OK with this.
Common Sentiments
I’d find it hard to vote for Sarath right now because he doesn’t seem to have any platform besides the foundation of his house. I can’t vote for Ranil because he won’t even run, or let the UNP field someone else. I find it hard to vote for Mahinda because I fear for the economy, freedom and minority rights, and because six more years of seeing his hoardings might wear a permanent hole in my retina. This leaves me either with the Siddhalepa guy who promised everyone a cow (looking more appealing every day) or maybe this fellow columnist. At the moment I’m leaning towards the uncommon candidate. Now if I could just figure out what the mirror symbol looks like.
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