The Old Fox and his followers

The 119th birth anniversary of the first Executive President of Sri Lanka, J. R. Jayewardene (JRJ) falls today.

- 

The Old Fox is long gone but his legacy endures, with even his fiercest critics following in his footsteps.

All those who sought to oust or even kill JRJ, denounced his policies and condemned him vehemently for attacks on democracy, have emulated him all these years. The SLFP, which came to power, promising to undo what JRJ had done, chose to continue his policies and programmes, and did not carry out its pledge to abolish the executive presidency. The leaders of the SLFP and the SLPP (an SLFP offshoot) held the executive presidency for about 28 years. Chandrika Bandaranaike Kumaratunga and Mahinda Rajapaksa became two-term Presidents, representing the SLFP. Eventually, the SLPP had to bring in JRJ’s nephew, Ranil Wickremesinghe, as an interim President to straighten up the economy it had bankrupted under President Gotabaya Rajapaksa’s watch.

JRJ stood up for what he believed in and pursued his autocratic desires openly. His predecessors have abused the executive powers he vested in the presidency generously and given free rein to their dictatorial ambitions while pontificating to others on the virtues of democracy. If they had been really keen to do away with the powerful executive presidency, they could have got together and done so decades ago.