Acting United National Party (UNP) leader, Karu Jayasuriya, received an unusual call on his home telephone around 8 a.m. last Monday.
"Sir mama deshapalanayen samuganna yanawa. Mama theeranayak gannawa adha," (Sir, I am going to say farewell to politics. I will make a decision today), the caller said. Jayasuriya, who had been speaking to him almost every day in the past weeks, even meeting him once, offered advice. The acting UNP leader said that in politics there were occasions for frustration, but that should not be a reason to quit politics. He asked him to be patient. With the conversation over, Jayasuriya drove off to take part in a UNP protest campaign in Alutgama against the 'rising cost of living'.
The caller was 60-year-old Rienzie Algama. He had cut his teeth in politics in his student days with President Chandrika Bandaranaike Kumaratunga's late husband, the actor-turned-politician Vijaya Kumaratunga, who formed the Sri Lanka Mahajana Pakshaya (SLMP). Algama, for more than 40 years, from the days of the late Prime Minister, Dudley Senanayake, had been a dyed-in-the-wool supporter of the UNP. He was actively involved in the campaign of Ranjan Ramanayaka, now MP, when he contested the Sabaragamuwa provincial council elections. The ongoing feud between party leader Ranil Wickremesinghe and a dissident group headed by Sajith Premadasa had been the cause for immense worry for Algama.
His party, the UNP, seemed only next to his religion. He had so much faith in it. Last Saturday (July 24), two days before he made what was to be his final call to Jayasuriya, he had a two-hour long discussion with the acting party leader at his residence at Amerasekera Mawatha in Colombo 5. The subject was how to forge unity in the party by bringing together the feuding factions. He was a very worried man. At one point during the discussion, he had spoken about being sick of the goings on in the UNP and declared "mata hitha hadaa ganna denna" (allow me to make up my mind). He had produced a series of newspaper articles, praising the party and speaking about the unity that had prevailed in the past.
The final call
Around 4.45 p.m. on Monday, less than nine hours after he had received that fateful final call from Algama, Jayasuriya's mobile phone rang when he was distributing leaflets in the street. A staffer at Siri Kotha, the party headquarters, was to tell him that Algama had doused himself with petrol and set himself on fire. The victim had been rushed to the Colombo South Hospital in Kalubowila. From Alutgama, Jayasuriya used his mobile phone to speak to Prof. Mohan de Silva to seek his help to ensure Algama was given the best medical care. Prof. de Silva is head of surgery at the Medical Faculty of the Sri Jayawardenapura Hospital. He also practises as a surgeon at the Colombo South Hospital. It was Prof. de Silva who had operated on Jayasuriya several months ago for an intestinal ailment. It was the same surgeon who was to attend on Algama.
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| UNP leaders Karu Jayasuriya and Tissa Attanayake at the funeral of party activist Algama. Pic Krishan Jeevaka Jayaruk |
Later that evening, Jayasuriya rushed to the hospital. Algama was wrapped up in bandage. Only a slit remained over his eyes. Jayasuriya felt his head and later placed some 'holy ash' under the burn victim's pillow. Jayasuriya is a staunch devotee of Bhagvan Sathya Sai Baba and the ash came from his ashram in Puttarpati, India. Later that night, Algama was moved to the National Hospital in Colombo. Just past 10 p.m. Ehelagamage Nanda Algama, the 46-year-old wife of the victim telephoned Jayasuriya to say her husband had passed away. She heard the news from a hospital official when she was rushing to Colombo from her home in Weligama after hearing the news that her husband had immolated himself.
Indika Pradeep Sumanasiri, 24, a constable attached to the Mirihana police told Colombo's Additional Coroner Ashroff Rumy that he was on traffic duty at the Pita Kotte junction, barely 50 metres away from Siri Kotha He said, "I was with another officer. A lorry driver stopped. He said someone had set himself on fire. We saw a man on fire just outside Siri Kotha. We doused the fire. The victim had poured petrol on his body. We took him in a three-wheeler scooter to the hospital. The victim spoke to us about some party reforms. He told us he had made representations about the reforms, but nobody had listened to him."
