Sri Lanka’s general public and majority of low ranking security forces personnel have expressed concern on Gotabaya Rajapaksa’s come back as presidential candidate as they have bitter memories of his old doctrine of allowing military to do civilian duties.
This doctrine, known as the military’s dual function, had been put into practice when Gotabaya was holding the Defense and Urban Development Secretary post with unprecedented power.
They noted that the people of this country cannot forget undermining the dignity of war heroes by deploying soldiers in cleaning roads and walking paths as well as carpentry, masonry and almost all aspects of civilian work.
From engaging in labour work of changing the landscapes of the Colombo city with its rapid remodeling and ‘beautification’ to growing vegetables in the North and East and other rural areas , Sri Lanka’s military had been demoralized.
This was aimed at systematically increasing Gota’s grip on the economy and business activities at that time, economic experts claimed.
Gota with the Army has made a significant impact on private ventures that are in competition mainly due to the cheap labour of service men and women the then Defence Ministry has been freely exploiting, they said.
Several leading businessmen have revealed that not only has the military invaded the local business space but also issued threats to businesses engaged in similar fields to refrain from raising issues with their involvement or turn competitive with the businesses run by the Defence Ministry.
They were not given additional payments of allowance for this work as Gotabaya Rajapksa has made dual function compulsory for low ranking army carders.
A leading NGO warned that the failure to differentiate military and civilian roles under Gotabaya’s rule if he is elected president could lead to “unwanted military rule nursed by a democratically elected government."
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