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letter and Presidential words The unease was caused by the previous day's newspaper headlines. News reports quoted President Chandrika Bandaranaike Kumaratunga as saying that the JVP should leave the United People's Freedom Alliance Government if it did not wish to remain. The warning to the Alliance's junior partner was given when she spoke at a ceremony after the opening of a rural bank in Attanagalla. When he opened the letter, Mr. Silva found it was on the same subject though the letter was not asking the JVP to leave the Government. It was a signed letter by President Kumaratunga to the JVP General Secretary. In that she told Mr. Silva she was enclosing a "denial" her Secretariat had put out on media reports, which attributed to her remarks that she had asked the JVP to leave. She said she was sending this correction since she made no pointed reference in her speech to the JVP at all. She went on to explain that when such reports appeared, it was she who promptly took measures to issue denials. That was in the best interests of the Sandhanaya, she explained. Usually the JVP's politburo would have gone into emergency session to discuss the reported Presidential ultimatum. But such a need did not arise. The top-rungers were at an informal meeting and the subject came up for discussion. It was Mr. Silva who initiated a dialogue. He asked "if she had made no references to the JVP, why send this letter to us at all." There was laughter all round. One senior member said he had watched a TV programme. They had correctly projected the situation, he pointed out. The TV channel had first run a video of the speech made by President Kumaratunga. Thereafter, they had aired the denial sent by the Presidential Secretariat. There was a technical point in President Kumaratunga's favour. She did not name the JVP in her speech. But that technical point did not matter much. She did say that "....a party within our government is threatening to quit even if we make a mistake in a word. They can quit if they wish to. When a solution is near they find fault in a word and insist that if it is not deleted they will quit." "If this is not a reference to the JVP, then what is it," asked the senior. There was more laughter. But the JVP leadership was nevertheless angry. They raised issue with their close friends in the Sri Lanka Freedom Party. First to the official transcript of the speech made by President Kumaratunga. This is what the English translation says. "Some don't speak the truth fearing loss of votes but we have come to serve the country by telling the truth even if we were to lose at elections. I am here just for that. I have always spoken the truth. Those who stole most are the politicians who were in co-op societies. "Many were trying to make business out of this and that includes some from Attanagalla too. The new board of directors has recently done a good job there but I had nothing to do with it. The importance of the coop movement can only be felt after a flood or a tsunami or some such calamity. "A few are attempting to infiltrate into politics and state institutions and upset the smooth work of the country. A country cannot be improved by such means. Today the transport board incurs a loss of Rs. 430 million a month. The total work force in the Transport Board is 44,000 whereas 15,000 workers are sufficient. But we can also pay all 44,000 workers their salaries if there was no corruption. There is pilfering ranging from spare parts to bolts and nuts. The drivers and conductors and almost everyone else steal. Most of the MPs in charge also stole. "The UNP obtained loans from the People's Bank and the Bank of Ceylon to the tune of 20,000 millions for purchase of buses. If we did not take over the government, these banks would have been closed. They have paid two and a half times over and above and we are still paying back the debts. "We cannot run a country like this. The transport board can run on a profit basis. If they could make a profit, we can find jobs for more people, improve more roads with that money. Making roads and providing electricity and water improves the quality of life of our people. This means the country develops automatically. "Some MPs who have come to do business tell me not to do certain things. The people of Attanagalla always tell me that I am too good and don't punish offenders. Now there is a change and we are attacking the rogues left and right after the tsunami. "We dismissed two principals for stealing and inquiries on ten more are pending after which they too will be sent home. We are talking of moulding children and here the principals are taking bribes. One principal has four houses worth about Rs. 60-70 million. His salary is only Rs. 11,000. It was Rs. 8,000 before we increased salaries. He cannot build houses with that salary and neither has he obtained a bank loan. We have about 50 national school principals and not all of them are rogues but many are. "We have to rid this nuisance from its roots and as a result, I have become a target -- more than Prabhakaran. Our people, they are trying to kill me. I am now a little more serious and am determined to clean up before I go home. "At Anuradhapura we have one of the best phosphate deposits of the world. Just because a Bhikkhu with a few men demonstrated in public no government dared to touch it. I said I am prepared to jail all of them and start work on it. We look for gems -- like the chicken which looks for food in the dust and scratch only the surface. If we go for them by mining we will get enough for 1,000 years. We have come to know that there is lot of gems here. I suggested that we join the private sector and go mining for gems and presto three MPs came to me and appealed not to go ahead with it. Why? Because they cannot scratch the mere surface which is what they are doing now. These 'minister-businessmen' were behind me for 10 days. "When we were about to start the gas exploration projects around Hambantota, the tsunami hit the area. With all these resources what we are doing is just hang on to a neighbour's boundary and go for litigation spending ten times the value of the land encroached without winning the case. In the north that man called Prabhakaran has divided a piece of our land and