Rajpal's Column

3rd December 2000

People who have risen from the political dead

By Rajpal Abeynayake

One is the resurrection of a man and his persona. The other is the resurrection of a dead philosophy.

Ratwatte's resurrection may contain beneath its veneer, more than what the eye can perceive. Generally, President Chandrika Kumaratunga has appeared to behave as if paranoia is a credo. The stamping down of the personality cults has been high on her political agenda.

It's not rationally imagined that the President wanted Ratwatte to be Defence Minister in her second cabinet in the first place. If so, she could have appointed him along with the rest of the Cabinet.

Ratwattte and Professor Peiris both have similar political drives.

The late President J R Jayewardene once said that what sets him apart from other mere political mortals was his tremendous drive.

Both Ratwatte and Peiris are driven men. They are driven to form political power bases around them, and this was something recognized early by the President who has a keen eye for political power plays. She didn't like Ratwatte being a pretender to the throne, and the whole concoction about sapumal kumaraya, which Ratwatte used as the background story for his rise and rise.

It's now an old story that she clipped his wings, particularly because of this personality cult which was jarring to her sense of authority, or her sense of security ( Which, nobody still has been able to figure out.).

But now Ratwatte has been resurrected, along with Peiris who also had political ambitions which were not immensely liked by the President. Now that both suddenly see that their political fortunes are resurrected to what would they attribute this second visitation of tremendous good luck?

The President may have held the appointments in abeyance, to convey the message that she is boss. But, that's unlikely as both Ministers now know after seven years with the lady, that she is the boss.

The more likely can be divined from the President's natural tendency to distrust the emergence of personalities in politics. The current power equation is not in equilibrium.

Prime Minister Ratnasiri Wickremanayake is commanding a personality cult that seems to have sprung from the strength of his appointment.

The PM, beaming in national and generally being genial, has transmogrified from political non entity to political Mafia boss. That's since his appointment.

He heads a political conglomerate/firm of interests covering Buddhists Sinha-lese and those who are under these broad categories, whose interests and sense of security have been increasingly war in the North,.

The President is likely to think that the forces building up around Wickremanayake are not healthy for the well being of the political equilibrium that she holds so dear.

So, as an antidote to the concentration of political power around Wickreman-ayake, the President appoints Ratwatte and Peiris to their previous Cabinet posts. It's a scenario that is most likely, given the Kumaratunga political temperament.

But, it's Prabhakaran's war in the North that as stated causes some or all of these power centres to emerge, stabilize and maintain themselves like self sustaining eco systems.

Prabhakaran has called for what are referred to as "unconditional'' talks. This is taking the wind from off the sails of the government which has been the protagonist calling always for "unconditional talks.''

But, the government has always made its offer for "unconditional'' talks appear as if they are conditional by prefacing any call for talks with an insistence that the government will not pull back its troops.

But, the LTTE now calls for unconditional talks, without any prefacing statement, which is Prabha-karans way of killing several birds with one fell blow, well aimed.

This places President Kumaratunga in a position of having to wrest the high ground from Prabhakaran, which is the most unenviable task in the world for reasons which do not have to be elaborated.

When Kadirgamar has called the Norwegians untrustworthy in a momentary slippage ( the air hostess forgot to keep her smile ) of his sustained diplomacy, he might have made a mistake that the peaceniks in the West equate with Prabhakaran's "sustained terrorism." ( British deputy Foreign Secretary Hain's words not mine). The government and not Prabhakaran now has to pull off a global PR job, starting at the Buckingham Palace.

The Special Report

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