Kadirgamar tells Mahinda

National interest over party interest

Here are excerpts of the speech made by Mr. Kadirgamar:

"It gives me great pleasure, as requested by my colleagues, to second and formally endorse the proposal made by the President that our colleague Mahinda Rajapakse be appointed the Opposition Leader.

"I remember vividly the day when S. W. R. D. Bandaranaike broke away from the United National Party and crossed the floor of the House to form a new political party. He was closely followed, only a few feet away, by D. M. Rajapakse, Mahinda Rajapakse's late father. The short and lonely procession from one side of the House to the other represented a passage of enormous significance in the politics of independent Sri Lanka. Many students of my generation held the view that it was time a second main stream party was formed, in addition to the existing left wing parties which did not command mass support, in order to provide this country with a fully functioning parliamentary democracy and to forestall the possibility of Sri Lanka becoming a one party state.

"Mr. Rajapakse has a difficult road to travel, whether it is going to be long or not only time will tell. Leading a parliamentary party in defeat, in Opposition, is by no means an easy task. It is a burden, a heavy burden, but unless he shoulders a burden of this kind he will not have the opportunity of showing his prowess in managing the parliamentary affairs of the party.

"The perception is widely held in Sri Lanka that the SLFP was born a Sinhala Buddhist party. The perception remained in the eyes of the public for many decades. It is widely known also that it was President Kumaratunga who began to change the mindset of the SLFP. When she contested the 1994 elections she began the metamorphosis of the party. She worked hard for change. Proof that her work was successful came in the results of the 1994 parliamentary and presidential elections. They brought the party an unprecedented majority and a new mandate from the people. 

"At those elections it was very clear that all the minorities had supported her. At the October 2000 parliamentary elections that minority support had dwindled. At the 2001 December parliamentary elections the minority support had almost disappeared.

"It is a reality in our politics today that the presidential office cannot be secured by a candidate and a party who do not command support across the political spectrum, including the minorities. I, therefore, have a suggestion to make to our colleague. Mr. Rajapakse will have to make sure that the SLFP mindset remains what President Chandrika Kumaratunga had made it, a party that is friendly and welcoming to all the minorities of the land. He must cultivate his own contacts and take up his own positions and let it be seen that the minorities can trust him in the same way that they had trusted President Kumaratunga.

"The task of an opposition is not to oppose everything that the incumbent government proposes. An opposition must formulate and advocate constructive policies that provide the people with genuine alternatives to choose from when elections come around again. Today the country is faced with the special problem of trying to bring the ongoing armed conflict to a satisfactory conclusion. 

At this time the country will wish to see the SLFP acting with a special sense of responsibility which would entail, when the occasion demands, placing the national interest above the interests of the party. That is the challenge that Mr. Rajapakse faces as he embarks, with our congratulations and best wishes, on the important task that has been entrusted to him."

Mahinda: cautious support for peace

"If the conditions for peace are not beneficial for the people, we are not blindly going to raise our hands," Mr. Rajapkse said in an interview with The Sunday Times.

He stressed that the UNF government was continuing the peace process started by the PA and said President Chandrika Kumaratunga also supported it. "No party can oppose the peace process but we will be very cautious about the security matters," he said.

Mr. Rajapakse who was appointed as the Opposition Leader after weeks of speculation said he had taken over the post at the correct time and he had the fullest co-operation of his predecessor former Prime Minister Ratnasiri Wickremanayake.

Mr. Rajapakse said he had not been able to speak to Mr.Wickremanayake since his appointment but praised him as "a very matured politician who had served the party for many years and was someone who commanded the respect of everyone." Mr. Rajapakse first entered parliament in 1970 representing the Beliatte seat - the same electorate represented by his father D. A. Rajapakse. Asked for the delay in his appointment, Mr.Rajapakse said one had to wait for his time to get to a certain position.

Mr. Rajapakse said he was optimistic about the PA's prospects at the upcoming local government election. He said at least 2,000 of the party's prospective candidates had been put behind bars since the December 5 general elections and hence it was a disadvantage to them.

"We want an end to the continuing victimisation of our party supporters immediately," he said adding that he was not hopeful of a fair election. The Opposition Leader also said there would be no PA-JVP alliance to contest the local elections.

CWE outlets face closure

By Sunil Jayatillake

He was commenting on reports that some 50 CWE outlets were facing closure because of losses and other problems like sharp increases in rentals and disputes over buildings.

But a different situation seems to have arisen in the CWE's major Kollupitiya outlet where goods have been in short supply in recent weeks and consumers fear it may be part of a plan to get it shut down. CWE sources said the monthly rent for the Kollupitiya outlet had been raised from Rs. 175,000 to Rs. 225,000. Consumers said that at one time the Kollupitiya outlet had daily transaction upto Rs. 200,000 and closure would be a bad blow to hundreds of consumers.

Bitter story of the local sugar industry

By M. Ismeth

Sugar Research Institute Director N. Dharmawardene said Sri Lanka would have to import eight million tons of sugar spending over Rs. 16 billion annually in ten years from now. 

Since 1994, Sri Lanka sugar industry had been living from one crisis to another due to its alleged mismanagement and politicisation of the industry, he said in a statement. Mr. Dharma-wardene said sugar imports were thought to be the ideal remedy to cover up lack of policy planning, leadership in coordinating activities, erosion of investor confidence, miller problems and bureaucratic bungling in the ministry.

UDA asks Sakya to vacate

The UDA's order against the Sakya tutory came after residents down Pietersz Place in Kohuwela repeatedly complained about the major nuisance, harassment and roadblocks due to both vehicular and pedestrian traffic caused by thousands of students who attended classes there. Newly-appointed UDA chairman Prasanna Gunawardene, now contesting the local government polls in Colombo last week quickly acted on the residents' complaint, initiated an inquiry and made the order asking the tutory to vacate within 30 days.

The Sunday Times on October 28, 2001 highlighted the plight of residents in its Action Forum due to more than 4,000 students blocking Pietersz Place at all odd times of the day including the weekends. The story reported how the funeral procession of a four-day baby was delayed and a sick mother was held up without access to the road due to the congestion caused by the school, in just two instances of the suffering of residents.

Residents said though many a letter had been written to both the UDA and the Dehiwela-Mount Lavinia Municipal Council, the authorities had continued to turn a blind eye to the problem until the new government came into power in December last year. The residents who have formed themselves into the Pietersz Place Residents' Committee have been campaigning against three commercial institutions down their road : Sakya, Lyceum (an international school) and Healthline, a medical laboratory.