Opposition Shifts Focus To Parliamentary Poll

• Election result set to stand as UNP negotiates to keep its identity
• JVP scurries around to maintain survival via any alliance
• List of campaign donors exposes double game of the wealthy
• Karu Jayasuriya appeals to the clergy on election result

President Mahinda Percy Rajapaksa’s election victory was described as resounding, easy and by the opposition as fraudulent. There was, however, very significantly an almost total lack of proof beyond reasonable doubt to back up the claims. In that light the President’s victory must be accepted in good spirit.

However, the Elections Commissioner (EC) confirmed and reconfirmed the result stating that the opposition was taking the matter up via the judiciary and that some of the complaints he has received would be given an airing in that process. There were so many claims and counter-claims about the EC that one really was left speechless — He was held incommunicado at Temple Trees, he was forced virtually at gunpoint to deliver the results, he recorded the proclamation (as opposed to going live on TV and radio) because the powers that be were not quite sure what he would do in case it was live.

Most people missed the fact that a live transmission is not really live – it has an approximately 7-second delay – an eternity when it comes to pulling the plug out.

Certainly Mahinda Rajapaksa won a decisive margin, giving him the necessary confidence to move Sri Lanka ahead with his plans for the economy and the sustaining of the peace process. He is said to be determined that nothing will stand in his way now that he has the mandate of the people, in spite of the allegations made by his opponents.

Fraud allegations

Karu Jayasuriya was scathing in his criticism of the events post-election date. He said that never before has an incumbent President harassed the opposition like in the 2010 presidential poll process. Jayasuriya confirmed that the raid on Sarath Fonseka’s office was carried out without a police warrant and had been carried out under Emergency Regulations; the General had been victimised, the hotel all of them were staying in was surrounded and Jayasuriya had himself confirmed to some supporters that in fact they – the operations and command centre of the Opposition Alliance – were held within the hotel and were unable to move out.

Jayasuriya with typical candour said that had the elections been a straightforward victory for the President, they would have been happy to accept the victory. In this case he pointed to the growing list of misdemeanors said to have been perpetrated by proxies for the President. It was this knowledge that compelled them to take action – to challenge the unfair process. He discounted his leaders’ pronouncement at that time, saying they were not fully aware of the extent of the deceit at that time.

Interesting information now comes up on the activities of the inner nexus of the Sarath Fonseka campaign. During the night when counting was going on they had decided on the content of the Cabinet. The JVP were promised six portfolios but would have settled for four. They – the closest to Fonseka and therefore the “nerve centre” had then approached Ranil Wickremesinghe, accompanied for good measure by Anura Kumar Dissanayaka. They had the temerity to ask the Leader of the UNP – the party that has en masse handed over their block vote to an untried novice in politics – as to what position he wanted. Wickremesinghe, ever the shrewd politician and an astute one at that, ignored the implied ignominy and replied that he would prefer to be stating his position when the time was right: after the general elections.

Jumping the gun

Wickremesinghe was said to be privately very annoyed. When he was reluctant to accept it was suggested that he would be given it in writing – that in a parliamentary poll victory Wickremesinghe would be prime minister and that in defeat he would continue as the Leader of the Opposition. Tiran Alles and Senaka Silva played a crucial role in this too. Despite Alles’ assertions that he has not got any official role to coordinate appointments, he continues to play – without doubt – a crucial role in Sarath Fonseka’s alliance.

He may wish to play down his role for strategic and security reasons, but he was very much on show at the Hyde Park rally and he is said to be very close to the innermost nexus of the Fonseka Alliance. Within the alliance and their backers there was a growing sense that the access everyone wishes to have with the General was being stifled.

The protest rally at Hyde Park gave the impression of a huge crowd. Undoubtedly there was a large crowd, fitting into the limited space of Hyde Park and spilling over onto the road. People came from all walks of life. They came on foot, by car, by three-wheelers, by bus or simply arrived. They were there to protest the results and to show support for Fonseka and his alliance. A number of those we spoke with insisted that they would vote the same way again at the parliamentary poll because of the abuse of power and the unbearable cost of living.

