Countdown

We are yet to exhaust all the chanda gundus

by H. Chanda Dhamma

Ask any seasoned politician and he (or she, of course!) will tell you that the average Sri Lankan voter votes with his stomach. That is to say that they will side with the party that offers them a little bit more in terms of economic benefits.

And therefore, when that party comes into power and takes away those benefits the people will accuse the government of 'badata gahanawa!'

Now, there are those who claim that Sri Lanka has a very high turnout at the elections and that therefore ours is a very politically mature electorate. They will say that such an assumption of 'voting with their stomachs' is naïve and an insult to the intelligence of the average voter. But what does the record show?

From the seventies, each party that came into power offered an economic incentive that the other party didn't and the simpler the incentive, the better it worked. Sirima Bandaranaike in 1970 offered two measures of free rice in a bid to outdo Dudley Senanayake who had offered only one. So, the voters said, 'ape amma langa enawa, haal seru deka denawa' ('our mother will soon come into power and grant us two measures of rice.') and ousted the man they themselves christened 'bath dun piyaa'. Of course, Ms. Bandaranaike was questioned as to how she could manage such a concession and the answer was legendary. It would be done, she said, even if rice had to be brought from the moon! Yet, it did not matter to the electorate that by the end of her regime in 1977, rice was a scarce luxury and that there were 'rice barriers' throughout the country prohibiting its unauthorised transport. They fell again for a similar promise, this time by J. R. Jayewardene. Jayewardene promised eight pounds of cereal to alleviate poverty and malnutrition and the slogan was 'eta raaththal atak'. It was at best a cryptic offer but such was the economic subjugation of the previous SLFP regime that voters fell for it, without even querying what it really was. In power, Jayewardene said he would offer four pounds of flour and four pounds of grains to keep his promise and someone composed a little ditty to rhyme with the news broadcast tune- 'eta denna beri hinda piti dunna roti kanna'- but no one really bothered about the promise thereafter.

Come 1982 and Jayewardene offered nothing except his work record in ushering in unprecedented development as his qualification for re-election but his opponent, Hector Kobbekaduwa, in a last ditch effort printed rice ration books and distributed them saying it would be re-introduced if he came into power.

But Kobbekaduwa was politically emasculated and lost the election anyway. In 1989, Ranasinghe Premadasa unveiled 'Janasaviya'- an offer of two thousand and five hundred rupees to every low income earning family. The SLFP was aghast. The economic pundits who campaigned for them- Ronnie de Mel among them- queried how Mr. Premadasa would find funds to keep the promise. Premadasa merely said 'haven't I always done what I said I would do?' and won the election.

And to be fair, he did, by and large keep his promise as a result of which many families escape poverty even today. The Peoples' Alliance took a leaf out of Premadasa's book in 1994.

They promised 'Samurdhi'- 'Janasaviya' by another name and according to the World Bank, given mostly to PA supporters and also promised bread at three rupees and fifty cents when it was selling at over five rupees. The PA may have won the 1994 polls anyway, but those promises would have contributed in no small measure.

Now it is the new millennium no doubt but the old theory that voters vote with their stomachs seems to be still true- if the recent reactions of the major parties are any yardstick.

Surprisingly it is the opposition- the United National Party (UNP) and the Janatha Vimukthi Peramuna (JVP)- which have fired the first salvos. The JVP is agitating for an all-round five thousand rupee wage hike to meet the rising cost of living and the UNP is boldly promising a two thousand rupee pay rise if and when it comes to power.

The first signs of the UNP's promise came at last week's city protest campaign at Maradana when Ranil Wickremas–inghe announced the offer.

The turnout at the campaign pleasantly surprised the party leadership and underscored one fact- there is plenty of discontent with the PA, if only it is canvassed and converted into UNP votes- which the UNP has not done until now.

And in order to do so, the party may well resort to the age-old trick of campaign promises- 'chanda gundus'- and the two thousand rupee offer may well be the first of many. But of course, these promises whatever they may be need to capture the imagination of the people- maybe with a catchy slogan- and cut across social and class barriers to be attractive to the entire electorate.

