Politics on Sunday

By Sonali Samarasinghe

As the region’s most unprofitable Talk Show drew to a close last week only painful memories of traffic jams, chaotic security and transport arrangements — such as India’s Security Advisor M.K.Narayanan walking to his hotel, Nepal’s Prime Minister Koirala falling over on the bumpy red carpet, and his Indian counterpart Manmohan Singh having to leave without his personal Sri Lankan security officer, remained.

Also painfully memorable was that the government, for this Sisyphean adventure, had dealt a punch to the public’s economic solar plexus in the form of a massive tab of over five billion rupees.

But just as much as the SAARC Summit itself in terms of content was largely forgettable and mostly a fool’s errand, and as the dust settled on the lack of coordination at the Foreign Ministry to put together an event, it is such local issues as Treasury Secretary P.B. Jayasundera’s future in the Finance Ministry, a political solution to the ethnic conflict and the up coming provincial council elections that are still very much in focus.

Jayasundera despite being sheltered under the protective wing of President Rajapakse may not be able to avoid a beating. Only last Tuesday Abdeen Associates, Attorneys at Law, were to send out a letter of notice to the Central Bank.

Dated August 5, and addressed to its Governor Ajith Nivard Cabraal and copied to members of the Monetary Board, Tilak Soyza, M. Ramanathan, Nimal Welgama — owner of Island newspapers and Punchi Banda Jayasundera, the letter of notice sent on behalf of their client, Vasudeva Nanayakkara stated;

Last month a Supreme Court order rocked the business world as it held that the controversial Lanka Marine Services Ltd. (LMSL) privatisation and sale of shares to John Keells Holdings was illegal, in excess of lawful authority and biased in favour of the corporate giant.

The judgment followed a fundamental rights petition in the public interest filed by Presidential Advisor Vasudeva Nanayakkara in June 2007.

The 69 page judgment was particularly damning in its last sentence which read, "all parties to the proceedings will take necessary action on the basis of the findings stated above." This is a telling sentence given that of the 31 respondents some were more crucial than others as far as Punchi Banda Jayasundera  was concerned.

The Bribery Commissioner, the BOI Chairman Dammika Perera, Director General Securities Exchange Commission, the Criminal Investigations Department, COPE Chairman, the Attorney General and Secretary to the President, Lalith Weeratunga are named as respondents. It is now being argued that the mandatory wording of the last sentence places a legal burden on the named respondents to take appropriate action on the findings of the judgment.

It is also argued that a failure on the part of these respondents to take action may even tantamount to contempt of court but the point is debatable. Bribery Commissioner Justice Ameer Ismail has already said the commission has obtained a copy of the judgment and would be studying the judgment carefully.

Lawyers are also looking at the possibility of filing charges under the Public Property Act for the loss caused to the state and to public property, the Bribery Act and the Penal Code.

And even if for President Rajapakse, the Treasury Secretary P.B.Jayasundera is deemed indispensable to his cause at the Finance Ministry, Chief Justice Sarath Silva made it clear he would take a dim view of countenancing Jayasundera even after such a damning judgment against him – one which even saw him pay compensation to the state in the sum of Rs. 500,000.

Just days after the judgment, the Chief Justice while opening a court complex in Moneragala not only stressed the importance of rooting out corruption but also warned the judiciary will not condone complacency towards their judgments. Neither he said would the judiciary be cowed down by the Finance Ministry or its officers.

It is President Rajapakse who will now have to bear the brunt of any future action on the matter even as the judgment in the Insurance Corporation privatisation case due soon is expected to be as damning.

It is after all Rajapakse who has declined to accept Jayasundera’s resignation and play for time by adopting the Ranil Wickremesinghe approach — appointing a committee to study all the privatisation deals and submit a report.

And while the Punchi Banda Jayasundera case refuses to stay in the back burner President Rajapakse has to also focus on the August 23 elections. It is likely that following this month’s polls he will dissolve the other five provincial councils and hold elections in those councils as well before the year’s end.

Only two week’s ago on Wednesday, July 30, President Rajapakse raked in almost 100 million rupees in one night by asking selected government ministers mostly drawn from the UNP defectors to bring in five businessmen each to a biriyani dinner feed at Temple Trees in return for each bearing a gift of a million rupees.

The money ostensibly collected for political purposes and to purchase a printing press for whatever reason, was however not properly receipted as no signature appeared on the receipts. The receipts given to the businessmen bore the legend "Sri Lanka Freedom Party — cash receipt" but as it was not signed it was not really worth the paper it was scribbled on.

A telling fact is that it was none other than SLFP Treasurer, US Green Card holder and Transport Minister Dulles Alahapperuma together with President’s Coordinating Secretary and controversial gopher Sajin Vass Gunewardena who devised and implemented the plan.

