Left
Anura: spectacular role in the opposition
right Burleigh:
optimistic of the political solution
In
the past week, we have seen and heard much about Anura Bandaranaike. On a fair
assumption, taking into consideration opposition and reservations from various
quarters, one could say the event was a success.
At least it has re-introduced Anura Bandaranaike into the minds of the people. Anura, no doubt is a national figure but political personalities need a little push, however good the wine may be. It is difficult to understand why he chose the 20th year for celebrations and not the 25th. Did Anura think his popularity was waning or did he just want to change gear and go up the hill with greater determination. Anura still is a bridge between the government and the opposition. He does have friends and supporters in both circles, though to what extent they would follow him is questionable.
Anura had only two MPs, John Amaratunga and Mr. Hapangama with him to receive Benazir Bhutto at the BIA. Some of his close associates were not there. It is clear that no MP would take a blind leap. Therefore one cannot expect any major political developments. If there was a move for impeachment it has failed since the alleged author, Sirisena Cooray, is now grounded.
Many tributes were paid to Anura Bandaranaike at the BMICH and an eminent lawyer Faisz Musthapha, a non-political figure brought to the surface some thought provoking facts.
He said: "The events immediately following the general elections of 1977 introduced a sense of bitterness into politics, the magnitude of which had not been seen before, culminating unfortunately, in the deprival of Sirimavo Bandaranaike's civic rights and as a result her seat in Parliament. Thus it fell to the lot of Anura Bandaranaike to sustain the democratic opposition in Parliament.
Thus in 1983, Anura Bandaranaike was elected at the age of 34 as the youngest Leader of the Opposition in Sri Lanka and in the Commonwealth. As a matter of fact in any practising democracy in the world. He led an eight member opposition against the government and took on some of the most eloquent debaters in the government at that time. Anura Bandaranaike's role as Leader of the Opposition, taking on a powerful government headed by no less an astute leader in the calibre of President J. R. Jayewardene, should be assessed and recorded in its proper context. I think, in all fairness, history owes this to Anura Bandaranaike.
His leadership in Parliament certainly brought about a revival of confidence in the Sri Lanka Freedom Party and in the country. This is amply demonstrated by the fact that in the 1989 Parliamentary Elections, the SLFP, though it failed to get a majority, returned to Parliament with 65 members, the largest parliamentary opposition since independence upto 1989.
I should like to look at, from a very analytical aspect, what the political fortunes of the SLFP would have been if not for Anura Bandaranaike's role from 1977 upto 1992. He galvanised the 65 members in Parliament into action and by the time he quit the SLFP he had already set in motion the waves and currents against the UNP, and it is ironic that he himself was not able to close the floodgates which he had unlocked.
The history of democracy in Sri Lanka and its course has been a chequered one. There has been occasions when it hung on a flimsy thread and various leaders have on various occasions rescued it to ensure its continuity. In this long line of leaders, Anura Bandaranaike takes a prominent place. His role in the Opposition from 1977 upto 1993 has been spectacular, colourful and meaningful. He stood up as a champion of democracy with fierce convictions and in a deep responsible voice he thundered in Parliament whenever he felt or observed that democracy was either going off its rails or was about to be derailed".
Many people think Faisz Musthapha is correct to a great extent, though some may wish to disagree with him. But looking factually at what Faisz Musthapha had to say, an unbiased student of politics would rate Anura's contribution in the last two decades as something significant and worthy of narration. But what stunned may UNPers in the audience at the BMICH was former Press Secretary to President D. B. Wijetunga, Harold Peiris' role in accompanying Mrs. Bhutto to the stage.
Benazir Bhutto certainly added colour to the celebrations. Though fallen from office she is still attractive politically and physically. People like to listen to her and no doubt she is a gifted speaker with a high degree of fluency and lucidity. Whether one agrees with her or not, being an astute politician she made full use of the platform in Sri Lanka to pour out some of the emotions that have been building up in her since her defeat at the elections. She struck an important note in her interviews, especially about the unity of families. One does not know what this means, with her husband charged with her brother's murder. Is she regretting the complete collapse of ties within the family? Anyway there is a lot for one to ponder about what her future relationship would be with her near and dear ones, inclusive of her husband.