The UNP's think tanks we believe are thinking on those lines, but we hope they do not come up with something as dull as uninspiring as Ranil Wickremasinghe's offer at the last presidential election- computers for everyone- which only smacked of the yuppie mentality the party must shake off if it is to make any headway at the polls. The government is also showing the first signs of nervousness- more so after it saw the popular response to the cost of living issue at the UNP's protest campaign. And instructions went out from Temple Trees with one aim- damage control. Thursday saw the appointment of a Public Services Salaries Commission, a Commission that was contemplated in the Budget presented last February but not formally constituted until now. The chances are that the government will move fast to counter the UNP's wage hike offer.

Then, the Chairman of Lake House - busy with a bereavement in the family- was summoned to indulge in his favourite pastime: interviewing the President at Temple Trees. The interview was broadcast yesterday at prime time but it's significance was it's topic- no, not the devolution package, not her days at Sorbonne or the trauma of losing an eye- it was on the rising cost of living!

The state TV stations which broadcast a programme titled 'Pasuwadana' (literally, 'Afterthought') after it's news telecasts have devoted many programmes to the cost of living issue recently, even going to the extent of saying 'Ranilge dedaahata wadaa Chandrikaage haya seeya hondai' (the six hundred rupees offered by President Kumaratunga is better than the two thousand offered by the Opposition Leader).

And this from a government which through it's media recently castigated this newspaper group for "highlighting a cost of living crisis which is non-existent" must mean only one thing- both the government and the opposition alike have now realised that this will be the most crucial issue at the upcoming poll- and not the regional council offered to the minorities, not the war with the LTTE, not media freedom and not corruption within the government.

It is back then to the basics of electioneering in Sri Lanka: elections bring promises to voters and those who make the better promises win.

The coming weeks will see more and more promises from both the PA and the UNP and who knows, the UNP might offer bread at three fifty and gas at two hundred rupees again and the PA might come up with some other poverty alleviation plan.

But the bottomline is, while the government has miles to go and many promises to keep, the opposition too is yet to show any promise of being capable of forming an alternative government.

PS- Former UNP Minister and Puttalam District MP, the affable and gentlemanly Harold Herath has written to us stating that our comments about him last week-that he was among those considering a 'jump' to the other side hoping for an ambassadorial appointment in Tokyo- is absolutely incorrect. We see no reason to doubt a gentleman's word, so thank you, Mr. Herath for the clarification- and we are sure your party leader will appreciate it most.

Lanka beware of foreign powers

By Kumbakarana

Recently there had been a visit by the British Foreign Secretary and prior to that a long succession of political emissaries arrived in Sri Lanka from USA, Norway and India. Several weeks ago there was also a debate about Sri Lanka in the British Parliament. This debate was initiated by Simon Hughes of the Liberal Party as a counter-response to the call by the Sinhala community in Britain to ban the LTTE, and this occurred while a demonstration against the LTTE was going on.

During the debate several MPs participating predicted the fall of Jaffna, and urged an arms embargo on the Sri Lankan government and called for intervention when the reaction of the Sinhala people to the fall of Jaffna supposedly turned ugly. The whole debate was well planned on the basis of an LTTE agenda, except for a final call that the PA and UNP as major political parties should reach a consensus with regards the Tamil demands, with the creation of a Federal form of government.

The European Parliament also arrived at a similar position during this time. The British appear to be happy at the consensus reached by the PA-UNP and are bearing upon the Tamil parties to accept the package worked out by these parties. One can see here as to whose agenda has been finally accepted by the PA-UNP.

Recently, there has been a coincidence of two crises, one an economic crisis the other a military-political one. Such a coincidence, did not occur earlier except in 1987.

Some, that is both the Marxists and the Liberal ideologists wish to reduce all this to purely economic woes, although the economic factor does play a part, it is not the only factor.

This is clearly shown by the on-going disputes in more affluent situations such as in Spain (the Basque separatism), and the French problem in Canada. Although there are economic factors they are dependent on others, but when they coincide as during the period of 1987-89, the problem itself takes on a new dimension.

There are several reasons given for the economic recession occurring just now. The UNP states that this is because of mismanagement, the PA attributes this to the war. These are minor factors, there has been an ongoing war for a long time, and there certainly has been economic mismanagement by the UNP. The reasons for Sri Lanka's economic decline are global. There is a strange factor working in this regard, there has been pressure for devaluation of the rupee.

