knowledge has no horizons

26 of January is sure to be a day of much anticipation for the world, particularly for the Tamils living across the world, as this is the day that decides the destiny of the leadership of the island nation, Sri Lanka, and that, in turn, of the Tamils. Of the 22 candidates fighting for the presidential chair, the two from the Ambalangkoda district and the "friends-turned-enemies" – Rajapakse and Sarath Fonseka – are the foremost to note, as the presidential election primarily revolves around these two. Added to them, worth mentioning is the Tamil MP, Sivajilingam

2011 presidential election is set to conduct this year over the expectation of Rajapakse that the victory(!) against the Liberation Tigers (LTTE) would bring him yet another chance to rule the island nation for the second term. He was able to feel the pulse of the Singhalese and was correct in his decision of conducting the election a year before, until Sarath Fonseka's announcement of his entry into politics. The same man who surprised Rajapakse with his war strategies and victory(!) against the LTTEs as the general shocked him as the opponent candidate. Perhaps, Rajapakse would not have expected this!

Sri Lanka being a nation with about 70 percent Singhalese, 17 percent Tamil and 8 percent Mulsim population living, it never failed to establish itself a nation of and for Buddhists. (Past has shown us a Buddhist monk, Talduwe Somarama Thero, shooting the prime minister, Solomon Pandara Naiake, for not completely yielding to the order of Buddhist monks to announce Sri Lanka a Buddhist country). Though Singhalese form the majority of the population of the island, Tamils prove to be deciding factor of winning the presidential elections, either participating in the election or boycotting it. 2005 election made Rajapakse the President with just around a plus of 1, 50,000 votes than Ranil Vikramasinge, in which Tamils refused to poll their votes.

This is going to be the first election for the Tamils without Liberation Tigers since 37 years. While Rajapakse, the President, is trying to wipe out the Tamils from the island, Rajapakse, the politician, put on all make-ups as the friend of Tamils to win their votes. His alliance with small, regional Tamil parties might prove futile for him. Whereas the support from the Tamil National Party, the biggest Tamil party with 22 MPs, to Sarath Fonseka on the condition of implementing his assurance of looking into the long-lasting Tamil issues might turn Tamil Votes to Sarath Fonseka's side.

Sivajilingam, an MP of Tamil National party, may be made feel sorry for his independent nomination in the presidential election. His dream of garnering good number of votes from Tamils may go against his expectations. Tamils and Muslims do not seem to waste their votes polling to Sivajilingam. Sarath Fonseka is already all the way to attract votes from the both – Tamils and Muslim. Tamils may go in favour of Sarath Fonseka, as the biggest Tamil party Tamil National party tenders its support to him. Also, there are chances for Tamils to see Sarath Fonseka as just a puppet dancing to the tunes of Rajapakse during his tenure as a general. Also, there are also opinions that Sivajilingam's entry into the electoral battle is just a trick of Rajapakse to divide the Tamils votes and to stop going in favour of Sarath Fonseka.

Muslims may not want the country to be announced as the Buddhist one. They might see Sarath Fonseka as the lesser harmful than that of his counterpart, Rajapakse. Also, Rajapakse's seeking of support from Buddhist leaders directly to counter Sarath Fonseka might add fuel to the fire. Political parties representing Muslim population, too, provide their unconditional support to Sarath Fonseka, which in turn would corroborate him in the electoral battle.

No doubt, Sarath Fonseka is capable of attracting young and educated voters of the country. His taking of heir politics of Rajapakse to the voters during his election campaign has turned positive, as the opposition parties expected. The former President Chandrika Kumarathunga’s meeting with the ex-general and her open support to him is yet another good sign for Sarath Fonseka. Winning the war against the LTTEs is not alone the winning factor for Rajapakse, while there are other problems hikes in the price of commodities that really torment the middle-class population, law-and-order problem in the country, heir politics, etc. for which Pakse has no answer.

In short and in fact, Sarath Fonseka seems to dominate the presidential election.