Judicial Medical Officer (JMO) Dr, Janaki Varusahennedi told the coroner that there were thermal burns to 90 percent of the body. The coroner gave a verdict of suicide due to burn injuries caused by petrol fire.
Initial reports of a possible mental abnormality being the cause for Algama's suicide were ruled out. His wife Nanda said there has been no such problem in his medical history.
"I have found him to be mentally alert and politically focused," said Jayasuriya. "In my view, he was normal as any other person would be," he told the Sunday Times.
Mangala Samaraweera, leader of the SLFP-M, added, "He was a sensible, mature person. He worked hard for me during the parliamentary elections in April. I cannot believe he would do such a foolish thing."
As Samaraweera said, a staunch UNPer choosing to end his life unable to bear the feud within his party is foolish. A life was lost in vain. Yet, his death was not a simple incident to be ignored. It has not only highlighted the in-fighting within the UNP but also bared another evil if not ghoulish aspect. Sections opposed to Wickremesinghe used the self-immolation to claim that Algama was demanding that the UNP leader step down. A dissident frontliner even called it "a conspiracy".
Reportage of this angered acting leader Jayasuriya. He called upon Police Chief Mahinda Balasuriya to interrogate news editors of two media outlets who had reported on this. This perhaps was a mistake on his part. If indeed Jayasuriya felt the outlets had erred, he could easily have issued a statement to set the record right or even called a news conference. Newspapers only report the news of the day. Though unwittingly maybe, he felt seeking the help of the Police was the way out.
For the UNP, which repeatedly declares it is solidly in favour of media freedom, the move is self-defeating. Every time a media outlet gives a contrary view, UNP leaders would use that as a precedent to call upon the police to interrogate news editors to ferret out the other view. The stance is no different to those in the Sajith Premadasa faction. They are vocal in their threats against sections of the media whom they claim obtain their written copies from Cambridge Terrace (where the office of the Leader of the Opposition is located). "You are either with us or you are our enemy" seems the philosophy.
Algama tapes
More so, when there is strong evidence of the events that occurred before Algama committed suicide. Algama, called over at the office of the Leader of the Opposition at Cambridge Terrace on that same Monday afternoon, just hours before he did what he did. He learnt UNP leader Ranil Wickremesinghe was away in India. Algama met with Sudath Chandrasekara, private secretary to the Opposition Leader. He told him that he had met with other senior members of the party and that his attempts to unite the party had failed.
Chandrasekera told the Sunday Times that Algama wanted to write an article about his political life. Chandrasekera had told him to go ahead. He sat down in the office and began to write. "He wrote two pages in his own hand writing. However, he could not complete it," said Chandrasekara. "I told him there is no problem and he could write it later," he added. Thereafter, Chandrasekera said Algama wanted to record a speech in which he wanted to declare he would quit politics.
"I provided a tape recorder to him for this purpose. In a 35 minute speech Algama explained his efforts to unite the party. He said he met Sajith Premadasa and Rukman Senanayake, among others. He said it was only Rukman Senanayaka who believed that he (Algama) should work towards uniting the party. Algama appealed in the recorded speech that the party should unite under the leadership of Wickremesinghe," Chandrasekera said.
At the funeral of Algama, only four UNP MPs were present. They were deputy leader, Jayasuriya, General Secretary Tissa Attanayake, Mangala Samaraweera and Buddhika Pathirana, the latter MPs from the Matara district. Former UNP chairman, Rukman Senanayake had visited the funeral house at Weligama earlier in the day. Jayasuriya has now begun a fund-raising campaign to help Algama's family. A scholarship has already been arranged for the younger daughter, Imalsha (16), to continue her education.
On Friday, Wickremesinghe, who returned to Colombo the previous night from his visit to Buddhist monasteries in the high altitudes of the Jammu and Kashmir region, drove to Weligama to express his condolences to the Algama family. He was in India on a private visit and spent days in Leh where he also took the opportunity to call on the Chief Minister of the troubled state, Omar Abdullah.
The Algama suicide is one of two key instances that bring to the fore the widening gulf between Wickremesinghe and the dissidents in his party. Jayasuriya, soon after assuming the mantle of acting leader, the first time such an acting appointment was made, said in a statement that his party "faces one of the worst crises" in its 60-year history. He appealed to "party colleagues to join us in taking the fight to this government now, rather than allowing the situation to deteriorate".
