A new chemistry to solve an old problem?
By Our Political Editor
Will the
Tiger or won't the Tiger? Professor G. L. Peiris, speaking to this
column says he is more optimistic than the previous occasions and
says there is every indication that the LTTE is ''looking more seriously''
at the government's proposals for an Interim (Provisional) Administration
for the North and the East.
For the moment
the fire and thunder has come from the Southern side of the divide.
Minister Peiris's ex-Cabinet colleague, former Foreign Minister
Lakshman Kadirgamar said ''we wake up every morning and learn that
we (the PA) have to go and sit in the Interim Council. That whole
approach is wrong. It is discourteous.'' He also said that the powers
that will be conferred on the Provisional/Interim council are missing
in one document -- the one that was sent to the President as opposed
to the one that was scooped by The Sunday Times.
This was after
Minister G. L. Peiris said at the Cabinet press briefing on Thursday
that ''what was different in the document were a few dots and commas.''
But the PA in a statement thundered ''how did very serious discrepancies
arise?''
Minister G.
L. Peiris now will conduct a media briefing first thing Monday morning,
to clarify the issues raised by the PA. Asked whether the PA outright
rejected the Interim/Provisional Proposals, Minister Peiris says
it cannot be construed that way.
He says the
PA's reaction does not amount to a rejection -- it was only an exercise
he says, of the Opposition seeking clarifications. But he says,
it is a distortion of the facts to say that the Interim proposals
(or the proposals for what is called a Provisional administration)
are a ''cart before the horse exercise'' of granting an Interim
before the final proposals are wrapped up. He says these distortions
will be placed before the media at Monday's briefing, where "the
public can be the judge for themselves of the correct situation..''
The President
appointed a three-man Committee of Kadirgamar, Susil Premjayanth
and Nimal Siripala De Silva, to study the proposals. But, Kadirgamar
appeared to be doing all the work. ("Kadira Koranawa'' Mahinda
Rajapakse said last week.)
Kadirgamar said, "The most significant substantive discrepancy
between the two documents comes in the paragraph dealing with the
powers and functions of the proposed Council." He noted that
in the document published by The Sunday Times, it says "the
powers and functions as are at present being exercised and performed
by the Government in respect of regional administrations, 'except
in the areas of police, security, land and revenue', are vested
in the Council."
Studying
the document
"In the document sent to the President by the Prime Minister
as a confidential communication, the words 'except in the areas
of police, security, land and revenue' were missing'', he said.
"In other words, in the second document even those powers are
vested in the Council, not in the central government. How did this
very serious discrepancy arise? And which document is the LTTE studying?"
questioned Kadirgamar.
But he also
brought up issues that need to be further analysed. Does this flare-up
between the PA and the government over 'discrepancies'' and ''discourtesy''
strike at the core of the problem, or not? In other words, aren't
these situations symptomatic of the kind of divisive political culture
that has kept the Lankan problem from being solved for such a long
time?
Before coming
to that analysis, there were also other questions to be answered.
Was it an inspired leak, the leak of the Provisional proposals even
as the Prime Minister sent the same documents (of course with the
now famous 'discrepancies'') saying it is confidential in nature?
There is a
certain "political culture'' in Sri Lanka's political history
in which the Opposition basically sees any government proposal aimed
at solving the national issue as a red flag seen by a bull. It has
been said over and over, that it is this kind of politics that always
stood between peace and war in this country.
Are there indications
now that this kind of politics is over -- or is being at least under
reconsideration -- or is it more of the same more red flags and
more bulls?
At the SLFP Central Committee meeting earlier this week, the President
cautioned frontline advisor and friend Mangala Samaraweera against
being too emotive in his reaction to the Interim/Provisional Council
proposals which was characterised by Samaraweera as the '' biggest
sell-out in this island since Don Juan Dharmapala.''
The President
uttered some home truths. She said the PA, under no less a person
than Samaraweera's direction, went on the same track once upon a
time. She said the PA launched Sudu Nelums and Thawalamas, and asked
that the Sinhala Commission Report be deposited in the dustbin of
history. But when things failed, there is no point in being emotional
now when others are going down the same track we went, she said.
Empathy
A heralding of a new political culture? Or is it just a brief moment
of empathy for the new government, in remembrance of one’s
own tortured past? Is there more reconciliation, and more identification
with each other between the two major political players, the government
and the Opposition? Or is there more skulduggery, more cloak and
dagger?
