{"id":2538,"date":"2018-11-19T13:59:37","date_gmt":"2018-11-19T13:59:37","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/baileyonlineclassroom.com\/southandcentralasiablog\/?p=2538"},"modified":"2018-11-19T13:59:37","modified_gmt":"2018-11-19T13:59:37","slug":"flying-fists-and-pelted-bottles-warring-politicians-shock-sri-lanka","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/baileyonlineclassroom.com\/southandcentralasiablog\/2018\/11\/19\/flying-fists-and-pelted-bottles-warring-politicians-shock-sri-lanka\/","title":{"rendered":"Flying fists and pelted bottles \u2013 warring politicians shock Sri Lanka"},"content":{"rendered":"

In 1987 grenades ripped through Sri Lanka\u2019s parliament, killing two people and narrowly missing the country\u2019s president and prime minister.<\/span><\/p>\n

Ranil Wickremesinghe, who until three weeks ago occupied the prime minister\u2019s office, had been in the building that day, he reminded journalists on Friday. \u201cI\u2019ve been here when a bomb was thrown,\u201d he said. Even so, the scenes in Sri Lanka\u2019s parliament this past week have been shocking, he said. \u201cThis is the breaking-up of parliament by a group of people claiming to be the government.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

A few hours earlier, legislators allied to <\/span>Mahinda Rajapaksa<\/span><\/a>, the country\u2019s former strongman president, had trashed Sri Lanka\u2019s national assembly, attacking police officers with fists, chairs, even a copy of the country\u2019s constitution, and dousing opposing lawmakers with streams of water mixed with chilli.<\/span><\/p>\n

During a parliamentary brawl the previous day, an MP allied to Wickremesinghe had appeared to brandish a knife at opponents. (It had actually been a steel letter opener, the MP clarified on Friday.)<\/span><\/p>\n

Advertisement<\/span><\/p>\n

The fighting, broadcast around the world, graphically illustrated a crisis that has left the Indian Ocean island without an agreed prime minister or cabinet, a currency at record lows, and a paralysed civil service.<\/span><\/p>\n

On Saturday the Sri Lankan president, Maithripala Sirisena, was still refusing to accept that Rajapaksa, whom he had tried to appoint as prime minister in a hastily convened ceremony three weeks ago, did not have the confidence of parliament. Doing so would almost certainly mean having to restore Wickremesinghe to the position: something the president says he could never tolerate, \u201ceven for one hour\u201d.<\/span><\/p>\n

Sri Lanka has been the arena of a larger geopolitical tussle between India, the region\u2019s traditional giant, and China, its rich and rising challenger. The country of 22 million has also been struggling to reconcile with its Tamil minority after a <\/span>brutal three-decade civil war<\/span><\/a>, and seek justice for the corruption and abuses alleged to have flourished under Rajapaksa\u2019s earlier 10-year rule.<\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Yet on the ground in Colombo, these large frames fit awkwardly around a crisis that appears to have much baser origins: greed, ambition and a hatred that has festered between Sirisena and Wickremesinghe, until recently the country\u2019s two most powerful men.<\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Wickremesinghe, 69, is a lawyer who attended one of Colombo\u2019s top high schools. His father and grandfather ran newspapers. He enjoys opera and single-malt whisky, speaks faultless English, and for the past quarter-century has led the business-friendly United National party.<\/span><\/p>\n

Until 26 September, he governed in coalition with Sirisena, a former government administrator from the country\u2019s central hinterland whose parents were farmers, and who is a stalwart of the populist, working-class <\/span>Sri Lanka<\/span><\/a> Freedom party.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cRanil is an educated person, and Sirisena is a boy from the sticks,\u201d a longtime friend of Wickremesinghe\u2019s, who has spent time with the deposed leader in the past week, said. \u201cRanil\u2019s a patrician: he doesn\u2019t kiss babies. He wears business suits, but Sirisena always wears traditional Sri Lankan garb.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

In 2015 Sirisena defected from the Rajapaksa government to form an unlikely alliance with Wickremesinghe. In a result that surprised observers, they unseated Rajapaksa, and promised an era of renewed civil liberties, better ties with the west and <\/span>yahapalanaya<\/span><\/i> \u2013 good governance.<\/span><\/p>\n

