My adopted country of Sri Lanka recently held presidential elections.
While I lived there, from 2002 to 2016, Chandrika Kumaratunga was president (1994-2005). At first, I was mostly sightseeing, learning about cultural aspects of Sri Lanka and its people, not about the politics of the country.
It wasn’t until later, while still living in Sri Lanka, that I sat with the former president Chandrika Kumaratunga in a small restaurant and had tea with her. I had no clue what to say to her. The main facts that I knew about her was her husband had been assassinated and that an attack on her had damaged her eye, so that she was blind in it. I actually didn’t know what eye to focus on while speaking to her, or what to say except that I went to the funeral of her assassinated Foreign Minister Lakshman Kadirgamar. I had taken the last photo of him before he died. I liked him tremendously. But that was not teatime conversation.
I’m not sure I said much of any substance to the former president, but I didn’t feel fear around her, or of her politics. Perhaps that was extremely naive, as I was used to politics in the U.S. Dirty but not seemingly dangerous.
The next president in Sri Lanka was Mahinda Rajapaksa (2005-2015). I remember one time when he gave a speech and I was close to him taking his photograph. He gave me a look that made me shiver. I continued to photograph him but I never forgot his fierce look.
The New York Times wrote that Rajapaksa, at the peak of his powers, did what many nationalist strongmen do: erect tributes to himself. Those included an international airport devoid of passenger flights, a cricket stadium that has had only a few international matches and that is so remote that arriving teams faced the risk of wildlife attacks. Plus the Hambantota Port, which Sri Lanka was unable to meet loan payments and had to turn the port over to China in the face of impossible debt.
Mahinda Rajapaksa did end the 35-year long civil war, though many have accused him of war crimes, human rights abuses, nepotism and excessively close ties to China.
I know of firsthand accounts how difficult the economy was: lack of fuel, high food prices, shortages. One Sri Lankan friend told me food prices were higher there than they were in the U.K.
Another friend had told me to keep hold of my tongue, that it was not healthy to say anything (or write emails) disparaging the president or the government. In fact at dinner with Sri Lankan friends, one woman (a newspaper editor) left the country the next day with her son for fear of her life.
Assassinations, fear of reprisal, lack of freedom of speech were not things I had experienced as an American citizen, living in the United States.
With Kamala Harris losing the presidential election, I’m wondering how long it will take for the U.S. government to come close to what Sri Lanka experienced with its own despot in power.
From the Red and Blue map of the election shown by news reports, it seems that most people are happy with Trump winning. However at my doctor’s office, my doctor said about his son, “After election night, my son doesn’t think he can take over my practice as he wants to leave the country.” Many people have voiced those same sentiments.
What’s a girl to do?…as my Sri Lankan friend advised me, keep hold of my tongue, watch what unfolds in the next four years and hope for a peaceful transfer of power in 2029.
Lucy Llewellyn Byard welcomes comments and shares. To contact her, email
lucywgtd@gmail.com
