The dirtiest secret pact of all

It's a measure of her own servility that she can face a white called Sebestian, but can't face a Sri Lankan who is willing to give her some hard talk as well. But then, feudal people were always the most servile. It's hard to get that trademark servility off your genes.

The latest in the Kumaratunga repertoire of lies is that a "vote for Ranil is a vote for Prabhakaran.'' But sadly, this seems to be the only election manthra of the People's Alliance. The PA propaganda machine seems to have got stuck at this point, save for a few rather lame attempts at taking on G. L. Peiris on his definition of "cohabitation'' and all that.

But this Tiger canard needs to be taken head-on. The latest is that the US seems to have a secret pact with Chandrika. When I say it is secret, it is secret, so Ashley Wills, don't ask me for the details. The Tiger canard, to put it succinctly, is all part of this larger secret pact.

Only Wickramabahu Karunaratne seems to have at least an inkling of the real nexus that threatens the nation at these elections. In the good old days, Washington somehow made a pretence of not interfering in the internal affairs of a nation.

But Pax Americana has become too unwieldy for basic courtesies anymore. Besides, America these days is madman incarnate. 

The Americans seem to need to create havoc in this country. Ashley Wills first threatened to use his good offices earlier to get the PA and UNP together, when the PA seemed to be on the verge of collapse.

In this election, the Americans seem determined to see Chandrika Kumaratunga's People's Alliance continue in power. That's the dirtiest secret pact of all; but only Wickramabahu seems to have the gumption to mention these things even in passing.

Rohan Ponniah — whose overacting is not confined to stage one might say – almost danced and pranced his way and threw some questions, and in his over-enthusiasm, a lot of warm spittle too, at Ashley Wills in an interview aired last week. Ashley Wills has taken to hectoring everybody about terrorism and how it needs to be contained.

If he has a grasp of the history of his country, he will know that terrorism began there, with the founding fathers. First the Indians were terrorized. (Who invented scalp hunting?) Then the blacks, the Chicanos, the Chinese, and as late as WW2, the Japanese. Blacks were terrorized in the 60's until the state somehow sanitized them and started calling them Afro Americans. Now often they are terrorized as Afro Americans. 200 and some years later, Ashley Wills wants to contain terrorism. And he calls the WTC attacks the worst crime perpetrated on the people in his land!

Pity Ponniah can't give Ashley Wills some hard talk. But then, this was not an interview – it was a live demonstration of histrionics.

So anyway, Ashley Wills, not so shy about getting his fingers in the pie anymore, is slowly onto the process of subverting the Sri Lankan state, for the umpteenth time, it has to be mentioned. As it is now well known, and almost forgotten, the US tried to meddle with water-rights, virgin forests and what not, sometimes with success, and sometimes without.

But, these matters are out of bounds for the sanitized political culture of our country. They are not grist to the mill of civil society, the NGO wallah, or the many self appointed guardians of the moral conscience of the nation. That sort of political culture believes in operating within the 'courteous parameters,' meaning that they will negotiate anything as long as they don't get hit where it hurts most – their wallet. In the US too, this is how things operate. The establishment tries its best to paint dissident intellectuals such as Noam Chomsky as fire-breathing eccentrics. Chomsky is painted as being "disparaging'' of democratic institutions, and as being "uncivilized.''

In this country, thanks to a more heterogeneous political culture that was witness to a heritage of Marxists and Leninists being in government etc., it is more difficult to paint dissidents out of the picture in this way.

But, the trick here has been to divert attention. Talk about the Tiger UNP canard, and the larger more insidious conspiracy gets submerged. It's time these things were brought out in the open. It's time the UNP threw down the gauntlet, and exposed what machinations are going-on behind the curtains to keep a corrupt dispensation in power. For whose benefit? Please ask A.Wills, will you.