Jayewardene stood alone. He never lost an election, ruling for eleven years on the strength of his wit, cunning and ruthless suppression of opposition forces. Historians looking back dispassionately see his first four years in office as a sunlit renaissance, the remainder nothing more than the desperate strivings of an ageing megalomaniac to cling to power, and through power, life itself. Imagining himself all-powerful, Jayewardene left the country in chaos on his retirement in 1988, with the north in the hands of the LTTE, the east with the IPKF and the south with the JVP which, having branded unjustly as naxalites, he alienated from the mainstream of politics. As long as memories survive in this land, Jayewardene's shameful abuse of the democratic process, using the 1982 referendum to extend the life of the parliament in which he enjoyed a five-sixths majority, will go down in ignominy.

But it is not our intention to engage in a discourse on the evil of the past. It is merely a reminder that president's house was a venue of shameful intrigue well before Chandrika Kumaratunga darkened its doors. What is more, where Jayewardene engaged in shameful and petty intrigues against his perceived enemies, Kumaratunga has transcended his legacy by an order of magnitude. Shame that, for Kumaratunga knew full well in seeking office that it was the evil of the Jayewardene administration that she sought to erase. Her polemical attacks on the UNP she sought to dislodge were aimed more at Jayewardene than his successor Premadasa, and only incidentally against Wijetunga.

Given this background, it is bizarre that the president, rather than moulding her administration to address the wrongs of the past, takes criminal activity to new heights. Thanks to the bewildering inefficiency of the UNF government, Kumaratunga continues to enjoy the unfettered power the presidency offers her. Now, just two months after her defeat, officials who swam briskly away from her sinking ship are beginning to swim back. The spectre of this Joan of Arc who lost not just an eye but a father and a husband in the battle for her motherland's freedom, is beginning once more to twang the chords of sympathy that lie latent in Sri Lankan hearts. And the UNF's dismal impotence to bring this mother of falsehood to book has strengthened the PA's resolve that it can and will win back power come December 5, 2002.

We have often referred to Chandrika Kumaratunga as a liar, for that she is. We have produced evidence to show convincingly that she not only knew the identities of the murderers of Kumar Ponnambalam, but actively shielded them. Last week we produced convincing evidence to show that she is a cheat, for her backdating a letter to the director general of customs, asking him to relax the forfeiture of a luxury vehicle illegally imported by the wife of PA MP Arjuna Ranatunga is nothing short of cheating.

Consider the facts. With Ratnasiri Wickremanayake's resignation as prime minister on December 6, the cabinet stood dissolved; the new cabinet was sworn in, with K. N. Choksy as finance minister on December 12. Then, a full six days later, Kumaratunga shoots off a letter backdated December 4, to Director General of Customs Jagath Gunaratne, advising him of the waiver. It has been established that the letter reached the customs department only on December 18. Gunaratne's construction of this however, is that the letter may have been lying on the president's desk for well nigh two weeks. This however, is pressing the public's credibility a bit too much. What is more, Gunaratne has failed to explain why it is that he acted on what was clearly a politically motivated favour without first checking with the new minister of finance. The only redeeming feature in this act of duplicity by the president is the decision of Finance Minister K. N. Choksy to call for a full scale investigation into the incident, no doubt with the intention of holding the president responsible for her act of cheating.

For her part, Kumaratunga has committed an offence under Section 168 of the penal code by pretending to act as the minister of finance by backdating a letter written in that executive capacity well after she ceased to hold that post. Section 168 states: "Whoever pretends to hold any particular office, as a public servant, knowing that he does not hold such office, or falsely personates any other person holding such office, and in such assumed character does or attempts to do any act under cover of such office, shall be punished with imprisonment of either description for a term which may extend to two years, or with fine, or with both."

The people of Sri Lanka voted for the UNF last December with great hopes in their hearts. The UNF's inability to take steps to bring Chandrika Kumaratunga to book has been a stinging disappointment to many. It is not a question of taking revenge, it is a question of asserting the truth that all citizens of this country are subject to law. If the UNF government lacks the resolve and the courage to take Chandrika Kumaratunga head-on, it should, in the style of J. R. Jayewardene, adopt less obvious means. One possibility is to abolish the executive presidency itself, to which, given that the PA and JVP have already given their commitment, there is no obstacle.

For her part, the only quandary that faces Kumaratunga, given the UNF's pusillanimity, is how best to structure the opposition so that she could lead it back into power. With Ratnasiri Wickremanayake bowing out, the choice that faces her is to hand it down to her brother and maintain the family's grip on succession but risk losing the support of her party, or to call on Mahinda Rajapakse, waiting in the wings, and end her dynastic hopes right there. But a third choice is also open to Kumaratunga, who could appoint a lame duck opposition leader such as Richard Pathirana and in effect lead the opposition herself. Armed with Section 32(3) of the constitution, which gives her the right to "attend and address" parliament, she could well sit in the front row of the opposition benches and use her formidable debating skills and charisma to put the government to shame.