Political Column

Political Column

Closer to JM, further from JVP
By Our Political Editor

Political satire at a recent Gypsies show: President Kumaratunga lookalike with the main tsunami aid givers George H. Bush Senior and Bill Clinton while JVP Minister Anura Kumara Dissanayake lookalike adjusts the saree of the President lookalike and Prime Minister Mahinda Rajapakse lookalike watches. Pic by Ishara S. Kodikara

More than five months after the devastating tsunami, the Government and the Tiger rebels are on the verge of being united on a Joint Mechanism to share equitably foreign aid for recovery.
That unity is now almost certain as President Chandrika Bandaranaike Kumaratunga has made up her mind to say a firm “yes” to the Norwegian brokered document. But one problem still remains – her UPFA Government’s junior partner, the Janatha Vimukthi Peramuna remains opposed to it. They said so during a four hour long meeting with her on Friday night as reported elsewhere in this newspaper.

But pressure is mounting on President Kumaratunga to go ahead. For a woman who had guided the destinies of this island nation for more than a decade with great political savvy and disdain from her detractors, the challenges she would face are formidable.

It portends both glad tidings and evil omen for her as well as her now shaky 13 month old United Peoples’ Freedom Alliance (UPFA). If that is a certainty, what both would face in great measure, whether its abundance of good luck or ill gotten ignominy remains the critical question.

First to the glad tidings. The donor co-chairs, United States, Japan, the European Community and Norway, are set to meet again. This is soon after the official announcement that the two sides had agreed on the JM. In a move to encourage the two sides, the donor co-chairs are to enhance, at least by another billion dollars, their aid commitment. At their Tokyo summit they pledged US $ 4.5 billion but linked that commitment to progress in the peace talks.

Now, the increased commitment would signal an important message – that the donor co-chairs were encouraging the two sides to go beyond sharing tsunami aid. More important among them was to seriously back Norwegian efforts to re-start the peace talks. That such “kiss and make up” after protracted shuttle diplomacy by the Norwegians is salutary enough. More heartening is that fact that it comes amidst reports of the flow of billions of dollars in aid. That would shore up share markets and energize an ailing economy. Sri Lanka on the road to Shangri La, one would say. And what more could one ask?

But there is a darker side too. It portends evil in equal measure if not more. Even before they could voice their protests when details of the JM or as they call it officially a Post Tsunami Operational Management Structure are made public, the UPFA’s junior partner, the Janatha Vimukthi Peramuna (JVP), is on a head on collision course that may see their exit from the UPFA. In fact, the first step in this direction has already been taken.

The Politbureau of the JVP which met in emergency session on Thursday decided at midnight that its four Ministers should keep away from future Cabinet meetings. The boycott will continue for a month during which time the JVP expects the Government to withdraw its Cabinet paper on the re-structuring of the Ceylon Electricity Board and reverses its decision to accept it. A letter from JVP’s General Secretary Tilvin Silva containing this ultimatum will go to President Kumaratunga today.

If a favourable response is not forthcoming from her, the JVP’s Central Committee had been called upon to decide on the future course of action. The mood, quite clearly, was for the JVP to quit the UPFA – a move that would have seen the birth of a minority Government. But that was not to be.

President Kumaratunga who had four hours of talks with a JVP delegation on Friday night heard of their opposition to the joint mechanism. She had also learnt of the outcome of the Politbureau meeting. Late on Friday night, she rang Prime Minister, Mahinda Rajapakse and asked him to sort out matters.

The first task for Premier Rajapakse was to talk to trade unions in the CEB who had declared they would go on strike on Tuesday. This was to show their protest against the Cabinet decision last Wednesday to re-structure the CEB. His diplomacy won the day.

Premier Rajapakse assured the unions that the Government will not go ahead with last Wednesday’s decision to re-structure the CEB, that is to convert it into a state owned company with nine branches. Instead, the unions agreed that a re-structuring of the CEB would be done retaining its present character and not as a state owned company. Proposals in this regard are to be formulated within one month. A written assurance was given by three ministers –Susil Premajayantha (Power and Energy), Sarath Amunugama (Finance) and Nimal Siripala de Silva (Health and Nutrition).

Yet, Tilvin Silva will send his letter today. The JVP wants to receive the same assurance that was given to the trade unions in writing. In his letter Silva lists out six reasons why the JVP had decided on three matters – (1) to demand the invalidation of last week’s Cabinet decision to re-structure the CEB, (2) for their Ministers not to take part in Cabinet meetings and (3) to take a decision on their future role if their demands are not heeded within one month.

A Government Minister said last week’s Cabinet decision would be invalidated. This will be done by the Ministers not approving this part of the minutes when it comes up for confirmation next Wednesday.

The immediate cause for the JVP move is a decision by the Cabinet last Wednesday to approve a memorandum incorporating details of the CEB re-structuring. The decision came after the three JVP Ministers – Anura Dissanayake (Agriculture, Land and Irrigation), Vijitha Herath (Cultural Affairs and National Heritage), K.D. Lalkantha (Small and Rural Industries) and Chandrasena Wijesinghe (Fisheries and Acquatic Resources) – walked out in protest.

