Political Column

Pulsating political dramas, an escalating economic crisis and the turmoil from terrorism form the major backdrops as Sri Lanka marks her 59th year of independence from foreign rule today.

Freedom from colonial rule for nearly half a century enabled Sri Lankans, the sons and daughters of the soil, to manage their affairs. Some would have been for the better and others for the worse. What we have now is an unprecedented crisis. So, nearly six decades after Independence, new battles for freedom or emancipation from a multitude of issues are threatening the Independence, the country's freedom-fighters won then.

Last Sunday, history was created in post-independent Sri Lanka's political firmament. President Mahinda Rajapaksa swore in a Cabinet of 51 Ministers. Two more were added later bringing the total to 53, a record high for the tiny Indian Ocean island republic of Sri Lanka. None of the known democratically elected countries in the world held such a large number, for such a small nation. Then there were 20 Deputy Ministers and 33 Non Cabinet Ministers. The numbers are to grow with more crossovers expected. In other words, there were more Chiefs than Injuns in a Legislature where one in every two or so Members of Parliament would be a 'Minister'.

It was not only the average person who was exasperated by the actions of a President who had repeatedly vowed to cut down Government expenditure. Their sentiments were encapsulated in just one word by an important personage in the Sri Lanka Freedom Party (SLFP), its General Secretary Maithripala Sirisena. He said he was "ashamed" to serve in such a large Cabinet. There were many of his ministerial and parliamentary colleagues who shared the same sentiments, some publicly, others privately. It was not only because they were unhappy, that contrary to all pledges, the numbers in the Cabinet has swelled. More importantly, they were infuriated it was done purely to reward a group of United National Party (UNP) dissidents, many of them having only 13 months ago, hurled personal abuse and insults at President Rajapaksa and chided his Chintanaya manifesto. Adding insult to that injury, they felt, was the failure of their leader to take into account their own contributions and loyalty.

Some of the displeasures manifested openly. Others suffering from heartburn were biding their time until what they called the opportune moment arrived. A few of the developments that followed last Sunday's swearing-in would give one an idea. In fact, the event that was of great significance to Sri Lankans was to be telecast live. It was later decided not to do so for fear that a disgruntled party member or members could stage a scene, or sport a face as long as the Galle Face, that can be heard and seen countrywide.

Visibly embarrassed by being sworn in as Minister of National Heritage was Anura Bandaranaike. His disappointment grew when he learnt that his portfolio was notwithstanding Mahinda Yapa Abeywardena being sworn in as Minister of Cultural Affairs. That meant even less number of subjects under his portfolio with only museums, archaeological sites and the Cultural Triangle. He wanted to return to Visumpaya, the former State guest house (Acland House where he lives) without waiting behind for the customary group photograph of the Cabinet with the President. Deputy Minister Mervyn Silva, the one time hatchet man for former President Chandrika Bandaranaike Kumaratunga and now playing the same role for President Rajapaksa, persuaded him to wait behind.

With that over, Bandaranaike returned to Visumpaya. He telephoned his sister Sunethra to complain that he had been treated shabbily. That was contrary to earlier assurances given by President Rajapaksa that he would not embarrass him and ensure he received a better portfolio than Co-operatives, as reported in the media. Bandaranaike told his eldest sister he had decided to tender his resignation. That news was to set off a panic reaction.

Sunethra was worried about the move. She promptly telephoned Minister Mangala Samaraweera, who had just returned home from Temple Trees after being sworn in as Minister of Ports and Aviation. If the loss of the Foreign Affairs portfolio was something Samaraweera had expected, (having declared he would not mind parting with it if the President wanted to take it away), he remained unhappy. It was only after he had arrived at Temple Trees for the ceremony that he realized his arch political rival in his Matara constituency, UNP parliamentarian Mahinda Wijesekera had also been invited.

Wijesekera had been made the Minister for Special Projects, at the eleventh hour. Wijesekera had been invited only very late Saturday night. President Rajapaksa was to reminisce that it was Wijesekera, a card-carrying Communist Party member then, who had made a lengthy speech from Rajapaksa's first political platform when he entered politics, and Parliament in 1970, and thus emerged as the youngest MP. The duo were also together at the Vidyodaya University - he as a Library Assistant and Wijesekera, a student-leader.

Sunethra Bandaranaike told Samaraweera that her brother Anura was not happy with the portfolio and had decided to tender his resignation. "Ask him not to be foolish," Samaraweera told Sunethra. Thereafter, he immediately telephoned the moping Minister of National Heritage to tell him he should not resign but work hard and prove that he is capable of doing whatever portfolio given to him. He had told him that -- in Britain - this was an important Ministry. On learning that he was at home, Bandaranaike asked Samaraweera if he could come over.

