Gibbs
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Freedom: Take III | DailyFT - Be Empowered
A few mornings a week, Independence Square receives a VIP visitor. He arrives in an unmarked, nondescript pickup truck, accompanied by two people. One is a personal trainer. The other, a bodyguard. In a glossy blue t-shirt, track bottoms and neon-laced sports shoes, President Maithripala Sirisena could be just another morning walker at the Square.
But within minutes, he is flanked by an entourage. Dozens of people begin to keep step with the President as he tries to complete his morning exercise routine. Ladies stop for selfies. Bridal parties insist on an official portrait featuring the President on the steps of the historic Independence Hall. He obliges often, smiling shyly and cutting a strange figure in his exercise outfit, completely overshadowed by the dazzling attire donned by the wedding party.
The desire of citizens to get close to this President, to walk with him, to talk to him, to share their mundane morning routines with him, speaks to the level of citizen engagement his victory in last month’s election is crafting. Politicians and Presidents, with their beefy security detail and their tinted SUVs, have always driven away the citizen, who were either repulsed by the show of strength or feared it to get too close.
But this small-made man of simple tastes and quiet speech, lacking in the raw magnetism and popular appeal of his predecessor, is evoking a different response. He will not be addressed as ‘Excellency’. He will not move lock stock and barrel into the Presidential Palace, preferring to reside in his old ministerial quarters at Wijerama Mawatha. He will not purge his office or his security contingent of Rajapaksa loyalists. He has personally tasted the power of the executive presidency, its attraction and appeal. That is why, President Sirisena says at least, it has to go.
Shaping a different type of presidency
In the first euphoric 30 days, Maithripala Sirisena is already looking to shape an entirely different type of presidency.
For nine long years, all Sri Lankans have known is the construction of a gaudy personality cult by its former Head of State. As memory faded of pre-Rajapaksa Sri Lanka under the weight of a propaganda project that spanned nearly a decade, citizens had experienced only the supreme arrogance of the presidency and the arrogation of its powers to a single individual and his kith and kin.
President Mahinda Rajapaksa, it appeared, never got enough of looking at himself. Supporters and sycophants deified and attributed royalty to him. He was “maharajaano”. He was “appachchi”. He was the “senehebara thaththa”. He was never Mr. President. He was never the servant of the people. He was the Grand High King.
Citizens were his subjects, rewarded only if they were unquestioningly loyal. He basked in the glow of their compliments and shaped his presidency in the image of the ancient monarchies. The first time he took oaths as President in a democratic swearing-in ceremony. The second time was a coronation.
On 8 January 2015, Sri Lankans rejected the Emperor. They decreed that it was democrats that must lead the country, not modern day-monarchs. The battle against Rajapaksa authoritarianism and dynastic rule was in every sense a liberation struggle. It was a clash of ideas and a fight to reclaim the republic. The Sri Lankan voter chose that day to be ruled not by kings, but by people much more like themselves.
Maithripala Sirisena carries that burden. He must be as different as possible. These are early days, but thus far, he seems intent to ensure his presidency and that of his predecessor, who inspired such ire against the powerful office are as different as possible.
Independence Square has assumed an important place in the story of the Sirisena presidency. He chose the historic site to take the presidential oath of office, at dusk on 9 January, linking his victory in the historic election to the memory of that first freedom struggle 67 years ago. It has also inadvertently become a meeting place, between a President and sections of his people.
A few mornings a week, Independence Square receives a VIP visitor. He arrives in an unmarked, nondescript pickup truck, accompanied by two people. One is a personal trainer. The other, a bodyguard. In a glossy blue t-shirt, track bottoms and neon-laced sports shoes, President Maithripala Sirisena could be just another morning walker at the Square.
But within minutes, he is flanked by an entourage. Dozens of people begin to keep step with the President as he tries to complete his morning exercise routine. Ladies stop for selfies. Bridal parties insist on an official portrait featuring the President on the steps of the historic Independence Hall. He obliges often, smiling shyly and cutting a strange figure in his exercise outfit, completely overshadowed by the dazzling attire donned by the wedding party.
The desire of citizens to get close to this President, to walk with him, to talk to him, to share their mundane morning routines with him, speaks to the level of citizen engagement his victory in last month’s election is crafting. Politicians and Presidents, with their beefy security detail and their tinted SUVs, have always driven away the citizen, who were either repulsed by the show of strength or feared it to get too close.
But this small-made man of simple tastes and quiet speech, lacking in the raw magnetism and popular appeal of his predecessor, is evoking a different response. He will not be addressed as ‘Excellency’. He will not move lock stock and barrel into the Presidential Palace, preferring to reside in his old ministerial quarters at Wijerama Mawatha. He will not purge his office or his security contingent of Rajapaksa loyalists. He has personally tasted the power of the executive presidency, its attraction and appeal. That is why, President Sirisena says at least, it has to go.
Shaping a different type of presidency
In the first euphoric 30 days, Maithripala Sirisena is already looking to shape an entirely different type of presidency.
For nine long years, all Sri Lankans have known is the construction of a gaudy personality cult by its former Head of State. As memory faded of pre-Rajapaksa Sri Lanka under the weight of a propaganda project that spanned nearly a decade, citizens had experienced only the supreme arrogance of the presidency and the arrogation of its powers to a single individual and his kith and kin.
President Mahinda Rajapaksa, it appeared, never got enough of looking at himself. Supporters and sycophants deified and attributed royalty to him. He was “maharajaano”. He was “appachchi”. He was the “senehebara thaththa”. He was never Mr. President. He was never the servant of the people. He was the Grand High King.
Citizens were his subjects, rewarded only if they were unquestioningly loyal. He basked in the glow of their compliments and shaped his presidency in the image of the ancient monarchies. The first time he took oaths as President in a democratic swearing-in ceremony. The second time was a coronation.
On 8 January 2015, Sri Lankans rejected the Emperor. They decreed that it was democrats that must lead the country, not modern day-monarchs. The battle against Rajapaksa authoritarianism and dynastic rule was in every sense a liberation struggle. It was a clash of ideas and a fight to reclaim the republic. The Sri Lankan voter chose that day to be ruled not by kings, but by people much more like themselves.
Maithripala Sirisena carries that burden. He must be as different as possible. These are early days, but thus far, he seems intent to ensure his presidency and that of his predecessor, who inspired such ire against the powerful office are as different as possible.
Independence Square has assumed an important place in the story of the Sirisena presidency. He chose the historic site to take the presidential oath of office, at dusk on 9 January, linking his victory in the historic election to the memory of that first freedom struggle 67 years ago. It has also inadvertently become a meeting place, between a President and sections of his people.