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vault by President Probably unintentionally, however, the President seems to have created waves the likes of another political tsunami this week at Hambantota where she launched the Government's action plan for the post-tsunami development programme. During the course of her speech, she said there is no need to hold elections for the next five years. This was not the crux of her speech, and the state media seem to have ignored the reference, despite its significance. Was it a slip of the tongue (and no fault of the brain), or was it, as the pithy local idiom goes - the mouth may lie, the tongue never lies. Nevertheless, what the President said is on record as follows: " Political parties which have been traditionally quarrelling with each other for the past 50 years, have come forward honestly to rebuild the nation. However, there could be minor problems, as old habits cannot be given up. For the next five years we do not hope to have elections. There is also no necessity to have elections. Even if we hold elections tomorrow, do not look to increase the ballot boxes, but vote for the nation. For the moment, forget the party and myself ". No doubt, the one reference she made to elections at the national event, which was arguably not the forum to talk of elections, is a bundle of contradictions. She says that all the parties have got together now, then she says old habits persist, then she says there will be no elections for the next five years, then she goes on to say that even if elections are to be held there is no need for them, then says, if elections are to be held tomorrow don't just fill the ballot boxes (whatever that meant ), and then the coup de grace, she says vote for the nation, and to forget her party, and even herself. Where she left, the sycophant state-run television took over. Pronto they began interviewing the "citizens" of Sri Lanka. They were all, at least those whom the state TV chose, extolling the virtues of what their President, Minister of Defence, Commander in Chief and Head of Government - all rolled into one - had said about rolling the electoral map. Every one of them, hey presto, welcomed those worthy remarks. Why should we need elections now, those interviewed asked. Good camera work by the faithful, one would say. But to unravel that mystery, the main opposition party, the UNP thought it fit to unleash its spokesman Prof. G.L. Peiris. He bravely announced that the UNP demanded scheduled Presidential elections this year, and pledged that the party would fight any form of dictatorship that was looming. Then, he echoed the official view of the party "that the tsunami should not wash away democracy in Sri Lanka". UNP Assistant Secretary Tissa Attanayake joined in to say that in the country's darkest patch - during the reign of terror in 1988/89, when the JVP vowed to kill the first five people who turned up at any polling booth, the then UNP Government held elections. Within the UNP leadership there was some concern about the Presidential statement. They believe that what the President said was certainly something working in her mind for some time, even pre-tsunami, and that the tsunami disaster was perfectly timed for her political agenda -- which they think started, with the incarceration of the UNP's go-getter National Organiser S.B. Dissanayake. Some asked Opposition Leader Ranil Wickremesinghe to formally write to the President seeking clarification. It was serious enough an issue to write to her, for she was surely not going to respond to her erstwhile can't-do-without man-for-all-seasons, G.L. Peiris. Wickremesinghe felt he should have G.L. Peiris state his claim first. As the long weekend was approaching, Wickremesinghe felt he should allow the issue to ride, and that during his tours to the Mawanella, Kegalla, Wariyapola areas during this period, he would take the matter up with the party branches. He also felt, the matter would raise some eye-brows among the donor community which may themselves take up cudgels with the President. All in all, Wickremesinghe seemed reluctant to go for the President despite the gravity of the statement she had made -- a statement splashed in the private media, and unchallenged by the Presidential Office either. If more proof was needed, it came in the form of the state-run television endorsing her assertions through a series of "welcome" interviews. Wickremesinghe is not only the leader of the UNP. He is also the leader of the Opposition, and it is incumbent on his part to raise issues of such a nature with the President, and let the country to know what the status is. For one thing, the President makes a tsunami-style devastating remark, saying she wants to roll up the electoral map for the next five years without anybody's by-your-leave. Whether she can do it is another matter. Even when President Junius Jayewardene quoting Napoleon at a meeting in Anuradhapura about rolling up the electoral map for ten years, he did not refer to not having elections on the due date. But for the Leader of the Opposition to duck the issue, is as serious an issue. Ever since the tsunami struck the coastal belt of Sri Lanka, the JVP has been making some noises about not having political bickering for two years until the nation was re-built. It did not go as far as saying that elections should not be held. Wickremesinghe, when he met President Kumaratunga a fortnight ago promised to support her government for six months to re-build the nation. Ironically, the President did not respond to the offer - nor did she mention anything about postponing elections. The fat is already in the fire, in regard to the President's second-term in office. While the UNP is insisting that her second term comes to an end this year, the President is not saying anything about elections this year. She now seems to be saying nothing about Presidential elections whenever, except for her remarks this week about doing away