Meet Rebel No. 1 the night before his day of reckoning

The Sri Lankan capital on Wednesday was relatively calm except for the army presence at most of the locations. “Presence of army is not unusual during elections. But the relatively large number of army personnel deployed in Colombo today is a matter of concern,” said Parana Withana, one of the secretaries of the presidential candidate. But at Sirisena’s residence, there was hardly any army presence as he had been stripped of all his security and ministerial privileges after defecting to the opposition. Private security men deployed at the gate were frisking visitors manually.

Son of Albert Sirisena, a World War II veteran, Pallewatte Gamaralalage Maithripala Yapa Sirisena is known as a calm man who takes considered decisions, very often surprising people around him. One such instance was on November 22 last year when he along with two other ministers of the Rajapaksa government silently defected.

A day before that, Sirisena, a strict vegetarian, was seen enjoying Sri Lankan hoppers at a meeting called by Rajapaksa at his official residence, Temple Tree. “Rajapaksa knew Sirisena would be leaving him. Only option left for him was to stop other ministers from defecting too,” said a close aide of Sirisena. “Two days before Sirisena took the decision, Rajapaksa’s brother Gotabhaya visited Sirisena at his residence and they had a closed-door meeting to persuade the latter from quitting the government. Sirisena did not offer any reply but amiably listened to Gotabhaya as they were very good friends. Rajapaksa made promises that he will bring corrective measures but it was too late for him to correct his rule.”

Later, Sirisena himself clarified that he had sent a secret letter to Rajapaksa three months ahead of his defection to avoid going in for an election. “I told him that there is a negative wave against the government. I suggested to make use of the remaining two years in office by focusing more on the farmers’ problems. But he ignored my letter and announced the election,” said Sirisena.

On Tuesday evening, a relaxed Sirisena called a meeting of close aides at his residence where he recalled the toughest phases in his political career. “Though he was widely considered as the pet boy of former president Chandrika Kumaratunga, he recalled yesterday how she chose another leader to the post of general secretary in 1998, ignoring him and his seniority. However, he became the party leader in 2001 after the leader chosen by Kumaratunga defected from the party. Similarly, he was also upset after Rajapaksa denied him the post of prime minister despite his seniority and all other criteria for the post,” said a source, who attended the meeting.

While President Rajapaksa takes crucial decisions based on predictions by his astrologer from the southern port of Galle, Sirisena supporters are at pains to point out that he doesn’t. On Wednesday, when a Buddhist monk walked into Sirisena’s office and proclaimed that he will get the majority of 59 per cent votes, one of Sirisena’s secretaries was seen rebuking him. “Unlike Rajapaksa, Sirisena’s astrological leanings are never publicised. He does not believe in astrology. If at all, it is known only to three people — that is myself, his daughter and a Buddhist monk at a small temple in his native place,” said a senior coordinator of his election campaign.

A devotee of Buddha, Sirisena starts his day at 5 am with a five-minute prayer. Then he sets off on morning walk, barefoot and without any security. It is this morning walk that prepares him for his long day that lasts till late night, according to an old friend camping at his residence for the elections.

Many from his village also recall how an young Sirisena was inspired by communist ideologies, possibly after his diploma from the Maxim Gorky Literature Institute in Russia.

A close friend, Dr Samantha Kumara, who is from his native Polonoruwa, recalled how Sirisena met his wife Jayanthi Pushpa Kumari during a political campaign in the late 1960s. His vehicle, a lorry carrying party workers from Polonoruwa to Colombo, got a flat tyre at Kurungala village. They were standing on the roadside when Sirisena noticed two girls collecting firewood. One of them, Jayanthi, caught his attention. “He made a point to visit that place again the next day and saw the girl again. And there began his love story,” said Kumara, a dentist by profession. Sirisena married Jayanthi Pushpa Kumari in the late 1970s, he said.

For his younger son, Dhaham, 22, Sirisena is a busy politician whom he hardly gets to meet. “Whenever I need some money to buy a cellphone or things, I get it through some small jobs or my elder sister gives me the money,” he said, adding that he has no plan to enter politics in the near future. Dhaham and his sister Dharani are studying law while Sirisena’s eldest daughter Chathurika is an IT diploma holder who looks after her husband’s business.

On his plans for the country, Sirisena said they are currently focusing on restoration of democracy and bringing necessary amendments in the constitution to put an end to the autocratic system. In a set of detailed answers through his media secretary, he said the beauty of this election was the support of Tamil parties to the opposition coalition.

While ruling out possibilities of withdrawing the army from northern provinces, Sirisena said he would extend all possible support to the sentiments of Tamil leaders who are democratic in their stand. “All democratic Tamil leaders are welcome. Whatever support they have extended to us is unconditional and we have not given them any promises too. Whether it is north or south, we will not withdraw army camps there. Separatist ideas are a matter of past. After the war, for the first time, Tamils have had their own democratic state in the northern province. We need to maintain these democratic values and I appreciate Tamil leaders who believe in democracy and their support to us,” he said.

Sirisena said he would also consider the sentiments of army officials by freeing them from civilian works. “Only civilian administrations will be engaged in such works,” he said. There have been reports of resentment in the army against the Rajapaksa government as they are deployed to build roads and development infrastructure in the post-war scenario.

On his plans on foreign relationships involving India and China, Sirisena said if he was elected, Sri Lanka will maintain a good and equal relationship with both countries. “In the name of development and foreign relationships, we will not be misusing powers to build our family business,” he said.

Sirisena is also not a man who celebrates others’ defeats, observers said. “When LTTE leader V Prabhakaran was killed, he was the acting defence minister as the President was abroad at that time. Sirisena did not celebrate the killing of Prabhakaran. The only gesture from him was when he embraced the President on his return at the Colombo airport,” said a political analyst.