And while Rajapakse having spent billions on SAARC was now forcing money out of his ministers the opposition UNP was finding it hard to raise funds as the fear factor which drove these businessmen to Temple Trees was now also instrumental in keeping them out of Opposition Leader Ranil Wickremesinghe’s office. Another factor being of course that Wickremesinghe was seen to be ineffective and not likely to oust the government any time soon.

Be that as it may the underlying issue that would inform the country’s future is of course the on going battle in the north and the government’s drive into Kilinochchi. If there was one thing that became clear during the SAARC Summit it was the fact that the need for a political solution had again forged itself into the front seat of Rajapakse’s political scene.

This is reflected in a series of meetings Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh had with a cross section of political parties in Sri Lanka where the focus was the All Party Representative Committee (APRC) and its proposals.

And even as the APRC is due to meet tomorrow to thrash out a solution, its Chairman Tissa Vitharana told parliament last week that 90% consensus has been reached on proposals regarding sustainable peace in Sri Lanka.

This is a crucial development given that when the Indian Premier met President Rajapakse at a one on one meeting last Friday, August 1, he made his position clear on the 13th Amendment. Manmohan Singh called on the government to fully and comprehensively implement the 13th Amendment until the APRC finalises its proposals. Singh also called for a ‘13th Amendment plus plus’ formula as a final solution to resolve the ethnic conflict.

President Mahinda Rajapakse had assured the Indian Prime Minister his government would comprehensively implement the 13th Amendment and proceeded to include the assurance in the joint statement issued after the one to one meeting between the two heads of state.

These sentiments were also expressed by Singh when he met Opposition Leader Ranil Wickremesinghe where he discussed Indian cooperation and the ethnic issue. Singh had expressed concern over the trajectory of the government peace process and the impact the war was having on the civilian population in the north and east.

This theme was reflected in his meetings with other political parties including the Tamil National Alliance (TNA), Ceylon Workers Congress (CWC), Up Country Peoples Front (UPF), Tamil Democratic National Alliance (TDNA) the Sri Lanka Muslim Congress (SLMC), the SLMC break away party the All Ceylon Muslim Congress (ACMC) and the EPDP.

Each party was given a 15 minute audience with the Premier and having all arrived at the same time were housed in different rooms of the Taj Samudra Hotel till the appointed time.

Significantly Manmohan Singh declined to hold meetings with both the extremist JHU and the para military group the TMVP and its Leader and Chief Minister of the Eastern Provincial Council, Pillayan. This is even as the Indian Premier was to hold discussions with ACMC’s M.L.A.M.Hisbullah as the health minister for the Eastern Provincial Council.

Manmohan’s meeting with the CWC leadership was no different. Even as a member of the government CWC Leader Thondaman had welcomed India’s position that there is no military solution to the conflict but only a political solution and called on Prime Minister Singh to pressurise the Rajapakse government to accept the final proposals of the All Party Representative Committee (APRC) and implement them.

Prime Minister Singh had informed Minister Thondaman India believed there should be a 13th Amendment plus plus solution and that the implementation of the 13th Amendment should only be an interim measure until the APRC finalises its proposals.

Prime Minister Singh had also said India hopes the APRC would work out a set of proposals that are 13th Amendment plus plus, while many other minority political parties including the TNA, TDNA and the EPDP also called for India’s support to push for a 13th Amendment plus plus formula.

Meanwhile TULF and its Leader V. Anandasangaree hailed by the Sinhala extremists as the only true Tamil leader due to his aversion of the LTTE was to tell Prime Minister Singh during his meeting with the coalition TDNA that the Tamils have had no breathing space for 30 years. Thousands are suffering, he said and are displaced due to the actions of both the LTTE and the government. He urged India to use its good offices to find a solution to the issue based on the Indian model at the earliest opportunity.

Manmohan Singh had used the opportunity to ask the TDNA what they thought of the STF to which Anandasangaree had replied that they are not happy with the STF and especially with its new chief as he has no credibility.

Likewise, R. Sampanthan, group leader of the TNA was to also stress on the plight of the civilians and the lack of commitment by the government to find a political solution, when they met the Indian PM. The TNA also drew attention to the fact that while India was considered Sri Lanka’s natural ally it was to Pakistan that the Rajapakse government had turned when it came to matters of defence and the sensitive issue of defence equipment.

Even as Sri Lanka was found to be the worst human rights violator in the South East Asian region according to an assessment of human rights records in 2008 by the Asian Centre for Human Rights and even as the plight of Tamil civilians was being pushed on the Indian plate by all parties, SLMC Leader Rauf Hakeem was to bring to the notice of Manmohan Singh that the rights of Muslims have to be recognised as well. He pointed out that the Eastern Provincial Council had been rigged with armed groups holding sway in the area.

Despite their political differences, SLMC breakaway bunch the ACMC comprising former SLMC members M.L.A.M Hisbullah, Najeeb Majeed, Amir Ali and Rishard Bathiudeen was to make almost the same point.