Ranil debriefed
Senior UNP leaders also made an abortive attempt to hold talks with Premadasa to resolve differences with Wickremesinghe. As revealed last week, the move came a cropper merely because the media, including The Sunday Times carried the news of the impending meeting.
In an apparent response to these moves, Premadasa spoke at a meeting in Diyaella in Belliatte, the stronghold of President Mahinda Rajapaksa. "Parajithavoo sathya sampanna bhavayakin Ey Jaa Paa pakshayenta vedak nehe. Apita avashya jayagrahi samagi sampanna bhavayak. (There is no use for defeated genuineness for the UNP members. What we want is a victorious unity.)
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| Opposition UNP leader Ranil Wickremesinghe at the new airport terminal in New Delhi on his way to visiting Buddhist sites in Kashmir |
Premadasa said more than five million voters of the UNP had not received any government benefits. "We want to develop a strong ground force. We want to win. For that we need a strong force, a team to unite to win," he added.
In this backdrop, Wickremesinghe received a full briefing on Friday morning from Jayasuriya who had acted as party leader. Among the subjects were Jayasuriya's meeting with External Affairs Minister G.L. Peiris to discuss matters relating to the 17th Amendment to the Constitution. Details were revealed in these columns last week. Jayasuriya said no date had been fixed for the next round but added that it would take place when Peiris returns from his official visit to Japan in the company of Economic Development Minister Basil Rajapaksa.
Later at a discussion with some UNP leaders, Wickremesinghe hinted at his disappointment over the meeting with Peiris. He felt that the United National Front (UNF) delegation, which included Sri Lanka Muslim Congress Leader Rauf Hakeem, should have objected to holding talks only with one single cabinet minister. "He is not even an elected MP. It would have been better if the delegation raised the issue and arranged for another meeting. Even the official present (External Affairs Ministry Secretary Romesh Jayasinghe) had no status," he told them.
He also noted that the delegation should have also raised objections to the presence of a security officer (reported in these columns last week) during such sensitive political discussions. He said that at the next round of talks, the UNP would insist that other senior UPFA ministers are present when talks are held with Peiris.
In the meantime, the UNF-UPFA teams talking on electoral reforms have reached near agreement. This is particularly in respect of local elections. It will be a mixture of the 'first past the post' -- in voting in wards like in the olden days -- and with proportional representation. It has been agreed to do away with preference votes. The two sides have agreed to expedite these changes in view of the impending local council elections next year.
Wickremesinghe is also expected to meet a UPFA team headed by Economic Development Minister Basil Rajapaksa to discuss the proposed office of Executive Prime Minister and matters connected with it. The two sides are now making a close study of the system in Israel where the Executive Prime Minister contests separately. It is incumbent on such a Prime Minister, in terms of the Israeli constitution, to form a government. The move has often led, in Israel to smaller parties coalescing to form governments.
Amidst these developments, the UNP's annual convention is likely to be delayed. Although it had been fixed for August 9 earlier, UNP frontliner John Amaratunga told the Sunday Times yesterday that a fresh date would be decided by the Working Committee. "The committee may decide to hold it in August or even September," he said.
Ameratunga added that a date for the Working Committee meeting had not yet been decided. It is at this convention that the general membership is expected to endorse the report of the UNP Reforms Committee, much the same way it was done by the Working Committee. Until this major event, the ongoing feud between Wickremesinghe and the anti-Wickremesinghe faction, no doubt, will continue.
A significant turn of events for the UNP came this week in the meantime. SLFP-M leader Mangala Samaraweera and his supporters have decided to join the UNP. They will hand in their applications on Friday (August 6). "I must make clear categorically that I am not seeking any office. My supporters and I want to remain as ordinary members of the UNP," Samaraweera told the Sunday Times this week. This will enable Samaraweera and his supporters to take part in the impending annual sessions of the UNP.
Party sources said Wickremesinghe is likely to invite the one-time SLFP heavyweight and Cabinet Minister to be a member of the UNP Working Committee.
