The magazine was allowing online voting for its nominees. On Thursday (21) Time Magazine's final result ranked the Sri Lankan President as No 6 on its Top 100 for 2011, with the following, unflattering blurb, indicating the reasons for Rajapaksa's nomination in the list:
"Since ending Sri Lanka's 26-year-long war against the Tamil Tigers in 2009, and grabbing control over once independent institutions like commissions on human rights and elections, Mahinda Rajapaksa has come to dominate the institutions of his nation more than any other democratically elected head of state. He challenged the U.S., the European Union and the U.N. to prosecute him for war crimes, confident that Russia, China and India would not support it — the latter two have billions of investment at stake in Sri Lanka."
Rajapaksa lackeys, in the confident belief that the Time Ranking could only be something positive for the President, launched ambitious email campaigns urging Sri Lankans at home and abroad to cast their votes for Mahinda Rajapaksa on the Time Magazine website.
Sri Lanka's ambassador to Vietnam, Ivan Amarasinghe a close personal friend of President Rajapaksa spearheaded such a campaign, urging his email database to 'vote yes for the country'. Amarasinghe's email to Sri Lankans both in Vietnam and in other countries reads as follows:
“Dear Sri Lankans and friends, VOTE AGAIN!!! Pls circulate this ONLY among your family and friends- and NOT to wrong people. HE the President is currently amongst the first 20 in the Times Most Influential Persons in the World for 2011. He is ahead of many powerful world leaders. Please vote as INFLUENTIAL - YES ...for the Country.”
It is clear that neither Amarasinghe or others who launched these support campaigns, were aware of the fact that President Rajapaksa was being nominated on the list, and ranked in the top 10 for reasons of his notorious influence over the formerly independent and democratic institutions of the Sri Lankan state. In other words, political observers noted, Rajapaksa has been ranked above any other world leader for a virtual power grab over his country’s functioning, democratic processes and institutions. Rather than flattering, if anything, the ranking of Rajapaksa so high on the list is greater indication of the fact that world has begun to sit up and take notice of the despotic ambitions of Sri Lanka’s Rajapaksa regime, analysts say.
Mahinda Rajapaksa, violent Iraqi cleric Moqtadar Al Sadr and the highly corrupt Afghan President Hamid Karzai are the only names on the Times 100 list to have been nominated for reasons of notoriety, with almost all other personalities including singers Beyonce and Justin Bieber being listed for reasons of positive influence and goodwill towards humanity. In 2007, Osama Bin Laden also secured a ranking on the Times Top 100 list for reasons of notoriety.
See the TIme Story here: http://www.time.com/time/specials/packages/article/
0,28804,2058044_2060338_2060246,00.html
