The Bandaranaike union and the snubs in London
By Our Political Editor
Since mankind fought wars in the primitive era with bows, arrows and spears many things have changed. In this new millennium such weapons have been replaced by lethal assault rifles with laser guided systems and other state of the art weaponry. If pigeons were the only mode of communications then, it is now pocket sized digital, encrypted systems. In other words, the enemy had no way of snooping into what you are saying.

All these have revolutionized mankind. Sophisticated technology has not only taught them the better art of survival but also how to defeat an enemy with ease. In all this, queer enough, the primitive pigeon has not been discarded. At least not the white species. If their coloured mates formed a part of the primitive armoury for wars to carry messages - the Swiss Army only very recently disbanded their special Pigeon (Signals) Corps unit - the white have become the symbols of peace world-wide.

Yet, it is not customary for Sri Lankans to see these white pigeons in flight on every occasion. They are reminded of that eternal symbol mostly during Christmas or New Year's eve in media advertisements. White pigeons in flight accompany those lovely lines that speak of the dawn of an era of peace or promote the sale of the stuff that cheers.

But this was one of those real occasions. The scene was Kukuleganga, the homestead of legendary warrior, Veediya Bandara or Prince Veediya of the Kotte period. It was morning on Saturday (June 12). Gathered on that soil where the prince had battled Seethawaka Rajasinghe, Maya Dunne and even the Portuguese were some powerful politicians and military men.

There was Ratnasiri Wickremanayake, former Prime Minister and now Minister of Law and Order, Buddha Sasana and Deputy Minister of Defence. His colleague, Power and Energy Minister Susil Premajayantha was on hand.

Chief of Defence Staff and Army Commander, Lionel Balagalle. Vice Admiral Daya Sandagiri (Navy) and Air Marshal Donald Perera (Air Force) - the three top most men in the security establishment and their seniors were there. So was Police Chief, Indra Silva.

There was also another powerful military man in the world - Commanding General of the United States Pacific Army Lieutenant General James L. Campbell. This US General's area of responsibility covers more than half the earth's surface - from the west coast of US mainland to east coast of Africa; from the Arctic to Antarctic; including the states of Alaska and Hawaii. It traverses 16 time zones.

The occasion - the opening of a United Nations backed Peace Support Operations Training Centre. Hundreds of officers and men from US, Nepal, Mongolia, Bangladesh and Sri Lanka were also taking part in "Sama Gamana" - an exercise in training troops for peace keeping.

The ceremony began in true clockwork military tradition. The VIPS one next to the other. A Military Policeman delicately placed in their hand a dove each. The chief guest, Wickremanayake was on his first official engagement. As he clasped a white pigeon gently with both hands, he turned to Lt. Gen. Balagalle and remarked "Merila Wagey Neyda (looks dead). Shot back the Army Chief "Uda daanda. Piyaambai. (Send it up. It will fly).

That is what Ratnasiri Wickremanayake did. But the pigeon went up and was falling down. In the true style of a cricketer, he stretched his arms and caught the lifeless bird. The white pigeon was dead. The 71 year old veteran politician was ashen. In distraught he looked at the others next to him as he handed over the poor creature to an official behind him. Equally distraught was Lt. Gen. Balagalle who thought the white pigeon, like the one he held, was trying to stretch its wings as if to say "let me fly away."

A hoodoo or bad omen one would say in a land where occult sciences and astrology are as revered as religion. This is not only among politicians but also with those in high positions in the armed forces. For the latter, who began every offensive during the war against Tiger guerrillas at the auspicious time, the saga continued.

The next day four American soldiers, described as reservists who served in New York, fainted from sunstroke. Three more - two Mongolian officers and a US soldier - were hit by suspected food poisoning. They were rushed to the Army Hospital. There the two officers went to a ward meant for Army officers whilst the US soldier was placed in an other rank's ward. The latter checked out and was soon receiving treatment in a private nursing home.

Fuelled by media reports, the word soon spread in political circles. Both UPFA and Opposition ranks whispered about the bad omen. They warned it was not a good sign. If the late Abraham Kovoor, the rationalist was living, he would have scoffed at the gossip. There are two things certain, life and death, he would have said.

But rationale and politics, like the scenes enacted in Parliament early this month showed, had become as distant as the North and South Poles. As one indigenous physician in Horana, the former Premier's own electorate warned, the omen was worse than encountering a black cat when one stepped out of the house to head for an important matter.

Early in the week, an infuriated Ratnasiri Wickremanayake telephoned Defence Secretary, Cyril Herath. He wanted the matter investigated to ascertain whether it was an act of wilful sabotage. The former Police Chief, adept at ordering many an inquiry, did just that. Two days of probing by a four member Army team came out with a report - " it was a grave mistake but not a wilful act ", it concluded.

