The Sunday Times FT - Bipartisanship for public consumption, or what?

The Sunday Times FT recently pointed out that our private sector is strongly in favour of a national government and have urged the government and the opposition for the umpteenth time to unite in adversity to usher in peace and prosperity.

The private sector is of the view that the prevailing situation in the country would continue to be unstable if the two major political parties are not unified, at least, on the fundamental issue, such as the peace process.

Their conclusion: a bipartisan approach to solving the North East Conflict.

The latest call on the two parties by the private sector is because of the escalating incidence of violence in the North and East, as well as in the city of Colombo had already affected the toplines of many companies. Some major roads in Colombo’s business areas have been closed down due to VIP movements.

Tourism and Investment has slowed down because of the prevailing uncertainty. So obviously the private sector has a big problem. The private sector in the past made representations to the President and the Opposition to create the necessary consensus to re start the peace process. Efforts in the past involving business leaders like Ken Balendra, Mano Selvanathan and Lalith Kothalawala to bring Chandrika and Ranil together to solve the national question failed because the private sector only made representations to the government and the opposition to work together; they did not in any way exert the required pressure to evoke a serious response from the two parties.

A minimum common programme would have been an achievable goal had the private sector facilitated the process. Today the situation seems to be somewhat different. We have a President who is prepared to set aside his political agenda and is making an attempt to build a southern consensus and also an opposition leader who understands the futility of pursuing a military option. So unlike in the past where our business leaders did next to nothing other than meeting the President and the Opposition and asking them to come into some understanding, they should now try and help the two parties to work out a minimum common programme.

Perhaps the other chambers should join up with the Ceylon Chamber to pressurise the main parties to seriously consider some form of a bipartisanship arrangement if an arrangement can be formalized in some form with the intervention on the part of the private sector.

Then the private sector also needs to find a credible party to underwrite the agreement to ensure that the two parties honour their part of the deal. Perhaps the private sector would need the support of India to underwrite the arrangement. India would definitely support an initiative of this nature because there is growing anxiety among the diplomatic community regarding the prospects of peace and the future of Sri Lanka.

Impact
The private sector as we all know from time to time has been making statements as to what the political parties should do, but so far failed to make a real impact on any of the political parties to put their demands on their party agendas for serious discussion. All peace loving citizens in the country support the private sector call for a bipartisan approach to work out a viable policy framework for presentation to the LTTE where the aspirations of the Tamil people could be achieved. To do this in one voice Ranil and Mahinda need to adopt a national agenda to address the national question and to get the LTTE to expedite a termination to the low intensity war. So, for a change the private sector should clearly say what role they can and will play to get Mahinda and Ranil to work together and whether the private sector would underwrite the agreement or get some other credible party involved to ensure that both sides honour their part of the agreement. This is at a time when the country’s economy is facing many challenges and the people of the country are finding it very difficult to even meet their basic needs and with regular fuel hikes becoming the norm. It is the duty of all parties to ensure that the government stays on the right track. Therefore our private sector needs to move beyond the rhetoric if they are serious about promoting bipartisanship between the two main political parties in Sri Lanka. We all know politicians in Sri Lanka have made a caricature of democracy over the past 25 years by making politics vicious, polarized and personalized. This cycle of violence can only be broken if our business people were to persuade our political leaders of the futility and self-destructive nature of this approach. Therefore the current situation demands that our business groups bring pressure to bear on both side of the political establishment to take a constructive and non-parochial approach to the national question.

Rational for bipartisanship
Mahinda’s problem is that he still sees the JVP as a safe ally. This could however in the long term prove to be a costly mistake. The JVP policies on conflict resolution are outdated. So while the JVP will never bring down the government they would however bog down Mahinda in many unresolved problems, which would make governing difficult in the coming months. The JVP like the JHU is keen that Mahinda defeats the LTTE militarily. They are also happy that the LTTE is now getting a hammering from the security forces. What they do not realize is that terrorism cannot be defeated by force alone. Also that the government does not have the firepower to hold onto to areas they have regained from the LTTE. Then the finance to fund a prolong war would also come at a heavy price for the country. So it makes perfect sense for the government to seriously pursue a political solution while they contain LTTE excesses. Now to work out a viable solution to the North East problem Mahinda needs the support of the UNP.

Therefore Mahinda needs to work out a MOU with the UNP, at least regarding the peace process.

The UNP and the SLFP have over 75% of parliamentary seats and over 85% of the vote bank in this country. Also many people are of the view that making peace is not the sole responsibility of the government.

The burden of finding a durable solution to the national question needs also to be shared with the opposition. The opposition will not support the government unless Mahinda demonstrates beyond any doubt that he is serious about negotiating with the UNP and that he is not making statements for public consumption. Mahinda must realize that 49.8% voted against him while another 500,000 were deprived of voting by the LTTE.

Therefore it makes a lot of sense for Mahinda to share some of the power with the opposition Firstly he should share some of parliamentary committees with the opposition. Secondly he should re-establish the Constitutional Council and the other Independent commissions. Therefore for a start the private sector should plan a strategy that forces the government to ensure constitutional sanctity and authority to national institutions to preserve democracy and ensure justice before they even attempt to bring the two parties together to work on an agreed program. So far the government has failed to give a viable solution to many of the problems in the North and East. Instead the government has tried to put the burden over onto the All Party Conference and to the committee of experts. While they deliberate people in the country continue to die for want of political direction.

Many people are now losing confidence in this process since it lacks the seriousness of purpose. The government needs to put forward their proposals to the committee. Mahinda needs to come out and say what he hopes to promote as his solution to take the peace process forward and the basis for working with the UNP.

Way Forward
So on the peace front Mahinda should take a stand on some of the key issues affecting the future of the peace process. By saying he is for peace and to another that he is for war will not help the UNP to take a decision to support him or not. Mahinda should know by now that he should be working towards evolving consensus on a common national policy.

So far he has succeeded only in getting the political parties, including the main opposition party to the secretariat. Mahinda’s apparent willingness to work together must not be limited only to mere words.

He should walk the talk when it comes to bipartisanship. He needs to display attributes compatible with bipartisanship this may provide him with a way to get the peace process back on track. The time has come for Mahinda to decide whether he is going to risk his political future and do what is needed to re-establish peace in the country.

There is no doubt that there needs to be a change from the policies and strategies that have led the government to the major crisis it now faces when dealing with the LTTE. However if he needs to leverage on the UNP’s political know how on the peace process to develop a viable strategy then he definitely needs a new strategy to deal with the UNP.

So it is up to Mahinda to focus on the prospect of permanent peace and national development. So if he is serious about solving the problem he should use his energies to pursue a bipartisan arrangement to take the peace process forward, there are many people eagerly waiting to help him provided he is prepared to walk the talk.