President Ranil Wickremesinghe is the leader of the United National Party (UNP). Whether some people like it or not, he has now become the leader of the country. Even the UNP offshoot the Samagi Jana Balawegaya (SJB) should acknowledge this. At this moment, he is the President of all parties and all communities in Sri Lanka.
Cyril Leonard Wickremesinghe, who was appointed as the first Ceylonese Government Agent (GA), is the grandfather of current President Wickremesinghe. In 1920, C.L. who was appointed as the Deputy GA of Mannar, became the first Sinhalese to be appointed as a GA with his appointment as the GA of the Sabaragamuwa province.
D.S. Senanayake was appointed as the Minister of Agriculture and Lands in the State Parliament in the same year. In 1933, the Land Development Act (LDA) was presented by Senanayake to the State Assembly. That historic event is indisputable as a unique turning point in Sri Lankan agriculture.
In 1963, as a token of gratitude for his dedication in drafting the Land Development Act, CL was appointed to the post of Land Commissioner. Wickremesinghe’s kinship network extended to Baddegama, Kurunegala, Kelaniya and Sedawatta. There were many political debates between Baddegama Gunawardenas, Galle Wickremesinghes, Kelaniya Wijewardenes and Sedawatte Jayewardenes.
In the context of the family history, Ranil’s political comeback to serve the people was not a coincidence. Politics was in his blood, although he initially wanted to become a journalist (another profession that calls for a sound knowledge of politics) at Lake House where his father was at the helm at one time.
Even though politics came naturally to him, he did not want to gain an undue advantage because of his family’s political connections. He started his political career from the very beginning. However, due to his wisdom and political acumen, he became one of the youngest Ministers in the 1978 Cabinet of Ministers. Moreover, he handled major portfolios such as Education and Foreign while still being relatively young. As the years passed by, he turned into a statesman with a worldwide reputation.
Veteran politicians
In the aftermath of the May 9 mayhem when Prime Minister Mahinda Rajapaksa resigned, President Gotabaya Rajapaksa approached several veteran politicians to offer the premiership. Among them were present President Wickremesinghe, Opposition Leader Sajith Premadasa, Field Marshal Sarath Fonseka and JVP Leader Anura Kumara Dissanayake (AKD). Some of these details are in the book “Conspiracy” published recently by Gotabaya Rajapaksa. At this time, only Wickremesinghe boldly came forward and accepted the challenge.
Later, when Gotabaya Rajapaksa resigned by email from Singapore, Constitutionally, Ranil Wickremesinghe was appointed as Acting President. But Parliament can choose a successor President for the remainder of a resigned President’s tenure and a vote was held in Parliament. This was contested by Wickremesinghe, Dallas Alahapperuma and AKD. President Wickremesinghe easily won this vote, receiving 134 votes in his favour.
The situation of the country at the time of the transfer of power was as follows. Our foreign reserves had dropped to US$ 3 million. The value of the Rupee had also depreciated to nearly Rs.400 to the USD. There was a shortage of food, medicine, fuel, electricity and LP Gas.
President Ranil Wickremesinghe took these challenges head on and was able to end the queues and shortages in a few weeks. He then started negotiations with State leaders using the diplomatic relations he had accumulated during his long political journey.
He convinced other political parties that the Government should negotiate a bailout package with the International Monetary Fund (IMF), since some political parties were rather reluctant to take the IMF route. Neighbouring India extended a helping hand to the tune of US$ 4 billion. Both these initiatives enabled Sri Lanka to keep its head above water.
Banks again began issuing Letters of Credit (LCs) as the initial IMF installment was being confirmed. The country gradually regained economic normality, although we are not completely out of the woods yet. The people could finally breathe free. Despite the warning of the Red Brothers not to send dollars, patriotic Sri Lankans working abroad started sending dollars through legal channels. Tourists started arriving in large numbers.
President Wickremesinghe has also raised Sri Lanka’s profile by meeting world leaders in foreign capitals and various international forums. He has also initiated the process of foreign debt restructuring and many other economic reforms. As he himself has admitted, some of these decisions may not be popular, but they are pragmatic.
Silver lining
At the moment, there is a silver lining floating through the dark clouds. Now there are any number of takers willing to take over the Presidency as the difficult period is well behind us. There is nothing wrong with dreaming. Do dreamers have the potential to make their dreams come true?
President Ranil Wickremesinghe is a practical politician who has accumulated that potential over a period of time. He presented a timely budget to get the country out of a major economic crisis. He has time and again invited all the Opposition parties to join hands with him to face the economic crisis and develop the country.
The first thing every developed country has done is to update its educational process. The young people who come out of it are in turn absorbed by the production economy and the economy absorbs the young people who are called to the arena by repeated re-education. Accordingly, from 1980 to 1988, Ranil Wickremesinghe took many steps under the field of education.
To confirm the use of English, school lunch, developing non-formal education, introducing district teacher service as a remedy for teacher shortage, extending the service to 60 years, starting school development societies instead of teachers’ unions, school inspection units, school clusters, children’s design programs, school planning unit, providing free books, providing books to blind students, establishing divisional education offices together with the National Youth Service Council are among those initiatives.
Understanding
President Wickremesinghe, who has an understanding of world geopolitics as well as regional geopolitical movements, has a great understanding of the underlying political currents rather than the political currents running on the surface. Neighbouring India will become the world’s third largest economy within the next three years.
Only by taking a sip from the great ocean called its economy, our country can achieve the dawn of development. Hence the President’s desire to integrate the two economies closely through multiple connectivity options.
So far, the domestic debt project has been adopted amid various conflicts of opinion. Next, foreign debt restructuring should be done. For that, we should have extensive discussions with countries and multilateral agencies that have given us loans. The Opposition, which recently rejected a discussion on IMF talks, must give up such attitudes and join the Government’s efforts to put the economy on the correct track.
It is indisputable that Ranil Wickremesinghe, the current President, can accomplish many more things for the sake of the country. For this to happen, two years are not enough. He deserves at least another six years to put the house in order and take Sri Lanka on the path to become a fully developed country by 2048, when it marks the 100th anniversary of its independence. Sri Lankans must make the correct decision at voting time this year in this regard. Politicians think of the next election, but statesmen like Ranil Wickremesinghe think of the next generation.
