Political Column  

A new chemistry to solve an old problem?
By Our Political Editor
Will the Tiger or won't the Tiger? Professor G. L. Peiris, speaking to this column says he is more optimistic than the previous occasions and says there is every indication that the LTTE is ''looking more seriously'' at the government's proposals for an Interim (Provisional) Administration for the North and the East.

For the moment the fire and thunder has come from the Southern side of the divide. Minister Peiris's ex-Cabinet colleague, former Foreign Minister Lakshman Kadirgamar said ''we wake up every morning and learn that we (the PA) have to go and sit in the Interim Council. That whole approach is wrong. It is discourteous.'' He also said that the powers that will be conferred on the Provisional/Interim council are missing in one document -- the one that was sent to the President as opposed to the one that was scooped by The Sunday Times.

This was after Minister G. L. Peiris said at the Cabinet press briefing on Thursday that ''what was different in the document were a few dots and commas.'' But the PA in a statement thundered ''how did very serious discrepancies arise?''

Minister G. L. Peiris now will conduct a media briefing first thing Monday morning, to clarify the issues raised by the PA. Asked whether the PA outright rejected the Interim/Provisional Proposals, Minister Peiris says it cannot be construed that way.

He says the PA's reaction does not amount to a rejection -- it was only an exercise he says, of the Opposition seeking clarifications. But he says, it is a distortion of the facts to say that the Interim proposals (or the proposals for what is called a Provisional administration) are a ''cart before the horse exercise'' of granting an Interim before the final proposals are wrapped up. He says these distortions will be placed before the media at Monday's briefing, where "the public can be the judge for themselves of the correct situation..''

The President appointed a three-man Committee of Kadirgamar, Susil Premjayanth and Nimal Siripala De Silva, to study the proposals. But, Kadirgamar appeared to be doing all the work. ("Kadira Koranawa'' Mahinda Rajapakse said last week.)
Kadirgamar said, "The most significant substantive discrepancy between the two documents comes in the paragraph dealing with the powers and functions of the proposed Council." He noted that in the document published by The Sunday Times, it says "the powers and functions as are at present being exercised and performed by the Government in respect of regional administrations, 'except in the areas of police, security, land and revenue', are vested in the Council."

Studying the document
"In the document sent to the President by the Prime Minister as a confidential communication, the words 'except in the areas of police, security, land and revenue' were missing'', he said. "In other words, in the second document even those powers are vested in the Council, not in the central government. How did this very serious discrepancy arise? And which document is the LTTE studying?" questioned Kadirgamar.

But he also brought up issues that need to be further analysed. Does this flare-up between the PA and the government over 'discrepancies'' and ''discourtesy'' strike at the core of the problem, or not? In other words, aren't these situations symptomatic of the kind of divisive political culture that has kept the Lankan problem from being solved for such a long time?

Before coming to that analysis, there were also other questions to be answered. Was it an inspired leak, the leak of the Provisional proposals even as the Prime Minister sent the same documents (of course with the now famous 'discrepancies'') saying it is confidential in nature?

There is a certain "political culture'' in Sri Lanka's political history in which the Opposition basically sees any government proposal aimed at solving the national issue as a red flag seen by a bull. It has been said over and over, that it is this kind of politics that always stood between peace and war in this country.

Are there indications now that this kind of politics is over -- or is being at least under reconsideration -- or is it more of the same more red flags and more bulls?
At the SLFP Central Committee meeting earlier this week, the President cautioned frontline advisor and friend Mangala Samaraweera against being too emotive in his reaction to the Interim/Provisional Council proposals which was characterised by Samaraweera as the '' biggest sell-out in this island since Don Juan Dharmapala.''

The President uttered some home truths. She said the PA, under no less a person than Samaraweera's direction, went on the same track once upon a time. She said the PA launched Sudu Nelums and Thawalamas, and asked that the Sinhala Commission Report be deposited in the dustbin of history. But when things failed, there is no point in being emotional now when others are going down the same track we went, she said.

Empathy
A heralding of a new political culture? Or is it just a brief moment of empathy for the new government, in remembrance of one’s own tortured past? Is there more reconciliation, and more identification with each other between the two major political players, the government and the Opposition? Or is there more skulduggery, more cloak and dagger?

