DEMERGER OF NORTH AND EAST - NEED OF THE HOUR
The deputy secretary of state of the United States of America, Mr. Richard Armitage has come and gone. The media and the government took all the trouble to tell us that he is the highest ranking official in the state department of the USA to visit Sri Lanka. Some said that we are now on the radar screen of the USA. Is it good to be on the radar screen of the world sole super power? Are we honoured by the visit of Mr. Armitage? Who were the highest ranking Portuguese, Dutch, (French) and British officials to visit Sri Lanka or Sinhale in the days gone by? Were the citizens of this country honoured by their visits?
Mr. Armitage visited India and Pakistan also before he went back home. Unlike in the pre air travel(dash) days now these high ranking officials can visit a number of countries in Asia in a few days and go back to their desks to plan for the future, meaning the future of their countries. As a rule of thumb we could say that higher the rank of the visiting official the greater is the dependence of the "host" country on the country of the "guest". Now that Sri Lanka is on the radar screen of the USA our problems are bound to increase. The days of the Norwegian participation and indirect involvement of the USA are over and the former would be only carrying out orders of the latter with respect to Sri Lanka. Those Sri Lankans who dealt with Norway would have to take a back seat placing the new comer from cyber space, Mr. Moragoda in the driving seat. He alone would be dealing with the high ranking officials from the USA. Poor Mr. S. B. Dissanayake from Hanguranketa who did all the dirty work to topple the PA government together with the likes of Dr. G. L. Peiris from Kirula space, sorry place, would be continued to use to attack Ms. Kumaratunga if and when necessary. He would be helped by others like Dr. Rajitha Senarathna and Mr. Ravi Karunanayake but one could be certain that Mr. Moragoda would not be "involved" in "dirty" politics. Mr. Moragoda is a much more polished politician who has the unenviable task of polishing the "documents" of the high ranking officials.
There is only one thing that Mr. Armitage wants. He wants the UNP(F), the SLFP (PA) and the LTTE to work according to the plans of the USA state department. If they do not behave the way he wants then the relevant party or parties could be in trouble. Mr. Armitage has sent a strong message to Ms. Kumaratunga through Mr. Kadirgamar. The president has to cohabitate with the rest of the cabinet. However, Mr. Armitage has a lot to learn. The Sri Lankans, especially the Sinhalas have a different logic from that is used by the westerners. Only the UNP would work according to the logic of Armitage. The SLFP rank and file - not the leaders, and the JVP work outside this logic and it would become difficult for Mr. Armitage to keep track on the developments. Ms. Kumaratunga and the PA would like to come back to power and Mr. Anura Bandaranaike is waiting in the wings. The Chandrika - Mangala - Anura wing of the SLFP is involved with the JVP and it is very unlikely that the JVP would listen to Mr. Armitage. That was the reason for Mr. Ashley Wills "warning" Mr. Anura Bandaranaike of the SLFP's relationship with the JVP. The Bandaranaike-Wills clash over this "warning" may have been settled now after a dinner that Mr. Wills had with Mr. Bandaranaike and his close relatives but it could be said that Mr. Wimal Weerawansa is not a respecter of the table manners of the Americans. The party of 1956 and the party of children of fifty six would have to work out a policy on how to deal with the high ranking officials who air dash to Sri Lanka, and their boot polishers.
In the meantime the other wing of the SLFP headed by Mr. Mahinda Rajapaksa has launched a Sunday newspaper attacking Mr. Moragoda in its lead story of the first issue. Why should the newspaper that has taken an "anti jathivadi" line to attack the "jathivadins" meaning of course the Sinhala nationalists, go out of the way to attack Mr. Moragoda who is after all the enlightened person of the twenty first century Sri Lankan politics and the angel of peace, in its very first issue? Did somebody say "deekirata ballaluth saakki"?
The UNF is determined to bring the eighteenth amendment to the constitution to curtail the powers of the president. They want to make sure that the parliament is not dissolved after December, claiming that the dissolution of the parliament would throw a spanner on the so-called peace process. We do not know what Mr. Armitage thinks about the eighteenth amendment but if anybody could stop the dissolution of the country and the state even by dissolving the parliament it would be a most welcome move. If the parliament cannot save the country from being dissolved then it deserved to be dissolved. Surely the country comes before the parliament. However, the government has other objectives. What is envisaged through the eighteenth amendment is a two third majority for the government. It may be that the LTTE has demanded an assurance from the government that the "interim administration" would function at least for a few years without any obstacles. Such an assurance could be given only if the government is strong in terms of parliamentary numbers. It is interesting to note that the London based "Tamil Guardian", the organ of the LTTE, has welcomed the eighteenth amendment. It has said "Wickremesinghe's decision.....is a welcome one." and has gone on to warn the government. "However it is unlikely that Kumaratunga is going to readily accept a reduction of her office , and the UNF, were it to fail to pass the amendment , will undoubtedly find itself seeking a stronger mandate from the voters." Mr. Armitage (Mr. Wills) probably wants the president to refrain from "throwing spanners at the peace process", and cohabitate instead, by establishing the "interim administration" legally and rendering the two third majority the government requires.
