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The
two-day ceasefire extended by the government was
expected to be used by the warring factions to hammer
out a solution to evacuate the civilians trapped in the
no fire zone. The dawn of the Sinhala and Tamil New Year
was considered the best time to forge a consensus on
this thorny issue. It was even suggested that Velupillai
Pirapaharan together with other top Tiger leaders would
be afforded an opportunity to get out of the country
enabling the civilians to be moved out but the mistrust
between both factions run too deep for such a
possibility.
As
expected the brief respite ended Wednesday (15) morning
when hostilities resumed.
Meanwhile canvassing for the Western Provincial Council
poll was being continued with gusto by the UPFA
candidates with the likes of Duminda Silva attending
Easter Sunday Mass at the
Roman
Catholic Sacred Heart Church in Rajagiriya, dressed in
spotless white and even receiving the host. Of course as
is the style of those who can afford and even consider
it a fashion statement, he was surrounded by a retinue
of bodyguards and a back-up vehicle. Why the servants of
the people at provincial council level need such a big
security detail calls for serious debate.
Closed ranks
As for
the UNP the dissidents who were clamouring for a change
in the leadership, have temporarily closed ranks to lend
their weight to those candidates contesting the
provincial elections. To the discerning voter the
quality of the UNP list is by far superior to that of
the UPFA. The winds of Sinhala-Buddhist nationalism that
have spread with the successes on the war front has
swept with it a pseudo coterie of candidates who form
the bulk of the UPFA list.
Lawlessness that is spreading across the country is
growing unabated. Crime is increasing by leaps and
bounds. Good governance and accountability are confined
to the statute books and one dare not seek redress nor
voice dissent, for the wrath of the ruling political
juggernaut will be upon such citizen.
Consider for a moment. The founder editor of this
newspaper, Lasantha Wickrematunge was assassinated in
broad daylight on a busy highway and no one has been
charged yet for this crime. If Lasantha was allowed to
live, would the war have stopped? Would Pirapaharan have
left behind the civilians in government controlled
areas? It is this type of crime that breeds the level of
lawlessness the country witnesses today.
It
was this evolving lawlessness that was troubling
Petroleum and Petroleum Resources Minister A.H.M. Fowzie
when he met President Rajapakse at Temple Trees last
week. He was to complain to the President of the
dangerous ground conditions in his pocket borough,
Colombo Central. Minister Fowzie complained about the
thuggery and intimidation resorted to by a new set of
UPFA supporters canvassing for their candidate Mowjood.
Rajapakse was to laugh it off with a pat on Fowzie’s
back stating that he could never make Colombo Central
“blue” and it would be done this time. With even a
senior cabinet minister’s concerns being treated so
lightly by the President no less it is little wonder
that even the smallest of elections have become mini
wars. For his part UNP MP Maharoof who has been the
power behind this large electorate for the grand old
party has stayed aloof of the violence.
Shocking ‘secret’
UNP
Leader Ranil Wickremesinghe is known to keep
confidences. Yet with the terror unleashed in the
Colombo Central electorate he found it opportune to
share a secret with the public whilst addressing a
political meeting in support of UNP candidates. “The
President is going around charging that I betrayed the
country by signing the Ceasefire Agreement in 2002. It
was former President Chandrika and the JVP who started
saying this in 2002. President Rajapakse was the leader
of the opposition then. He told me that I should go
ahead and implement the ceasefire in full for the
benefit of the country and that he fully endorsed that
move, and I thank him for the support he extended to me
at that time….” stated Wickremesinghe to a shocked
audience.
He did
not stop at that; “It was Dulles Alahapperuma who called
me from the USA and said that Chandrika was useless and
to go ahead with the ceasefire and implement a political
solution…”
Moving
on, recall how the JHU capitalised on the untimely death
of Ven. Gangodawila Soma Thera to establish itself in
the political firmament of this country? Soma Thero was
very popular with the Buddhist population due to his
television orations on Buddhist philosophy. His death
for all intents and purposes gave life to the JHU which
cleverly mobilised a group of monks to contest the
general election that followed soon after.
