Sri Lanka’s new president assures jittery minorities

Gotabaya Rajapaksa, a brother of ex-prez Mahinda, was the defence chief during Lankan civil war

COLOMBO: After a divisive vote that pitted majority Sinhalese Buddhists against minority tamil sand Muslims, Gotabaya Rajapaksa on Sunday said he is the president of all Sri Lankans.

“I am well aware that I am bound to serve all Sri Lankans despite their racial or religious barriers. I assure that I would conduct accordingly and I thank my citizens for electing me,” said the seventh president of the island nation.

In a separate Facebook post, he said: “Sri Lankans chose hope over fear, unity over conflict, smile over anger. Our vision for a better tomorrow, won the hearts and the minds of the people. From now on, the path to great achievements lies open in front of us and this was our first step together with many other accomplishments to follow. I promise not to stop, until we reach the heights Sri Lankans aspire to.”

But that may not be enough to assure the minorities. Rajapaksa, 70, oversaw the military defeat of Tamil separatists under his brother and then president Mahinda Rajapaksa 10 years ago.

Tamil political parties are strongly opposed to Rajapaksa, who has faced allegations of widespread human rights violations of civilians in the final stages of the war against the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE).

Muslims, the other large minority group, say they too have faced hostility since the April attacks on hotels and churches in which more than 250 people were killed.

“His victory shows a division, and this could create more issues specially for other ethnic groups. I don’t know how he will tackle Muslims and Tamils,” said Victor Ivan, a political columnist.

Rajapaksa was heavily defeated in Tamil and Muslimmajority Northern and Eastern Provinces. The Tamils in all five administrative districts in the Northern province - Jaffna, Kilinochchi, Mulaitivu, Vavuniya, Mannar, and the majority Muslims in three districts in the Eastern Province - Trincomalee, Batticaloa, Ampara - voted against Rajapaksa in favour of the main rival Sajith Premadasa. Eight out of nine districts won by Premadasa were from the North and the Eastern provinces.

Following the end of the ethnic war against Tamil rebels in May 2009, the United Nations alleged that there were serious human rights violations that could amount to war crimes but the Rajapaksas have rejected the allegations.

Rajapaksa led the election campaign with national security as the topmost priority and vowed that he would eliminate terrorists. He also promised to cut the 15% value added tax by nearly half and abolish some other taxes as a way to reignite consumption and growth.