With a separatist war now behind him, President Mahinda Rajapaksa appears poised to engage personally on many a political and economic war.
That he is flexing his presidential muscles somewhat toughly on a number of these issues confronting his administration became more evident this week.
On Thursday, he took the bold step of shifting Tourism Minister Milinda Moragoda, one of 17 United National Party (UNP) political 'pole vaulters' to be the Minister of Justice and Law Reforms. Moragoda's businessmen friends were quick to say that the move was to have him push through the 13th Amendment and other proposed law reforms. But it was clear that the Presidential move had many connotations, main among them, being a warning to anyone in his Cabinet, that they were no longer indispensable to him and the government. Moragoda was one of the architects of the defection of the 17 UNP MPs to the government. This is "poetic justice" for him, said a UNP frontliner, sarcastically.
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| The All-Party Development and Reconciliation Committee meeting in session |
That Moragoda has been under a political cloud for some time was no secret in the dovecotes of power. A Presidential Committee report on failed Finance Companies had been shelved by the President. The findings in that report are, therefore, not known, but what is public knowledge is that the family finance company of Moragoda obtained a record Rs. 5 billion bail-out package from the Premadasa-Paskaralingam government when the company collapsed. Moragoda's performance at the Tourism Ministry had been well below par. The captains of the industry found him difficult to meet, disinterested and disconnected. The regular excuse had been that no tourist would come to Sri Lanka with a war going on. But the breaking point seems to have been the recent launch of the Tourist Board's new logo and documentry film titled 'small miracle' to market Sri Lanka tourism.
According to insiders in the dovecotes of power, Rajapaksa was angry that they had downplayed the government's recent efforts, especially in defeating the LTTE. "Small miracle?", he had asked. "What we did in Sri Lanka is not a small miracle".
If that fell far short of expectations of the Government leadership, a US travel advisory warning against its citizens visiting Sri Lanka made it worse. Not enough promotional work has been done in the US, particularly after the end of the separatist war, it was opined. And that, from a Minister who publicly claims friends in the higher echelons of the US administration.
Moragoda himself was non-plussed at the US move to slap a travel advisory even though Sri Lanka is not a particular holiday destinantion for US tourists. He asked a Colombo-based western envoy the reasons for the US advisory. He received a somewhat lengthy answer. "If as you (meaning the Government) say everything is alright, why do you continue with the State of Emergency?," he asked. Then the envoy went on to speak about the continuing crackdown on the media and the non implementation of the 17th Amendment which advocates the appointment of a Constitutional Court.
On June 26 (Friday) 2009, the travel advisory said: "The Department of State warns American citizens travelling to or living in Sri Lanka about the potential for continued instability, including possible terrorist attacks.This replaces the Travel Warning for Sri Lanka dated December 22, 2008, to update information on security incidents, safety concerns in specific regions of the country, and potential problems for U.S. citizen travelers….."
It added "…American citizens of Sri Lankan origin may be subject to additional scrutiny upon arrival and while in the country. In some cases, foreigners of Sri Lankan origin may be detained without their embassy being notified. The activities of journalists, researchers, aid workers, and volunteers receive particular attention. The Government of Sri Lanka encourages Sri Lankan citizens to report foreigners who are suspected of carrying out activities not consistent with the national interest and/or their visa category…….."
That such a US travel advisory, coming as it does eight months after the previous one, even warned of "possible terrorist attacks" infuriated the Government. President Rajapaksa directed Foreign Secretary Palitha Kohona to respond to make clear that claims of such attacks were baseless, particularly after the military rout of Tiger guerrillas. Kohona did write a strongly-worded letter to the US Government. Only last week, Minister Sarath Amunugama named the US as being behind the delay in the US$ 1.9 billion International Monetary Fund (IMF) loan to Sri Lanka. He called the US a "bully" for doing this.
Political insiders say that Rajapaksa was so furious that he wanted to strip Moragoda of Tourism and make him Minister without Portfolio, but that some of his colleagues who left the UNP with him intervened and pleaded that such a move would be a slap on the rest of them as well.
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| Moragoda taking oaths as Justice and Law Reforms Minister |
The transfer from the portfolio of Tourism to Justice for Moragoda did also raise eyebrows in the legal fraternity. It was barely two weeks ago, the Supreme Court, the highest court in Sri Lanka, made some scathing indictments against him. That was during the judgment in the public interest litigation by one time parliamentarian Vasudeva Nanayakkara, a Presidential adviser, over the privatisation of the Sri Lanka Insurance Corporation (SLIC). The judgment held that the privatisation engineered by Moragoda at the time he was a UNP Minister was "manipulated". "illegal" and "shocked the conscience of the Court". However, the Court, surprisingly, made no strictures even though the mud stuck on him. And on Thursday, he became the Sri Lanka Government Minister responsible for Justice. What a travesty, one might add.
Those petitioners who went to the Supreme Court against the Insurance Corporation privatization have already asked for law enforcement authorities to initiate investigations and take action against those named in the judgment, including Moragoda.