Cloak and dagger is more like it, some may say, though that will not necessarily be the last word. Mangala Samaraweera paid a visit to adversary S. B. Dissanayake last week, when he learnt of the now notorious SB shouting match with the boys of the Treasury for being miserly with the funds voted for his Ministry. But Mangala's pitch was that SB should close ranks with the Opposition, seek a political return to Opposition ranks, and stage another putsch to bring down the government. Reports are that SB was not playing, but that Mangala Samaraweera has vowed not to quit his campaign to bring down the UNP one way or another.

There were other political meetings among old friends on various sides of the divide. As reported last week, Sanath Gunatilleke was meeting the President, of course mainly to discuss matters to do with the Lester James Peiris felicitation to be held this week at President's House. But also, there were much more politically upscale meetings between old friends and old political animals.

One was when Minister Rauff Hakeem, the man primarily responsible for the fall of the last PA government met the President at President's house to discuss ''Amity schools'' where children of all nationalities will be accommodated in schools comprising mixed race children. English will be the medium of instruction in these Amity schools, and they were of course the President's idea.

There will be amity in the schools but will there be amity in the country - - for instance will there be amity between the President and Hakeem, and Hakeem and his fellow Muslim politicians? All was a question mark, but there certainly seemed a new chemistry between the government and the opposition. There seemed to be a new chemistry between the government and the LTTE as well -- with the LTTE, as Minister Peiris says expending a new-found energy in perusing the proposals for a Provisional Administration.

But will all this chemistry turn out to be good or bad in the end? For the moment all that could be said was that something a little unusual was happening between President and government, if not Opposition and government. Even Professor G. L. Peiris was asked by the President to drop-by and she did have discussions with him, even though the substance of those discussions are not known.

Apart from all that, the main question of course -- not forgotten by any stretch of imagination -- was whether the LTTE will accept the Interim (Provisional Administration) proposals mooted by the Sri Lankan government.

The LTTE seemed to have been given a fair bargain, and one sign of it was that the first complainants were not the LTTE but others. NGO operatives were complaining that the provisions for the NGOs to spend money were little ( they should have said to 'make money'') because the proposals gave the LTTE majority council a good deal of leeway in spending on matters related to those other than security, police and revenue.

The government's proposals were with flexibility in mind which is why an entirely new set of proposals were grafted onto the old concept of Interim Council, of course which was part of the Kumaratunga package proposals. The six month review provision etc,., which enables additions and modifications to the Interim/ Provisional administration was all an indication that the government did not want to be trammelled by one document or one set of proposals, but was going on the principle that maximum flexibility is needed to solve a problem that is Hydra headed, and is eternally sprouting new variations of old problems.

Doing what he has to do
Minister Milinda Moragoda may not be the point man in the peace process anymore, with a lot of the functions with regard to the Interim/Provisional council being handled by Professor G. L. Peiris with his superior knowledge of the law. But not to be outdone, Milinda Moragoda's public profile is not suffering. He opened several Grama Niladhari offices in his electorate last week, with funds from the Publicity allocation for the Development Lottery. This decision to use funds from that publicity allocation, was in fact taken after the President famously made a move to usurp from Moragoda the functions of the National Lotteries Board.

Last week also saw Moragoda getting embroiled in another curious parliamentary situation. The Minister was asked by MP Atula Jayasinghe why the NLB lotteries were given to an Indian company for printing without a call for fresh tenders. The Minister had his answer ready which was that the Indian's charge less per lottery printed.

But when it came to answer time, Jeyaraj Fernadopulle intervened to say that the Minister cannot answer that question as the NLB was now under the President's purview. The Speaker had to eventually rule on the matter, and he ruled that he had no communication to the effect that officially the President was in fact in charge.
He allowed Moragoda to answer the question, which he did. There may be a new political chemistry but the old chemistry also continues….

OTHER ISSUES: Minister Karu Jayasuriya said that the thermal power plant in Trincomalee should go head, and that there has been a concerted effort to construct the power plant without inflicting major environmental damage.

* The Prime Minister intervened when Minister Ravi Karunanayake told him that the Treasury has been standing in the way of a duty free vehicle purchase for the World Trade Centre. An irate PM told Treasury officials that approved disbursements cannot be tampered with.

* A seven-member committee was appointed to look into Muslim representation in the Interim Council for the North and East. Though Ferial Ashraff approved these proposals the two SLMC rebel MPs Athaullah and Musthapa boycotted the meeting.


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