Year on the Web
Year on the Web
Left: Ashraff,furious.
Right: Fowzie, under fireThe political scenario that prevailed in the run-up to the local elections apparently pushed the government to take several steps in favour of minorities.
Firstly it appointed EPDP leader Douglas Devananda as the Chairman of the Jaffna District co-ordinating committee to restore civil administration. Similar co-ordinating committees have also been set up in other districts which come under the writ of the security forces.
Mr. Devananda had been agitating for the setting up of an interim council to take over the civil administration of the North-East. However, the Kumaratunga government was not keen on the interim council and instead appointed him to head the Jaffna DCC, obviously to make sure of EPDP support at the mini polls.
The government also needs the co-operation of the EPDP in its bid to hold local elections in the North-East.
The reluctance of the government to invite international monitors or observers for the local elections, also has some connection with the proposed North-East polls. Government leaders would have felt that if they allowed foreign monitors for Friday's elections, they would have had to allow the same in the North-East too.
That might be rather awkward in view of the complex and uncertain situation in the North-East where rumours of manipulation are fired from all sides.
With the government scoring a convincing victory in Friday's polls it is likely to push ahead fast with its political package with which it hopes to solve the ethnic crisis.
As another step towards wooing minority votes, the government in a dramatic move signed an agreement with the Ceylon Workers Congress, meeting many of its demands, including housing for estate workers.
Under the agreement, estate workers living in line-rooms will form into co-operatives which will own the houses, now owned by the estate management. This will create estate worker villages which provide the labour for the estates as and when needed.
This arrangement was first mooted by the Premadasa administration but it was shelved by his successor D.B. Wijetunga.
It is felt that Mr. Wijetunga's move antagonised the estate Tamil community who went against the UNP in the 1994 elections.
The attitude of the CWC is that it would stand firmly behind any party in office to get the best deal for the estate workers. The CWC feels it should make maximum use of its political clout.
A CWC spokesman told this column the party would back the UNP if it could form a government tomorrow but at present it was firmly with the People's Alliance which would be in office for the next three years or so.
His contention is that as a community, under-privileged economically and in the education sphere, the CWC could not afford to be in the opposition. In 1994, the UNP and the CWC signed a deal to facilitate allowing the CWC to be politically independent though it contested under the UNP.
The deal allows the CWC to change sides if it felt it was in the party's interest.
The CWC in 1948 learnt a bitter lesson when it did not join D.S. Senanayake government which introduced the Citizenship Act, disenfranchising the estate Tamil community.
Many Tamil workers, however, feel they have been cheated not only by successive governments but also by the CWC leadership, a trend that was evident in the election results from estate areas where UNP won many a council without the help of CWC.
Though the PA has now agreed to hand over the line-rooms to estate worker co-operatives, no worker will become the outright owner of any of these houses. As a result, protest is growing against both the government and the CWC, triggering an anti-government swing in the Nuwara Eliya district and other plantation areas.
Countrywide, the main slogan against the UNP in Friday's polls was based on the dark era of 1987-1989 when the JVP insurgency was suppressed by the UNP regime.
The UNP's counter argument was that the JVP killed more than 6,000 of its supporters in villages and it was compelled to get tough in suppressing the uprising.
Of course, there were the excesses when state-sponsored terror groups unleashed violence and fear psychosis across the country, when masked gunmen rode roughshod on trail bikes. Bodies were strewn all over the place making the whole country look like a killing field.
In 1994, most people felt a change of administration was necessary for the country but that appears to have not made much of a difference. The PA's human rights record, though it has improved, in the South is not much better than the UNP's in the North-East where people are still disappearing and dying.
The cycle of violence in the current polls campaign hit an all time high with the number reaching more than 2,000 on Friday, compared to less than 100 in the 1983 local polls and less than 400 in the 1991 local polls.
Though the PA had a trump card after the Nalanda Ellawala assassination things turned the other way when PA supporters became violent in the aftermath of the killing.
While apparently over-confident PA supporters went on the rampage, the UNP which started on a low key made headway through a calculated strategy.
Party leader Ranil Wickremesinghe's declaration at the final rally at Maradana that he would make a senior Muslim councillor the Deputy Mayor for Colombo possibly would have swung a lot of Muslim votes to the UNP and by Friday noon it appeared that the party would retain its city bastion. The UNP's final rally seemed to have attracted a bigger crowd than the PA's final rally at Campbell Park where President Kumaratunga personally tore UNP's Mayoral candidate Karu Jayasuriya apart.