Co-petitioner Nihal Ameresekera said they had asked court to direct the Inspector General of Police and the chief of the Criminal Investigation Department to take action in terms of the penal code, the Public Property Act and other applicable criminal laws.
Pointing out that the police, particularly the CID, conduct investigations on the advice of the Attorney General's Department which comes under the Ministry of Justice, he said, "in such context, the question arises in a democratic society as to whether Moragoda should have accepted the office of Minister of Justice".
"In the public domain, it would appear that the relevant officers would be inhibited and stymied to carry out their public duties and functions. In a democratic civilized society, can such a thing occur?" he asked.
Moragoda yielded the Tourism portfolio to another unexpected candidate, Nandana Goonetilleke of the National Freedom Front (NFF). He was the Janatha Vimukthi Peramuna (JVP) candidate at the presidential elections in 1999. Interesting enough, Goonetilleke broke ranks with his party after strongly advocating that the JVP should accept Cabinet portfolios in the Rajapaksa administration. In the ensuing controversy, he took a brief sojourn in Canada and later chose to remain as an independent MP in Parliament for a brief period. The replacement of Moragoda with Goonetillake was viewed by the industry as they say in pithy sexist Sinhala, exchanging a woman with a cold for a woman with a cough, or in English, changing pillows for the same headache. It also sent shivers down their collective spine because many tourist hotels are, in their words, "infested" with card-carrying JVP members and Goonethillake might be inclined to listen to them rather than the Managing Directors. The additional appointment of Faizer Mustapha to the non-Cabinet portfolio as Minister of Tourism Promotion on his birthday completed the re-shuffle at the Ministry.
Sworn in together with Goonetilleke on Thursday evening was his NFF colleague, Kalutara district parliamentarian Piyasiri Wijenaike. He took over the non-Cabinet portfolio of Minister of Cultural Affairs and National Heritage. Wijenaike is currently on bail on a murder charge linking him to the death of an erstwhile colleague of the JVP. A political wag was to acidly comment, that this was most appropriate - for Sri Lanka to have a murder suspect supervising its cultural heritage.
With the NFF inclusion in the Cabinet, not only does the Cabinet swell even further, but the NFF, the breakway faction of the JVP led by firebrand Wimal Weerawansa, formally becomes a constituent partner of the United People's Freedom Alliance (UPFA). Weerawansa said his party chose to accept the invitation of President Rajapaksa and joined "to develop the country." Now that the separatist war is over, he said, the President had declared that his party's support and participation in governance were necessary.
"However, I decided not to accept any portfolios but give our senior members that opportunity," he added. If the NFF has thus come into the Government fold, another ally, the Jathika Hela Urumaya (JHU) has threatened to quit if the Government implements the 13th Amendment to the Constitution, particularly provisions relating to the conferring of police powers to the Provincial Councils. For a Government that has already pledged, particularly to India, to both implement the provisions of the 13th Amendment and go even beyond, that would be an embarrassment. Hence, Rajapaksa was both categoric and assertive this week that he would go ahead no matter what the rumblings were. The Moragoda sidelining, and the Goonetilleka-Wijenaike induction were Rajapaksa's way of cracking the whip at any sign of dissent from within his own camp.
However, the controversy of a JHU pullout appears to be no more than a storm in a tea cup. It is now clear that the enforcement of the 13th Amendment and the introduction of any other political package to address Tamil grievances would await the conclusion of elections. This would be both presidential and parliamentary elections in that order. Strong indications that the presidential elections would come first emerged this week.
President Rajapaksa not only indicated this to his confidants but also spoke about possible dates. To one of them, he said, January 14 (next year) was a lucky date for him. In the event of the presidential election being held on this day or any other in 2010, the parliamentary elections would follow within the first quarter of the new year. Thus, a political package would come next year, almost concurrently with the re-settlement of the Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs) in the Wanni.
A new phase of the political process has been set in motion as a forerunner to the formulation of these proposals. It came in the form of a Development and Reconciliation All Party Committee attended by all major opposition political parties that had boycotted the All Party Representative Committee (APRC).
The Presidential Secretariat had sent the invitations for the meeting to the General Secretaries of all the political parties, except in the case of the Tamil National Alliance (TNA), it was sent to its MPs individually.
This seems to have created a 'cat among the pigeons' scenario. It is well known that Rajapaksa is enticing its members to join him directly,having already succeeded at least with one of them - Sivanathan Kishore. The TNA MPs began telephoning each other, and all contacting their leader R. Sambanthan who was in Trincomalee at the time.
Sambanthan suggested that at least one MP from each distrct they represent go for the meeting. Eventually, eight of them turned up for the meeting with Rajapaksa.
N. Sri Kantha was to head the team, and they looked quite at ease with the Chief Minister of the Eastern province Sivanesathurai Chandrakanthan alias Pillayan and later with Minister Vinayagamoorthy Muralitharan alias Karuna. The UNP delegation comprised Kabir Hashim, Daya Pelpola and D.M. Swaminathan whilst the JVP was represented by Anura Kumara Dissanayake.