A crowd estimated in excess of 4,000 people (giving the impression of 8,000 due to the limited space) heard rousing speeches, notably by Rauf Hakeem and Anura Kumara Dissanayaka. In a show of solidarity, when it was noted that not enough chairs were available for all to sit and to present a united front, all the leaders decided to dispense with the chairs and sit on the floor. This was all right for the slim-line bodies but for Ravi Karunanayake and Karu Jayasuriya it stretched them a bit. Ravi K got up no sooner had he sat and stood in the background, his big frame making him stand out like a colossus. And he is in fact a political colossus within the UNP but appeared very silent in the post-election period. It was almost as though he were distancing himself from the defeat, or as if he were wondering about the implications that await the UNP. It was refreshing, however, to see Karunanayake present at the rally.

Dissension in the ranks

There was significant disquiet amongst the UNP with regard to the use of the logo for the alliance. There was consensus that the alliance must carry on but there was serious concern as to the use of the symbol. Not using the symbol of the elephant would, claimed UNP members, be tantamount to signing the death warrant of one of this country’s oldest political parties. There were also questions for Ravi K as to the swan logo. There were enquiries from the General’s side putting Karunanayake in a predicament, not wishing to antagonise the General at this crucial stage of play.

The largest contingent of people and the most vociferous appeared to have come from that veteran and senior supporter of the UNP, A. J. M. Muzzamil – of the ‘Number 1 UNP’ fame made famous in the Western Provincial polls – who was seen leading a large entourage estimated at about 1,500 persons. Muzzamil, who has a history of varying political experiences, was finally appointed a UNP district organiser perhaps in recognition of the work he carried out for the Fonseka alliance in gaining valuable support from the Muslim vote base. He was the architect of the ‘Mulu Colombama Kola Partai, General ta Jaya Partai’ poster campaign and was an aggressive participant in spite of the Fonseka defeat. He issued a statement condemning the result and wanted the results annulled.

The rally was reminiscent of a picnic in the park or even Speakers’ Corner in Hyde Park, London, as there was absolutely no violence. It was more a gathering to vent anger.

Indeed, that was exactly what had to be done, said a senior politician present. The people who supported Fonseka were surprised by the result. It was time, he said, to turn that surprise to anger. Then he predicted the people will take that message to their homes and their villages and their cities. The swing will then come their way and he was confident that the UPFA would be defeated at the polls. The general feeling throughout was that the result would be accepted because there was no other choice. That too was palatable as the parliamentary poll is just ahead, giving the opposition supporters and parties time to regroup and map out strategy to overcome any possible rigging.

Role of the clergy

The UNP loyalist Thalatha Athukorala, who resisted attempts to engineer her crossover to the UPFA, was the recipient of a sensational find: a bundle of original ballot papers in her district of Ratnapura. She immediately contacted the Elections Commissioner and visited him to lodge a complaint, along with Ravi Karunanayake. Ms Athukorala insisted that these were the real McCoy – not samples, as claimed by the government.

Meanwhile, members of the clergy continued to dabble in matters other than ecclesiastical, which probably makes Sri Lanka unique: the only practising democracy where the clergy are given so much attention and are actively involved and ingratiated into politics by politicians themselves. In this instance, however, it was Maduluwawe Sobitha Thero who called on Karu Jayasuriya at his house. Fortuitously perhaps, or even by design, Vijitha Herath, Tissa Attanayake and Ranil Wickremesinghe too were present at Jayasuriya’s residence. Ostensibly, of course, the visit was to implore the leaders to continue with the alliance and to continue with the swan symbol. The de facto support of the JVP was not lost on those present.

Wickremesinghe did not make any comment other than to remind the Thero that it was important to take up issues of the various Elections Department’s officers and supporters who were being harassed, beaten and their houses set on fire. Wickremesinghe, it appeared, was hinting that these matters were far more grave than the continued use of the swan logo at a parliamentary poll and, by implication, that the recently concluded poll has proved beyond reasonable doubt that the JVP are a spent force.

