POLITICS

By Amantha Perera

RANIL Wickremesinghe might not be the favourite son of the country to some in Sri Lanka, especially among the lot who consider him selling out to the Tigers. Be that as it may, none could take the achievements away from his fledging administration.

Wickremesinghe will go down in history as the first prime minister who was able to sustain peace negotiations with the LTTE for an year and in that time period make sure that the guns fell silent.

The reasons for the success may vary and Wickremesinghe himself has on occasion observed that the peace process owes a lot to the changes that were brought about in international politics with the September 11 attacks.

Survived worst year

Wickremesinghe held an informal meeting with his cabinet on Thursday morning. The meeting commenced at 10:30 and went on till 3 in the afternoon with lunch thrown in. At the meeting the Prime Minister said that the government had survived the worst year ever.

All new governments from 1970 to 1994 soon after assuming power have charged that the Treasury was empty. According to Wickremesinghe, when his government took office, it was 'really' empty. The Premier also called on the cabinet to work as a team and warned that a war in the Gulf would have far-reaching economic effects, but that they could not be passed on to the people full scale.

Wickremesinghe had a good word for the media, observing that reporting had been fair by and large.

Wickremesinghe plans to hold such informal meetings once every month.

The year that has elapsed has also meant that the euphoria that welcomed the cessation of hostilities and then peace talks have subsided considerably. Just browse through the media entourage that gallops behind the government delegation, numbers have reduced considerably.

With the process in the Prime Minister's own words to parliament two weeks back entering a critical stage, distant rumblings of opposition keep getting louder. Opposition parties are making sure that the ground arrangements are in place to pounce on the opportunity, when the talks hit a major snag.

The most prominent of such developments last week was Opposition Leader Mahinda Rajapakse's visit to India. The visit materialised following Rajapakse's trip to Jaffna in the company of Jeyaraj Fernandopulle and A.H.M. Fowzie. The trip itself came in for some stick in the pro-opposition press, but soon after the trip Rajapakse was on his way to India at the invitation of the Indian government.

The fact that the Indians have been watching the developments taking place in Colombo with unfeigned unease is old news. And so is the issue that the PA has being wooing the Indians. Not long ago Anura Bandaranaike, Mangala Samaraweera and Sarath Amunugama took wing to New Delhi.

Before his departure on February 2, Rajapakse met with Indian High Commissioner Nirupam Sen during the weekend. The two held discussions for more than two hours. The meeting was a forerunner to the series of meetings that would take place in India.

In India, Rajapakse met with Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee and Foreign Minister Yaswant Sinha. During these discussions, Rajapakse had observed that India should play a much more involved role in the present peace process. The Indians for their part have given the assurance of their support to the opposition.

During the meeting with the Indian Premier, Rajapakse said that the PA was not on a mission to derail the peace process and was fully supportive of the negotiations. The opposition's concerns were that the LTTE was not adhering to the conditions agreed to in the MoU and that a solution should guarantee devolution of power without dividing the country, according to the Opposition Leader.

Rajapakse's trip comes at an interesting intersection in his short career as Opposition Leader. It is no secret that sections within the SLFP have been trying to undermine his power.

One reason behind the change of heart of possible crossover candidate Richard Pathirana is his desire to undermine Rajapakse.

Protest campaign

While the likes of Bandaranaike and Samaraweera have been sharing the stage at protest rallies with the JVP and taking the occasional swipe at Rajapakse, the man from Hambantota has been busy trying to get his own protest campaign off the ground. Later this month he will once again take to the streets with pots and pans.

Rajapakse started off his campaign taking the issue of the high cost of living as the main line of attack while the JVP and its supporters took on the peace dealings. Now Rajapakse is aiming to unite the two issues, taking the slogan that the government was using the false glow of the peace process to deflect criticism on the cost of living.

While Rajapakse was in New Delhi, the biggest threat to his success, a possible JVP-SLFP tie up took another step forward. Another meeting between the two parties was held at President's House with President Chandrika Kumaratunga assisted by Nimal Siripala de Silva, Maithiripala Sirisena and D.M. Jayaratne representing the SLFP.

The JVP was represented by General Secretary Tilvin Silva, Propaganda Secretary Wimal Weerawansa and MP Anura Dissanayake.

