LETTERS – AUGUST 2024
Sri Lanka’s political chicanery
It was good to see the brilliantly written piece in your July issue on the ‘uncertain certainties’ facing the people of Sri Lanka as their democratic traditions are overturned by an utterly corrupt political class (‘An election like no other’). Neville de Silva’s contempt for this ‘lawless, deceptive and dysfunctional’ government is palpable as he details the grim scenario faced by Sri Lankans, now and for generations to come, brought about by self-serving leaders who lack an ounce of vision.
They even make Britain’s newly ousted Conservative government, mired in graft and scandal, seem moral and altruistic by comparison.
Paul Diamond
Birmingham
Reform or ruse?
Thank you to Tanya Vatsa for flagging up the post-Raisi political situation in Iran in her article ‘Second revolution or political chimera?’ (Asian Affairs, July issue), whose title posed a key question that may not bring the desired answer.
After the close contest between reformist Masoud Pezeshkian and ultra conservative Saeed Jalili, Pezeshkian won in the July 6th runoff. But there is cause for concern in the fact that this ‘reformist’ is still loyal to Tehran’s the ocratic establishment, and was instrumental in introducing compulsory wearing of the hijab in hospitals during the early days of Iran’s Islamic Revolution.
One wonders if this is perhaps why the powerful Guardian Council, which barred several other reformist candidates from running, approved Pezeshkian as a candidate. Maybe it was also an attempt to boost voter turnout– which was still depressingly low, less than 50% in both rounds of voting – and, in consequence, Iran’s ‘democratic’ credentials.
We should remember that Iran had a truly reformist president, during the late 1990s/early 2000s, in Mohammad Khatami, whose focus was on including all Iranians in the political decision-making process. Yet his presidential powers were limited and his reformist policies led him to clash with the hardline elements within the Iranian government who control governmental organisations such as the Guardian Council, whose members are appointed by the Supreme Leader. Khatami lost most of those clashes, which says a lot about the inherent nature of the country’s political culture.
History thus suggests an answer to Ms Vatsa’s pondering as to whether the chosen president ‘will have the freedom to change the trajectory of Tehran’s ideological and political future’, especially as he may not even be really dedicated to reform. Being seen to be democratic and actually practising democracy are two very different things.
HugoRomilly
Brighton, East Sussex
India – still a vibrant democracy
Dear Sir
Congratulations Sri MJ Akbar for the excellent analysis of India’s election. It was valuable as a lesson in our country’s political past and the dangerous hangover of the separatist cause. But most of all, it was a reminder that, as Sri Akbar notes, our democracyis, despite all criticism to the contrary from those less well informed than they should be, still very much alive and well.
Seema Chopra
Mumbai
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