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SJB must reveal ‘social contract’ endorsed by Sajith, Fonseka, and Patali

07 Dec 2021

BY Amrit Muttukumaru We Sri Lankans are born suckers due to our gullibility worsened by a short attention span. Our politicians since independence have confirmed this. Promises by politicians over the years include bringing rice even from the moon, a “dharmishta (righteous)” society, capitalism with a “human face”, and a “yahapalana (good governance)” administration. Cutting across all this is the perennial promise by all politicians for a corruption-free administration with transparency and accountability. It is superfluous to articulate how all this has turned out. The parlous state of the country, for which all administrations since independence bear responsibility – some more than others, tells its own story.  In the context of the prevailing widespread anger and frustration due to the missteps of the present regime, which could be considered worse than what prevailed on the eve of the 2015 Presidential Election, a replay of the incompetence and duplicity shown by the 2015 Yahapalana Government is a possibility. This time it will be through former United National Party (UNP) members now in the Samagi Jana Balawegaya (SJB).  Many of them, including SJB Leader Sajith Premadasa, held key positions in the Yahapalana Government. The possibility of the UNP’s “leader-for-life” Ranil Wickremesinghe being part of the mix cannot be ruled out in the context of the utterings of his cousin Ruwan Wijewardene. One front-page report in November 2021 about a common Opposition quoted Wijewardene as saying: “Some ministers are currently talking to our Leader Wickremesinghe. He is a capable leader who could build up the nation.” Further derailing the prospects of the SJB are factors such as the banner headline of another newspaper in November about the foreign exchange crisis and power cuts quoting Ranil, which again provide a boost for Wickremesinghe. Rerun by SJB yahapalanists A rerun by SJB’s yahapalanists is a possibility even if all that the electorate hears from them is the usual pie-in-the-sky promises of politicians. The ground reality today presents a rare opportunity, for those who really have the interest of the country at heart and not their self interest for power at any cost, to “educate” the voters on what needs to be done to get this country moving in the right direction.   J.R. Jayewardene in 1977, Chandrika Bandaranaike Kumaratunga in 1994, and the 2015 Yahapalana Government, in which SJB leaders figured prominently, having the support of significant sections of the majority and minority communities, squandered such an opportunity.   There is no better example of broken yahapalana promises than the outrage of SJB Parliamentarians Dr. Harsha de Silva and Eran Wickramaratne at a press conference in the run up to the 2015 Presidential Election, over casino, drug, and ethanol mafias. They are projected as the economic “brain trust” of the SJB. This outrage did not prevent the Yahapalana Government in which these two gentlemen figured prominently to propose dubious foreign direct investment (FDI) projects such as the $ 3.85 billion oil refinery in Hambantota and the 2017 Volkswagen vehicle assembly plant in Kuliyapitiya, which turned out to be a hoax. To prick the collective conscience of the SJB leaders, given below is the abuse of power and corruption they tolerated, or possibly even participated in, during their active time in the 2015 Yahapalana Government. Placing the entire blame on the then President Maithripala Sirisena and then Prime Minister and incumbent UNP Leader Wickremesinghe is disingenuous. Will SJB leaders Premadasa, Patali Champika Ranawaka, Field Marshal Sarath Fonseka, and others bite the bullet and act as statesmen/stateswomen and place national interest prior to their own self interest to attain political power at any cost? This is why a “social contract” with the people is a necessity right now, endorsed by the SJB leaders. SJB and money laundering  1) The hypocrisy of the SJB, and to some extent the Janatha Vimukthi Peramuna (JVP), is stark in the petitions they filed in the Supreme Court through SJB MP Wickramaratne and JVP Political Bureau member Sunil Handunnetti, alleging that the Sri Lanka Podujana Peramuna (SLPP)-proposed Finance Bill encourages money laundering.  2) Did not the Yahapalana Government, in which SJB leaders figured prominently and the JVP supported, in effect facilitate money laundering when it repealed the Exchange Control Act No. 24 of 1953 and brought into law the new Foreign Exchange Act No. 12 of 2017? The new law certified on 28 July 2017 became effective from 20 November 2017. Wickramaratne, who is now very concerned about money laundering, was the State Finance Minister from May 2017.  3) A precursor to the dangerous yahapalana-inspired Foreign Exchange Act was the “invitation” issued by the then Finance Minister Ravi Karunanayake through India’s The Hindu of 5 October 2015 to “Sri Lankans and Indians who had to take back their deposits from banks in Switzerland to place their funds in Sri Lanka”.  He had further assured that “No questions would be asked”. SJB and Bond Scam 1) The egregious Central Bank Bond Scam was unleashed on the country under the watch of not only then Premier Wickremesinghe, who was Policy Planning and Economic Affairs Minister, but also a host of SJB stalwarts which include economist Dr. de Silva, who was the Policy Planning and Economic Affairs Deputy Minister under Wickremesinghe. Readers can gauge Dr. de Silva’s obvious embarrassment when responding to a question from a journalist on his controversial “footnotes” in the Committee on Public Enterprises (COPE) report in respect of the Bond Scam. Should not Dr. de Silva, possibly the Finance Minister in the event of a future SJB-dominated Government, clarify matters in this regard? 