One of the issues that were to be taken up was to reach common ground in dealing with the ethnic issue. The JVP has always maintained a solution that is shrouded in Marxist ideology and now nationalism, while officially the SLFP/PA position is at odds with such a solution.

The JVP would never subscribe to the point of view that Rajapakse spoke of to the Indian leaders. The next meeting between the two parties will take place in the coming week.

Among the proponents of such a union, the thinking has evolved that with the JVP's help, the PA can out do the UNP and get a majority. Pathirana was shooting his mouth off of a victory in Galle with the JVP's help in parliament and Bandaranaike aired the same line of thinking recently at a party meeting in Gampaha - that with the JVP's help Gampaha would not fall to the UNP.

The JVP for its part has taken a decision that whatever partnership should guarantee that the party enjoys the present 16 member representation.

At a central committee meeting prior to meeting Kumaratunga and company, Silva said that a tie-up between the two parties would be historic.

He said that any union should see the two parties reaching an agreement on not only the national issue but on the economy as well. The JVP's proposal expectedly is to take a U-turn from the present policies and change into a nationalist economy.

The JVP has forwarded a 25 point document on its policy framework to the SLFP. The JVP is also planning to hold a protest rally in Amparai on February 13.

JVP-SLFP tie-up

The JVP-SLFP tie-up nevertheless would not go down well with the other constituent parties in the PA especially the leftist parties. Jayaratne has been tasked with sounding out the constituent parties about their opinion on a set of proposals that have evolved from the on-going discussions. But as of last week, the PA General Secretary had not received any official view from other parties.

For her part, President Kumaratunga is still playing hide-and-seek on the issue of dissolution of parliament. The attitude is probably a ploy to buy time till the discussions with the JVP reach a final settlement. Last week at a meeting of SLFP central committee members, she once again reiterated that she was not looking at an election.

Any final decision with the JVP will first be put to the central committee and thereafter referred to the PA executive committee.

The UNP, however, is not taking the President at face value. The government launched its own propaganda campaign recently, spearheaded by none other than S.B. Dissanayake.

Even if Kumaratunga does not call for general elections, polls are looming on the horizon in the form of provincial council elections. The first on the list is the Wayamba election that is due in January 2004. Others are due within the following five months.

It was theinfamous Wayamba election in 1999 that was the beginning of the end for the PA. The PA went on a rampage. The province was divided into temporary fiefdoms under the charge of a cabinet minister. For example, now UNF Minister and then Kumaratunga's confidante, Dissa-nayake was in Anamaduwa helping out D.M. Dassanayake. The election was highway robbery.

PA at a disadvantage

At a recent meeting with chief ministers, the President had toyed with the idea of holding all provincial elections together. The deck has been reshuffled since 1999 and the PA would be at a big disadvantage this time around.

The cabinet meeting that took place on Wednesday did not produce any fireworks. The President gave it the skip and the ranks among the cabinet were depleted due to the peace talks.

One thing that happened was Prime Minister Wickremesinghe advising his cabinet to get public officials to follow government policies. "They should be able to guide, not be guided," the Prime Minister told the cabinet.

Wickremesinghe's reaction came after Water Management and Irrigation Minister Gamini Jayawickrema Perera commented about officials.

The government has woken up to the situation that any further deterioration in the economy and a slow down in the peace process could spell trouble. The international community too is keeping an eye on the situation.

Rhetoric

When Executive Director, UNICEF, Carol Bellamy met with the Prime Minister and his point man at the peace table, Minister Milinda Moragoda, she expressed her relief that the opposition to the peace process was filled with only rhetoric, noting that if it was otherwise then the situation would change.

The next big blow-up between the government and the opposition is likely to take place when the no confidence debate against Defence Minister Tilak Marapone takes place.

Debate

The opposition has been gunning for the debate for some time but the government indicated its willingness to take it up just two weeks back. At the party leaders meeting two weeks back, the government had indicated that it was ready to take up the debate by end-February or early March.

The debate, if it takes place, would once again see the two sides going after each other on the pros and cons of the peace process.

But if voters who put the MPs in office expect any constructive criticism to take place, it would be little more than wishful thinking.

What takes place at the House by the Diyawanna is no more than tomfoolery, most of the time.