Anura Bandaranaike's successor as the Minister of Tourism was cross-over Milinda Moragoda, who had told Bandaranaike that he expected something to do with economic development, and that he knew nothing of tourism. He wanted to call on his predecessor to learn how to run the Tourism Ministry. Bandaranaike then turned to an SLFP cabinet-colleague, and said "I will tell him to come on an evening in a pair of shorts. I can then teach him a thing or two on tourism." He was a bitter man, but of course, having a joke at Moragoda's expense.

High-ups at the Presidential Secretariat offered a different explanation for Bandaranaike's removal as Tourism Minister. They say that he did not perform well and rarely attended to work at his Ministry. They said that Bandaranaike was clinging to his father's name, lived in a state bungalow with "five rooms, five cars, ten servants, fifteen security officers, etc., and didn't do an iota of work". He was also fighting with the ministry Secretary. Another allegation was the fact that he was often out of the country on foreign tours making him a "tourist abroad" rather than a Minister who had to ensure more tourist arrivals here.

Similarly, the same source said, the subject of Transport was taken away from Minister A.H.M. Fowzie to give him a strong message. That was to say that the leadership of the Government did not approve the incident in his Ministry where JVP trade unions were assaulted by the Police. "We still want to continue cordial relations with the JVP," the source said pointing out that key development Ministries were not given to UNP crossovers keeping in mind, JVP wishes. But the JVP appeared to be not impressed, and set on a collision course, nevertheless with the Rajapaksa Presidency.

When Anura Bandaranaike arrived last Sunday afternoon at the Stanmore Crescent official residence of Samaraweera, several others were there chatting away by the pool- side. Among them were Ceylon Workers Congress (CWC) leader Arumugam Thondaman, Minister of Water Supply and Drainage, A.L.M. Athaullah, Chairman of Airports and Aviation Authority, Tiran Alles.

Samaraweera spoke with Bandaranaike and said he should take on the National Heritage portfolio. He said he would ask his own friends to help Bandaranaike in restoring some archaeological sites. Later that evening, former President and sister Chandrika Bandaranaike Kumaratunga had also telephoned to console her brother. She too had asked him to work hard in the new portfolio.
Then, there was light hearted banter as the conversation drifted from one subject to another. Many were sipping drinks, among others, Bacardi rum, beer, whisky, wine or coca-cola as they pondered their future under the President. Though there was no serious discussion on the re-shuffle or other political issues, the word went around that Samaraweera had put together a meeting of parliamentarians to plan his next confrontation with President Rajapaksa.

When the news reached President Rajapaksa, he was not amused. It was around 11 p.m. on Tuesday night when he telephoned business tycoon Harry Jayawardena, a close friend of the Bandaranaike family. He was asleep and was woken up. He told Jayawardena to advise Anura not to visit Samaraweera's residence but to work hard in the new portfolio. He offered to look after Bandaranaike if there was anything that he needed. Soon after the telephone call was over, and the news conveyed, Bandaranaike telephoned Samaraweera to tell him about the telephone call. "I told Harry I cannot do that. Samaraweera is not a terrorist leader like Velupillai Prabhakaran. He is a Cabinet colleague and above all, a friend of the Bandaranaike family".

Among others disgruntled seems to be the Minister of Disaster Management and Human Rights, Mahinda Samarasinghe, an earlier UNP crossover. In the backdrop of the impending Cabinet reshuffle, Samarasinghe had jockeyed hard to become the Foreign Minister but the move failed. This is despite his claim that he enjoyed the fullest confidence of the Colombo-based diplomatic community. Those who canvassed on his behalf had even included some members of the Colombo-based diplomatic community. Later, on Monday US Ambassador Robert Blake singled him out for praise at the Development Forum in Galle. On Tuesday, the President had telephoned Samarasinghe to wish him on his 51st birthday. During the conversation, Samarasinghe is learnt to have expressed his disappointment over not being considered for a better portfolio. This was despite all the hard work he had put in.

An angry Rajapaksa, who had heard that there were rumblings and grumblings about his reshuffle, was to reply that he had done his best. He had said he had no choice, and that the Kalutara district parliamentarian was free to do what he wanted - in other words, pack up and probably go back to the UNP proper. But the same night, as if to convey he did not mean what he said, Rajapaksa and wife Shiranthi turned up at Samarasinghe's Narahenpita residence where a birthday bash was under way. The President was to tell him that he was doing a good job in the portfolio he currently held. Samarasinghe was to later tell colleagues that the President visited him to explain why he could not be accommodated with another portfolio. Rajapaksa proved he was quite apt at Disaster Management and Human Rights, himself.

