The Colombo District will be one of the most hotly contested districts in the upcoming election. The competitiveness within the district has made candidates from both the government and the opposition put up posters and cut-outs around the city, while disregarding countless objections from the Elections Commissioner. However, amidst all the chaos spreading across the city walls, one face that is missing in the action is that of the Minister of Justice & Law Reforms, Milinda Moragoda. The Nation caught up with Moragoda to find out how he is preparing for the election.

Q: The city walls are adorned by posters and cutouts from almost all the prominent contestants in the upcoming election. Why haven’t you joined in the poster campaign?

A: The first time I contested was in 2001, the second time was in 2004, and this is my third time. From the beginning, I did not use posters or cut-outs. I didn’t hold meetings and I didn’t want to be garlanded. The idea was symbolic to me. The election is not a ‘tamasha’. I didn’t want to put pressure on the voters. I present some ideas and the voter takes the decision. To give the voter the respect he deserves, in our agenda, the first topic is a political culture which respects the citizen. I always believed that the citizen was key. Actually, the first time I took the decision was when I was in Kirulapone. A young boy was shot and killed by a rival group, when he was putting up posters. I went for that funeral, and I thought, ‘was it worth it’? What was the political culture that we have created, where a young boy had to be killed for a poster? What I realised was that, the organisation you create to put up these posters is connected to other networks which are not necessarily good for a politician or good for society. So I said we have to make a point. Very experienced politicians at that time said that I can’t win without posters. Those days, you had to have posters all over the wall, and you had to control the walls. But the people showed some confidence in me in 2001, they showed some confidence in me in 2004. I see that as a symbol in the changing political culture.

Before the war started, our police used to carry a baton with them. They didn’t have a gun. Today, they carry a machine gun. So I argue that, through the war, our society has changed. So the police have to go back to the era before the war. Similarly, politics has also come on a journey. It has become violent, it has become oppressive. You have to go back to an age where politics was about respecting the citizen.

Q: Some politicians argue that posters and cut-outs are essential to publicise their contestant’s number. Others say that, if they don’t put up posters, people will think that their election campaign is not strong enough. Given these thoughts, and given the fact that the election race in Colombo is dominated by many popular names, don’t you thin you are at a disadvantage without the posters and cut-outs?

A: My view is that democracy and politics are not about winning and losing. It is up to the citizen to decide who gets elected and who does not. Politics has become too much about winning and losing in our country. Its winner takes all. That is not democracy. Democracy is when somebody is elected and the people are confident. This is not a cricket match where one side wins and the other side loses. Always, when I go before the people, I’m not thinking of winning or losing. We have presented a vision, a set of policies and a journey. The journey is important, because there is no point if you present your policies, but you go to that in the wrong way. So we are going on a journey, and if the citizen thinks that journey is correct, then they can vote for us. In fact, every time I contested in an election, I have not looked at it in any other way. This culture has become too much about winning and losing. The winners destroy the loser, and the losers are waiting to take revenge on the winners. My campaign idea is to signal something different. Winning and losing is not important, what is important is how you go on that journey. We must not intimidate the citizen through our campaign.

Q: You have launched a pretty strong online campaign. You have even started ‘tweeting’ on the Twitter social network site. This sought of online activity is generally seen in election campaigns of politicians of developed countries. What made you start your online campaign?

A: We first started our website in 2000, in all three languages. A few years ago, it won an international award at the ‘Webby’ awards, also called the Oscars of the internet. We won two honoraries for two categories. We were one of the few in Asia, and the only site in Sri Lanka ever to win such an award. To some extent, I have always felt that, that is the way to communicate. My feeling is that, in every campaign, we should try to bring in new technologies. In 2001, we started with telephone calls with recorded messages, where people could interact and ask questions. This time we are not using it. This time we have started using Twitter. The thought process behind it was that, we should try to bring in a new technology, because, that itself is a contribution to society. Overnight, it’s not going to turn into what it is in the US. But, as a campaign, we should bring new ideas, and we need to add value. So I see Twitter as a way to add value to the political campaign. I think it will catch on. I saw an article by Professor Samarajeeva, where he had explained how ‘sms’ can be an intrusion. Even if we get a call from a canvasser, I would feel it an intrusion. In a way, we thought that Twitter was a way where people, who want to get involved, can do so, and there is no intrusion.

We have always tried to bring new technologies, while not forgetting the importance of grassroots campaigning. Our whole campaign is based on ground canvassing. Colombo District has 1.5 million voters, out of which around a million will vote. Our organisation is also just building, so we are trying to touch each of these households at different levels. There is a canvassing approach, but it is targeted canvassing. Contact is important. But technology, after a while, becomes a surrogate. Someday, you will see technology and grassroots campaigning coming together. That is what happened in President Obama’s campaign.