• Why it pays to die as a politico

Cohabiting on double standards

By Frederica Jansz

If ever a tragi-comedy is being enacted in this country it is now. Trashing the memories of the dead, this government and President Chand-rika Kumaratunga are bent on committing a faux pas of the highest order.

At the cabinet meeting two weeks ago it was announced that the cabinet of ministers headed by Kumaratunga and Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe will allocate Rs. 7 million as compensation to Ferial Ashraff and her family for having tragically lost her husband - Leader of the Sri Lanka Muslim Congress (SLMC), Mohammed Hussein Mohammed Ashraff - when he was killed in a helicopter crash on September 16, 2000.

The unprecedented sum of money is to be paid out of state coffers despite the fact that other VIP widows have received a mere sum of Rs. 600,000 as compensation, including Hema Premadasa, whose husband was executive president of Sri Lanka at the time he was assassinated.

Out of a total of Rs. 7 million, Ferial Ashraff is to be given Rs. 5 million and her son Amman will receive Rs. 2 million. Rs. 1 million was also proposed to be givento Madheena Umma, the mother of M.H.M. Ashraff who has also since expired after her son died tragically.

This proposal by the President to pay the deceased mother Rs. 1 million was turned down by the cabinet.

Not a cent for soldiers' children

Amman Ashraff is to receive Rs. 2 million despite being over 18 years of age and a working adult. In contrast, children of soldiers who died in action, if over 18 at the time are not paid any compensation monies. The children of the late Major General Vijaya Wimalaratne is a case in point. (See box).

These monies have been allocated following a special commission of inquiry concluded by retired Supreme Court Judge, L.H.G. Weerasekara, who has made the recommendation that Rs. 8 million be given by the state to the Ashraff family to compensate for the death of the late Leader of the SLMC.

In their haste to placate Ferial Ashraff and her family, the leaders of this nation have forgotten that 14 others also died tragically with Ashraff that fateful day.

Apparently their lives are not worth remembering and the blood they shed inconsequential, as the government is yet to make any kind of a monetary allocation towards the families of these dead people.

The families of the two air force officer pilots who died in the crash will automatically receive a monetary benefit of Rs. 1 million as compensation.

Captain, Flt. Lt. S.V. Perera and his Co-Pilot, Flying Officer R.P.S. Andradi were both killed instantly when the helicopter crashed. Andradi had wed just a few weeks before his tragic death that year.

His young widow received Rs. 1 million as compensation from the Sri Lanka Air Force (SLAF).

The other members of the SLAF who died in the crash were Corporal G.R. Weerakoon, Leading Air Craftsman W.A.J.S. Ariyasena - who was also the flight engineer - and W.M. Rupasinghe who accompanied the crew as a gunner.

An MI-17 helicopter usually flies with an SLAF crew of five members on such occasions. Apart from the two pilots, the other SLAF members are entitled to only Rs. 500,000 compensation in the event they are killed in action. All the monies are drawn from life insurance policies taken for all SLAF members.

Commander, SLAF, Air Marshal Donald Perera said the SLAF has already paid Rs. 1 million in compensation for each of the two SLAF pilots and Rs. 500,000 for the other three air crew members who were killed along with the late SLMC Leader Ashraff.

He maintained that the SLAF "has no right to demand any further compensation monies from the government."

Perera explained that the SLAF were "merely operators in this entire exercise" and that in such instances, however tragic, the SLAF follows a standard criteria when making payment to families of air crew killed in action.

Government decides

Responding to the Rs.7 million to be paid by the state to the Ashraff family, the Air Chief said, "The SLAF has no right to bring the point up. It is up to the government to decide if it wishes to make any additional payment to the deceased families."

The other individuals who died with Ashraff were his bodyguard Ajith Vithana Gamage, his stenographer Periyathamby and two other security personnel called Chandana and Sadeek.

A freelance journalist named Nihamathulla also travelled with him on that fateful day. Rafudeen, Kadirgamathamby, Mowlana from Galle and Azeez, all of whom were die-hard loyalists of Ashraff, also died with him on September 16, 2000.

Another individual merely known as an associate of Kadirgamathamby was also killed that day - his name, however, to date remains a mystery.

The families of these people have not been allocated any kind of compensation.