with "elections" for the next five years. And there is the controversial second (purported) swearing-in of the President (almost a year after she was actually elected and sworn-in in December 1999) to contend with, which was primarily aimed at giving her just one extra year (2006). Whether the UNP is ready for a Presidential election this year is another matter. It is banking very much on the fact that the ruling UPFA will start fragmentizing when it has to pick a candidate other than President Kumaratunga, even though the UNP is still watchful of the President trying to woo its members, like she succeeded in doing with Rohitha Bogallagama, the current Advanced Technology Minister. The UNP needs to have an election within range to prevent restless UNPers who find Ministerial power, the cars, the office, the bodyguards etc., their political oxygen for survival, not jump ship. Behind-the-scene, moves are on again to win over UNP parliamentarians. A Deputy Minister is going on making overtures. The carrot he holds on a stick include Ministerial portfolios and other perks not to mention green backs. At least one green man has whispered in his boss' ears that overtures were made to him but he declined. On the other hand, the President thinks she's too young to quit politics. She can't be playing golf surely like Bill Clinton is doing at a much younger age. It is in this context that this country must take a look at events that unfolded in the US this week with the inauguration of the second-term of the President George W. Bush. The US is a nation at war. And yet, it has a fixed date for elections, and a fixed date to start the term of a President, and it holds them on those dates. The people do not have to debate or doubt what these dates would be. Why not for Sri Lanka? The Presidential remarks have also not attracted much comment from any party, other than the UNP. President Kumaratunga's ally, the JVP, remains silent. So much so, that when the previous issue of whether her term of office ended in 2005 or 2006 was raised from it, the jVP gave a standard answer saying, "whatever the Constitution says ", by implication whatever the Supreme Court says. However, just prior to the Presidential remarks at Hambantota, the JVP has been making some noises about the post-tsunami disaster management actions plans under the President's directions. Their pater familias, Somawansa Amarasinghe, referred to the party's concern about the way the Kumaratunga Government was handling matters, and the issue came to a head this week when the two sides, i.e the JVP and the SLFP, at a meeting presided over by former Prime Minister Ratnasiri Wickramanayake. The latter ended up being elected President of the Alliance at this meeting. A corollary to these developments, no doubt, would be the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam. Contrary to predictions and even prophesizing by political pundits, the tsunamis have not brought about any rapprochement between the UPFA Government and the LTTE. To the contrary, the tsunami that hit the Sri Lankan coast with such devastating effect has left a similar blow to Government-LTTE relations and thus caused even more uncertainties to the peace process. During her meeting with the high powered team of Norwegian peace facilitators led by Foreign Minister Jan Petersen, President Kumaratunga on Friday explained, among other matters, issues relating to the peace process. She spoke of a constitutional package which could address some concerns of the LTTE too. But even before the Norwegian team set foot on Sri Lankan soil, the LTTE had re-iterated its position to a team of European Union envoys. During a meeting last Tuesday at the LTTE Peace Secretariat in Kilinochchi, Political Wing leader S.P. Thamilselvan told the envoys that the post-tsunami relief and rehabilitation efforts only bolstered the LTTE's case for an Interim Self Governing Authority (ISGA). If people had suffered all these years, their problems have been aggravated by the tsunamis. This made it imperative that the LTTE had a strong mechanism to re-develop the areas affected as well as to ameliorate the suffering of the people. It seemed the Norwegian peace facilitators were conscious of this reality even before they arrived in Sri Lanka. Contrary to speculation and guessing games in sections of the media, the Norwegian facilitators have no plans to focus on resuscitating the stalled peace process during their current mission. Besides offering assistance to the LTTE to help overcome the problems caused to people in "uncleared" areas by the tsunami, the task before Mr. Petersen and party was to evolve some common ground on the post tsunami approaches of both the Government and the LTTE. The idea is to ensure there is a close dialogue and interaction in the channelling of aid, equipment and expertise to Tiger guerrilla-controlled areas. Petersen and party approached the LTTE and Government on this issue. They even offered to become the common denominator on the issue so things could move forward for a few months. It is only thereafter that the Norwegians want to return to their main task of kick starting the peace talks. For the LTTE, it will not be an easy task to heed any Norwegian call. Firstly, It is incensed by the Government move in stopping UN Secretary General, Kofi Annan from visiting affected areas under its control. Thamilselvan declared this had caused irreparable damage. The LTTE is also angry over the deployment of troops to welfare centres and the declaration of a State of Emergency. During a meeting on Friday with LTTE chief peace negotiator Anton Balasingham, leader Velupillai Prabhakaran had not only briefed him on these issues. He had also insisted that the Norwegian facilitators should be told of these issues in the strongest terms to show Colombo's attitude towards the LTTE after a terrible humanitarian tragedy. The drama was played yesterday |
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