{"id":6637,"date":"2019-11-19T13:00:34","date_gmt":"2019-11-19T03:00:34","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/testblogs.griffith.edu.au\/asiainsights\/?p=6637"},"modified":"2019-11-22T14:22:58","modified_gmt":"2019-11-22T04:22:58","slug":"return-of-the-rajapaksas-sri-lanka-elects-gotabaya-rajapaksa-as-its-next-president","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/testblogs.griffith.edu.au\/asiainsights\/return-of-the-rajapaksas-sri-lanka-elects-gotabaya-rajapaksa-as-its-next-president\/","title":{"rendered":"Return of the Rajapaksas: Sri Lanka elects Gotabaya Rajapaksa as its next President"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

On 17 November 2019, former Defence\nChief and brother of the former two-time president Mahinda Rajapaksa, Gotabaya\nRajapaksa won the Sri Lankan presidential election with a landslide\nvictory<\/a>. Gotabaya focussed his election campaign on a national security\nnarrative after the Easter\nbombings<\/a> in April this year by ISIS-affiliated terrorists, promising to\nrestore stability in the country. In his previous post as the Chief of Defence,\nhe was responsible for ending the 25 year-long bloody civil war by defeating in\n2009 the LTTE (Liberation Tigers of Tamil Elam), a Tamil separatist movement\nseeking autonomy in Northern and Eastern parts of Sri Lanka. This however,\ngarnered him widespread criticism regarding extra-judicial\nkillings<\/a> and other alleged war crimes in doing so. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

This election was a polarising\none as Gotabaya\u2019s victory was supported by the Sinhala Buddhist majority,\nposing concerns for Sri Lanka\u2019s future reconciliation efforts between the\nSinhala Buddhist majority and the minority Tamil population. Regionally,\ngeopolitical relations will also need close attention as the China-friendly<\/a>\nRajapakasa brothers have accepted Chinese loans in the past to finance key\ninfrastructure projects even as Sri Lanka\u2019s debt to Beijing balloons. This may likely\ncause concern for neighbouring India whose strategic competition with China is\nintensifying. Overall, Rajapaksa\u2019s victory is a cautious one. With his election\nthere are renewed hopes for increased security from extremist terrorism.\nHowever, concerns regarding the escalating ethnic and religious tensions in the\ncountry as well as a stuttering\neconomy<\/a> remain acute. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Nicknamed the \u201cterminator<\/a>\u201d\nbecause of his ruthless efforts in crushing the Tamil tigers 10 years ago,\nGotabaya, during his campaign, capitalised on the intelligence failure under\nthe Wickremesinghe administration that led to the Easter bombings. He promised\nto crush religious extremism as he conducted a nationalist campaign focussing\non national security, quite similar to the one run earlier this year in India\u2019s\nnational elections by Prime Minister Modi<\/a>.\nHis main opponent, Sajith Premdasa, the current Minister of Housing,\nConstruction and Cultural Affairs from the incumbent United National Party (UNP),\nand the son of former Sri Lankan President Ranasinghe Premdasa, was not able to\nstep out of the shadow of the seemingly incompetent government that failed to\nprevent the terrorist attacks. Ultimately, it was the impact of the Easter\nbombings that influenced the outcome of this election, and Gotabaya\u2019s\npositioning as the man who can \u2018get things done<\/a>\u2019 made\nhim a more favourable candidate. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Still reeling from the civil war,\nthe ethnic and religious divide between the majority Budhhist-Sinhalese and Tamil\npopulation has widened during this election campaign. The Rajapaksa brothers\nhave been known to support clan\nbased politics<\/a> and the election results show that they are supported by the\nmajority Sinhala community, while the Tamil dominated area of the Northern\nSri Lanka<\/a> preferred the more moderate Premdasa. The polarising nature of\nthis election and Rajapaksa\u2019s victory could possibly fan the flames of Sinhalese\nnationalism<\/a> in the coming weeks and months. However, after his victory was\nannounced, Rajapaksa assured in a tweet<\/a> that\nhe was deeply committed to serving all the people of Sri Lanka, not just those\nwho voted for him.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Regarding the geopolitical\noutcomes from this election, the Rajapaksa brothers\u2019 China pivot could be a\ncause of some tension in the region. Saddled already with a large Chinese debt\nas Mahinda Rajapaksa undertook loans to finance white\nelephant<\/a> projects, Gotabaya Rajapaksa has stated that he plans to \u2018restore relations\u2019<\/a> with\nChina if he won. The rise of Chinese influence in Sri Lanka has been a cause\nfor concern for its neighbour India. Arguably, the most visible sign of this\ngrowing concern is the Chinese acquisition of the Hambantota\nport<\/a> as a debt swap which also allowed for the expansion of Chinese naval\npresence in the Indian Ocean. Here too, twitter<\/a>\nhas calmed the waters, as Indian PM Modi congratulated Rajapaksa on his victory\nand stated that he looked forward to strengthening their friendship.     <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Gotabaya\u2019s administration will\nneed to provide a balancing act in how it governs. This applies to how it manages\nSinhalese-Tamil relations and its relationship with India and China. For the\nformer, the future of reconciliation needs an urgent push, as momentum under\nthe previous Rajapaksa regime was notoriously slow and future efforts remain\nuncertain. For the latter, there needs to be a more sustained approach to how\nit manages its economic reliance on China. On the security front, Gotabaya has\na proven record of success. What will be telling is how he fairs on the more\nsensitive issues concerning ethnic domestic policy and foreign policy accounts.\n <\/p>\n\n\n\n

AUTHOR<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Teesta Prakash<\/strong> is a PhD Candidate at the School of Government and International Relations and Griffith Asia Institute. <\/p>\n\n\n

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

On 17 November 2019, former Defence Chief and brother of the former two-time president Mahinda Rajapaksa, Gotabaya Rajapaksa won the Sri Lankan presidential election with a landslide victory. Gotabaya focussed his election campaign on a national security narrative after the Easter bombings in April this year by ISIS-affiliated terrorists, promising to restore stability in the 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Strategic inertia and new opportunities in the Australia-Philippines relationship","author":"Griffith Asia Institute","date":"31 July 2019","format":false,"excerpt":"In science it is noted that terrestrial planets are situated in the \u2018Goldilocks zone\u2019, that is the habitable or life zone in space where a planet is just the \u2018right distance from a home star so that\u2019s its surface is neither too hot nor too cold.\u2019 The Goldilocks zone in\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Commentary"","block_context":{"text":"Commentary","link":"https:\/\/testblogs.griffith.edu.au\/asiainsights\/category\/publication\/commentary\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/testblogs.griffith.edu.au\/asiainsights\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2020\/08\/AU-PH-goldilocks-zone.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/testblogs.griffith.edu.au\/asiainsights\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2020\/08\/AU-PH-goldilocks-zone.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/testblogs.griffith.edu.au\/asiainsights\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2020\/08\/AU-PH-goldilocks-zone.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/testblogs.griffith.edu.au\/asiainsights\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2020\/08\/AU-PH-goldilocks-zone.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":10335,"url":"https:\/\/testblogs.griffith.edu.au\/asiainsights\/pacific-outlook-bulletin-6-december\/","url_meta":{"origin":6637,"position":4},"title":"Pacific Outlook Bulletin | 6 December","author":"Griffith Asia Institute","date":"6 December 2023","format":false,"excerpt":"TESS NEWTON CAIN\u00a0 |\u00a0 COP28 Begins Amongst much by way of controversy, the 28th Conference of the Parties (COP28) is now underway in the United Arab Emirates. 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