12th December 1999

With yuppies and puppies he wants to run the country!

Of course Ranil Wickremesinghe is a walking contradiction. He proudly claims he makes no promises and then in the very next sentence promises to abolish the GST, grant an Interim Council and catapult his 'nangila mallila' into a hi-tech utopia. Come, come, Viruddha Paakshikaya when a person is such a paradox do you seriously expect people to vote for him? It is said from UNP platforms that Ranil Wickremesinghe is eminently suitable to be President because he has been an MP and a minister and even Prime Minister. But that is just why the people will not vote for him, my friend: they know him, especially in the 17 years that he was Education Minister, Industries Minister, Youth Affairs Minister and Prime Minister and they know what he did and what he did not do! Did he acquire all these positions by dint of sheer hard work or was it because the UNP was after all the UNP- the Uncle Nephew Party?

No, it so happened that his uncle J. R. Jayewardene ensured that Ranil Wickremesinghe was groomed for leadership, which is why in 1977, he took a twenty-something novice and made him the Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs. That might be a pardonable offence- considering some of the other acts of J. R. Jayewardene- but since then, what has Mr. Wickremesinghe done? He has become Leader of the UNP, not by struggling to the top like JRJ or R. Premadasa but by default under rather fortuitous circumstances: only because assassinations wiped out a generation of UNP leaders- R. Premadasa, Lalith Athulathmudali, Gamini Dissanayake and Ranjan Wijeratne.

The twelfth man in the team suddenly found himself becoming the captain and what a mess he made of it: he feared his own inadequacy, so he began side-lining anyone and everyone whom he thought was even remotely a threat to him- the Senanayakes (Rukman), the Bandaranaikes (Anura), the Premadasas (Hema and Sajith), the Athulathmudalis (Srimani) and the Dissanayakes (Srima and Navin).

Then, if ever there was a time when he displayed his political ignorance, it was when he dreadfully mismanaged the revolt from the elders within his party- the Coorays, Mendises, Moonesinghes and Mathews.

Now, bereft of the valuable advice he would have received from the Old Guard of the party, Mr. Wickremesinghe is isolated with the likes of Gamini Atukorale telling him what should be done. Moreover, he must be a worried man because he knows that under his leadership the UNP is about to suffer its most ignominious setback in its history because when Chandrika Kumaratunga wins the upcoming poll, there will be a massive exodus of UNPers to the PA. Then, the only question that would have to be resolved is who represents the real UNP!

It is in the backdrop of such a scenario that Mr. Wickremesinghe is today campaigning with a group of yuppies (or more appropriately not-so-young urban professionals- Nyuppies?), whispering in his ear each day that he will win by as much as 57 per cent of the vote! These yuppies are mere puppies in the dogfight of Sri Lankan politics and haven't even set their bare feet on Sri Lankan soil. They talk of computers and gold chains for Ranil Wickremesinghe's 'nangila mallila'. Some of these people cannot even run their own companies successfully- but they want to run the country! But then, that wouldn't be a handicap because Ranil Wickremesinghe couldn't organise his electorate properly but he too wants to run the country!

It is the real world out there where people consider your personality, promises and past performances before casting their vote- and when these factors are taken into account they will never vote for Mr. Wickremesinghe. On the other hand your favourite theme these days is that the PA didn't keep its promises. I, for one, will concede that there is some truth in that statement. The PA has indeed had a troubled five years. But pause for a moment, Viruddha Paakshikaya, will you and consider why the PA couldn't keep all those promises?

First, the PA inherited a civil war, started and propagated for them by the UNP- of which Mr. Wickremesinghe was a key member. It also inherited an ill-trained and ill-equipped military. But you have the audacity to accuse us of messing up the war and you also accuse us of trying to alienate the minorities. Tell me, Viruddha Paakshikaya, didn't the military suffer setbacks under the UNP? What of all those massacres at Anuradhapura and the bombs in Colombo? And since you also accuse us of talking to the LTTE, didn't both J. R. Jayewardene and R. Premadasa talk to the LTTE? The former cost Rajiv Gandhi's life and the latter cost Premadasa his own life. So, can you ever claim that you handled this ethnic crisis competently before lifting your fingers to blame us?

As for the LTTE, in the aftermath of the massive sixty-two per cent mandate in 1994, President Kumaratunga, as a gesture of goodwill decided to talk to them and that decision was endorsed by the majority of all communities. But we now know that those brutes know nothing but war and the power that flows from the barrel of a gun. It is the only way they can stay in business, sacrificing a Tamil generation, so that their collectors in Switzerland and Canada can go about in Mercedes-Benz's when they probably didn't even have a bicycle here.

The UNP must surely know that you cannot talk to people who refuse to listen to reason. We all know what happened to 600 policemen in Batticaloa and how the LTTE shot at the aircraft carrying peacemaker minister A. C. S. Hameed when it reneged on negotiations. It is sad then that the UNP has to rely on the LTTE- offering them an Interim Council with significant LTTE representation- to deliver them to high office and we are sure, Viruddha Paakshikaya, the majority community- or even the minorities, for that matter- will not endorse that policy.

You must realize that the IOU that the LTTE will encash thereafter- from the UNP, from Ranil Wickremesinghe and the country at large- will surely be an immense burden on the nation.

Then, Viruddha Paakshikaya, there is the 1978 J. R. Jayewardene Constitution and the proportional representation system that has been designed to keep the UNP and the UNP alone in power. If not for this wretched PR system we would have won all but a few seats in 1994 and had a two-thirds majority in the House, so we could have abolished the Executive Presidency. But J. R. Jayewardene who has left his mark on local political history for all the wrong reasons ensured that we couldn't do that. And don't forget that the UNP never supported our political package that incorporated the abolition of the Executive Presidency- and then, you blame us for not doing it! Why, even now Ranil Wickremesinghe vaguely says he will retain the Presidency with "some changes"- but of course, you blame us for not abolishing it and organize protests against it!

Now, Viruddha Paakshikaya that's typical of the UNP of Mr. Vague, Ranil Wickremesinghe! Believe me, my friend, the people are not fooled by such postures- and they will respond in style on December 21. I agree, Chandrika Kumaratunga will not receive a 62 per cent mandate but, take my word, Viruddha Paakshikaya, she will win comfortably on the first count.

From the Green Corner

Editorial/ Opinion Contents