Sri Lanka election fever…. globally. Time for politicians to think global and act local! – By Aubrey Joachim
It is said that religion and politics should never be discussed among friends. However, this cardinal rule seems to have been cast aside in this digital era of AI driven deep fake news and musings with regards elections causing rift among life-long friendships. This opinion piece will rock the boat and is likely to cause friction.
Over 70% of the world would have gone to the polls by the end of this year. With the increasing spread of international diaspora across the globe, political interest and electioneering has never been so widespread. The forthcoming Presidential elections in Sri Lanka is no different – if at all the hype, tension and rift may be at a higher level than among any other nationality. Social media is in overdrive. Interesting Venn diagrams of social groupings bring out different views and political affiliations. Fake polls and flawed AI predictive algorithms show drastically opposing outcomes.
Flawed reasoning on overseas voters
As the poll date advances, there seems to be a major issue with Sri Lankans living abroad getting involved in local Sri Lankan politics. Recent posts on various social media threads express displeasure from local Sri Lankans regarding the overseas diaspora commenting on, and more importantly voting in the elections. Specific concerns were in respect of ‘plane loads’ of Lankans who went back during the 2019 Presidential election to vote for the ultimate winner and that they were the main reason he got voted in. For a start such a comment is not backed up by fact. Gotabaya Rajapaksa polled 6.9 million votes while Sajith Premadasa polled 5.6 million. The majority was at least 1.3 million. Is it likely that such a large number of overseas Lankans descended on the island on voting day to cast their votes? There would not have been enough plane seats to accommodate them all. It would have required over 3,700 Boeing 777’s ‘plane loads’ – carrying an average of 350 passengers each – fully laden with Sri Lankan expats to achieve this. So mathematically impossible! Next, there are some 2+ Million Sri Lankan diaspora across the globe. Is it likely that over 50% of these ‘patriots’ chose to come back just to vote? Many are on low-income Middle East, Italian and Korean jobs. Therefore, a ridiculous claim. Further, only dual citizens in other countries can vote and it is highly unlikely that there are as many dual Lankan citizens. Therefore, those making such comments are just plain bitter about the outcome and consequences that followed and conveniently blame their unfortunate predicament of the last 4 or 5 years on the diaspora who are living ‘luxurious lives’ in foreign lands having abandoned their motherland but still wanting to poke their fingers in local matters. Once again the typical behaviour of blaming someone else for their lot in life.
Politicians going global
This time the Presidential election – as well as the parliamentary elections to follow – has taken an interesting twist. Leaders of some of the parties have seen opportunities in tapping into the Sri Lankan diaspora not only as a source of funding but also as a conduit to spread their political philosophies. One major party – the JVP/NPP led by Anura Kumara Dissanayake and another – the UCF lead by Prashan De Visser have been travelling to all the major cities where there are large concentrations of Sri Lankans living, working and studying to address them at large gatherings to garner support. Strategic moves on their part. The established traditional parties and their convoluted offshoots are financially backed by wealthy businesses and individuals who have deep pockets and seek to more than recover their ‘investments’ if their favoured individual – in the case of the President, and party – in the case of the parliamentary elections come into power. On the other hand, the newer parties do not have that clout and therefore must depend on being able to capitalise on their vision, mandate and appeal. They have seen the opportunity of tapping into the diaspora to raise much needed funds. A smart move. Perfectly legal.
