Political Column

With that cherubic smile, Mahinda Rajapaksa has had a penchant since he took to politics to mix with the crowd whenever he takes part in a public event. If that is good public relations for which he has won plaudits from friends and foes alike, it is the very thing that has become the nightmare for his security staff since he became the President of Sri Lanka.

For all the "don'ts" that his top security personnel give, he had a ready answer. "I cannot live like a prisoner cooped up at Temple Trees," he would retort. But repeated notes of caution from the security staff are now beginning to tell on him. He is taking their warnings seriously.

Last Wednesday, he told his ministers at the Cabinet meeting that he would not be travelling on Thursday to Kandegama for the ceremonies connected with the second stage of Gama Neguma. He wanted the ministers to take part and added that Prime Minister Ratnasiri Wickremanayake would attend. He had earlier been asked by Minister Pavithra Wanniaratchchi whether she could hitch a helicopter ride with the President. He said sorry because he did not intend going.

This was not so. Of course, he was to go, but secrecy was necessary on grounds of security as top men in his personal protection squad repeatedly told him.

When Rajapaksa arrived in Ratnapura by a helicopter for the event, some of the ministers had left. They had believed he would not arrive. A few who waited behind including some parliamentarians were surprised to see him. He told one of them "so you would have been a Cabinet Minister if I lost the presidential elections. Your name is on top of the list." The parliamentarian was taken aback and wanted to know what he meant.

Though jokingly, Rajapaksa explained. Someone at the Janadipathi Mandiraya has been playing with a desk top computer there. He stumbled on a document. It turned out to be a draft for former President Chandrika Bandaranaike Kumaratunga to enter into a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with the United National Party (UNP) to form a National Government if Ranil Wickremesinghe, (UNP and Opposition Leader) won the presidential elections last year. Together with the draft MoU was another document - a list of Sri Lanka Freedom Party (SLFP) parliamentarians who would become Cabinet Ministers in the National Government to be headed by Wickremesinghe. President. Rajapaksa is now in possession of printouts of the Kumaratunga document.

He told the parliamentarian he was not finding fault with him but wanted to let him know that he would have been a Cabinet Minister. He said there were several other names and some of the persons concerned were unaware they have been listed to receive portfolios. The text of the secret MoU and the list of Cabinet Ministers are yet to become public. One more cat from Kumaratunga's bag was thus out this week. For close aides of Rajapaksa, there was some delight. They said this was why she did not support Mahinda Rajapaksa fully at the presidential elections.

The discovery of details of an MoU between Wickremesinghe and Kumaratunga in a computer in the President's House was indeed a complete distraction from some of the top issues confronting Rajapaksa this week. One was the strike in the petroleum sector. Of all things it was being carried out by trade unions of the Sri Lanka Freedom Party (SLFP) and the Janatha Vimukthi Peramuna (JVP). They were the very trade unions that campaigned vigorously for Rajapaksa at last November's presidential elections. Then came Rajapaksa's ambitious programme to have both the JVP, and some UNPers on board his Government. Our Defence Correspondent deals with the security aspects of the petroleum strike on the opposite page.

The whole Government was in turmoil over the petroleum fiasco. Rajapaksa was virtually fire-fighting while JVP and SLFP unions banded together, and senior partymen like Western Province Governor Alavi Moulana supporting the trade unionists, and Oil Minister A.H.M. Fowzie bickering with Presidential adviser on trade union matters Bharata Lakshman Premachandra.

In desperation, Rajapaksa telephoned JVP frontliner Wimal Weerawansa and asked him to convince JVP trade union leader Lal Kantha to cool it. Weerawansa was clearly in a dilemma. His party had agreed to join the Government only that week, and at the same time its unions were bringing the men out on strike against the Government.

Hard on the heels of the exclusive disclosure by The Sunday Times last week that the JVP will join the Government after accord is reached on a common minimum programme, its leader Somawansa Amerasinghe had summoned a news conference. He told the news conference that the country's sovereignty was continuing to be eroded. That was what was prompting the JVP to hold talks with the Government to work out a common programme. It became clear that President Rajapaksa was awaiting a public declaration from the JVP that it would back the Government once the talks on the common programme were concluded.

President Rajapaksa meanwhile, went ahead with taking in more United National Party (UNP) MPs. The fourth to join in on Friday was Anuradhapura district UNP parliamentarian W.B. Ekanayake. He was immediately sworn in as Deputy Minister of Highways. UNPers were quick to say that Ekanayake was compelled to join the Government because he was in debt to the tune of Rs. 8 million. Puttlam district parliamentarian Neomal Perera is expected to follow suit possibly tomorrow.

Government sources say at least six to seven more are to follow suit, though 'suspects' like G.L. Peiris and Navin Dissanayake have told Wickremesinghe that they would not.

At the JVP news conference, one of the questions posed to Somawansa Amerasinghe was whether the JVP was joining the Government to prevent UNP cross-overs joining in a pseudo National Government with the President. The reply came from General Secretary Tilvin Silva. He said the Government could not hope to get 30 UNPers to cross over, and form a majority in Parliament. Hence, JVP support was necessary. Contrary to claims that the JVP was trying to stabilize the Government by extending support, it was only trying to bring stability to the country, he said.

