The Washington Post - USA (2022-05-23)

MONDAY, MAY 23 , 2022. THE WASHINGTON POST EZ RE A

“As a leader who has always

listened to the people, I now ask

you: What needs to be done?”

Mahinda said to thousands of

supporters sitting cross-legged in

a chandelier-lit hall. “You must

stay!” the crowd roared. “Does

that mean I shouldn’t resign?” he

asked again, soaking in calls to

fight on.

When the rally ended, support-

ers streamed out of Temple Trees

with steel rods and wooden sticks,

beating anti-government protest-

ers and sparking a bloody back-

lash that shocked the nation.

Holed up in Temple Trees with

his sons, who had urged him to

stay, Mahinda told his speech-

writer at 4 p.m. that he was re-

signing. The speechwriter spread

the news to the media, but that

didn’t stop the violence, said two

people inside the compound. De-

spite the family’s pleas, the army

chance to form a new govern-

ment. Sri Lanka needed a stable

image to present to foreign lend-

ers and negotiate an urgent bail-

out.

But Mahinda, the prime minis-

ter, resisted calls from the opposi-

tion and even signals from the

president to quit.

Gotabaya didn’t force the issue.

“G.R. would say, ‘He knows what I

want,' ” said Godahewa, who

joined the Cabinet after several

Rajapaksas departed. “He felt he

needed the support of Basil and

Mahinda.”

With pressure mounting on

Mahinda, his supporters orga-

nized a May 9 rally at Temple

Trees, the prime minister’s com-

pound. The patriarch, feeling de-

flated and mulling resigning, sud-

denly seemed energized, accord-

ing to two family insiders and

videos of the event.

istration.”

The Rajapaksas were united on

one issue: a constitutional

amendment passed in 2020 that

weakened commissions investi-

gating corruption and granted

the president far-reaching pow-

ers over the courts.

The fall

By early 2022, the economy was

in free fall. Foodstuffs like rice

doubled in price from a year prior.

Gasoline and electricity were in

short supply. Foreign currency

reserves were running out.

In April, nightly demonstra-

tions took root in the capital de-

manding that the Rajapaksas

leave politics, and some turned

violent. Gotabaya’s entire Cabinet

— which included Basil, the fi-

nance minister; the elder brother,

Chamal; and Mahinda’s son —

resigned, giving Gotabaya a

Gotabaya’s pro-Western busi-
ness-sector backers had recom-
mended a list of appointments,
but when the president unveiled
his first Cabinet, it was led by
Mahinda as prime minister and
stocked with Basil and Mahinda
loyalists. They enacted steep tax
cuts and argued against seeking
aid from the International Mon-
etary Fund despite mounting
debt. Gotabaya personally
pushed through a ban on chemi-
cal fertilizers that hurt crop
yields, just as global food prices
soared.
Mahinda’s supporters said they
had shaped the Cabinet only to be
undermined by Gotabaya’s ap-
pointments. In several instances,
the government issued trade pol-
icies that were retracted within 24
hours. “You had ministers fight-
ing secretaries,” Weeratunga said.
“Fighting permeated the admin-

LAKRUWAN WANNIARACHCHI/AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE/GETTY IMAGES

ISHARA S. KODIKARA/AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE/GETTY IMAGES

Sri Lanka faces “total destruction.

The country has learned

a lesson about dynastic politics.”

Former president Maithripala Sirisena

ment this week, Chamal chastised

Mahinda for not leaving politics in

2015. And at a recent meeting of
      the Rajapaksas’ party members,
      family allies angrily asked why
      they were not protected on May 9
      in a rare display of discord. “How
      Gotabaya treats the party now will
      decide the direction of the peo-
      ple’s wrath,” Weeratunga said.
      On May 12, an embattled and
      isolated Gotabaya named a new
      prime minister: Ranil Wickremes-
      inghe, the man he secretly met
      with in 2018 when he first jock-
      eyed for the position against his
      brother.
      Four years later, Sri Lanka’s
      most powerful family was crum-
      bling — maybe for good, said
      Jayaweera, the media magnate.
      “The Rajapaksas, and Sri Lan-
      ka, ended in tragedy,” he said. “It
      ended because of their own do-
      ing.”

didn’t send reinforcements until

11 p.m., after protesters had al-

ready breached a gate. At 4 a.m.,

Mahinda was evacuated by sol-

diers to a military base.

“Mahinda understood this

stalling was deliberate,” said

Weeratunga, who accused Gota-

baya of trying to intimidate his

brothers. But two ministers who

were by the president’s side that

day said he furiously called mili-

tary officers to no avail.

“He could neither control the

army nor police,” Godahewa said.

Godahewa and foreign diplo-

mats said army commander Shav-

endra Silva — who has been in

frequent touch with Western offi-

cials — was reluctant to deploy his

forces for fear of being seen as

ordering a military crackdown.

The absence of the military that

day widened the fissures among

the brothers. In a speech to parlia-

AT LEFT: Sri Lankan Prime Minister Mahinda Rajapaksa, left, and

President Gotabaya Rajapaksa, his brother, in 2019. A couple of

weeks ago, the president named a new premier. The brothers

disagree on everything, family confidants say. ABOVE:

Government supporters and police clash i n Colombo on May 9.

Reggie Fils-Aimé

Former President & COO, Nintendo

Author, “Disrupting the Game: From the Bronx to the Top of Nintendo”

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