I am not first talking about Mahinda Rajapaksa of Sri Lanka, but Jose Mujicaof Uruguay. I am not talking about poverty in terms of vision, but modesty in terms of wealth or possession. I am also not saying that Mahinda or other Rajapaksa’s don’t have a ‘vision’ at all, but it has become completely crooked especially after defeating the LTTE. What an opportunity that they have missed to be magnanimous, be reasonable or simply ‘Just’ on the question of the Tamils and other minorities in the country.

The ‘vision’ on the questions of social cleavages, poverty or poor people in the country also has become extremely crooked by catering to the family, the superrich and the political cronies. Divineguma Bill is an example where in the name of the poor and uplifting of their lives, the power and authority in respect of development and a large amount of budgetary allocations are kept within one Ministry and one Minister who is President’s brother. In addition, the Bill disregards the fundamental tenets of the Constitution and the principles of devolution. It is in this context that the example of Jose Mujica of Uruguay is relevant to Sri Lanka.

Jose Mujica, the President elect in 2010 in Uruguay, parallel to the ascendancy of President Rajapaksa for the second term in the same year, is still living a frugal life. He donates 90 per cent of his official salary, equivalent to $ 12,000 to charity according to a BBC report quoted by Colombo Telegraph. Born in 1935, he is 10 years senior to President Rajapaksa and different in many respects primarily in terms of ideology and life style. He is simply a committed socialist and a people’s President unlike President Rajapaksa today. If there had been a semblance of ‘people’s affinity’ of the latter before, it has completely vanished. Perhaps even before, it was a fake.

Early in life, Mujica was with the National Party, very much similar to the UNP or the SLFP. But he joined the Tupamaro National Liberation Movement (MLN-T) in 1960 – a movement in several ways similar to the JVP in Sri Lanka. He was inspired by the Cuban revolution in 1959. MLN-T was an urban guerrilla organization which was perhaps necessary under the dictatorial rule in Uruguay, unlike the JVP violence in Sri Lanka in that respect. He was in jail for several times and was finally released in 1985 after the country’s democratic transformation. He renounced violence completely thereafter.

Tupamaro was transformed into an open organization after 1985 and joined with other left organizations the “Movement for Popular Participation (MPP)” was formed. Yet, it worked within the “Broad Front,” a coalition of several democratic forces and organizations. In 1994, Mujica was elected into the House of Representatives and in 1999 and again in 2004 into the Senate. In 2005, he became the Minister of Agriculture, Livestock and Fisheries. There were no three ministries (or even more) for these interrelated functions unlike in Sri Lanka.

Throughout years, Mujica’s policies have changed a lot, but not opportunistically. In recent years, he has advocated a more ‘flexible political left’ which can think outside the box. But he has not changed in his main philosophical principles or life style. He maintains good relations with Uruguay’s big neighbour, Argentina, irrespective of some controversial disputes. In predominantly a Catholic country, he remains secular and maintains he is an atheist. He is a radical thinker in many respects.

He lives in his wife’s farmland near Montevideo even helping her in growing flowers for a living, in his spare time. He does not believe that he has to control everything in the country. He has shunned a luxurious official residence in Montevideo continuing his principles of modesty. His main declared personal asset in 2010 washis Volkswagen Beetle valued $ 1,800 and he added half of his wife’s farm assets amounting to $ 215,000. We hope he was truthful unlike our Sri Lankan politicians.

No one would say that all Presidents or all politicians should live like Jose Mujica. He is only an extreme example. His life style, as he admits, is personal to him but not to anyone else. But the point is the contrast between him and others including the President of the US or Sri Lanka. The contrast is a matter of genuine public interest. Do we have to emulate the President of US?