Q: You have taken the initiative to lay the groundwork for a “Freedom of Information” Act. What compelled you to start work on this?

A: Sri Lanka National Congress is in the process of preparing the Freedom of Information legislature. In fact, President Rajapaksa, in the Mahinda Chinthana Idiri Dakma, has referred to a piece of legislation on transparency, and we hope that it could be the first legislation in the new Parliament. We have encouraged a civil society group to come together, a few media people and professionals to work on a draft for this purpose. Then it will be put up for discussion. We, as a party, will also propose this legislation.

There is always this feeling that access to information is only for the elite. Somebody loses a tender and you go and find out why. But I think, one of the more telling areas would be the problems faced by the poorer people in society. Very often, people don’t know why their kids didn’t gain admission to a school. Now, under this legislation, you can go and ask the school to show the marks and so forth. In India, this was a successful initiative. When you have that transparency at all levels, people are more careful. As a minister, the minister would be more careful, officials would be more careful in the decision they make. All of us will be brought under some scrutiny. So it’s not only for people who have mega contracts, it’s for people at all levels.

In India, if you open a newspaper, you will always see some organisation putting up some kind of a request, under the Right to Information Act. What we are trying to encourage is for civil society groups to put this forward. That’s why we encouraged a group of journalists as well as civil society activists to come together to make the first draft. Of course, there will be amendments. Legislation is also an ongoing thing. You can’t have the perfect Rolls Royce immediately. Even in India, you have these amendments taking place. I saw an editorial in the Hindu saying that the government’s suggestions are wrong. But that is fine. Between civil society and government, you have to have that kind of tension. That too I’m trying to create with this legislature.

Everybody is talking about corruption. When you are in the opposition, you accuse the government of corruption, and when you come to power, the opposition is accusing you of corruption. The citizen has become cynical. That situation is not good. You can’t be thinking that all politicians are corrupt. In my view, the answer is not to create new institutions to fight corruption, the answer is transparency. The citizen is intelligent enough to understand what they see. When it comes to prosecution of corruption, I believe that the court system should be strengthened and empowered, rather than creating new institutions. If an institution is not working, the answer is not to create another institution to do the work. The effort should be to correct that institution. As far as Sri Lanka is concerned, 30 years of war have corrupted all our institutions. Authorities, the judicial system and society as a whole was preoccupied with terrorism. So now, in this world, the President has created a golden moment for us. We may all forfeit that, if we don’t start thinking of how to address issues that need to be addressed.

Q: You have been outspoken in your support for more female representation in politics. Can you elaborate on this further?

A: This is a price we paid for the war. If you look at the situation in India, they brought before the Raja Sabha, and now it is in front of the Lok Sabha- an amendment to the Constitution, for a quota in the Lok Sabha, of one-third women. As you know, in Sri Lanka, our women representation is just around 5% in Parliament and only around 1% at the local government level. I think, that again was largely because of the 30-years of war. When you see India, with a population of a billion people, talking about creating a one-third quota, and we have nothing here in Sri Lanka, it is almost shocking. In a practical sense, it is the women who sustain our economy- Middle East employment, Apparel sector and Tea sector. Also, at the grassroots level, if you look at the city of Colombo, it is women who are sustaining the families. There are so many poor families in Colombo. The men go to work and do labour somewhere, but when they come back, the women sell hoppers or do some sort of independent little job to keep the family going. When it comes to the education system, over half of Law College are women, in the university we are seeing more and more women, and of course, within the population too, women are in the majority. Internationally, you see a development. Clearly, its not rocket science, I believe the change in our political system, the change in how we approach problems, this confrontational attitude we have towards things, whether its politics or civil society, should come to an end. I think that brutalisation has happened along with the war. I think, by encouraging more women to join politics, it will change the existing culture. I have tried to the best of my ability. Earlier, when I was in government, I made it a point to make one-third of all corporation heads under me, women. I did that on my own. In our new policy proposal, we have put forward a quota of 25%. In fact, the President, in the first Mahinda Chinthana, had also mentioned a similar idea. It is something that has to happen. I mean, if a billion people in India can make a bold decision for women, for us, with 20 million, it should not be a problem.

Q: What are the key points in your political campaign?

