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Which way the wheel of fortune? It was a replay of the 1970s as far as the notorious midnight gazettes were concerned; and the 1980s when the JSS were unleashed. Ten days ago, these events that unfolded when President Chandrika Kumaratunga told her new Secretary (who just replaced Kusum Balapatabendi - who had to be virtually dragged away from his office when he refused to leave with grace) to gazette the takeover of the Development Lotteries Board (DLB). Mr. Balapatabendi had long been instructed by President Kumaratunga to see to the DLB takeover, according to PA sources. The bulk of his files had been unattended in recent months as the frail man he is, clocked just two hours work a day. His successor had been asked by the President to attend to these unattended files which begs the question, what other similar bombshells are in store from the President's Office. Little did
President Kumaratunga realize that all hell was about the break
loose as she prepared to journey to salubrious Nuwara-Eliya for
the weekend. "Why always me", he lamented, as the President targeted Mr. Moragoda for the second time in three months after she accused him of being a US lackey. Mr. Moragoda has refused to talk with the President on the peace process since, and here, rather than consider it a dereliction of public duty for not briefing the President on national issues, the President has been trying to pacify the young minister, who had only last month threatened to walk out of the peace process because of something the LTTE's political wing leader had said. Now, he was
threatening to quit if the DLB was not returned to him. Boy- o-
Boy. They vent their anger on him believing him to be the one who advised President Kumaratunga to takeover the DLB, but the fact of the matter was that when Prime Minister Ranil Wickramasinghe contacted Mr. Kadirgamar as the one intermediary he has with the PA , the attempted takeover of the DLB by the President was news to Mr. Kadirgamar. After speaking to the Prime Minister Mr. Kadigamar left for Nuwara Eliya to specifically discuss the Gen. Satish Nambiar report on High Security Zones and the peace process with President Kumaratunga, but got entangled in the DLB issue that had now overtaken events. When news reached Colombo that Mr. Kadirgamar and Mr. Mangala Samaraweera were with the President, some UNF leaders, including Milinda Moragoda jumped to conclusions accussing Mr. Kadirgamar of advising the President on the DLB takeover. It was only in Nuwara Eliya the following day (Saturday) that Mr. Kadirgamar had briefed himself and called back to the Prime Minister late that night saying that events have overtaken the attempt to gazette, with the raid on the Government Press. President Kumaratunga was all fired up by Saturday talking non-stop to her coterie of loyalists. The wrath was on the high-handed storming of the Government Press, not the high-handed attempt to gazette the takeover of the DLB. The Prime Minister and Mr. Kadirgamar decided to meet in Colombo as soon as possible as a constitutional stalemate was looming on the horizons. In the meantime, Attorney General K.C. Kamalasabeysan had sent his opinion on what had turned into a constitutional crisis. He sides with the Prime Minister's view that the Constitution of the Republic requires - or as he said, it would be "prudent" - that the President consult the Premier when allocating or changing subjects and functions under cabinet ministers. Law apart, this stands to logic and good governance. But the PA rejected what they called the AG's unsolicited advice. They only wanted the opinion they wanted. And they got it from their team of lawyers - Mr. H.L. de Silva, Mr. R.K.W.Goonasekera and Mr. Lakshman Kadirgamar (eventually) by Monday. Mr. H. L. de
Silva was asked to draft the reply of the President to the Prime
Minister's letter of Friday where he urged her to review her decision
to precipitate a constitutional crisis. The good Christian he is,
Mr. de Silva's draft included a quote from the Bible; "straining
out a gnat and swallowing a camel", he wrote on behalf of the
President accusing the UNF of trying to whip up a climate of fear