But UNPers say the President's personal tirade against Mr. Jayasuriya has placed him in the national spotlight and possibly even as an alternative leader of the UNP.
To add to this, Colombo's PA Mayoral candidate K. Ganeshalingam reportedly telephoned a friend on Thursday complaining that Minister Fowzie and others had let him down.
With the PA-backed independent group losing Colombo much of the blame might go to Health Minister A.H.M. Fowzie who headed the campaign.
When Minister S.B. Dissanayake suggested to President Kumaratunga that he was willing to take Colombo under his charge, Mr. Fowzie opposed the move by saying Colombo was his seat.
But many feel Mr. Fowzie faltered in his campaign due to lack of proper strategy. He had not even summoned a meeting of all PA-backed candidates to brief them on a common strategy. As a result there were pulls in different directions causing confusion in many quarters. The other weak point of the PA campaign was the failure to field the candidate under the well-known chair symbol. Instead they had the clock and many felt it was not marketed properly. Others have also criticised the poster portraying Minister Fowzie and his son which said, "Man of service to the nation - A.H.M. Fowzie ushers in his son Nauzer Fowzie to serve the people of Colombo."
This created many problems for Mr. Fowzie, specially when his son ran into problems with his own party men.
However PA's defeat in the city has put the Fowzies in an awkward position. It has created similar problems for the Mohameds after Hussain Mohamed defected to the PA. If the Fowzies and the Mohameds have been weakened in Colombo, will the SLMC be able to fill the void in the city which has a large Muslim vote bank?
The SLMC's sole candidate T.K. Azoor was expected to do well in Colombo as compared to other Muslim candidates in the PA-backed list. But SLMC leader M.H.M. Ashraff faced a dilemma when SLMC's U.L.M. Mohideen openly canvassed for Minister Fowzie's son Nauzer asking voters to put all three preferences for him.
Mr. Mohideen had reportedly told a PA meeting in Maligawatte that Minister Fowzie was their leader and said, "We have a duty to maintain his reputation and that of his family. We have a duty to ensure the continuity of his services to the Colombo Municipal Council by electing his son."
"Give all your votes to Fowzie's son - give all three preferences to him."
This was conveyed to Minister Ashraff at a meeting at Malwana at the opening of a school hall. Minister Ashraff was delayed by nearly three hours. Mr. Mohideen was also present at Malwana waiting for the leader.
At the school meeting SLMC MP M.M. Zuhair asked Mr. Mohideen why he was canvassing all votes for Fowzie's son. The reply was not clear but he indicated all were campaigning for the PA.
At a reception at Lafir Hadjiar's house Mr. Mohideen sat in front of Minister Ashraff. When the Minister saw Mr. Mohideen who is related to him, he lost his cool. Mr. Ashraff began to fire questions at Mr. Mohideen asking whether he had addressed a meeting of Mr. Nauzer and whether he was canvassing all three votes for Nauzer rather than SLMC's T.K. Azoor.
While posing these questions Minister Ashraff was eating a slice of papaw as a starter to the dinner. "There is nothing wrong in going for the meeting. After all, we all are PA," Mr. Mohideen replied.
Minister Ashraff fired back, "How dare you say that? How dare you ask people to vote for anyone other than our man?" "You may not take it seriously but for me it is very serious. I would even sacrifice my son for the party."
At this stage Mr. Mohideen tried to tell Minister Ashraff that he did not canvass all three preferences for Fowzie's son but Minister Ashraff shouted, "No, you have said that. You must know your damn limits".
"I won't hesitate to sack you from the party. I know how to deal with you. The only course available now is to repair the damage you have done to the SLMC within 24 hours."
With this Mr. Ashraff left the reception, since he had to arrive at the Colombo Central meeting organised by an ex-UNP activist in support of SLMC-PA candidate Azoor.
Minister Ashraff felt Mr. Mohideen's conduct had brought the SLMC to public ridicule and decided to act on special powers vested in him in the SLMC Constitution. The following morning Mr. Ashraff while attending a meeting in Galle took the decision to suspend Mr. Mohideen from the party.
While the letter suspending Mr. Mohideen was being typed Minister Ashraff also sent a statement to the state media announcing the suspension. Long before the letter of suspension reached Mr. Mohideen the country knew about the decision.