With the press conference over, the JVP's Politburo met on Friday to discuss further on their deliberations to join the Government. This is in the wake of the scheduled meeting between President Rajapaksa and JVP leaders tomorrow. If the subject of the erosion of Sri Lanka's sovereignty was becoming a key issue, there were more developments on the issue that raised serious concerns for the JVP. They will no doubt raise them with President Rajapaksa tomorrow.

This relates to what the JVP believes is a clear violation of laid down Government policy. Soon after the assassination of former Foreign Minister Lakshman Kadirgamar and the advent of the Rajapaksa government, it was decided to enforce the strict Kadirgamar Doctrine of not allowing any foreign personalities to visit Kilinochchi, the headquarters of the LTTE, other than for the Norwegian peace facilitators and members of the Sri Lanka Monitoring Mission (SLMM). The JVP noted that this was being blatantly violated.

One speaker pointed out that a number of persons had visited the Wanni in the recent past. First was Martin MacGuinness, Northern Ireland Sinn Fein leader. He was given a Government helicopter. Then came Swedish diplomat Anders Oljelund who travelled to Kilinochchi on behalf of the European Union member countries. He went to plead with the LTTE on behalf of the EU member countries. He wanted the LTTE to accept the SLMM members from their countries and allow them to continue to serve. However, this was rejected by LTTE Political Wing leader S.P. Thamilselvan. Thereafter, the UN High Commissioner for Refugees, Antonio Guterres visited Kilinochchi this week. Immediately thereafter, holding talks in Kilinochchi with Thamilselvan was Ms Leslie Pearce, the newly appointed Deputy High Commissioner for the United Kingdom in Sri Lanka.

In the United Kingdom, the LTTE is banned as a terrorist organization. And their deputy High Commissioner travels to Kilinochchi to talk on behalf of her Government with the LTTE. Of course they will have grounds for defence. It was Presidential aide Sajin Vaas Gunawardena, as revealed in these columns, who approached a British Government official during a visit to London and appealed that UK should engage the LTTE and persuade them to come to peace talks. Is Ms Pearce on a mission to Kilinochchi heeding that call? Or like a previous British High Commissioner, was it a visit to further a different agenda.

As the speaker pointed out during the politburo meeting, there was an irony to this entire episode. The Foreign Ministry had no role to play in any of these visits and came to know about them only through the media. It was the Secretary General of the Peace Secretariat Palitha Kohona who had given the clearance. The speaker said he had asked Foreign Secretary H.M.G.S. Palihakkara, only to be told to find out from the Peace Secretariat. The speaker alleged that Dr. Kohona who was in direct contact with President Rajapaksa was aiming to become Foreign Minister - if not Foreign Secretary when Palihakkara retired at the end of this year. The politburo decided to expedite the negotiating process with President Rajapaksa and join the Government immediately once the discussions on the common programme were concluded.

The latest events show that there is no control at the highest levels of the Government over any important issue and approaches are entirely ad hoc. A similar approach was also resorted to when LTTE media spokesman Daya Master was allowed to come to Colombo under heavy armed escort for medical treatment. There was no clear cut policy on how the Government should deal with such humanitarian issues.

Another matter that caused serious concern at the highest levels of the Government was the visit to India by opposition UNP leader Ranil Wickremesinghe.

A senior Foreign Ministry official spoke to Ms Rao. She had explained that she arrived in New Delhi for a lecture and thus came to be a party to Wickremesinghe's meetings with Indian leaders.

She had explained that Sri Lanka's High Commissioner in India, Romesh Jayasinghe had been present at these meetings and not to believe media reports that said the Indian Government was critical of the Rajapaksa Administration. She had said a correct account could be obtained from Jayasinghe. However, Government suspicions were not altogether allayed. At least one meeting Wickremesinghe had with A.K. Narayanan, National Security Adviser to the Prime Minister, was not attended by High Commissioner Jayasinghe.

Wickremesinghe had explained his party's position to the Indian leadership including Prime Minister Manmohan Singh. He had told them that the UNP was sticking to the Tokyo Declaration, which was agreed to by the Donor Co-Chairs and the then UNP Government. The LTTE was not a party to this, but the Tokyo Declaration contains provisions for a federal system on the one hand, and de-militarisation (LTTE laying down arms) and democracy in LTTE areas on the other.

He had told them that the UNP's position was this; the JVP and the JHU had their own position; and it was up to the Government to put forward its own position without vacillating.

The Indian leadership was clearly trying to drive home the message that they would not intervene in any military conflict, and wanted the Government to place its proposals for devolution on the table.

That might explain the exasperation on the part of President Rajapaksa this week, to go and ask the trade unionists at the Gama Neguma event in Ratnapura whether the country can develop amid strikes. Coming from a trade union leader now turned Government leader, Rajapaksa can see both sides of the coin now. But, buffeted both by strikes at home, and lectures from abroad, Rajapaksa was still able keep smiling through the week.