Lt. Gen. Balagalle felt that explanation was not enough. On Friday morning, Wickremanayake was receiving his first briefing from military and intelligence top brass. Also present at this Defence Ministry meeting was Foreign Minister Lakshman Kadirgamar. When the meeting ended, it was Defence Secretary Herath who signalled to Wickremanayake that the Army Chief was waiting to talk to him. Lt. Gen. Balagalle then extended a personal apology over the incident.

That may have brought the curtains down on the incident, at least officially. But the reverberations it has caused not only continues but has gained momentum. Groups opposed to UPFA, who saw a bad omen in the white pigeon dropping dead said there were more forebodings for the nation. This time it was how President Chandrika Bandarnaike Kumaratunga had addressed the Nation last Saturday (June 12). They said though the State media had carried her recorded speech, they argued, it was not an address to the nation in the strictest sense. It was a recorded message broadcast more than six hours after she had left the country, a fact that was kept away from the Sri Lankans who listened to their President.

President Kumaratunga had quitely boarded an Emirates Airways flight at noon for Dubai, a four hour flight, en route to London. If it was bad omen for the superstitious, it was a complete let down for those who were not. They would have believed their President was addressing them when in fact she was awaiting her connecting flight to London in a VIP Lounge at the Dubai Airport.

In any event, it was only after what was touted as an address to the nation reached the public domain did sections of the media notice the contents of a main story in the official LTTE website. The report was a translation of a report that appeared in Viduthalai Pulikal (Liberation Tigers) May issue. It said "President Kumaratunga exhibited a climb down from her original rigid stance to take forward the peace process realistically." It pointed out that she accepted * LTTE as sole representatives of Tamils., * Agreed for the recommencement of talks from the point where they were suspended, * Accepted the CFA (Ceasefire Agreement) made with the previous government, and also, * Accepted that talks to be confined to the LTTE alone.

However, Tamilnet added "these changes in the thinking of the President made the peace talks a hopeful one. But alas, within a few days she threw in a new condition and hopes were dashed." Some excerpts from the Viduthalai Pulikal might be noted to reconcile the voice of the Tigers.

"On the face of it the President's stand may appear correct. But past experience and current political realities dictate that this new condition has within it a political duplicity, a trickery. The Sinhala regime is not even prepared to bring in place an interim administration that will facilitate normal life, development and meet urgent humanitarian needs. This initial step itself faces opposition and threats in the south of Sri Lanka.

"This situation notwithstanding the President's government is numerically weak and can be called a minority government. Realistically, the government faces dissolution at any time. In this unstable political environment, there does not exist in the Sinhala polity the space to discuss serious political matters like Tamil homeland, Tamil nationalism and Tamil self rule.

"It is therefore impractical on the one hand to discuss about two different political issues at one and the same time while it will also be a risk to the peace process. Nevertheless, the President does not seem to be perturbed over this risk for she has a totally different agenda. Linking the ISGA with permanent political resolution is a manipulative strategy to take forward the peace process for a short while and then to abort it. President's real agenda is not aimed either at interim resolution or a permanent resolution. This truth and reality dawned on the Tigers and hence their rejection of the President's suggestion.

"According to the President's devious plan if the talks recommence and meander on the funds promised in Tokyo would be delivered to the government and it can be utilized to wage a war, of course with a revitalized economy and a war-machine, against the Tamils.

"The President apparently is making use of a dilapidated timeworn strategy of cheating of the LTTE and the donor nations. It is this strategy or the duplicity that the international community and more so the donor nation should comprehend.

"The President government has been from the time of assuming power adamantly refusing to engage in or at least seemingly engage in mutual goodwill measures with the LTTE. On the other hand, the President is appointing committees to take forward the peace process while at the same time engaged in initiating mischievous international propaganda against the organization. As a direct confrontation her forces are involved in killigs in Batticaloa district.

"Weakening the LTTE, diluting the strength of Tamil nationalism, distorting Tamil unity are the areas in which the President's forces are keenly interested in". Needless to say, the reproduction of the contents of this long harangue in sections of the media shook the UPFA leadership. Bad enough, the reports were made to appear as a reaction to the so called broadcast to the nation by President Kumaratunga when, in fact, it was not so. Some UPFA leaders took comfort in the fact the comments were made before the President's pronouncements and thereafter did not give cause for worry. But to the discerning, that feeling of comfort seemed pyrrhic.

The Editor of a Tamil newspaper was in the Wanni meeting leaders of the LTTE Political Wing at the time. They all watched on tv the President's recorded speech.Thereafter, the Editor asked a senior LTTE Political Wing leader what he thought of it. He replied "we had already answered her early in the week in what we said in the Viduthalai Pulikal (Liberation Tigers).