Most significant was that the Indian Premier refused to meet Pillayan as he was a member of a para military outfit but welcomed a meeting with the Eastern Provincial Council health minister and former contender for the chief ministerial post Hisbullah. So cordial to the provincial minister was the Indian PM he had greeted Hisbullah with a cheery ‘Hallo Health Minister’ even before he was introduced to the Premier by Indian High Commissioner Alok Prasad.

It was Amir Ali who had pointed out to the Indian PM that the Muslims had sacrificed their rights in the Eastern Province for the sake of peace by allowing Pillayan to be appointed Chief Minister. Therefore he said, the Muslims must be especially looked after in a final settlement to the conflict.

Singh had then inquired as to whether all the powers under the 13th Amendment had been devolved to which the members had explained that they have not yet been devolved fully but it was slowly being done. The Premier was to also inquire about development activities stating India was prepared to help in the development of the area while reminding them the 13th Amendment was created with India’s help.

With the peace element coming to the forefront it was left to extremist elements such as the pro government JHU, Wimal Weerawansa’s JVP breakaway group the National Freedom Front (NFF) and the Patriotic National Movement (PNM) to launch a full scale attack on India. Accusing India of trying to militarily weaken the government the likes of Weerawansa and the JHU hierarchy eschewed the 13th Amendment as a sell out.

It was their aim to focus on such moderate ministers including those favouring a political solution such as Dilan Perera and Rajitha Senaratne. Interestingly enough even among the ministers who brought in the one million rupee businessmen to Rajapakse on July 30 such UNP defectors like Milinda Moragoda, Karu Jayasuriya and Rajitha Senaratne were notable absentees.

Those present with their businessmen in tow included G.L. Peiris, Mahinda Wijesekera, Nimal Siripala De Silva, Maithripala Sirisena, Bandula Gunawardena, Neomal Perera, Faizer Mustapha, Keheliya Rambukwella, John Seneviratne, Felix Perera and Susil Premajayanth.

And it is perhaps in the matter of the ethnic conflict and the bloody war more than anything else that the fissures in government have emerged.

Housing Construction Minister Rajitha Senaratne last Tuesday slammed the Patriotic National Movement (PNM) for criticising the government’s decision to fully implement the 13th Amendment to the Constitution stating the organisation was seeking to help the LTTE.

Earlier last Monday the PNM and its President Gunadasa Amarasekera had accused Government Ministers Rajitha Senaratne and Dilan Perera of undermining the security forces and the war effort by calling for the implementation of the 13th Amendment to the Constitution.

Senaratne said the 13th Amendment was already a part of the constitution and every citizen was duty bound to uphold the constitution.

"What the PNM is asking us is to go against the constitution. That is what the LTTE is also doing. By such statements they are trying to help the LTTE’s cause," Minister Senaratne had said.

He also said when they as MPs took their oaths in parliament they pledged to uphold the constitution and added the 13th Amendment was part of the constitution.

In a moment of levity he also said that since Wimal Weerawansa is also in the PNM he had listened very closely when he took his oaths and he too pledged to uphold the constitution. He did not say he would uphold the constitution minus the 13th Amendment, Senaratne charged.

He dismissed the words of Gunadasa Amarasekera as those of a retired man made to justify their existence and aimed at justifying the LTTE’s cause.

Meanwhile a serious government crisis is brewing with such extreme elements as Environment Minister and JHU strongman Champika Ranawaka, presidential sibling and Defence Secretary Gotabaya Rajapakse and their ilk pressuring the government not to grant any concessions or devolve power to the Tamil people until the LTTE is militarily defeated.

However an equally powerful group within the government this time led by another of President Rajapakse’s siblings, Basil Rajapakse despite the shared genes has mooted a more moderate approach. This group has the backing of most of the UNP dissidents and has taken a less hard line stance intent on winning the hearts and minds of the Tamil people. Such a course would help defeat the LTTE and weaken them militarily.

This group had taken the view President Rajapakse is like the George Bush of Sri Lanka and that Champika Ranawaka is acting like the Dick Cheney to his administration.

Several diplomats had also voiced this very opinion at several functions during the SAARC Summit. Bush they said took seven years to realise his mistakes and it is at the tale end of his term that he now seeks to make redress with little progress. Mahinda Rajapakse is only three years into his leadership and is still to learn from pandering to the extremist agenda, they have pointed out.

And sensing that Basil Rajapakse is the voice of moderation in the inner circle of President Rajapakse, it is to him the diplomatic community has turned to push for a political settlement while the JHU sensing this development is pushing the Defence Secretary to make a foray into the political arena as a foil against the younger Rajapakse.

Nonetheless Basil’s moderate group powerful though they are has a formidable nemesis in the extremist group headed by Gotabaya and Ranawaka. This is because the drowning government has only the straw of war to clutch on to. It has only the war that it can positively market for its survival. The military push has become the excuse for every economic and social failure. It has become the obscene excuse for human rights violations and a validation in some demented way for white vans and abductions.