A number of lunches and dinners were given in Anura Bandaranaike's honour. The Prime Minister had a lunch in his honour and this was attended by Minister G. L. Peiris. He also had a private dinner at School Lane, Nugegoda attended by some of Sri Lanka's top business magnates who are his personal friends. After the main dinner at the Oberoi Hotel, there were no speeches, but as coffee went round, there was a lot of talking round the tables - it did not lack the character and spice of after-dinner speeches. People were relaxed and conversation was flowing - politics, economics, ethics - everything figured. Mrs. Bhutto went round talking to the guests, a gracious gesture on her part, and when she got talking to some of the big ones the question of the war figured and she gave Sri Lanka some valuable advice as to how to win the war. She advised Sri Lanka to use telephone tapping techniques in a skillful manner, as she was able to do in tracing and locating some of the terrorist organisations in Karachi. She said Prabhakaran's telephone must be tapped. An awe-struck Minister Ashraff was courteous enough not to tell Benazir that the telephone lines in the North had gone to sleep long ago. Dr. Neelan Thiruchelvam said the real problem was that the forests and the terrorists very often retreated into them. Simple she said - all that Sri Lanka should do is to cut down all the forests.
Benazir has come and gone and left behind no bitterness. She carries back home a lot of personal affection and admiration from the people of Sri Lanka and her presence did help to raise the level of Anura's function. Sometimes it is true that fallen political personalities are a bigger centre of attraction than while in power. Perhaps that applies aptly to Benazir.
Another significant event during the week was the farewell dinner hosted by Foreign Minister Lakshman Kadirgamar for outgoing US Ambassador Peter Burleigh.
He is scheduled to take up a top post as the United States Deputy Permanent Representative in the United Nations.
The dinner was held at Taj Samudra Roof Top with many VIPs participating, including the Indian and the Pakistani envoys and top government officials such as Defence Secretary Chandrananda de Silva and Treasury Secretary B. C. Perera.
Among the politicians present were Minister G. L. Peiris, Colombo Mayor Karu Jayasuriya, Dr. Neelan Thiruchelvam from the TULF and Tyronne Fernando representing the UNP.
Mr. Burleigh, during the farewell dinner, recalled how he came to work in the American Mission in Sri Lanka in the mid-sixties as a junior officer.
He said Sri Lanka was a romantic island at that time, where anybody could move freely.
Mr. Burleigh gave a brief outline about the atmosphere that prevailed then and his visits to Jaffna.
But Mr. Burleigh said after 35 years when he came as the Ambassador, he felt the bitterness that had engulfed this country.
He said today it is impossible to go to Jaffna and the war has changed the country to a great extent with barricades all over the place.
However, he saw some positive aspects too, since the country had been developed over the years.
Mr. Burleigh said, that, to bring the old charm back to Sri Lanka with this positive aspect, the proposed political solution could help immensely.
The government now thinks that Mr. Burleigh as United States Deputy Permanent Representative at the UN would give a push to the government's effort to implement a just and an acceptable solution to the ethnic strife.
In the meantime, the government which is making a relentless effort to push the package before the end of this year, kept on meeting various political parties in a bid to convince them to accept the political package.
Minister G. L. Peiris who is assigned with the task sometimes faces stiff resistance from the minority political parties.
However, it seems he has got round EPDP leader Douglas Devananda to accept the South-Eastern Councils for the Muslims.
It appears that Mr. Devananda would arrive at a compromise with the government's suggestion since the TELO (Tamil Eelam Liberation Organisation) which opposed the creation of a separate Muslim Council for South East, had now left the five party alliance which included minority political parties operating in the North and East.
Dr. Peiris had discussions with Minister Thondaman too to see how effectively the package would be implemented in the plantation areas and the benefits reaped by the plantation workers in return.
All these discussions were fruitful, since finally Minister Thondaman decided to send a team of party officials for further discussions with the government.
But, can the government push it through Parliament or will the UNP come round and support the package?