The JVP supported the UPFA and secured 30 seats. They then differed with Mahinda Rajapaksa and teamed up with the Fonseka alliance – in effect, an alliance with the UNP and others. The results speak for themselves. Without the JVP the UPFA fared considerably better at the provincial polls. Without JVP support Mahinda Rajapaksa secured over 58% of the vote base. The JVP on their own fared disastrously, prompting a very senior member of the Rajapaksa family to say that the JVP have learned a lesson, and that even their traditional vote base of youth has seen the error of their ways.

With JVP support the UNP-led alliance secured just 40% of the votes in the presidential poll of 2010. That was significantly fewer votes than Ranil Wickremesinghe polled without their support in 2005. It is clear that the JVP are now scurrying around looking for an alliance within which to disguise their actual vote base of some 235,000.

The JVP leaders have indicated that they will seek another alliance to contest the parliamentary poll. This appears to be a canard rather than anything else, as a close examination will reveal that the JVP have no other parties with which to form any alliance, let alone a formidable one.

A leading Muslim politician heading a minority party said that in spite of the JVP proclamations they were committed to the swan logo and will continue with the alliance. It is an analysis that need not be in-depth, as the poor showing of the JVP has become abundantly clear. By being part of an alliance, the JVP will find it very much easier to survive by not bringing too much attention to them.

However significant numbers of businessmen and corporations have refused to back the alliance financially if the alliance contained the JVP. Some analysts say that Fonseka would have done very much better had the JVP been left out of the equation. The demise and political usefulness of the JVP will be exposed if hard-nosed politicians from both the UPFA and the UNP do not allow the JVP to be part of their alliances.

People, it appears, have demonstrated that they are not forgiving the JVP for the atrocities committed in the past and their popular appeal is limited to a very few areas. To give the JVP any attention at all it appears now, is to court disaster for the suitor.

A mature businessman said that he was old enough to remember the tough times caused by the JVP in the history of this country, and that they were so traumatic that he would never cross it off his memory. He had openly advised his private bankers that he would not be extending support financially to the Alliance if it contained the JVP. They were, he simply said, bad news; only people with a psychiatric problem would forget the inspirational kiss of the tarmac by the President and forgive the JVP to boot. His was indicative of the growing dissatisfaction amongst the UNP especially of the JVP presence in the Alliance.

The question of who supports who has started its rounds and not only within the ‘cocktail circuit’. Amongst the documents and computer equipment seized recently is information relating to the donors and supporters of the Fonseka alliance. A number of big names are affected as it would reveal to the government exactly who dabbled in the game of double talk which is probably even older than the world’s oldest profession.
While a well known business tycoon with several large corporations under his belt had donated Rs. 15 million to the President it was also said that towards the tail-end of the campaign when the Fonseka vote base appeared to outshine the President, he was approached for a further donation which was flatly refused. By contrast the Dharmadasa family, of the Nawaloka brand had openly supported the President with the Chairman also joined by his younger son Upali on the stage with the President; this family experienced none of the palpitations the business tycoon who donated Rs 15 million was experiencing.  However, how much exactly the Dharmadasas paid towards the President’s campaign is unknown.

In the meantime, with the knowledge contained in the documents and the computers, Harry Jayawardena’s meeting with Anura Kumar Dissanayaka at a house in Bambalapitiya was being looked at in a different light. Meanwhile Jayawardena was due to be felicitated with an investiture of a Danish knighthood on behalf of HM Queen of Denmark, with its Ambassador to Sri Lanka Ole Lonsman Poulsen in attendance, on February 9 at the Colombo Hilton. Amongst the invitees are some of Sri Lanka’s “A” list: Milinda Moragoda, Mangala Samaraweera, Athauda Seneviratna and President Chandrika Kumaratunga.