The meeting began with a video presentation by Major General G.A. Chandrasiri on the IDPs in the Wanni. Then, each party was given just five minutes to speak. Srikantha asked that priority be given to the IDPs, and said that development, and even a viable solution can come after the people have been re-settled. Tamil United Liberation Front (TULF) president V. Anandasangaree recalled how he had consistently supported the government against the LTTE which allowed other MPs to move freely - a direct jab at his erstwhile colleagues now in the TNA.
JVPs' Dissanayake also spoke of settling the IDPs so that external pressure will not come into play, while the JHU's Ven. Ellawela Medhananda spoke of a religious revival for the Hindus in the North and East. Sri Lanka Muslim Congress leader Rauff Hakeem spoke of the need for free and fair election in the North, and the UNP MPs did not speak at all.
The main focus was the rehabilitation of the IDPs and the formulation of development strategies in the post-war era.
President Rajapaksa told the party representatives to forget past political differences and unite to rebuild the nation. After his speech lunch was served.
The main Opposition UNP had mulled over the invitation. Party leader Ranil Wickremesinghe consulted his deputy, Karu Jayasuriya, and General Secretary Tissa Attanayake. It was decided to field a 'B' team to represent the UNP. The party leaders were preoccupied this week with the formation of a broader Opposition grand alliance.
However, at least two senior members of the party are strongly opposed to the move for a grand alliance. This has drawn accusations from the protagonists that they were acting at the behest of the Government. At least one of them is known for his close links and public utterances backing the Government. The grand alliance is to be formed soon after Wickremesinghe, who left yesterday for London, returns. His visit abroad is to take part in a meeting of the International Democratic Union (IDU) where as the President for Asia he will be inducting the ruling Maldivian Democratic Party as a member.
Meanwhile, President Rajapaksa also sent his brother, senior advisor and parliamentarian Basil on a visit
to Indonesia. The main purpose is to study how the return to normalcy took place in the Aceh province after a separatist insurgency ended there.
Basil Rajapaksa had a meeting with the former separatist rebel and directly elected Governor, Irwandi Yusuf. He won the December 2007 elections, held as a result of a pece deal between the Indonesian Government and rebels from the Free Aceh Movement (Gam). The agreement ended 30 years of civil conflict in the province that had left more than 15,000 people dead.
Basil Rajapaksa had a lengthy discussion with Yusuf, once a Gam speech writer cum spokesman who was jailed for treason in 2003. A one-time veteranarian, he escaped when the devastating tsunami struck in December of 2005. Much of the Aceh province was destroyed in the tsunami, forcing them to hold talks. The Jakarta government agreed to grant them autonomy after they abandoned their claim for independence. The rebels were also allowed to fully participate in the democratic process.
The focus of the talks was on how the rebels set about development activity after they ended their rebellion. Basil asked Yusuf how the process of demining was undertaken only to be told that the rebels did not resort to mine warfare. He was to explain that the use of mines was avoided since it would have hurt the civilian population. Accompanying the powerful Sri Lankan MP was former Army Chief of Staff and now Ambassador to Indonesia, Nanda Mallawarachchi. Basil Rajapaksa also held talks with would-be investors who are exploring the possibility of setting up major agro-based industrial projects in the Wanni.
President Rajapaksa's ongoing actions, both politically and on the economic front, seem to be in harmony though they have been dogged by unexpected developments.
One such is this week's fuel price increase. According to well-informed Government sources, the move has become inevitable to raise much-needed revenue. That it came in the backdrop of impending local and provincial elections underscored the inevitablity of price increases. The other is the continuing delay by the IMF to grant the stand-by loan to Sri Lanka. A spokesperson for the IMF said that the Executive Board was yet to fix a date to meet to consider Sri Lanka's request for a loan.
Meanwhile, the Jaffna Municipal Council goes to the polls on August 8, the same day the Provincial Council elections for Uva are to be held. The Urban Council elections for Vavuniya will also be on August 8.
The local and provincial polls clearly underscore Rajapaksa's desire to ensure the vast majority of the provincial and local bodies are governed by the UPFA. Social Service Minister and Eelam People's Democratic Party (EPDP) leader Douglas Devananda spearheads the UPFA campaign in Jaffna. This week he held meetings with tri-shaw drivers and told fishermen he would provide coldroom facilities and markets in the south provided they voted for the UPFA.
On Tuesday he visited 247 families now living on railway land and asked to vacate to make way for the Jaffna line to re-open. He told them he would provide them with alternate land.
In Vavuniya, the UPFA has a liquor shop owner, Velanthan Surenderan heading the campaign, and in Uva Health Minister Nimal Siripala Silva is keeping the dengue issue aside as he moves into full swing on behalf of the UPFA.
With all this, President Rajapaksa clearly hopes to set the right platform from which to launch the upcoming presidential and parliamentary elections.
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