Upon his return to Colombo, the Editor wrote an editorial in his newspaper voicing the same sentiments expressed by the LTTE. So much for some UPFA leaders, who, like the ostriches bury their heads in the sand.

But it was not only the LTTE that felt they were tricked. It has long been the bad practice of President Kumaratunga to take wing, to far away lands with hardly a By-your leave from the people whose Head she is.

In the bad old days of not so long ago, her aides would say that this was for security reasons. Granting that, even grudgingly, as an excuse, what is the excuse for the President's Office not to release a statement on her whereabouts even after she has left the shores of this country ?

Last week, The Sunday Times asked the Spokesman for the President whether her visit to the UK ( that's where she is ) was a private visit, or an official visit, and he said he did not know. Now, if he does not know, who would?

Up until now, there has been no official announcement about what she is doing in Britain. The Sunday Times said that she is there for the convocation ceremony of her daughter, which is essentially a private matter, and for which she is entitled to be there, but then it implies that the visit is a private one.

The essence of it being a private visit is that she pays with her personal funds for the air ticket and her stay in the UK unless she is staying with friends - and indeed, she has some in that country. Then, all of a sudden, we find a picture sent to local newspapers showing British Foreign Secretary Jack Straw "calling on her" making the public at home believe she is on official duty. The agonising fact of the matter is however, that Jack Straw "called" on the President because his Prime Minister Tony Blair did not. The British PM, beleaguered as he is following his Labour Party's crushing defeat at this month's local council polls, had no time to see President Kumaratunga despite a specific request from her to see him.

At home, The President's Spokesman was again dumbfounded. Asked what happened with the Blair non-meeting, he was either ignorant, or feigned ignorance.

Embarrassing as it might be for President Kumaratunga, this is a serious slight for the people of Sri Lanka whom she represents. President Kumaratunga is the Head of State, i.e. she holds equal status with Queen Elizabeth II. She is also Head of Government i.e. she is on equal rank with Tony Blair. Then, who on earth is Tony Blair to refuse to see Sri Lanka's President Kumaratunga when she makes a request - and in fact, is in London? This is a slur on Sri Lanka and her people - and her leaders - who seem to take any insult from her former colonial master, including the finger-printing of her citizens in a 'guinea-pigs' exercise for British Immigration.

Joining President Kumaratunga will be her brother Anura Bandaranaike who has spent four days in Colombo after a hectic visit to Vietnam and Thailand. To make his visit to the UK look seemingly 'official', the London desk of the Ceylon Tourist Board is busy lining up some thing or the other. Elder sister Sunethra who is now touring Norway with her handicapped cultural troupe from her Sunera Foundation, had earlier regretted her inability to join her siblings in Britain, but now there are reports that she may be persuaded to come and join the Bandaranaike party in London. An aide of Anura Bandaranaike was asked by a reporter on Friday, the purpose of the Minister's visit. He had replied saying " Pauule prashnayak gena balanna yanawa " (He is going to attend to a family dispute). It is anything but. It is the happy occasion of the graduation of the President's daughter. So hectic was Anura Bandaranaike's trip to the Far East, that in Colombo, he was un-fit to attend some meetings in Colombo.

There was also the confusion over his presence (or absence) from a crucial foreign investment project - the Hongkong (HSBC) Bank call-centre opening ceremony, much to the displeasure of the senior multi-national bankers.

The BOI, the country's apex investment body is headless today following the sudden resignation of its Chairman Lalith de Mel with no replacement appointed so far. When investors come for opening their projects, there is No show by any Minister, and there will almost certainly be No show by the Investment Minister when the Prime Minister of Singapore comes next week to Colombo to discuss foreign investment.

The visiting Premier Goh Chock Thong is certain to take up the recent ho-ha whipped up in Sri Lanka, especially by Fernandopulle, threatening to catch the Prima flour and bread manufacturers by the scruff of their necks or give them a punch like the Buddhist monk-MPs received, and throw them out of the country, if they don't do business as the UPFA government wants. In fact, Sri Lanka's High Commissioner in Singapore Ajit Jayaratne received a forewarning of the events to come when he was summoned to the Foreign Ministry there a fortnight back. Fernandopulle suddenly went mute on the whole issue, as the tiny Singapore Lion roared at the mighty Sri Lankan Lion. The vociferous Minister was due to meet his Singaporean counterpart on the side-lines of the UNCTAD conference in Brazil earlier this week, but no press release has arrived from his Ministry about the outcome, which is probably a signal that this is not a good sign for Sri Lanka, or for Fernandopulle.

And in London, word must have passed down the British cabinet too. The Blair snub at the highest level has been infectious. Fernandopulle has been refused a meeting in London with his counterpart Patricia Heaitt as well.