A: There is a notion that, because the city of Colombo is not a political base for the government, that politicians have ignored the city. So I want to provide a voice for the city. There are many problems in the city. During the war, the city was the centre of much activity and, as a result, it struggled, as far as development was concerned. Now that the war is over, we have to focus again on the city. Politically, we want to make the point that the city needs a voice. The city can be proud of the fact that all communities live in it. It’s one-third Sinhalese, one-third Tamil and one-third Muslim. Without any problems, these communities coexist. Even when you look at the religions, it is a very diverse place. But structure is important. Poverty needs to be eradicated. If you go to some parts of Colombo, people sleep in shifts. One lot sleeps while others work, and then the first lot works while the others sleep. Part of our programme focuses especially on the city. There again, we look at how the citizens can also be empowered. Everything should not be left to politicians, citizens should also be empowered.

Then, we would talk about transparency in decision-making, which is important in the context of corruption. The citizen should have access to information within limits. Of course, there are security issues and intelligence issues, but that is a very narrow area. In today’s world, you can’t hide things. Through the internet, everything comes out. As a politician, one of the first things you need to learn is that you can’t hide anything. The moment you hide things, it becomes something else. Openness is the only answer to corruption and any charges. Then we have the issue of more women in Parliament. We also have the issue of a need for a revolution in education. Then, when it comes to justice, we have proposed some legislative reforms. In the context of politics, we have proposed a change in the political system, which is campaigning for the reform of an electoral system. We have also proposed campaign fiancé legislation, so that, there is some sort of transparency to campaign funding. Because, without a change in the electoral system, you really can’t be transparent with campaign finances, they are connected.

We have also proposed an agenda for senior citizens. As you know, we are an aging society. In a couple of decades, nearly a fourth of our population will be over 60 or 65. So, as you know, our demography is similar to that of a developed country such as Japan, but our economy cannot sustain that. So, we have to start planning now. If you look at the Colombo District, there are something like 86,000 pensioners in it. It’s not an idea of just offering them some temporary relief. It’s about thinking of their respect and dignity. I think, our values, in dealing with senior citizens, have also eroded because of the war. The tradition is that, when you see a senior citizen in a bus, you give your seat to him. You don’t see that happening now.

I think, now that the war is over, rebuilding the economy is the next biggest challenge we face. We have a set of suggestions for that. During the war, the economy was going at 5 to 6%. But, if we are to handle our unemployment problem, if we are to handle the cost of living, and increase income, then, we should be going at 8 to 10%. We need to make our economy more competitive. In keeping with this, the President wants to make Sri Lanka the centre of Asia. We have made proposals from our point of view, on how that can be done.

Lastly, but an extremely important part of our agenda is the whole healing and reconciliation process. Sometimes, we may not be paying much attention to that in the middle of an election. Very clearly, we are a divided nation. We need to resume reconciliation. We have two sections that deal with that. One is the diversity; Sri Lanka belongs to all of us. There, we have made proposals to deal with the Tamil language, reconciliation and respecting each others ideas. We need to understand and respect each others’ identities. We have made proposals in that regard. The other part is devolution. We need to ensure that appropriate devolution is granted.

I’ve also made some points on religion, in our agenda. The importance of family, school and place of religion is stressed. We have to start building our values from bottom up. The war has destroyed our values, because, in 30 years of war and terrorism, without you knowing it, the value of a life comes down. When you value life less, everything else is valued less too.

Q: You mentioned that, reviving the economy is the next biggest challenge for the country. There is a general saying that the UNP is better suited at handling the country’s economy. Given the fact that you are a successful business personality, as well as a former member of the UNP, what are your thoughts on who is better suited to revive the economy?

A: To get the economy going, one of the most important things is bringing unity to the country. I think, economic issues don’t take much to be understood. I mean, economics is a science, you know the fundamentals, you can figure out what’s going on and what needs to be done. The fundamentals don’t change, whether your managing in US or India. The issue here is not about understanding economics, it is in understanding the politics and how you can unite the country. And there, I think this is a unique moment, because the President was able to unite the country by winning the war against terrorism. I think, now, his challenge is to mobilise and bring together that unity. That’s where he’s strong. He can deal with people with different ideologies, and convince them to work together. I mean nobody would have thought it possible, what he did with the coalition to win the war. He got politicians from the UNP, JVP, SLFP, JHU, Tamil parties, Muslim parties, LSSP, DP all to work for one cause. I mean, six years ago, if you said that all of us would be sitting around one table with President Rajapaksa at the head of it, I don’t think I would have believed it, and I don’t think neither would you. So, the skill needed here is the ability to put everything together. The economic side will follow.

As to who is better at what, my view is, what is required has been done by the President. Unity is important, otherwise, one side proposes a good idea and the other side just knocks it off. I think, the President will be able to build that coalition that is wide enough to ensure that the economy can move forward.