is trying to build up another state. When I attempt to solve this, a party that is within our government is threatening to quit even if we make a mistake in a word. They can quit if they wish to. When a solution is near they find fault in a word and insist that if it is not deleted they will quit. "When Mr. Wickremesinghe was prime minister he went to India and said he could not improve this country unless he was president. I don't say that because I am not a dictator. To respect democracy is what my parents had taught me. So everyone needs to respect democracy and there is the rule of law -- like if you commit a crime, you are sent to jail. In a democracy you are sent to gallows if you kill and I will use maximum legal methods even if the offender was my brother or mother. "As I got down at airport I heard that someone had done a wrong thing. I went home had a bath and took the phone and spoke to IGP who was then at Anuradhapura. He confirmed it and said that they had information about three days prior to that. He said that they were waiting for my permission. I scolded him and said that even if it was mother the person should be arrested. I told him to arrest the suspect immediately. By that time the suspect had gone missing and a search was not successful. "I said that as I have already said not to worry about who the offender is as it does not concern me. I have said the same thing to my children too that even in case of a minor fault, first thing must be that the offender be handed over to police. They don't commit the least of faults even now and when they come to Sri Lanka they go in queue like others and dare not jump the queue, that is what my parents too taught me and I tell my children to be the same. "I don't care who the offender is, I will punish and I don't want anyone to come and plead for them. My grouse with the police is on points like their soft peddling in hooch raids or not going all out for murderers. We must be determined to do the correct thing. There are many people from here holding responsibilities. The voters of Attanagalla have never voted in rogues. But in other places we need to replace rogues with good men in politics. I will end with my trip to Pakistan. It was a corrupt country till an ex army officer became the head of state. Today it is a fine country with inflation being brought down to 16 from 64 percent. But in Sri Lanka we are shouting with an inflation of just 8 percent. "I brought about a change that the SLFP and the ULF are like one family and no nominations would be given to close relatives. I want to stress that we are all members of a single family." Now to the rebuttal sent by the Presidential Secretariat. It states: "Certain sections of the media have today chosen to interpret President Chandrika Bandaranaike Kumaratunga's address at Nittambuwa on Sunday 13th January, wrongly and with malicious intent. President Kumaratunga in a lengthy speech, spoke about several matters, including the necessity for all Sri Lankans to realize the massive potential, human and material, that we possess in Sri Lanka and to make proper use of it for the betterment of all our peoples. "The President in her address emphasised the need for unity among all putting aside man-made distinctions such a religion, ethnicity, caste, if we are to progress, in a tangible manner. She said, there is a person up in the North called Mr. Prabhakaran who is trying to take for himself a piece of land. "She said when the Government makes an attempt to arrive at a resolution of this issue, there are some in the South who squabble about words or the spelling of a word and they threaten to leave the government if they cannot have their way. These petty, selfish attitudes are harmful to the country's progress. "She also stated that she remains the President not to gain any personal advantages, but only as long as she could serve the nation effectively. If there are some who think they cannot be part of this process they can leave or do whatever they think right. The President stated that this would mean that we go on forever arguing over little things, while the country waits for its leaders to see reason and move forward on the path of prosperity and development, to build a better Sri Lanka. President Kumaratunga did not in any way specify any political party or person in this context." There, no doubt, remain differences between the original transcript of the speech obtained from a tape recording in Sinhala and the Presidential Secretariat version. Though President Kumaratunga did not pointedly refer to the JVP, she does say that a party that is within the Government is threatening to quit. She can quit if they wish to. It is no secret that the party within the Government which has been threatening to quit on many an occasion has been the JVP. Moreover, President Kumaratunga has in her speech taken swipes more on her own home team than on others. Besides observing that a man called Prabhakaran has divided a piece of our land and is trying to build up another state, she has charged that "our people, they are trying to kill me." Who are these "our people?" Would it be wrong to say she is referring to someone or some group within the UPFA? Then came the bombshell on the JVP which is strongly opposed to any joint mechanism being worked out with the Tiger guerrillas in respect of relief and rehabilitation of the North-East. The JVP's position was reiterated last week by its Propaganda Secretary Wimal Weerawansa during a meeting with Japan's Special Envoy for the Peace Process, Yasushi Akashi. Also taking part in the meeting was Small and Rural Industries Minister K. D. Lalkantha. Mr. Weerawansa made clear the JVP believes that a joint mechanism was not necessary to ensure rehabilitation of tsunami-affected areas in guerrilla-controlled areas. He said a Government acceptance of such a mechanism would only grant legitimacy to the LTTE. He said the JVP on principle was not opposed to the conduct of the peace talks. As for the joint mechanism itself, as our Defence Correspondent points out in the opposite page several knotty issues still remain unresolved. If the Government and the LTTE clear that hurdle the next one no doubt would be a bigger one - obtaining the consensus of the JVP. |
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