In the US as well, where Fernandopulle is right now, he has only been able to secure a meeting with the US Trade Representative, Ambassador Robert Zoeltick - not his counterpart the Trade Secretary, to discuss future US-Sri Lanka trade relations.

And so, Fernandopulle has now requested some visits on his way back (he is still trying to get at his British counterpart, according to reports from London) that give the impression that these are all official matters that he is attending to.

The London based Sri Lanka Business Council is busy rustling up a meeting so that Fernandopulle can make a speech on some vague topic like 'Updating on Sri Lanka's Trade policies' . The Council, begun by former High Commissioner S.K. Wickramasinghe is almost defunct, gasping for some oxygen right now.

As far as the British High Commission in Colombo is concerned, a spokesman said " as far as they know " the visits of both Anura Bandaranaike and Jeyeraj Fernandopulle are "private". As for President Kumaratunga, "as far as they know ", it is a "semi-private" one. As far as the Sri Lankan tax payer is concerned, as far as they know, all these visits will surely be on their a/c.

UPFA to pursue an ‘active’ media policy
By Harinda Ranura Vidanage
The government seems to be playing some unorthodox strokes in the game of peace, and the whole process appears to be in utter confusion. It is said that President Kumaratunga dropped a bombshell in the form of her address to the nation and left the country immediately leaving the secondary government ranks responsible for damage control.

The ensuing debate was the disputed outcome of the President's meeting with the TNA parliamentary group. While parliamentarian Sampanthan says that she agreed to resume talks on the basis of ISGA, the government says that he misinterpreted what the President told him and his colleagues.

The President's address to the nation despite not revealing anything new by way of policy added a few words more to the UPFA's stance on the peace process. The happenings of the TNA which stood high with them meeting the President took a nose dive after the address to the nation.

The swift reaction of the JVP to the above talks may also have contributed to this sudden shift in President Kumaratunga's position. The JVP also in a recent televised discussion said when it inquired about this development from media minister Mangala Samaraweera he had said the President had not agreed to resume talks based on the ISGA.

The interesting issue arising from the entire episode is that the President never made any official statement of what she discussed nor did she dispute Sampanthan's interpretation nor endorsed Minister Samaraweera's position. The issue is such controversies do not help an already stalled peace process within a backdrop of the fast deteriorating situation in the North and East.

The UNF though making a lot of sound and fury at the government too is in a bad position, not having coherence in what it says. Ranil Wickremesinghe has lost his iron grip on the party following the defeat at the general election and ever since, the internal criticism that arose within the party has contributed to the destabilization of the whole UNP operational unit.

The UNP may need more time to sort out these issues of intra party conflicts such as organizational authority to an undisputed leadership since Ranil Wickremesinghe has crept into a shell. More adversely he is not coming out to make any statement on behalf of the party or the opposition as a whole. This silence in Wickremesinghe is symbolic of a party in crisis but according to many this situation has been his own seeking. This inactivity of Ranil Wickremesinghe may also be a strategic retreat from both internal and external political rivals while awaiting the opportune moment to strike back.

Both major stakeholders in parliament having aligned themselves to one or the other extremist group the best option to be made use of would be to render ineffective one extremist group. Sadly this may seem an utopian dream but as Lankan parliamentary system has pushed all leading major political entities to their limits the time has now come for the various groups either to unite or let the system crumble to a slow death.

The JVP recently used a televised political discussion over a private media channel to make public its views on many matters while saying there were disagreements with the SLFP. The Wimal Weerawansa, Tilvin Silva and Anura Dissanayake trio that helped forge the alliance between the PA - JVP after a 10 month long discussion took part in the television show. The major outcome of this discussion which took the form of a political platform for policy review enabled the JVP to convince the people that issues such as "non acceptance of the LTTE as the sole representative of the Tamil People" and "dismissing the ISGA as a basis for recommencement of negotiation" as purely a UPFA affair but availed of the time to defend the UPFA. Immediately after the programme Finance Minister Sarath Amunugama had called Wimal Weerawansa and congratulated him on the JVP’s "superb and committed policy oriented defense of the UPFA agenda"

While the new media minister Mangala Samaraweera is pursuing a new media grand strategy for the UPFA he has accepted the idea of "strengthening the forces that are not hostile to the UPFA". It has called for an immediate ceasefire especially with the JHU and has also directed for the provision of necessary media space for the public utterances of S. Thamilselvan and Anton Balasingham. Also the state media heads have been strictly ordered not to be partial in reporting of news on the internal crisis of the LTTE. The theory simply is "study the enemy before striking". Thus the UPFA for the first time since coming to power has begun to think in terms of strategy rather than pursuing petty tactics.

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