Their coalition didn\u2019t last four years, collapsing not just under the weight of ideological contradictions but also the personal ones between the two men. The government has become gridlocked and unpopular, and was staring at defeat in elections scheduled for two years\u2019 time.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cAn arranged marriage has broken down,\u201d says a longtime family friend of Wickremesinghe\u2019s. \u201cNot because nothing was achieved \u2013 though not enough was achieved \u2013 but because the central hypothesis behind it didn\u2019t work out. They came together for the good of the country, but also to win an election, and then to take advantage of each other in order to solidify their position.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

But the crisis has also played out badly for Rajapaksa. Until the past month he had been expected to sweep back into power at the next election. After he was installed as Wickremesinghe\u2019s replacement by Sirisena last month, he received the assent of police and the army, named a cabinet and took over state media. Then his momentum failed. \u201cThere was no procession to power,\u201d observed one Colombo-based diplomat last week. \u201cOnly a trickle of defections.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

It is unclear how last week\u2019s violence in parliament, orchestrated largely by Rajapaksa\u2019s supporters, will affect the popularity of a leader who, since losing office, has strived to portray himself as chastened by defeat and willing to work within the rules.<\/span><\/p>\n

In Colombo\u2019s Lipton Circus last week, several thousand people gathered to rally in support of Wickremesinghe. They carried signs reading \u201cabolish the executive presidency\u201d and \u201cdown with the illegal prime minister\u201d. Watching through the glass doors of his cafe, on the edge of the circle, Mahesh Alkegama declared: \u201cIt\u2019s all bullshit.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

The trendy diner, opened a month ago, had been deserted since the crowd took to the streets. Alkegama, 28, was educated in London, but returned in recent years on the promise of being part of Sri Lanka\u2019s post-war renaissance. \u201cWhen shit like this happens, it slows you down,\u201d he said.<\/span><\/p>\n

For many Sri Lankans, the crisis is a cause for disgust in their leaders \u2013 even the democratic system itself. \u201cA country like this needs an authoritarian leader,\u201d Alkegama said. After considering, he added: \u201cOr maybe a controlled democracy.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Other see shoots of hope in recent events. Sri Lanka\u2019s institutions are under serious strain, but they are holding. Earlier last week the country\u2019s highest court, usually reluctant to defy the executive branch, ruled to suspend Sirisena\u2019s attempt to dissolve parliament and call an election \u2013 an order widely regarded as unconstitutional. MA Sumanthiran, a Tamil MP, called the judgment \u201cthe most important order the supreme court has delivered in its entire history\u201d.<\/span><\/p>\n

Despite unsubstantiated allegations that some Wickremesinghe allies have been offered up to $2m to defect to Rajapaksa\u2019s side, most have stayed loyal.<\/span><\/p>\n

The parliament\u2019s speaker, Karu Jayasuriya, was advised not to enter parliament on Friday. Unruly MPs had surrounded his ceremonial chair and would eventually pelt the 78-year-old with books and bottles. Jayasuriya defied the advice. \u201cI will enter the chamber for the future generations of Sri Lanka,\u201d he said.<\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

In 1987 grenades ripped through Sri Lanka\u2019s parliament, killing two people and narrowly missing the country\u2019s president and prime minister. Ranil Wickremesinghe, who until three weeks ago occupied the prime minister\u2019s office, had been in the building that day, he reminded journalists on Friday. \u201cI\u2019ve been here when a bomb was thrown,\u201d he said. Even so, the scenes in Sri… Read more »<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":124,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2538","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-article-post"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/baileyonlineclassroom.com\/southandcentralasiablog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2538","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/baileyonlineclassroom.com\/southandcentralasiablog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/baileyonlineclassroom.com\/southandcentralasiablog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/baileyonlineclassroom.com\/southandcentralasiablog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/124"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/baileyonlineclassroom.com\/southandcentralasiablog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2538"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/baileyonlineclassroom.com\/southandcentralasiablog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2538\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2539,"href":"https:\/\/baileyonlineclassroom.com\/southandcentralasiablog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2538\/revisions\/2539"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/baileyonlineclassroom.com\/southandcentralasiablog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2538"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/baileyonlineclassroom.com\/southandcentralasiablog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2538"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/baileyonlineclassroom.com\/southandcentralasiablog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2538"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}