Wars all over the place

Sri Lankans cannot be blamed for being caught up with the melodrama of Cabinet appointment. Pop psychologists would have had a field day, interpreting the President's body language. Her smile for Ranil turned into a dour schoolmarmish fixed expression, by the time the Ministers' photographs were taken two days after.

You expect her to take these things smiling, eh what? No, she is not an air hostess. But, perhaps, to get into preachy mode, she should spare a thought about what the Buddha Saasana Minister would have said. Said the Gauthama the Buddha : " Success and failure – thou art both imposters. Treat them both with equal disdain.'' (Dhammapada.)

The theme song for the popular TV sitcom Cincinnati WKRP (American embassy, take heart that we US detractors too borrow from your pop culture icons) used to go….. " if you tired of packing and unpacking — tired of doing it every once in a while…..''(..and so on.)

If the Sri Lankan people are tired of packing and unpacking governments from the PA and the UNP every once in a while, they might consider what they have now by way of constitutional arrangement. 

There are two branches of government one run by the UNP and the other by the PA. Though some incurable cynics might say "now both sets of crooks are up there,'' incurable romantics will say "oh, what a lovely war this is.'' That's the war between the PA and the UNF.

The PA and the UNF battle, according to one interpretation at least, has more potential of destabilizing the country than the war in the North and East. Rauff Hakeem for instance, may precipitate a destabilizing tendency at any time he wants.

But Mr. Hakeem promises not to be naughty this time around. When this writer met him over the weekend, he seemed to hold a promise to himself, that he will not do to the UNF, what he did to the PA. He says what they all have been saying. "The UNF is more amenable. There is room for discussion within it.''

But, the issues have not surfaced yet. For instance, what is going to be done about the orthodoxy of political murder? "Orthodoxy'' because political murder is fast becoming a given, and accepted facet of our political culture. Politicians know best when they do not want to challenge this orthodoxy.

Will that be the case when it comes to matters such as the murders on election day at Udathalawinna in Kandy? Mr. Hakeem promises that this will not happen. He says – not in these words but in his own words — that the orthodoxy will be definitely challenged.

But when he challenges that orthodoxy, there are many other applecarts that he is going to upset. There is no point in being cryptic about it. If Mr. Hakeem wants to get at the murderers, as he says, he will have to hit right at the core of the PA's power-base.

That's going to upset the PA more than it upset the PA when Mr. Hakeem walked out. To paraphrase a former US President, the PA might think, "it would have been nice to have Mr. Hakeem on the inside pissing out, than have him on the outside pissing in." ( Hope that is not too much of an assault on the orthodoxy of journalistic politeness.)

So what's the problem with Mr. Hakeem hitting right at the core of the PA's power-base? After all, he is bound to enjoy it immensely. 

The problem is that hitting right at the epicentre of the PA power base is difficult when Mr. Hakeem's power base – now the SLMC together with the UNF - is compelled to cohabit with a PA President. Knowing Ranil Wickremesinghe, he probably prefers to go along with a PA President, as long as she is not too much of a bother. ( It's a matter of, again, having her on the inside pitching out, rather than the outside pitching in, to change that idiom for the occasion.) But, if Mr. Hakeem wants to hit at the epicentre of the PA power-base, then he will have to prepare for a showdown with the President, even if that's against Mr. Wickremesinghe's wishes. If Mr. Wickremesinghe doesn't like that? Then, probably Mr. Hakeem breaks his promise to be a good boy, and walks out.

Alright, it's only a possibility. But in a perverse political orthodoxy such as ours, it is difficult to engineer change for the better ( eg; bring political murderers to book) without creating more instability. So, politicians might just even prefer to have political murderers on the inside. Remember, the UNF too seems to have some of those, as elected MP's. Call it kismet — that's the people's lot.