It appears that the UNP hierarchy is in an awkward position after having allowed the anti-package lobby in the party to build up.
Even if UNP leader Ranil Wickremesinghe wants to support the package, the environment within the party is not conducive for such a move.
The main question posed by the pro-package group within the party is as to where they stand as far as this political solution is concerned.
In this backdrop, the government is planning a general election since it is of the view that UNP's support is not forthcoming.
The plan may be to form a 1972 style constituent assembly to break away from the present system of government.
Political analysts however argue that though it was valid as far as the 1947 constitution is concerned the same method cannot be applied in the present political scenario.
They argue that the 1972 constitution was designed and a constituent assembly was formed in order to break away from colonial links in the absence of a proper method to repeal or amend the 1947 constitution, but the 1978 constitution clearly sets out as to how it could be repealed or amended.
In the circumstances it is arguable whether the PA government could adopt the same method to get rid of the 1978 constitution. Anyhow it would be a matter for the Supreme Court to decide even if the PA gets a mandate at a general election to change the constitution.
In 1972 when Premier Sirima Bandaranaike announced her plans to have a new Republican Constitution she had extensive discussions with the then leader of the Opposition J.R. Jayewardene to obtain all party support.
The idea behind this was that the whole Parliament including the Opposition should agree on this primarily, to sit as a constituent assembly.
There were two methods of doing this.
(i) Either to make a request to the British Parliament to pass a resolution enabling Sri Lanka to draft its own Constitution.
(ii) To set up a constituent assembly with all political parties represented in Parliament.
The then United Front Government chose the second option with the UNP agreeing.
The UNP at this stage said that it would be the last constituent assembly the UNP would agree to, because every government elected to office could change the Constitution using this method.
If the present government chooses this system once again to change the Constitution it would create problems since it could cause the fundamental flaw of losing citizens rights enjoyed under the 1978 Constitution.Should all these rights be surrendered to a future constituent assembly would then be the pertinent question.
In view of this it is likely that the UNP would not participate in the deliberations of a constituent assembly if the government plans to have one after a General Election.
This means the government would find it difficult to push the package through their alternative method too if they fail to get a 2/3 majority with the assistance of the UNP.
In another development, Media Minister Mangala Samaraweera had effected many changes in the government-controlled Lake House, creating confusion there.
The Minister had on three consecutive Tuesdays visited Lake House to meet the Editorial heads to give them specific instructions as to how they should run the paper.
The meetings were reportedly held at the lower board room of Lake House where on so many occasions the Minister had pointed out to the Editors that the Lake House papers lack proper layout designs to attract the readers.
But the Lake House Employees Union had pointed out that more than the layout-design it is the political stance taken by the Lake House hierarchy that keeps the readers away from the one time popular Lake House newspapers.
Though this may be the reason, no government so far had taken much interest to release the group of newspapers from the clutches of government control.
In the latest re-shuffle, the Lake House hierarchy transferred Dinamina Editor and a staunch SLFPer, Sarath Cooray to the Foreign news desk while they chose senior journalist Deltota Chandrapala to head the Dinamina. One time Daily News Editor and consultant at Lake House, Manik de Silva was asked to resign. They also made several other changes sidelining the SLFPers who were known as Dharmasiri Senanayake's people.
Silumina Associate Editor Daya Lankapura was asked to take charge of the Lak Janatha. When he refused, the present Editor of the Lak Janatha was allowed to continue but officially Daya Lankapura stands as the Editor of the Lak Janatha.
These are some of the changes effected to Lake House adding more confusion to a set-up which is already in some confusion.
In another development, the government is trying to divert the investigations in the Sirisena Cooray arrest case towards the Premadasa assassination in a bid to justify the arrest and incarceration of Mr. Cooray several weeks ago.
The government, it appears, is determined to keep Mr. Cooray in custody for some more time even if the Court holds that the arrest of Mr. Cooray is illegal on the strength of the fundamental rights petitions filed several weeks ago.
The government's plans to divert the investigations towards the Premadasa assassination case clearly shows this.
It has also been revealed that the government is to question several senior Police and CID officials in connection with the Premadasa assassination case.
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