THE SLFP WILL DECIDE
According to the state media the President has been given the green light by the Indian government to establish the JM alias PTOMS. We do not know how green is the Indian green these days especially in the south where not much rain is experienced. However, what is important is that Sri Lanka, though a sovereign state in theory , cannot take a decision on its own without being advised, pressurised or whatever, by India and the western countries that include Japan which is a political puppet of the west. It is clear that the President is under pressure - a very mild term to be used considering the enormous arm twisting exercise that go behind the smiles and handshakes before the camera - from all these countries that sometime play Hyde and Jekyll or "reta Migel davalta Daniel".
Even without the pressure the President is for PTOMS, having followed the policies of the Sri Lanka Mahajana Party (SLMP), and not of the SLFP, even during the time she was in the SLFP, before the former party was formed. With the west applying pressure on the government she is determined to establish the PTOMS to the detriment of the SLFP. As we have mentioned in these columns if she signs the document on PTOMS it would be the next Presidential candidate of the SLFP who would have to suffer as in such an event, the JVP would not only contest the Presidential election on their own but would not give the second preferences to the SLFP candidate.
The process that Ms. Kumaratunga would commence by establishing the PTOMS would bring disaster to the SLFP. The SLFP though the leaders are ex Marxists, ex Socialists, ex Liberals, etc., is the party of the Sinhalathva, and many sympathisers of the party would turn towards the JVP, and to a smaller extent to the JHU. The SLFP would end up as another small party like the SLMP, LSSP, CPSL, NSSP, Kamkaru Mawatha, and the plethora of groups such as X, Hiru, Diyesa, which have been aptly described by Mr. Anura Bandaranaike as the three wheeler parties. It is very unlikely that Mr. Anura Bandaranaike would like to see the party his father founded and his mother led ending up like the party and the group (Janavegaya) his one time brothers in law were instrumental in establishing. It is known in political circles that Mr. Bandaranaike is more national minded than his sisters, and is believed to follow the policies of his parents when the sisters are not inclined to do so.
Mr. Mahinda Rajapakse, who according to some, would be the next Presidential candidate of the SLFP, is silent on the PTOMS. He had said on an earlier occasion that he was not aware of the contents of the draft agreement on the PTOMS, and thus was unable to comment on it. When people such as Mr. Kumar Rupasinghe of Janavegaya and Tanzania (in)fame, talk on three tire structure of PTOMS, Mr. Mahinda Rajapakse claims that he is unaware of the contents of the agreement. If that is so, then it is not good for Mr. Rajapakse who is the Prime Minister of the country. It seems that either the Prime Minister is being phased out due to some extraneous reasons or that he is trying to avoid the issue.
Mr. Rajapakse may be trying to be non committal in order to obtain the support of the nationalists as well as the NGO pundits, agents and the other Tamil racists who have gathered around him. Mr. Rajapakse will have to come out and speak either in favour or against the PTOMS. If he does not nobody would support him. He cannot win all people pretending to be neutral in this matter. Either he has to give leadership to a nationalistic SLFP or has to go down the abyss with a SLFP that follows the SLMP policies. Mr. Rajapakse should know that the days are numbered and a decision has to be made soon.
The SLFP members at least by now should be thinking hard on the so called leadership that Ms. Chandrika Kumaratunga is giving to the SLFP. She has only hijacked the party, of course with the support of some former SLMP and Bahujana Party members, and is only following the political line of her late husband who was anti Sinhala Buddhist, and the west that dictate terms to her. Does anyone except some of her henchmen and henchwomen consider it as giving leadership to the party of Sinhalathva?
As the minister Mangala Samaraweera who seems to be pragmatic from the point of power appears to have said, the SLFP MPs will have to take a decision soon whether to support the PTOMS or face another general election. If Ms. Kumaratunga is allowed to get the leadership from the west and their NGO agents, the JVP is certain to leave the government. There may be some who would say that it would pave the way for the UNP to come to power. If Ms. Kumaratunga is allowed to establish PTOMS there is no difference between the UNP and the SLFP, and it would not make any difference whether a SLFP government or a UNP government is in power. The JVP going alone would win the nationalistic elements to the party and soon the SLFP would be another SLMP or a LSSP in terms of the votes it could poll at an election.
The SLFP members, especially those who were elected as MPs for the first time last year, would have to forgo their pensions and other privileges as a result of establishing the PTOMS. It is very unlikely that they would win at the next general election as SLFP candidates, and unless they cross over their political lives will come to an end. People such as Mr. Dilan Perera who cannot be considered as a Sinhala Buddhist by any stretch of imagination, have nothing to lose as they would be rewarded by their masters and mistresses in the west. It is the ordinary SLFP MP who comes from the village and who knows only the traditional SLFP politics who would have to suffer as a result of establishing the PTOMS. For them it is a question of deciding between the PTOMS and the "sandhanaya" government.
Even if the Indian green is very bright and the western support is very strong it is the ordinary SLFP member who would finally decide the course of action that the SLFP would take. If the SLFP is prepared to tolerate the so called leadership provided by Ms. Kumaratunga then it would be the end of the party. On the other hand if the SLFP in consultation with the JVP and the MEP decides on a different leadership, and more importantly on a presidential candidate who would speak openly against the PTOMS and betraying the country to Solheims and others who come from the west, and takes a principled stand to oppose and defeat the LTTE, then the "sandhanaya" government would continue without much problems, after sending off Ms. Chandrika Kumaratunga to UK from where she came with the intention of ruining the SLFP and the country about thirteen years ago.
It is obvious that the LTTE is continuing with the "war" in spite of the so called MoU. In fact one could argue that the MoU was a license given to the LTTE to engage in "war" against the Sri Lankan Army, while confining the armed forces to the barricades. The LTTE goes on killing intelligence officers and others while the government is doing nothing. The "Janadhipahidasa" and others in the media would blame the UNP for the Millennium city fiasco and then keep silent. If the government thinks that the MoU is an obstacle to take action against the LTTE then they should declare it null and void. After all it is a document signed between the leader of the UNP and the leader of the LTTE under the auspices of the Norwegians led by Solheim, the present day Doily, and should be torn into pieces.
One would interrupt and say that none of the above is practical, and would remind of the tsunami "aid" that was promised in Kandy. It is this mentality that has made the Sinhala people the spineless dependents that they are. The Brahmins of western Christian modernity have the intellectual leadership not because of any superiority of their intellects - they may have obtained their degrees, post graduate degrees and so called higher doctorates from the western universities, but then millions have obtained such qualifications over the years and there is nothing to brag about them - but due the western cultural imperialism that goes with western Christian modernity, and they have been advocating the western line that we are supposed to adopt in respect of so called development. To hell with aid and stand on our legs should be the slogan of the Sinhala people, and at the same time they should be able to lead simple lives without going after the consumerism that has been imposed by the western modernity. In any event we should realise that we do not get more than twenty percent of the "aid" that is given, in effective terms, as the rest goes back to the donor countries and the foreign bank accounts of the "commissioners".
The LTTE can be defeated in spite of the preaching from the altar by the peace brahmins of western modernity, and any patriotic officer in the armed forces would vouch for that. There is no rationale for giving the LTTE, PTOMS on a platter and certainly the so called peace of the peace brahmins is not a reason for establishing PTOMS that would pave the way for an Eelam. Would the SLFP follow Ms. Chandrika Kumaratunga into the political abyss via PTOMS?
Professor Nalin de Silva
>
>
>