JVP leader Somawansa Amerasinghe told the Politbureau the Cabinet memorandum had been circulated to Ministers only at 7 pm last Wednesday. He said it was no different to the previous one though a few changes, seemingly to appease the JVP, had been incorporated. One was a provision in the proposed law to give effect to the re-structuring debarring the privatisation of the CEB without a two thirds majority in Parliament. Yet, Amerasinghe explained, the move violated policies of the UPFA where it had been agreed that all contentious issues would be discussed among the constituent partners.

He said the JVP was opposed to the move to convert the CEB into a company with nine branches. There were only a few other changes in the latest memorandum. When the first was presented to the Cabinet, the JVP opposition led to a postponement of a decision. It was agreed that the matter be further discussed. Thereafter, Treasury Secretary P.B. Jayasundera talked with the JVP. A date was fixed for subsequent discussions but that had not materialised, Amerasinghe told the Politbureau.

Last Wednesday evening it was Minister Anura Dissanayake who raised issue at the Cabinet. When the memorandum just circulated was taken up, he declared the JVP was opposed to it on principle. The document was no different to the one presented by the previous United National Front (UNF) Government, he pointed out.

His objections were to see a heated exchange between President Kumaratunga and Dissanayake. It was in Sinhala. She asked “Apiva Visawaasa nedda ? Api Horu da?” (Don’t you trust us? Are we rogues?) “That’s not the issue,” retorted Dissanayake. Vijitha Herarth turned to power and Energy Minister, Susil Premajayantha and asked whether he could take the responsibility and give an assurance there would be no ill effects. Premajayantha went on a long winded explanation that avoided the specific question. So much so, at one point Dissanayake pleaded not to embarrass Premajayantha.

That made Kumaratunga angrier. She told Premajayantha to say he would take the responsibility and provide an assurance. But nothing was forthcoming. It was close on 10.30 pm. Finance Minister, Sarath Amunugama and Media Minister, Mangala Samaraweera chipped into say there was nothing wrong or sinister in the Cabinet memorandum. Joining in was Rohitha Bogollagama. But Minister Dinesh Gunawardena made a plea that a decision be put off. Joining him in the plea was Prime Minister Mahinda Rajapakse.

But Kumaratunga insisted a decision should be made that night since the JVP was not poised to change their stance. Premajayantha declared a decision could be made even if the JVP chose not to be a party. The fact that they opposed it could be recorded in the minutes of the meeting, it was pointed out.

This saw a walk out of the Cabinet room by the four JVP ministers. There was a comical moment when they found the door through which they were to exit closed. It drew a witty quip from Kumaratunga. She noted that they had been locked in. She seemed cool even during a crisis.

That was to see a more interesting development. With the JVP Ministers not present, the Cabinet proceeded to discuss another controversial subject which they were opposed to – the Joint Mechanism.

It was Kumaratunga who started the ball rolling. She said though there was scare mongering, there was nothing wrong with the JM. The Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) had agreed to it and there was no controversy. Ministers Anura Yapa Abeywardena and D.E.W. Gunasekera followed, speaking in favour of it. However, Dinesh Gunawardena said he was opposed to the merger of the Northern and Eastern provinces. He said the JM also posed dangers to the Trincomalee port. The Government machinery was working in most areas. Hence, he felt there was no need for such a mechanism.

Also sounding a discordant note was Ferial Ashraff. She said her party would have to answer to their people. She said that the Muslims would be badly affected by the move since there was no place for them. Anura Bandaranaike joined in to say a decision on the matter should be acceptable to all. Kumaratunga was quick to remind them that she was doing the right thing.

Even before the Cabinet meeting last Wednesday, Kumaratunga had begun a series of hurried consultations. It began when she addressed the clergy and civil society at a meeting at the BMICH. She did not give details about the Joint Mechanism but said it was a harmless arrangement. Presidential advisor Mano Tittawwela read out a three page document listing out tsunami relief work that had been carried out.

Then followed backers of the peace process. Neela Marikkar, an advertising company boss and a key player of Sri Lanka First, said they were fully in favour of the JM. Following her was Jehan Perera, head of the foreign funded NGO, the National Peace Council. Secretary General of the Peace Secretariat, Jayantha Dhanapala gave an overview of the peace process.

But representatives of the clergy had a lot of questions to ask. They wanted to be convinced of the intricacies of the JM before they could recommend it to the public. It was decided that another discussion be held in Kandy on May 20. The venue was picked to enable the Maha Nayake Theras to participate. The idea is to seek the blessings of the Sangha for the JM.

If those blessing are not difficult to come by, there is one that will be somewhat problematic. That is the blessings of the country’s main opposition, the United National Party. Its loquacious one time dentist, Rajitha Senaratne, known for putting his foot in the mouth with his rhetoric, declared to a newspaper this week that his party supported the Joint Mechanism.

But it became clear within hours that his leader, Ranil Wickremasinghe, had not authorised Senaratne to speak on party policy. Wickremasinghe was articulating his own position – that the Joint Mechanism was part of the peace process. Hence, such a mechanism should have the blessings of all constituent partners of the Government. Now that the second major partner is on the way out and is opposed to the Joint Mechanism, the UNP sure has a point to settle scores with the UPFA.

With that in mind, insiders say, Wickremasinghe may not respond to a written request by Kumaratunga to meet her in the coming week to discuss the Joint Mechanism. The question therefore remains whether the country is in for good times or bad times, or both.

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