Percy Mahendra 'Mahinda' Rajapaksa (born November 18, 1945) is the President of the Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka, and a Sri Lankan politician. Rajapaksa was also the country's Prime Minister from April 06, 2004 until November 21, 2005. He is married to Shiranthi Rajapaksa and is the father of three sons Namal, Yoshitha and Rohitha.

Early Life

Rajapaksa was born to Sinhalese Buddhist parents in Weeraketiya in the southern rural District of Hambantota. His father was Don Alwin Rajapaksa, a prominent politician and independence agitator. Rajapaksa was educated at Richmond College, Galle, Nalanda College, Colombo and Thurstan College, Colombo. He was a film actor for some time and played extras in some of the Sinhala movies.

He worked at the Vidyodaya University (now University of Sri Jayawardanapura) before studying law, which he was still doing in 1970 when he was elected as Sri Lanka Freedom Party (SLFP) member for the Parliamentary seat of Beliatta in the Hambantota District, which his father had represented between 1947 and 1960. His candidacy was supported by the United Corporations and Mercantile Union, of which he was Chairman of the Vidyodaya University branch.

In 1974 he received his law degree from the Colombo Law College and took his place at the bar, becoming a human-rights lawyer, and practiced law in his rural district Hambantota. He lost his parliamentary

In Opposition

In 1980 he became the President of the Sri Lankan Committee for Solidarity with Palestine. In 1989 he was re-elected to Parliament to represent Hambantota District under Proportional Representation. He came into prominence as a leader, together with Manorani Saravanamuttu, of the Mothers Front, which organised the mothers of the "disappeared" in the white terror of 1988-90 instigated by a terrorist group that called themselves Deshapremi Jathika Vyaparaya or 'Patriotic National Movement'.

In the early 1990s he was elected to the Central Committee of the SLFP and was part of a re-organisation drive. He also organized and led the Pada Yatra march from Colombo to Kataragama in protest against the United National Party government, which was primarily responsible for its downfall.

Minister of Labour and Vocational Training (1994 - 1997)

Rajapaksa was the Minister of Labour and Vocational Training in the cabinet of President Chandrika Bandaranaike Kumaratunga from 1994 to 1997. He created controversy when he moved to introduce a Workers' Charter, which sought to establish Trade Union Rights, a Wages Commission, Social Security, a National Trade Union Training Institute and facilities for the adjudication of industrial disputes. His labour reforms were resisted by employers who asked the then-President Chandrika Bandaranaike Kumaratunga to remove him from the Labour Ministry (which was done). His Labour charter was not implemented.

As the Minister of Labour and Vocational Training, he achieved the following:

• Created the Vocational Training Authority (VTA) serving the rising need of unemployed youth.
• Through the concept of “Skills for Life – Jobs for Skills,” opened 225 vocational training centres throughout Sri Lanka. The youth who were unable to enter universities were trained in these centres in varied job skills.
• Funds of the Employees Trust Fund (ETF) were invested in profitable ventures. The profits were given back to the employees. The Salt Corporation is one such venture.
• Established a Year 5 and higher education scholarship scheme for children
  
  
  
  of migrant workers.
• Established an insurance scheme called “Suraksha” for migrant workers.
• Took initial steps to establish a Hospital for the ETF members.

Minister of Fisheries and Aquatic Resources (1997 - 2001)

After Rajapaksa was removed as the Minister of Labour, he was then appointed as the Minister of Fisheries and Aquatic Resources.

• Initiated a housing program called "Diyawara Gammana" for fishermen and their families.
• Initiated the first ever university for oceanography known as "Sagara Vishwavidyalaya."
• Introduced a special banking scheme called “Idiwara Banks” for fishermen.
• Established a Coastal Guard Unit, a much needed security system for an Island nation, to stop the illegal fishing activities and protect the coast of Sri Lanka.
• Provided fisheries communication equipment to improve the efficiency through the use of technology.
• In addition to the Portfolio of Fisheries, he also held the Portfolio of the Ports and Shipping for a short period of three months. Within this period, he took the initial steps to construct Hambantota Harbour.

Prime Minister and President

After the Parliamentary Elections of 2004, in which the United People's Freedom Alliance was victorious, President Chandrika Bandaranaike Kumaratunga was widely expected to appoint her close advisor and former Foreign Minister, Lakshman Kadirgamar as Prime Minister. However, due to pressure from grass-root level party supporters and perhaps because Kadirgamar was perceived as lacking popular credentials or because he is a Sri Lankan Tamil and a Christian, Kumaratunga had to select more popular Mahinda Rajapaksa instead. Rajapaksa was sworn in as Sri Lanka’s 13th Prime Minister on April 06, 2004.

As the Prime Minister, he was also put in charge of Information and Communication Technology Agency (2004 - To Date):

• Re-energized the Information and Communication Technology Agency (ICTA) of Sri Lanka.
• Taking the Information Technology (IT) and computer literacy to rural areas under the “Nanasala” project. The Nanasala project is an initiative to introduce several models of the telecentres or knowledge centres to be established in all parts of Sri Lanka to spread ICT services to the rural and semi-urban populations.

Minister of Highways (2004 - 2005)

While Rajapaksa was the Prime Minister, he also held the Ministry of Highways.

• Initiated "Maga Neguma" project to build rural and city roads and highways, and allocated funds to each and every local government area.
• Proposed and planned to construct fly-overs to minimize traffic congestion in the Colombo city.

Political Position

Unlike some members of the new government coalition, Rajapaksa is believed to support peace talks with the Tamil Tigers as a means of ending the civil war with the Tamil secessionist movement. But his recent alignment with extremist political parties such as JVP and JHU raised large concerns within his own party. SLFP leader and then President Chandrika Bandaranaike Kumaratunga openly accused Rajapaksa of pushing the country towards war because of his pact with nationalist forces.

President (Nov 2005 - To Date)

Rajapaksa was chosen in front of Anura Bandaranaike, brother of Chandrika Bandaranaike Kumaratunga, as the Presidential Candidate of the Sri Lanka Freedom Party for the Presidential Election held on November 17, 2005. Rajapaksa was up against Opposition Leader Ranil Wickremasinghe, the leader of the United National Party (Sri Lanka's largest political party) in this election. Rajapaksa defeated Wickremasinghe and took office as President on November 19, 2005]. His victory was largely due to the mass support from the southern sinhala-buddhist voters. Also, the LTTE called for a boycott of the polls from Tamil voters, and are rumoured to have prevented a large section of voters from visiting the pooling booths, although the turnout was also low in areas under government control.

After becoming President of Sri Lanka, Rajapaksa reshuffled the cabinet, demoting several prominent people including Anura Bandaranaike. As many former Sri Lankan Presidents performed, Rajapakse became the Defence Minister as well as Finance and Planning Minister in the new cabinet, which was sworn on November 23, 2005.

See also

• President of Sri Lanka
• Prime Minister of Sri Lanka
• Politics of Sri Lanka

ماهیندا راجاپاکسا Mahinda Rajapakse Mahinda Rajapakse Mahinda Rajapaksa Mahinda Rajapaksa Mahinda Rajapakse Mahinda Rajapakse Раджапаксе, Махинда Mahinda Rajapaksa Mahinda Rajapaksata:மஹிந்த ராஜபக்ஷ 马欣达·拉贾帕克萨