Mangala Samaraweera and his successor in the Foreign Affairs portfolio, Rohitha Bogollagama, had a brief 'exchange of words' at the swearing-in ceremonies on Sunday at Temple Trees. Samaraweera, who had not expected an early Cabinet reshuffle, had planned to travel in the coming week to Germany. There, bi-lateral discussions were to take place with his German counterpart. Thereafter, he was to arrive in Paris for a meeting where he was to make a presentation to counter allegations that Sri Lankan troops were helping in recruitment of child-soldiers. This meeting had been arranged by the French Foreign Ministry. In fact, the Government had sought time over the controversy-ridden UN Security Council discussion on this subject until February 9 in the light of the meeting in France. That presentation of the Sri Lankan position there, it was felt, would pave the way for the UN to meet and create a better understanding of the Government's position.

Soon after Bogollagama took over, Foreign Secretary Palitha Kohana had, however, advised against Sri Lanka taking part in the French meeting. He had felt that no purpose would be served with a Ministerial presence. Hence, Sri Lanka's Permanent Representative at the UN, Prasad Kariyawasam had been told not to leave New York for Paris. Only Sri Lanka's Ambassador to France, Chitranganee Wagiswara, was to take part in the meeting. Hence, Bogollagama had decided that besides visiting New Delhi, his first priority, he would travel for the bi-lateral meet in Germany and return to Colombo - skipping Paris. This Thursday, President Rajapaksa swore-in Jathika Hela Urumaya (JHU) member Champaka Ranawaka as Minister of Environment. He will replace Ven. Omalpe Sobitha as a National List MP in Parliament.

The move is said to have ruffled feathers within the JHU with reports that Ven. Ellawala Medananda Thera ascertaining from Parliament officials whether it was possible for him to sit in the Opposition benches. He had been told that the matter would have to be determined by the Speaker.

The Janatha Vimukthi Peramuna (JVP) politburo also met on Thursday to discuss the prevailing political situation. JVP leader Somawansa Amerasinghe told the meeting that the JVP, though serving as an opposition party in the future, should not engage in any activity that would be beneficial to the UNP. The remarks came as members said parliamentarians loyal to UNP leader, Ranil Wickremesinghe, were telephoning JVP counterparts to ask whether they could work jointly. Amerasinghe said the Government was now made up of more federalists, and the party should be prepared to deal with their actions. "We should not allow the UNP to ride piggy back on us," he declared.

K.D. Lalkantha said the Government had heeded their trade union demands and thus averted a general strike. If by any chance such demands are not heeded within three months, he said, the strike action would be carried out. The party's conventions are to be held in March. Thereafter a general convention of all party branches is to be held in Colombo.

In the economic sphere drawbacks continue. This week, heads of missions of the European Union (EU) member countries in Colombo kept away from the Sri Lanka Development Forum held in Galle on Monday and Tuesday. They sent in only their deputies or number threes in what was clearly seen as a protest against the Government's deteriorating human rights record and increasing complaints of abductions. Though a commitment of US $ 4.5 billion was made, (and this is not "new pledges" insist the donors), it is tied down to the resumption of the peace process, much the same way the Donor Co-chairs did during their meeting in Tokyo for nearly the same amount. Though Government Ministers and officials made claims that the commitment was outright with no strings attached, highly placed diplomatic sources said yesterday it was not so.

US Ambassador Robert O, Blake who took part was to make clear "No amount of development assistance by the United States or any other donor can have any lasting impact, however, without finding a permanent solution to the conflict that has plagued Sri Lanka for more than 25 years. We remain unwavering in our conviction that there can be no military solution to this terrible conflict. Mr. President, we applaud your efforts to forge a strong legislative majority that will support a credible power-sharing proposal that can form the basis for sustained, substantive negotiations between the Government and the LTTE."

But a more biting remark came from World Bank's Vice President for the South Asia Region, Praful Patel. He noted that a development vision cannot exist independent of the ongoing ethnic conflict. He said "it constrains the country's development and stands in the way of its tremendous potential…."

The remarks ran counter to the policy declaration made by President Mahinda Rajapaksa in his address to the nation on December 6, last year.

The President had declared, "I am not ready to carry on the lament that the North East crisis will weaken our development activities. Similarly, I am not ready to make excuses before you that this crisis is an obstacle in our pursuit of national development. The anti terrorist struggle and the development of the country should be a parallel process…."

Here lies the contradiction. President Rajapaksa has declared again that the war on terror would continue. His brother, Defence Secretary Gotabhaya Rajapaksa has made it clear that LTTE assets, be it in the North, East or South would be destroyed. In the backdrop of this, within just 14 months into power, President Rajapaksa has, besides the military battlefront with the LTTE, opened up several other political battlefronts. Main among them:

With friends who helped him becoming foes, and foes who loathed him becoming good friends, President Rajapaksa faces a formidable task in the weeks and months ahead. Only then will it become clear whether he has engaged in clever political bravado or political suicide.