Political Column

Political Column

SLFP reins for roaring Rajapaksa
By Our Political Editor
President Mahinda Rajapaksa prefaced this week's Cabinet meeting with a twenty-minute speech. He told Ministers that in trying to win the "gamey aanduwa" (village government) one should not sacrifice "ratey aanduwa" (country's government). Therefore, he said, they should ensure candidates of the United People's Freedom Alliance (UPFA) and their supporters do not engage in violent activity, particularly with the Janatha Vimukthi Peramuna (JVP) or the Jathika Hela Urumaya (JHU).

He said he had told the Police Chief to direct all his officers to act impartially. He made reference to the incident in Anuradhapura where a JVP supporter had been badly assaulted. "We want to fight a clean election, win it and come out clean," he declared.

President Rajapaksa was right. His UPFA not only came out clean but also made a clean sweep at last Thursday's local polls. He was, however, not there in Sri Lanka to savour victory. The news reached him only hours after he arrived in Islamabad to start a three-day official visit. He was overjoyed. He shared his delight with Foreign Minister Mangala Samaraweera with whom he was then having a brief chat.

Many expected the United National Party (UNP), which is in total disarray after the Presidential election of last November, not to do too well. So much so, there were political analysts, like ourselves, who felt that the only salvation for them would be the fact that the pro-government vote of the UPFA and the JVP would get split, and favour them. And this seems to be what happened.

If one were to analyse the councils that the UNP did win, and there were very few of them anyway, the joint UPFA-JVP vote was more than the UNP vote, and had the JVP agreed to contesting in a pact with the UPFA, these councils too would have fallen to the government.

In some councils, the UNP was reduced to pathetic third place - like at the Anuradhapura Municipal Council, Tissamaharama, Suriyawewa Pradeshiya Sabhas etc., and in several districts, they were unable to win a single council - Anuradhapura, Polonnaruwa (NCP), Puttalam (NWP), Ratnapura, Kegalle (Sabaragamuwa), Galle, Hambantota (SP) - while in some like Matara, Matale, Moneragala and Kurunegala they were able to win just one of the councils in the entire district.

But the biggest blow unmistakably was reserved for the JVP at these elections. Out of the 266 councils - they managed to win a solitary council - Tissamaharama - the one they regained since winning it for the first time in 2002.

They fared very poorly in the eastern province where they made an effort to win the majority Sinhala vote. In the Ampara UC they received 1,200 votes, and in the Trincomalee UC and the Seruwila PS they received less than a thousand votes.

The JHU also came a cropper, and probably the worst indictment as far as they are concerned is that in the holy-city of Anuradhapura, where there are a plethora of Buddhist monasteries, they received just 135 votes.
That the good news as far as the government was concerned reached Rajapaksa just ahead of the Sri Lanka Freedom Party's annual convention on April 7 was more than a bonus. He saw it as a greater endorsement by supporters of the UPFA that he should be the President of the SLFP.

Though former President Chandrika Kumaratunga, returned to Colombo after a sojourn in the UK some weeks back, and walked into SLFP headquarters, picked a few candidates, then packed her bags and flew to UK again, it was Rajapaksa who carried out the campaign for his party and his alliance. More so after initial worries that the JVP was making gains. As SLFP General Secretary Maithripala Sirisena declared, the vote for UPFA at the local polls was also an open endorsement of Rajapaksa's leadership. What he meant, but didn't say was that it was a terrible indictment on the absentee-leadership of Kumaratunga.

Soon after the annual convention where Rajapaksa hopes to be elected President of the SLFP, insiders say, there are several priorities for him to consider. The first is to appoint party organisers at the district and electorate level. In doing so, he would naturally give consideration to those who could help deliver the objectives of Mahinda Chinthanaya. Thereafter, the most important task would be to decide whether he would go for a parliamentary general election. That is through an alliance with the Sri Lanka Muslim Congress and the Ceylon Workers’ Congress. As for the JVP, he would have to await their response.

Though Rajapaksa has not made a firm decision whether or not to go for a snap parliamentary poll, there are many in his inner coterie of advisers who are in favour of such an option. This group is said to include Dulles Allahapperuma and the President's brother Basil, who also has plans to contest a seat in the south in a future parliamentary poll. That is to fill the vacuum created by brother Mahinda's absence in parliamentary politics.

Reeling under the heavy blow it received, the JVP is yet to make up its mind on the next course of action. Yesterday, its politburo met and the subject of discussion was Thursday's debacle. JVP leaders argue their voter base had increased and they have had a near 15 per cent share of the votes polled. They also say they have a hundred more local councillors now than before.

