17th September 2000

Playing it right in the political arena

There was a fateful relationship between the removal of powerful political characters like Vijaya Kumaratunga, Lalith Athulathmudali, R. Premadasa and Gamini Dissanayake from the political field and her not coming to power when Vijaya Kumaratunga was alive was because he was the dominant character in the movement he represented.

Subsequent to his death Chandrika became the dominant and major character of that movement. Even after she became the major character of that movement, she was not a major character in comparison with such characters like Mr.Premadasa, Mr. Athulathmudali and Mr. Dissanayake. She became the major character after the demise of them all. If at least Anura Bandaranaike had not left the party after her arrival, he would have become the next major character in the SLFP in the circumstances of Sirimavo Bandaranaike leaving for reason health and old age.

It was perhaps fate that prompted Mr. Bandaranaike to leave the party and decreed Ms Kumaratunga's arrival there. If she had to contest with UNP led by Mr. Premadasa at the parliamentary election of '94, the UNP might even have come back to power. Even otherwise if she came to power at a time when at least one of the two major characters, Lalith Athulathmudali and Gamini Dissanayake was alive, her administration might not have lasted even this long. In that sense, all the happenings from her brother Mr. Bandaranaike's decision to leave the party to the removal of other major characters from the political field appear to have been decreed by fate to bring her to power.

The greatest political crime was her disregard for the specific social and political environmentthat had helped put her in power and the innocent political wishes expressed by the people inthat environment. The people did not expemuch from her. All that they expected was creation of a decent and civilized polionment. During the period of the former UNP administration, the entire society had become rotten under the terror and corruption that reigned. The most important function that the people had expected of her was to effect a change in this state of affairs and to create an atmosphere in which every person could live in dignity.

Unlike Mr. Jayewardene, Ms Kumaratunga came to power through a democratic political discourse. Mr.Jayewardene mainly spoke about economic matters, about the kerosene smelling clothes that the people had to wear, about the difficulties caused by the rice bars, about the rules that compelled the people to eat manioc twice a week. Ms. Kumaratunga's discourse, however, was different. She mainly spoke about the executive presidential system, about the extent of distortion caused in the political system, about the democratic rights that the people should get, about the corruption and terrorism that persisted in the country.

She spoke about the political morality of the MPs elected as representatives of the people which had declined. She spoke about the manner in which membership of parliament had become a means of making easy money rather than a means for serving the people. She said she would abolish the Pajero culture as well as the executive presidency. She said that she would establish a system whereby the details of assets and liabilities of the head of state and the ministers would be published in order to guarantee the transparency of those persons.

Ms. Kumaratunga has not been able to show that she has the kind of democratic discipline required to function as a head of government under a democratic political system. A democratic political leader must rely not on weaponry or on muscles but on the people. Such a person must have the discipline to accept an administration when the people call and to give it up when the people reject him or her. But Ms. Kumaratunga has not been able to show that she has that ability and discipline.

She came to power on the basis of the people's wish. But after she came to power she has tried to maintain that power not on the basis of the people's power but on the basis of muscle power. If a democratic political system is a system of administration by people's representatives then it is the duty of the head of state to maintain the elections for electing people's representatives on a free and fair basis. It is true that the UNP government brought down the process of elections to an utterly corrupt level by substituting a referendum to a parliamentary election and by getting armed groups to invade polling booths and stuffing ballot boxes.

However, due to pressure from international and local quarters against such corruption, the elections from local government elections of 1991 to the parliamentary election of 1994 which brought Chandrika to power the elections were held in a free and fair manner. Ms. Kumaratunga who came to power on a promise that everything necessary whould be done to ensure the freedom and the fairness required in an electoral process conducted a system of elections whereby the public opinion was blatanly distorted, breaking all the UNP records. Thereby she has clearly shown that she has traversed not a democratic political route, but a different route which would lead to a dictatorial system of junta rule.

In that sense this election is vital not only to the present administration, but also to the survival of the country. In the UNP regime too all vulgarities and violence prevailed not in the first six years but in the second period of six years. If we are to see the real shape of the cruelty of the present administration, that too will be in the next period of six years. Whether such an event is going to be permitted or not, has to be decided by the society.

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