The SLMC had decided to field only one candidate for Colombo after long deliberations by the politburo. Mr. Mohideen was a member of the politburo and that was why his move to support Mr. Fowzie's son touched a raw nerve in the SLMC.
Further it was Mr. Ashraff who had campaigned strongly for the right of any voter, to cast all three preferences for one candidate in the face of earlier PA moves to amend the law so that these preferences would have to be given to three candidates.
Having won this right to cast all three preferences to one candidate, Minister Ashraff was furious when one of his own men had sought to secure all three votes for a non-SLMC candidate.
As attention was focused on elections, President Kumaratunga in a controversial move suspended laws governing environment, nuisance and urban development, to allow a privately-owned power generated plant to function in Etulkotte despite public protest.
The President by a gazette notification under the Public Security Ordinance Chapter 40 suspended these laws, on the basis that new power supplies were essential in the face of an impending crisis.
The gazette notification states:
"1. This regulation may be cited as the Emergency (Generating of Electrical Power and Energy) Regulation 1 of 1997.
2. During the continuance in force of this regulation the provisions of law specified in the Schedule hereto and any regulations made thereunder, shall be of no force or effect, in so far as they relate to the generation of power and energy.
SCHEDULE
1. The Urban Development Authority Law, No. 41 of 1978.
2. The National Environmental Act, No. 47 of 1980.
3. The Nuisances Ordinance (Chapter 230).
4. Chapter IX of the Criminal Procedure Code Act, No. 15 of 1979."
The President's move came after the BOI (Board Of Investment) refused to issue an Environmental Protection Licence (EPL) to Koolair Ventures Power (Pvt.) Ltd., to operate a diesel power generation plant to supplement supplies by the Ceylon Electricity Board.
The BOI letter dated March 7 states thus:
ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION LICENCE
"We refer to your Environmental Protection Licence (EPL) application dated 13. 01. 1997 forwarded to the BOI.
"As per the agreement reached with the Central Environmental Authority in issuing Environmental Protection Licences for BOI projects located outside the BOI Export Processing Zones, your application was referred to the CEA to obtain their concurrence. The CEA by their letter dated 24. 2. 97 has informed the BOI that
"(1) The noise level emitted by the operation of the Diesel Power Plant is exceeding the allowable limits at the boundaries of the premises concerned. The noise levels measured by the officers of the CEA are given in the annexed letter of CEA dated 24. 2. 97.
"(2) Noise control measures have not yet been incorporated.
"In view of the above, CEA has instructed the BOI to suspend the issuing of an EPL in respect of the Diesel Power Plant at Etulkotte until adequate mitigatory measures are taken to control excessive noise within the specified limits.
"Therefore, the issuing of the EPL can be considered only after adequate mitigatory measures are taken by you to reduce the noise to the specified limits."
The letter sent by CEA directing the BOI to suspend the issuing of the EPL until certain conditions are fulfilled by the Koolair ventures is as follows:
In response to public complaints received by the Central Environmental Authority pertaining to excessive noises generated from the above diesel power plant at Etulkotte a noise level measurement has been carried out by officers of this Authority on 19th February, 1997.
Day Night a) Measured noise levels dB (A) 76 77 (at the residential boundary of the Power Plant b) Maximum permissible 63 50 levels for "medium noise areas
"Your kind attention is invited to the decisions taken at the meeting held at the Central Environmental Authority on 07th January, 1997 to discuss environmental issues concerning proposed short term power generation plants. It was agreed at the above meeting that the noise level standards and air emissions standard stipulated by the CEA would have to be met by the developer at the operational stage by incorporation of suitable mitigatory measures.
"It was revealed during the site inspection and the noise level measurements carried out that:
"(a) No Environmental Protection Licence has been obtained prior to commencement of commercial operations.
"(b) The noise level emitted by the operation of the Diesel Power Plant is exceeding the allowable limits at the boundaries of the premises concerned.
"(c) Noise control measures have not yet been incorporated.
"Under these circumstances this Authority wish to inform you that issuing of Environmental Protection Licence to M/s Koolair Ventures Power (Pvt) Ltd., for the operation of the Diesel Power Plant at Etulkotte should be suspended until such time as adequate mitigatory measures are taken to control excessive noise within the specified limits."
The President's order has not only nullified the orders given by the BOI and the CEA but it has also over-ridden a judicial order by the Colombo Magistrate Court to take measures to mitigate the excessive noise emanating from this generator to decibel 62 during day time and decibel 50 during the night under the supervision of the Central Environmental Authority.
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