Secretary to Minister Hakeem, Hassan Ali said the commission when it concluded its report focused only on compensation for the Ashraff family and for nobody else.

Rauf Hakeem said the terms and reference of the commission appointed by President Kumaratunga to prepare a report on the accident which killed Mohamed Hussein Mohamed Ashraff had also mentioned for the commission to recommend suitable compensation for the families of the deceased.

"Civilians left out"

"The quantum of the amount of compensation would be at the discretion of the commission," Hakeem asserted.

He added that compensation for the others who died with Ashraff would be paid according to standard state criteria as in the case of the air force officers who were killed.

Hakeem admitted that some of the civilians who were travelling with Ashraff that day and were also killed "have been left out" when the commission decided to dole outfive million smackers for Ferial Ashraff, two million for her son and a million for Ashraff's mother.

VIP compensation scheme

Hakeem said that usually a compensation scheme for VIPs allows for a maximum of only Rs. 5 lakhs to be paid to the family.

"In this case, however, it has been on the terms and reference of the commissioner," Hakeem said, adding that he will be putting up a cabinet paper for approval for compensation to be paid to the families of the other civilians who made their last journey with Ashraff that fateful day in September 2000.

The astounding fact is that not even Ashraff's bodyguard or other security personnel who died with him qualified for any kind of monetary compensation to be paid to their immediate family.

The same twisted logic apparently applies to the other Muslims who were killed that day, their sole mistake in life being their undying loyalty to the late SLMC Chief, which finally cost them their lives.

That even the SLMC does not consider these people important is clear when The Sunday Leader tried valiantly to get a least two telephone numbers of the deceased families.

Nearly three years later, nobody within the SLMC appears to have any contact with the families of these unfortunates. When asked where they could be, we were told "they were all Ashraff's supporters from the east."

Asked if he will seek Rs. 5 million compensation for the others who died with his predecessor and mentor, Hakeem said he cannot do so. "We do not have that much money to hand out," he reiterated, asserting however that the matter is for cabinet to decide.

Report with President

Justice L.H.G. Weerasekara, who chaired the commission to investigate the sudden death of the late SLMC leader, said he had handed over his report to President Chandrika Kumaratunga in March last year.

Weerasekara said he allocated for separate compensation monies to be paid to Ferial Ashraff, her son Amman and the late M.H.M. Ashraff's mother, Madheena Umma.

Asked exactly how much was allocated for each individual of the Ashraff family, Weerasekara refused to say, claiming he could not remember.

He also said it is up to the President to make the report public and that he handed over his original copy to her upon completion.

When asked on what basis he decided on the quantum of monies to be allocated to the Ashraff family, Weerasekara refused to comment.

Damning indictment

We have since found that N.M. Shaheed, an attorney-at-law commissioned by the SLMC to make representations to this commission of inquiry specifically sought for compensation to be paid to the late M.H.M. Ashraff's mother as well.

Amazingly, the SLMC lawyers did not see it fit to seek compensation for the families of any of Ashraff's security personnel and party loyalists who died with the SLMC Chief on that fateful helicopter ride.

Even if the commission of inquiry by its terms and references were bound to recommend compensation only for the Ashraff family, surely the SLMC could have pushed the government over the last three years to pay some kind of gratuity to the families of those men who died while on duty with the late leader.

That this had not even been considered is indeed a damning indictment on Rauf Hakeem, Ferial Ashraff and the SLMC.

Meanwhile, Justice Weerasekara took offence when asked if he had been under any pressure to allocate such unprecedented sums of monies to the Ashraff family when other VIP war widows have been paid a maximum of only Rs. 600,000, including the widow of a former president of Sri Lanka.

"Never in my life have I been asked such a question or my integrity brought into doubt," Weerasekara thundered, asserting his reputation remains impeccable and he has never at any stage bowed to any kind of pressure, political or otherwise.

He refused to comment when quizzed further and asked if in view of national interest his report should be made available to the public.

Justice Weerasekara also refused to divulge details of attributing causes for the crash, which killed Ashraff and many others asserting that it is the President's prerogative to do so if she so wishes.

Amman Ashraff, the only son of the late SLMC Leader when contacted refused to make any comment on this issue saying it is up to his mother to do so, if she so wishes.