Others said to have been involved in the double talk game was a leading businessman with a government portfolio to boot.  The Presidential Secretary has asked all chairmen of state bodies to resign to make way for new appointments. Most complied with the exception of Pradeep Kariyawasam from SLIC. Kariyawasam, whose wings were recently clipped by the reappointed Treasury Secretary, continues to come to work at Vauxhall Street and appears oblivious to the Presidential dictate.

Still at SLIC the antics of the opposition Alliance also came to light: the JVP newspaper, Lanka stated that the Managing Director of SLIC transformed the 10th floor of the Vauxhall Street office into a command centre where he was distributing Rs 300 million towards advertising and anti-Fonseka propaganda. The SLFP leaning unions complained that despite the President having appointed the SLIC Board, with the exception of Dr. Godahewa, the others were playing it safe worrying the General would win. The rumour machinery  from the Bar Association, claimed that legal eagles on the SLIC board were in fact supporting the General’s campaign.

The Supreme Court upheld the 3rd Amendment and in effect gave the President almost an additional year. There was hardly any adverse comment from the legal world indicating their own conviction in the ruling of the full bench of the Supreme Court. Many politicians breathed a sigh of relief that the matter appeared to be finalised once and for all, without any controversy.

The President took independence celebrations to Kandy in a refreshing move – for years the parade was closed off to the public who had to be content with TV coverage. In the absence of the customary military display, as it was held in the Hill capital, the Deyata Kirula show was taken to Kandy. Large numbers of people attended and the President appeared pleased as punch even being photographed atop some equipment.

Note:

Tiran Alles has contacted The Sunday Leader to say that he has no official role in charge of Sarath Fonseka’s appointments. We are happy to accept his version but our copy was based on our own experience when Alles was kind enough to facilitate contact to Sarath Fonseka’s inner nexus.

Balapatabendi has contacted us and we reproduce his letter. We stand by our report. Balapatabendi was expected to be appointed Treasury Secretary in a Fonseka-led administration.

Another Day, Another Lawsuit

K. BALAPATABENDI, LLB. LLM.
Presidents Counsel
BY REGISTERED POST

Ms. Frederica Jansz
Editor,
The Sunday Leader
Leader Publications (Pvt) Ltd.,
24, Katukurunduwatte Road,
Ratmalana.

Dear Madam,

48, Epitamulle Road,
Pitta Kotte
ls` February 2010

PUBLICATION OF A FABRICATED NEWS REPORT IN THE SUNDAY LEADER OF 31.01.2010.

I refer to page 13 of The Sunday Leader of 31.1.2010 where in your column “Inside Politics” under a pseudo-name “Wathsala” you have written and published a false, fabricated and malicious report involving me.

You have stated — “Very significantly Balapatabendi who made quite a name for himself with President Kumaratunga, was also part of the opposition entourage at the hotel. Balapatabendi was to make a telephone call to Addl. Secretary, Presidential Secretariat, asking that the Secretariat be readied for the Fonseka team to move in soon after the results.”

The above referred to publication by you, has caused me grave pain of mind, humiliation, ridicule, in the eyes of the public in the context of the high public office I have held.

I categorically deny that I neither stayed at any hotel, nor made any telephone call to the Addl. Secretary, Presidential Secretary or for that matter to any other person to make any such request, as falsely and maliciously fabricated and reported and published by you.

You could confirm such fact from the Addl. Secretary, Presidential Secretariat.

I re-iterate that the foregoing allegation made against me is absolutely false, malicious, mischievous, and had been made, I verily believe, with ulterior motives and for extraneous purposes.

In the circumstances, I shall be grateful if you would kindly publish my Letter with equal prominence, to place the facts before the public.

Yours faithfully,
K. Balapatabendi, P.C.

c.c.
Mr. Lal Wickramatunga, Chairman, Leader Publication (Pvt) Ltd.
Addl. Secretary to the President
Mr. Lalith Weeratunge, Secretary to the President
Hon. Chamal Rajapaksa, Minister of Ports, Aviation and Irrigation
H.E. the President, Mahinda Rajapaksa