One member pointed out that having asked people to vote for the Betel leaf just four months before, asking them to vote for the Bell (the JVP symbol) caused a great deal of confusion. Others argued that the JVP should have accepted the Government's original offer of 28 local bodies to the JVP on the basis of one each for the parliamentary constituency they represented. If this happened, they pointed out, the party would have at least had a decent number of local bodies (28) under its control, not just the one at Tissamaharama. Surprising enough there appeared to be regrets all round at yesterday's meeting over the non acceptance of the SLFP offer to contest as a coalition with the UPFA, and thereby control these 28 local bodies.

In the United National Party, obviously the question is how to arrest the decline of the Grand Old Party. There is no one pattern to show what's wrong, and where. The conclusion is that where they lost, the local organisers were to blame, and the general wind blows in these elections in favour of the party in power.

In many councils, the party lost by wafer-thin margins; but then, that has been the trademark of UNP defeats in recent times. They warm up; then run around the field; and finally play hard; but always lose - by a small margin. The end result shows they have lost the game.

Victory seems to be smiling in the face of President Rajapaksa in rapid succession. Early in the week he won his fundamental rights case before the Supreme Court. Chief Justice Sarath N. Silva (with Justices Shirani Thilakawardena and N.E. Dissanayake agreeing) held that his fundamental rights have been violated.

Hard on the heels of that came the remarkable UPFA victory at Thursday's local government polls. No doubt the win is again an endorsement of Rajapaksa's leadership and confidence in his government by the electorate. That will pave the way for him to become the President of the Sri Lanka Freedom Party. All this means a vast majority of Rajapaksa's countrymen look to him now for good governance.

This no doubt brings to issue a critical question at this juncture. That is the fulfilment of the pledges Rajapaksa made when he took his oaths and later in his first address to Parliament to fight bribery and corruption.
This week one of his decisions to probe allegations of bribery and corruption against the country's top most security official, Chief of Defence Staff Admiral Daya Sandagiri became a reality after a long pause. Supreme Court Judge Justice N.G. Ameratunga has been named as one-man commission. He has been called upon to complete his findings in three months. Like some Navy officials, there are a few government parliamentarians who are of the view that Admiral Sandagiri should step down from his post until the commission's sittings are concluded. This is on the basis that some may be reluctant to testify before the commission for fear of reprisals. On the other hand, if his name is cleared, they point out that he could revert to his post.

Some ministers have also come in for strong criticism over their conduct. One is Sports and Youth Affairs Minister Jeevan Kumaratunga. He met President Rajapaksa recently to state his own case over the ongoing CID investigation into how his ministry was used for a human smuggling racket. Some of the victims have implicated Mr. Kumaratunga in statements they have made to the CID. Government sources say Rajapaksa has made it known informally that the best choice left for Jeevan Kumaratunga, the actor turned politician, was to step down until the investigations are over. They say he could revert to his post if his name is cleared.

Another is the criticism levelled against Minister Rohita Bogollagama over his lavish spending of public funds during trips abroad. Here again, it is known that Mr. Bogollagama and his wife Deepthi met President Rajapaksa soon after news reports about his conduct appeared in the media. If any action either in the form of a reprimand or otherwise has been taken, it is still not known. Nor has Minister Bogollagama thought it fit to make an explanation to the public.

A more disturbing case is the ongoing CID investigations into the VAT refund scandal. It prompted a Colombo-based western diplomat to say "when it comes to crooked deal, there is multi ethnic co-operation. One can only hope this would some day extend to the peace process."
He was alluding to CID's arrest of members of Sinhala, Tamil and Muslim communties over this multi-billion-rupee scandal. Commenting on the matter during a meeting to commemorate the extension work to the Matara-Kataragama railway line, President Rajapaksa referred to this scandal and pointed out how so many railway lines could be laid if such money was not spirited away.

Now that the people of Sri Lanka have overwhelmingly endorsed President Rajapaksa, he should have the courage and determination to deal strongly with corruption. He should prove to the country that his government was not only dealing with the sprats who pocketed a thousand rupees, but the high and mighty who robbed in millions. He owes it to the nation.

If one were to go back to 1977 and when the SLFP and all those parties now in the victorious bandwagon were swept away by the tsunami-like waves of the UNP victory of that year, the UNP can only hope that these waves will recede, and their day will surely come. Until then, it will be one long grind in the loneliness of the Opposition. But if they remain with the people - both in the rural areas and the towns, at least they will have company.

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