The
monks who entered parliament promising to build a
‘Dharma Rajya’ soon proved to be no better than the
laity. Duty free luxury cars, salary increments were
endorsed with glee. Soon the lustre of the saffron clan
was to wear off. The hordes that veered towards this new
party believing in the monks’ ‘Dharma Rajya’ have since
abandoned the party.
Short-lived promise
Meanwhile Udaya Gammanpila, a “star” in the JHU camp is
contesting the Western Provincial Council elections. He
started off just like his robed party members by
promising to conduct an environmentally clean election
campaign. “No cut outs, no posters,” he promised. Once
into the campaign in what is now true JHU style the
‘clean campaign’ promise also ended up in Colombo’s
mounting garbage pile. Not only cut-outs and posters, he
even carries his old school logo on them.
Be
that as it may the international community and Norway in
particular came under attack by the government after
LTTE supporters vandalised the Sri Lankan High
Commission in Oslo. Norway has for long been in the
firing line of the JVP and now the National Freedom
Front of Wimal Weerawansa, for its perceived support of
the LTTE, the latter being a handy political tool for
the government. President Rajapakse has now perfected
the art of playing ‘good cop’ and using political allies
to play ‘bad cop’ as the situation demands.
The
LTTE has time and again shot themselves in the foot, and
the Oslo incident clearly shows that old mistakes are
being repeated or the Tamil diaspora is now acting out
of concert. The strident level of protest over this
issue shows the marketing strategy of the government.
Norway’s
good offices were used even as recently as a couple of
weeks ago in seeking a way out of the civilian situation
in the north.
If one
may recall how our cricketers were targeted in Pakistan
during their tour recently, it was sheer providence that
saved the entire team. What was the level of protest by
the government against the government of Pakistan? Was
it anywhere as near as the ranting against
Norway?
Was there ever a likelihood of anyone losing life or
limb in the Oslo vandalism leave alone a national team?
This
is not to say the dastardly
Oslo
incident should not be condemned unreservedly, but are
not our cricketers national heroes or ambassadors of Sri
Lanka?
Marketing strategy
Politicians it seems have perfected the art of marketing
to the larger polity ‘packages’ that are in the main
designed to keep them in power. It is sad that the
majority too has fallen for the marketing strategy of
the Rajapakse administration and are not focusing on any
other issue than the war.
In the
meanwhile the economy is surely slowing down and the
slide has yet to bottom out. The next few months would
begin to show the true effects where job cuts, pay cuts
and the shedding of bonus payments would be the order of
the day. Though instructions are out from the
President’s Office that all new projects in ministries
should be postponed or stopped until further notice, the
ministers are in no mood to curb their expenditure. It
is business as usual.
Some
sections of the state have no option but to cut costs to
keep up with the competition. SriLankan Airlines is one.
The top management including the pilots decided to take
a pay cut of 20% and forego bonus payments to be in
competition. Certain sectors have been scrapped and even
the journey to London which was a direct flight may now
be through the Middle East with one or more stops.
Pet carrier
This
however does not mean that the other pet carrier of the
Rajapakse regime would follow suit. Having taken an
aircraft from SriLankan Airlines on a wet lease, Mihin
Air charges a passenger Rs. 15,000 return to Bangkok.
One would imagine that this would result in over
bookings and off loading of passengers. Not so. Yields
are low despite the ridiculous prices and another
bailout by the Treasury to keep it afloat won’t be long
in coming.
Certain that the economy is going to hit the people hard
in the coming months the government is going all out to
secure a favourable result in the Western Province but
it is unlikely a general election will be held this year
whatever the result in the province. With economists
comparing economic recovery in the short term to a
snowball’s chance in hell, the political gains made on
the war front would evaporate by next year and this fact
is not lost on the President. For he is all too aware
that it is in the management of the economy that the UNP
has an edge and by the time the next polls are called it
would be the economy that would be the crunch issue. The
other fact he would be aware of having been in politics
long enough is that the Sri Lankan voters do not have
more than a month’s recall. In the meanwhile the country
plods along.
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