Harnessing global SL talent
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In addition, these parties are also seeking to harness the global talent pool of the Sri Lankan diaspora to help them to run the country – if and when they succeed in taking over the reins. They have recognised the gaps and short-comings within their local pool and are humble enough to reach out to the hordes of Sri Lankan experts in every field who are ready to support their motherland. This cohort who have mostly sought greener pastures due to the decades of flawed policies and governance and management failures now see an opportunity of giving back to their motherland. Academics, those with operational excellence, financial capabilities, legal and governance expertise etc. After all, such are providing their competencies and know-how to their adopted countries. Some of this capability can be diverted towards Sri Lanka to pull them out of the current economic mess. While those who have been leading the country until now have merely depended on the dollar remittances of lower level overseas Sri Lankan workers – which while temporarily boosting the coffers have a limit, these new boys on the block have seen the limitless expertise that they can draw from what was a dormant non-contributing overseas asset – human /knowledge capital. To date, those in power have sought to merely rely on the locals – those who stayed back or could not go abroad, to run the show. The results of such policies can be seen all too well in the performances of the many government enterprises that are struggling to survive due to mis-management by below-par and corrupt officials and now forced to be divested by the IMF. Take a lesson from India and how its diaspora supported the economic turnaround by inviting its diaspora to play an important role in almost every field.
Overseas Lankans having their political say
So should there be an issue with Sri Lankan diaspora getting involved in politics back home? Certainly not. Getting back to overseas Lankans going back to vote – why not? They have a right to do so. There be would many overseas Lankans who are only merely temporary residents in a foreign land and would at some point need to get back. Should they not have a say on the future of the country? Similarly, the many thousands of students who are studying overseas. Also, over the last few years, hundreds of thousands – including qualified professionals – have left Sri Lanka due to the economic crisis and may be looking to get back once circumstances turn for the better. They should have a say in turning things around. In the case of dual citizens who are living ‘luxurious lives’ in other countries, they too have every right to be involved. For a start dual citizenship comes with a heavy monetary cost it is not a free hand-out, they need to obtain a TIN number, perhaps pay taxes and most importantly may have family and other interests that can be impacted by future political direction. Some have even chosen to get back to their birthplaces to live the rest of their lives, take back their foreign earned assets and even contribute in some way. Let’s also not forget those who continue to send monies back to Sri Lanka to support family, friends and other charitable needs that are the result of poor governance and economic mis-management. These are important considerations on which they should have a say. That then leaves the rest who have left the shores of Sri Lanka over the decades mainly for better futures or because they were not wanted because of their language, religious or ethnic backgrounds. They too would wish the best for their country of birth and could have a say – with a view from outside.
What other countries do
Perhaps what is also not realised by those narrow-minded Whatsapp commentators is that most countries allow their diaspora to participate in national elections. Citizens of Australia, USA, UK and many others including even India, can vote in elections wherever in the world they may choose to live. In the case of India only NRI’s but not those who are citizens of another country as they do not allow dual citizenship. And more importantly citizens of all these countries can do so from their own countries of domicile at designated overseas voting centres such as embassies or consulates. If this were to be implemented by Sri Lanka there will not be a need for ‘fly-in’ voters. Then many more overseas Sri Lankans could vote. The thousands of middle-eastern Lankan labour workforce would be allowed to exercise their franchise which has a huge impact on their future lives. Imagine the outcome? Perhaps this is a change that a future leadership needs to seriously consider. Perhaps the next constitutional amendment?
Another glaring anomaly is that there is no provision for absentee voting via pre-polling or postal voting as is the case in most other countries. Only government servants on election duty can postal vote. However, someone leaving for a pre-committed overseas trip or entering a hospital for surgery even the day before the election cannot cast their vote. This is unfair. In a country like Australia pre-polling and postal voting is open for several weeks before election day and overseas postal voting too. For a country that introduced universal franchise nearly 96 years ago, Sri Lanka seems to have lost the concept of ‘universal’ and has a long way to go in opening their minds to modern practices.
Therefore, what is glaringly obvious is that in this day and age it is virtually impossible to ring-fence national affairs in any country. Migration demographics has enveloped the globe. Politicians and political parties must now think beyond their little cocoon. They must ‘think global and act local’ as the business adage goes. It appears that some traditional parties have raised concerns about the overseas Lankans influence on the election outcomes. If they are to be the leaders of the future, then they must draw upon the burgeoning overseas Sri Lankan financial and knowledge base and take electioneering global. And to those keyboard Whatsapp commentators, it is time to get out of the well!
The author – former Global President of CIMA is an Australian citizen of Sri Lankan descent and is not a dual citizen.
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