Cloak and dagger
is more like it, some may say, though that will not necessarily
be the last word. Mangala Samaraweera paid a visit to adversary
S. B. Dissanayake last week, when he learnt of the now notorious
SB shouting match with the boys of the Treasury for being miserly
with the funds voted for his Ministry. But Mangala's pitch was that
SB should close ranks with the Opposition, seek a political return
to Opposition ranks, and stage another putsch to bring down the
government. Reports are that SB was not playing, but that Mangala
Samaraweera has vowed not to quit his campaign to bring down the
UNP one way or another.
There were
other political meetings among old friends on various sides of the
divide. As reported last week, Sanath Gunatilleke was meeting the
President, of course mainly to discuss matters to do with the Lester
James Peiris felicitation to be held this week at President's House.
But also, there were much more politically upscale meetings between
old friends and old political animals.
One was when
Minister Rauff Hakeem, the man primarily responsible for the fall
of the last PA government met the President at President's house
to discuss ''Amity schools'' where children of all nationalities
will be accommodated in schools comprising mixed race children.
English will be the medium of instruction in these Amity schools,
and they were of course the President's idea.
There will
be amity in the schools but will there be amity in the country -
- for instance will there be amity between the President and Hakeem,
and Hakeem and his fellow Muslim politicians? All was a question
mark, but there certainly seemed a new chemistry between the government
and the opposition. There seemed to be a new chemistry between the
government and the LTTE as well -- with the LTTE, as Minister Peiris
says expending a new-found energy in perusing the proposals for
a Provisional Administration.
But will all
this chemistry turn out to be good or bad in the end? For the moment
all that could be said was that something a little unusual was happening
between President and government, if not Opposition and government.
Even Professor G. L. Peiris was asked by the President to drop-by
and she did have discussions with him, even though the substance
of those discussions are not known.
Apart from
all that, the main question of course -- not forgotten by any stretch
of imagination -- was whether the LTTE will accept the Interim (Provisional
Administration) proposals mooted by the Sri Lankan government.
The LTTE seemed
to have been given a fair bargain, and one sign of it was that the
first complainants were not the LTTE but others. NGO operatives
were complaining that the provisions for the NGOs to spend money
were little ( they should have said to 'make money'') because the
proposals gave the LTTE majority council a good deal of leeway in
spending on matters related to those other than security, police
and revenue.
The government's
proposals were with flexibility in mind which is why an entirely
new set of proposals were grafted onto the old concept of Interim
Council, of course which was part of the Kumaratunga package proposals.
The six month review provision etc,., which enables additions and
modifications to the Interim/ Provisional administration was all
an indication that the government did not want to be trammelled
by one document or one set of proposals, but was going on the principle
that maximum flexibility is needed to solve a problem that is Hydra
headed, and is eternally sprouting new variations of old problems.
Doing
what he has to do
Minister Milinda Moragoda may not be the point man in the peace
process anymore, with a lot of the functions with regard to the
Interim/Provisional council being handled by Professor G. L. Peiris
with his superior knowledge of the law. But not to be outdone, Milinda
Moragoda's public profile is not suffering. He opened several Grama
Niladhari offices in his electorate last week, with funds from the
Publicity allocation for the Development Lottery. This decision
to use funds from that publicity allocation, was in fact taken after
the President famously made a move to usurp from Moragoda the functions
of the National Lotteries Board.
Last week also
saw Moragoda getting embroiled in another curious parliamentary
situation. The Minister was asked by MP Atula Jayasinghe why the
NLB lotteries were given to an Indian company for printing without
a call for fresh tenders. The Minister had his answer ready which
was that the Indian's charge less per lottery printed.
But when it
came to answer time, Jeyaraj Fernadopulle intervened to say that
the Minister cannot answer that question as the NLB was now under
the President's purview. The Speaker had to eventually rule on the
matter, and he ruled that he had no communication to the effect
that officially the President was in fact in charge.
He allowed Moragoda to answer the question, which he did. There
may be a new political chemistry but the old chemistry also continues….
OTHER ISSUES:
Minister Karu Jayasuriya said that the thermal power plant in Trincomalee
should go head, and that there has been a concerted effort to construct
the power plant without inflicting major environmental damage.
* The Prime
Minister intervened when Minister Ravi Karunanayake told him that
the Treasury has been standing in the way of a duty free vehicle
purchase for the World Trade Centre. An irate PM told Treasury officials
that approved disbursements cannot be tampered with.
* A seven-member
committee was appointed to look into Muslim representation in the
Interim Council for the North and East. Though Ferial Ashraff approved
these proposals the two SLMC rebel MPs Athaullah and Musthapa boycotted
the meeting. |