An effective control and limiting of foreign aid and a further withdrawal of foreign dealings in the Colombo Stock Market. There is an attempt to create an artificial crisis in Sri Lanka. There is now a shift of focus from the LTTE's action in the North to the economic woes in the South. With that there is a demoralisation of the majority, so that they will be willing to accept even a damaging solution to end the war, which is being blamed for the present economic recession.

With the economic crisis and the military crisis there would be a new situation similar to that which occurred in Indonesia with the East-Timorean crisis. The Sinh-

alese policy in this event should be able to respond with intelligence, unlike the Indonesians who responded foolishly. The Indonesian crisis did not end in East Timor but spread to other regions as well, including Fiji and the Solomon Islands. Similarly the Sri Lankan situation will not be restricted to the North-East but will spread to other regions. We must be alert about our own future and not hand it over to foreign powers.

US to curb gay harassment

WASHINGTON, Saturday (Reuters) - The Pentagon, cracking down a year after the murder of a gay soldier, said on Friday that Commanders will be held responsible for harassment by troops of U.S. military personnel suspected of being homosexual.

On orders from Defence Secretary William Cohen, the Defence Department sent a 13-point "action plan" to the armed services calling for new top-to-bottom training to curb jokes, slurs or violence against those even perceived as being gay or lesbian.

The plan, following the beating to death of a gay Army soldier by a fellow soldier at Fort Campbell, Kentucky, in July 1999, was another in a series of steps to improve enforcement of a 1993 "don't ask, don't tell" policy tolerating anonymous service by homosexuals in uniform.

It said "Commanders and leaders will be held accountable for failure to enforce this directive." And it ordered that all troops, from Privates to Generals and Admirals, receive training tailored to their responsibilities under "don't ask, don't tell."

At the same time, the Army on Friday released its own report concluding there was no atmosphere of homophobia at Fort Campbell — home of the 101st Airborne Division — and that no officer should be held responsible in the death of Pfc. Barry Winchell, 21, beaten to death with a baseball bat while in his bed on July 5, 1999.

Two soldiers were sentenced to prison in Winchell's death.

But Army Chief of Staff Gen. Eric Shinseki told a Pentagon news conference on Friday that an investigation found the Command climate at Fort Campbell as a whole "was a positive environment." The climate was described as poor in Winchell's company, however, where a senior Sergeant was later removed from duty.

Shinseki denied charges by Winchell's mother, Pat Kutteles, that the Army had whitewashed her son's death. Kutteles, who has filed a wrongful-death lawsuit against the Service, said in a CNN interview on Friday that she was "appalled" at the report.

Under the "don't ask, don't tell" policy, repeatedly attacked as discriminatory by civil rights groups, homosexuals are tolerated in the U.S. armed forces so long as they do not publicly reveal their sexual orientation.

In return the military has been repeatedly warned not to seek out and badger perceived homosexuals or drum them out of uniform.

"The Services shall ensure that Commanders and leaders take appropriate action against anyone who engages in ... condones or ignores mistreatment, harassment and inappropriate comments or gestures," the directive said.

Defence Under Secretary Bernard Rostker and other officials said Command responsibility for violating the anti-harassment orders would have to be decided on a case-by-case basis as it was at Fort Campbell.

But "the days of witchhunts, the days of stakeouts are really gone," he told the news conference.

Sydney goes through mood swings

As the Sydney Olympics start to take on their final shape, Australia's largest city is going through mood swings more suited to the emotions of a temperamental Hollywood star.

There is elation at what lies ahead and despair at what scandals and rows have been left behind.

Surveys suggest that up to half of Sydney's residents are just sick and tired of the whole event. Roll on October, Sydneysiders mumble under their breath, when the Games are over and life can return to normal.

But then the sun comes out or there is a record performance by an Australian athlete and suddenly the city of four and a half million is preening itself to put on the first big show of the 21st century.

"Sydney has been negative towards it. Everyone wants to leave the city," said 23-year-old Jolene Allan. "They think the traffic is going to be really bad and there'll just be too many people. "They'd rather rent out their house than stay here."

Allan is not concerned, however, with all the negative hype. "I just think it happens with every Olympics," she said. "You just have to take it as it comes."