No friend of the poor
The obituaries following President Premadasa's assassination were, almost without exception, sycophantic in the extreme; praising the late
President's 'common touch'. Below, we publish an 'alternative obituary' in order to counter at least some of the more glaring fallacies that have been produced.
THIRUNAVUKKARASU* — May 8, 1993
P RESIDENT Ranasinghe Premadasa of Sri Lanka was assassinated during a May Day parade. In parts of Sri Lanka fire crackers were set off in celebration. But some sections of the national and international media have portrayed him as a hero and a friend of the poor, particularly since he was himself of poor origin.
He was a friend and favourite of imperialism in the South Asian region. He was a demagogue, maintaining on the one hand (for public consumption) that he would not be cowed by the terms of any foreign lending agency; while on the other, he carried out to the letter the dictats from the IMF and the World Bank.
He was also a highly authoritarian President. His former minister of Food and Cooperatives accused Premadasa of running a "one-man-show" and, about a year and a half ago, spearheaded an impeachment motion against him. This was none other than Lalith Athulathmudali, who was shot dead just one week prior to the assassination of Mr Premadasa.
Whenever Premadasa faced a political crisis, such as the impeachment motion, he would plead that he was a common man and that the elites were all out to cut his throat. But he had proved that he could outshine the classical comprador bourgeoisie (represented by former President Junius Richard Jayawardena, the late Althulathmudali et al) by implementing every imperialist dictat on privatisation or cutbacks in vital social services.
Premadasa had become "widely praised in the business community for his economic policies including one of the fastest privatisation programmes and most extensive deregulation campaigns in Asia".! This, of course, has meant big rises in unemployment, cuts in wages and the consequent fall in living standards. The 1991 United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF) report on Sri Lanka bears ample testimony to this:
"In the current situation in Sri Lanka, the entirety of the poor have become vulnerable. Indeed nutritional assessments indicate that they have become adversely affected. Such a situation places the poor, pregnant and lactating women and pre-school children in especially difficult circumstances. The situation is worsened by the increased susceptibility to infections to which the under-nourished are prone. The plight of these groups is further aggravated by their limited access to effective, proper health care."
Premadasa boasted that the growth rate was 4.8% despite the civil war in the north and east. For 70% of the population this means nothing. The country is groaning under the weight of a debt burden of US$ 5,000 million, an increase from US$ 284 million in 1978.
His utterly evasive and sterile approach to the Tamil national question has led to an intensification of the 10 year long war between the government and the LTTE, especially by aerial bombing that has targetted hospitals, schools, refugee camps, examination centres and places of worship. The war now devours Rs 25bn a year. Over 50,000 lives have been lost in the north and the east.
It is clear, even from this brief balance sheet, that Premadasa was no friend of the poor. Rather, he was anti-poor. For all his posturing on poverty alleviation, even the already eroded food stamp relief scheme was being wiped out in devious ways. Indeed, he was a friend and favourite of imperialism. Premadasa has fallen to the very methods of State repression and terro rism that his regime employed for silencing dissent. *
* Thirunavakkarasu is a leader of the NSSP.
1. Financial Times, May 4, 1993
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International Viewpoint #246 June 1993
PALESTINE