2) It is also noteworthy that both the JVP and the Tamil National Alliance (TNA) continued to politically support the Yahapalana Government despite the Bond Scam and its responsibility for the April 2019 Easter Sunday carnage – for both of which there is still no accountability. The incumbent Rajapaksa-led presidency and Government pussyfooting on the accountability for these two outrages is proof that “the more things change, the more they stay the same!” SJB and minorities Although the main issue keeping this country down is the absence of social peace largely due to the minorities being debilitated since independence, the 2015 Yahapalana Government, even with the TNA on board, merely paid lip service to minority issues. Should not the Yahapalana Government in which SJB leaders figured prominently have “educated” and created “awareness” among the public on the need for national unity? Take for example the creation of the “Office on Missing Persons (OMP)”, touted as a major achievement of the yahapalana in minority affairs, particularly for Tamils. This is what the website Groundviews has to say about the OMP: “It was meant to reduce tensions and to buy time to allow a slow process of undermining the demand for compliance with the state obligations to investigate and prosecute those responsible for these violations” (emphasis mine). Although the SJB is fully aware that it can never win a Presidential or General Election without minority support, it has still not changed track, being confident that it is the lesser of the evils for the minorities. It is foolhardy for the SJB to think that it could prevail against the SLPP on a Sinhala nationalist platform while forever paying lip service to minority grievances. All that will happen is that the status quo bleeding this country will continue with more dangerous consequences. Should not TNA leaders like M.A. Sumanthiran, who scream from the rooftops about human rights and good governance, be ashamed of themselves for supporting the Yahapalana Government through thick and thin, including the egregious Bond Scam? When people of his calibre conduct themselves in this manner, what hope can this country have? Derailing the SJB  The first salvo with the potential to derail the prospects of an SJB-led administration under Premadasa was fired by a certain newspaper. It is alleged (not denied) that Wickremesinghe had gone to the Temple Trees on 9 January 2015 in the company of Thirukumar Nadesan (husband of former MP Nirupama Rajapaksa) to meet then-President Mahinda Rajapaksa, in the context of Rajapaksa losing the just concluded Presidential Election being a foregone conclusion. Under the circumstances, the headline on a national newspaper in November 2021, unfavourable to the electoral prospects of the SJB, quoting Prof. Rohan Gunaratne, is not a surprise. This has the potential to drive fear into the psyche of the country’s Sinhala Buddhist, Christian, and other communities due to security concerns.  No matter what, the SJB will be hard pressed to overcome the advantage (President) Gotabaya Rajapaksa and (Prime Minister) Mahinda Rajapaksa have in the mindset of the majority community to provide national security in the context of the duo being given most of the credit for defeating the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE). Apart from this, did not the Easter Sunday carnage take place under the watch of the Yahapalana Government in which SJB Leader Premadasa and other SJB stalwarts played a prominent role? Ruwan and Easter attacks It is pertinent to state that not even the Cardinal is seeking accountability from Ruwan Wijewardene for his share of responsibility for the Easter Sunday carnage when he was State Defence Minister during the entire period of the Yahapalana Government. Even if he was kept away from some meetings of the National Security Council (NSC), are we expected to believe that Wijewardene did not have knowledge of the attack even to the extent of SJB MP Harin Fernando’s hospitalised father?  Apart from this, is it not reasonable to surmise that investigative journalists would have tipped him off?  Why are only Hemasiri Fernando – the then Defence Ministry Secretary – and some others in the defence establishment being held accountable, while the State Defence Minister is mollycoddled? Why is SJB stalwart Field Marshal Sarath Fonseka silent on this issue? Sajith’s timidity If the SJB wishes to be taken seriously as the “Government in waiting”, it better conduct itself in this manner. What is the signal the SJB Leader Premadasa gives the national electorate with the following moves. 1) When he gets the SJB Parliamentary group to adopt a “vote of confidence” in him. 2) When he takes on board Dr. Dayan Jayatilleka as his Advisor of International Affairs when, until quite recently, he was for many years, a strong supporter of former President Mahinda Rajapaksa and his policies. 3) One is at a loss to fathom what SJB frontliners Dr. de Silva and Wickramaratne stand for, when they are pictured with Dr. Jayatilleka at the time Premadasa made the appointment. 4) When SJB National Organiser Tissa Attanayake’s daughter is appointed to a diplomatic post in Australia by the incumbent Government it hopes to succeed. 5)  Previously on the eve of the January 2015 Presidential Election, this very same SJB National Organiser exited the UNP under controversial circumstances and supported the candidature of Mahinda Rajapaksa. 6) Premadasa meekly accepted being characterised in a certain newspaper as the “son of the mass murderer”. It is such weakness in leadership that has emboldened SJB MP Champika Ranawaka to boldly state at an interview with reference to his 43rd Brigade: “We think of future politics beyond the scope of the SJB.” By no stretch of the imagination is this writer expecting Premadasa to be an autocrat. What is being espoused is that apart from being principled and a good listener, he must exude confidence in himself. The “confidence” aspect is clearly deficient. Conclusion As stated, the ground reality today presents a rare opportunity for those who really have the interest of the country at heart and not their self interest for power at any cost to “educate” the voters on what needs to be done to get this country moving in the right direction. The question is – will the leaders of the alternative Government in waiting led by the SJB eschew the usual pie-in-the-sky promises and act as statesmen/stateswomen? Their past record is dismal. Will SJB leaders, in particular – Premadasa, Champika Ranawaka, and Field Marshal Fonseka – rise to the challenge and present a cohesive social contract to the people in which national unity figures prominently? Does not realpolitik suggest that the SJB seriously consider having the JVP on board in a joint Opposition formation subject to a principled common platform? After all, the JVP did figure prominently and support the Yahapalana Government. It is hoped that both the SJB yahapalanists and the JVP will eschew the downside of yahapalana. (The writer is a public interest activist) The views and opinions expressed in this article are those of the author, and do not necessarily reflect those of this publication.


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