in the country. On Tuesday, the Prime Minister and Mr. Kadirgamar met late at night, the meeting concluding at almost midnight. The two were jointly and severally moaning the state of the nation. The Prime Minister had just received the President's letter - in Sinhala. The President's Office had done the remarkable deed of translating Mr. H.L de Silva's detailed letter in the Sudda's English into suddha Sinhala for the Prime Minister's benefit. Vesak intervened, and without the Thai Prime Minister to play host to, our Prime Minister left for Cochin to attend the birthday party of an exact contemporary of his father, Esmond Wickramasinghe – the publishing baron from Kerala and the patriarch of the famous Mathew family, the owners of the Malayalam Manorama, India's largest selling national newspaper. The Prime Minister is due back only on Tuesday, and till then there will be a period of continued uncertainty. Yesterday, the President and the Minister of Mass Communications and Posts, Imthiaz Bakeer Markar, were to be present at a ceremony at the BMICH, the occasion being the launch of the 'Destination Sri Lanka' tourism promotion project. Readers will know that the young Bakeer-Markar was instructed to do the most audacious thing a young minister could do - he countermanded the President's directive to the Government Printer to print the gazette giving legal effect to the takeover of the DLB under the President. But a good front-page photo opportunity for the Sunday newspapers went abegging. There was no show from either of them, and the senior advisor to the President, her brother Anura Bandaranaike did the honours together with Industries Minister Rohitha Bogallagama, both of whom seemed to be cohabiting quite well, discussing common issues which had nothing to do with the DLB. Anura Bandaranaike took the opportunity however to fire a salvo across the bow saying that his sister will never compromise on the sovereignty and territorial integrity of Sri Lanka etc., etc a clear dig at the UNF government as his party was on the verge of signing a pact with the JVP to topple the present administration. But a wag at the BMICH asked the pertinent question. The JVP has
been instigating University students to agitate and go on strike
and upavasas for higher Mahapola scholarship handouts. It has been
just revealed that the Mahapola scholarship has been short-changed
by the President's Fund to the tune of some Rs. 450 million that
was due from the DLB via the President's Fund. Tamil Eelam
is a nation: What does it mean? His host, the leader of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam was waiting for Mr. Akashi whose brief was short and precise. "Get the LTTE back on the peace track, and see that they attend the Tokyo aid group meeting in June ". His host in the provincial capital of Tamil Eelam, Kilinochchi, Velupillai Prabhakaran had his lines recited and his act choreographed. There was one thing that the Japanese envoy had done as preparatory work though. He has taken his own translator. It was not that they did not trust Anton Balasingham, the LTTE's chief peace negotiator, but Mr. Balasingham was known to often add spice and salt to what Mr. Prabhakaran said. That was clearly seen by the world at large at the April 2002 press conference when Mr. Balasingham said he and Mr. Prabhakaran was "one voice", though it did not seem so. Permission granted; the Akashi-Prabhakaran got underway in a rare four-cornered manner i.e. Prabhakaran to Japanese embassy translator to Akashi to Balasingham to Prabhakaran. But the message was loud and clear for Mr. Akashi as Mr. Prabhakaran went on a three-point talkathon. Point No. 1: Tamil Eelam is a Nation, Mr. Prabhakaran said unequivocally. But, there was a nuance here that deserves some examination. Mr. Prabhakaran seemed to deviate from the separate State concept. He was not impressing on the point that Tamil Eelam should be a separate State, but that it should be a separate Nation. Point No.2: The suffering 'his' people have suffered at the hands of the Sinhalese majority. Point No.3: That SHIRAN and NERRF, the two institutions set up to channel foreign aid for the development of the war-ravaged economy of the north and east were not functioning the way the LTTE liked, and what was more Mr. Prabhakaran suspected everyone to be involved in a "conspiracy" against the LTTE. (The Sunday Times Situation Report published details of these talks last week). All this took
nearly two hours plus, and for Mr. Akashi the most chilling of the
three would have the prospect that the LTTE supreme leader believed
a "conspiracy" afoot. Where does the geographical borders of a Tamil Nation start and where does it end? Are we then now beginning to talk of a Pan-Tamil Nation that goes beyond the shores of this country? A point to ponder. But as Mr. Akashi returned to Colombo and briefed the Prime Minister, what really stunned him seemed to be the presentation of Mr. Prabhakaran's gift to him - the LTTE insignia of the the two guns crossed with the emblem of a Tiger and the map of Tamil Eelam stretching down to Yala on the one-side and north of Chilaw on the other. That indeed was a telling message, Mr. Akashi conceded. |
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Copyright © 2001 Wijeya Newspapers
Ltd. All rights reserved. |
For
the old folks at home, it was reminiscent of the bad old days of
not so long ago. Midnight gazettes; Hitlerite storm-trooper type
goondas from the "JSS" marching into Government buildings
and thrashing the 'daylights' out of reluctant workers; Ministers
giving 'moral encouragement' to the thugs and the uniformed police
asked to look the other way.
