ECONOMYNEXT – Sri Lanka Podujana Party’s younger members are pushing for more liberal ideas in a globalized world from within, says Milinda Rajapaksha, a party activist and vocal leader representing the group.
Following the currency collapse, shortages and high inflation under the President Gotabaya Rajapaksa, the party split with a faction supporting ex-President Ranil Wickremesinghe in the last election, while its own candidate Namal Rajapaksha trailed far behind.
The younger members are undaunted and are looking to change the direction of the party, he says. Since SLPP is a democratic party, some will entertain different views, suggestions and ideologies.
“They are the young people who are very pro LGBT rights,” Rajapaksha says. “They are the young people who are very pro of a small government. They are the young people who think SOE reforms are necessary.
“They are the young people who think we should cultivate more and more liberal political values. They are the young people, the name of our student wing is Social Democratic Student Union. So you know where our student wing stands in terms of ideology.”
The younger members as a grouop now are big enough to make the change, he says.
“SLPP is a party which loves the nation. And that is why we could easily support President Ranil Vikram Singh. Especially the younger lot of our party went out of the way to support President Wickremesinghe’s economic policies. And big parties like us have different political ideas, beliefs.
In the list fielded for the November general election 103 candidates are aged below 40.
“I can easily add another 40-50 candidates if we take the age under 45,” Rajapakshsa says.
“So, this is probably the youngest list of candidates if you compare it with other mainstream political parties. So imagine the youthful power.”
The SLPP made a mistake in departing from Mahinda Rajapaksa’s more centrist policies towards nationalism, he says, and not giving enough room for private enterprise.
“I have learnt very good lessons associating the last two governments, Mahindra Rajapaksha’s government and President Gotawe Rajapaksha’s government, especially what went wrong with them,” Rajapasksa says frankly.
The large public service, the way people had to bear the cost of state-owned enterprises were examples.
“Then we didn’t allow the private sector to thrive in this country,” Rajapaksha says.
“Then the way we blocked the private capital getting involved in sectors like education and those industries. And then how the government intervened in the commercial affairs of this country.
And all these things systematically built corruption. Build unwanted political authority over everything in our lives. Without changing this political culture, I don’t think we can manage the economic issues. This is not an economic issue. This is an issue of the political economy.”
Colombo has special needs as a large number of people flow in every year from every part of the country to fulfill their ideas.
Rajapaksha says there should be liberty, equality and justice to give everyone an equal opportunity to achieve their dreams.
“So, how are we going to make the policies of this city which respect the liberty of people regardless where they are coming from, which ethnicity they belong to, whom they know?”
It is unfortunate that the first thing that young people who get married do is to set up a fake address to get their children into a good school.
This year in elections however, policies do not really matter, he says.
“If people went on policies, probably Ranil Wickremesinghe would have scored the best because he ran on the policy platform,” Rajapaksha says.
“So, these elections in Sri Lanka are mostly about who they are against or which party or people they protest. That is how the elections are determined in Sri Lanka.”
But he says on the ground, economic matters would be the main underlying driver in the near term.
“I think the economy is going to be the central issue in the coming two or three years.”
“The issue is, the next parliament is going to have at least 75 parliamentarians who haven’t even been a leader of a cooperative society.
“So, politics outside the parliament is going to be very important. So, I think whether we go to the parliament or not, it is important how we rally people around political values which protect the Sri Lankan identity and the liberal democracy.” (Colombo/Nov10/2024)