Gunmen attack Siyatha
Another development this week was the attack on the Siyatha TV channel at 1.20 am on Friday. Rohantha Kariyapperuma, husband of the popular film star Sangeetha Weeraratne, owns the channel. Rohantha's brother is Priyantha Kariyapperuma, who was a former Chairman of the Telecommunications Regulatory Commission (TRC). He quit immediately after the presidential election in January this year. It came amidst reports that he had extended support to retired General Sarath Fonseka who lost. The trio were away from Sri Lanka in North America since the elections and had returned only last week.
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| The charred remains of the radio-editing equipment at the Siyatha station. Pic by M.A. Pushpa Kumara |
Two staff members who were on the second floor building at Hunupitiya Lake Road said they had seen a group of persons coming and banging at the gate. There was one unarmed security guard. The 'visitors' had carried T-56 assault rifles. Some had carried big poles. They had come shouting asking where the newsroom was. There had been two persons in the newsroom at the time. Around eight Siyatha employees had been in the building at the time.
Hearing the commotion, they had switched off the lights.
The man who led the operation, one of them said, was dressed in full black (including face mask) with only his eyes visible. He had asked where the newsroom was. Once the room was located, he had the others go inside. The others had their faces covered with handkerchiefs. "When they entered the newsroom, two journalists there were ordered to kneel and beaten up. A pistol was placed on their heads. They were asked to keep quiet," said one of the employees speaking on grounds of anonymity.
One person, he said, had taken the wooden pole and started smashing up the computers. "Another one started spraying the room with petrol. Yet another asked where the Main Control Room, (MRC) was situated. One of the attackers had gone upstairs to look for it but as the building was dark he could not find it. He however smashed up all the windows and glass doors around," the employee said. The two journalists had been held near the entrance to the newsroom.
One of the attackers had set fire to the room and moved back. He had later thrown a petrol bomb into the room and set it ablaze. The staff members who were upstairs had come down as the building was engulfed by smoke. They had started tearing as well. When they were walking out, the armed men were heard telling that they had achieved their objective by destroying the newsroom. Employees say the men came in two cars and there were 12 of them all together. Some had remained outside while the others carried out the attack.
Siytha operates a Tamil and Sinhala TV channel and three FM stations in Sinhala, Tamil and English. What has been damaged is the editing room for the radio and TV news. "They have been completely destroyed and all our documents destroyed. The library too has been destroyed. However the MRC remains undamaged," said a management official who did not wish to be named.
After the attack the radio stations were operating, but the TV broadcasts were affected. He said TV would resume broadcasting soon. The fact that 12 men armed with T-56 rifles could roam freely in the City of Colombo which still remains saturated by troops and police is damning. On similar occasions, the assailants have been able to get away with impunity. The incident will not do any good to the government's image abroad.
Officers of the Crimes Division of the Kompanna Veediya Police are conducting investigations for what it is worth. Since they are debarred from talking to the media except through their official spokesman, an officer refused to comment on the record. He would only say "investigations into the incident are continuing. I can only tell you that much."
Rajapaksa courting MPs
On the Government front, President Rajapaksa, who chaired the weekly cabinet meeting on Wednesday agreed with his ministers that students who excel in sports and miss their examinations would have to be given another chance. They discussed the case of a schoolboy cricketer who had faced a similar situation. That basically summed up the significant matters discussed this week at cabinet.
Rajapaksa flew to Kandy on Thursday to be on hand for discussions on the Esala Perahera. He also chaired a series of conferences where development programmes in the district were discussed. Rajapaksa is not only taking a keen interest in development activities in the various districts. He appears to have launched a major public relations drive to get to know closely his parliamentarians and even ministers.
All UPFA MPs including Ministers will assemble at the Eden Hotel in Beruwala next Saturday (August 7) for a workshop on parliamentary matters. Rajapaksa is keeping the day free to mingle with his MPs, talk to them and get to know them even more personally. He would be ever mindful of what happened to one of his predecessors who lost touch with his MPs once assuming the mantle of President, and nearly paid dearly for it.
Whilst Rajapaksa continues his charm offensive, which he is well known to be adept at, internal feud is threatening to tear the country's main opposition UNP further down the middle. How things will work out amongst their warring leaders between now and the proposed annual convention will be a clear indicator of where the party is headed. |
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