In the meantime the president has appointed a presidential commission to inquire into the incidents connected with the "Millennium City" army unit. The exposure and finally the dissolution of this unit is the biggest betrayal in the last few centuries and even if Mr. Lokubandara is of the opinion that the presidential commissions cannot hang even a dead rat, a commission would be most welcome at this stage. As Dr. G. L. Peiris used to say there should be transparency and the people are entitled to know who was behind this betrayal, even if nobody would be hung. Mr. Lokubandara might say that it is a case of "leda malath bada sudda vela" but even if the patient is dead a post mortem has to be carried out so that we would know what went wrong with the patient and the doctors. However, this post mortem exercise would undoubtedly work against the cohabitation, and as the high ranking officials would be concerned with it there would be obstacles to it from the very beginning.
Why is the super power so much concerned about cohabitation? If somebody were to say that the super powers are always concerned with the welfare of countries such as Sri Lanka I would not believe him or her. It is a case of farewell to the countries and their cultures and not one of welfare and we have to be very concerned with the air dashes of the high ranking officials. The Sinhala people have not given power to any party and that is the way they want it. That is the logic, yes I would say the Sinhala logic, (Aristotelean logic is only one type of logics, that is not valid in the case of differentiation at a point in Mathematics and also in Quantum Physics.) behind the results of the last general election. The answer to the question does the UNF has the power is no. Similarly the answer to the question whether the PA has the power is also no. Neither the UNF nor the PA has the power. Both the UNF and the PA are powerless and this country could be saved only by not giving power to any of these two parties, at present. A cohabitation is sought by the western powers so that the power could be given to these parties, in effect to the UNF, to fulfil the aspirations of the Tamil racists.
However, there are factors that go against a cohabitation. Even if the USA forces the leaders of the SLFP to cohabitate, it would not be easy to drown the rank and file of the SLFP in "Yuga Dekmas" and other tamashas organised by the government. The "Yuga Dekma" in Trincomalee saw (Dekma is to see) Dr. G. L. Peiris being cornered by Mr. Bogollagama the non cabinet minister looking after the industries. I can only feel sorry for Dr. Bandula Perera who is in between the devil and the deep blue sea. While going for the "Yuga Dekma" Mr. S. B. Dissanayake saw the light (is it at the end of the tunnel) and turned back and went home, when he realised that he would not be given the position in the UNP that he had demanded in order to join that party. Those who left the PA to join the UNF are left high and dry without much power. Mr. Dissanayake, together with few others, as mentioned earlier have been entrusted with the job of attacking Ms. Chandrika Kumaratunga, causing problems for cohabitation.
"Yuga Dekma" was indeed a "dekma of a yugaya" and helped us to see the era that would dawn if the LTTE is handed over the northern and the eastern provinces. Whoever coined the term "Yuga Dekma" must have had the rare insight that is attributed to very creative people. I hope that he or she would not lose the job as a result. What is not reported in the mainstream media is that on the final day Sinhala songs were not sung (various excuses are now given for this) and the demand by the Sinhala youth for Sinhala songs led to a clash between some factions of the crowd. As a result some Sinhala youth have been arrested (do not expect any Tamils to be arrested) and the shops owned by the Sinhalas were closed demanding the release of the arrested youth. It is generally known that even at state functions in the north neither the national flag nor the national anthem are allowed. "Yuga Dekma" showed us what would happen finally when the eastern province comes under the dominance of the Jaffna Tamils whether they are of Hindu Vellala or Christian Karaivar variety.
The eastern province is the key to the problem and it is understood that already some MPs of the Sri Lanka Muslim Congress have given a letter to the prime minister requesting him separate the eastern province from the northern province. These two provinces were amalgamated by Mr. J. R. Jayawardhane when he was the president of the country and though a referendum was promised on this important question nothing has happened so far. It is time to declare that the eastern province is a separate province for the purpose of provincial councils under the thirteenth amendment and appoint a separate governor for that province. The president has the power to do so and it is increasingly becoming clear that the northern and the eastern provinces cannot cohabitate under Mr. Armitage, sorry the same governor.
Professor Nalin de Silva
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