The Political Column

29th November 1998

Govt. move checkmates UNP

By our Political Correspondent

President Chandrika Kumaratunga last week took a pre-emptive step to keep hopes on a solution to the country's ethnic strife alive when she nominated four top persons to liaise with business leaders who are pursuing a bi-partisan peace initiative.

The delegation comprised Ministers G.L. Peiris, M.H.M. Ashraff, Southern Province Governor, Neville Kanakaratne and Western Province Governor, K. Viknarajah.

The co-ordinating Chairman of a Committee representing the business leaders, Lalith Kotelawala, armed with the President's positive response wrote to the Opposition UNP leader Ranil Wickremesinghe, requesting him to nominate the UNP delegation for the same purpose. The letter sent by Mr. Kotelawala states:

"I am pleased to inform you that Her Excellency Chandrika Bandaranaike Kumaratunga has nominated the following as the government's delegation for peace negotiations. The four names are: G. L. Peiris, M. H. M. Ashraff, Neville Kanakaratne and K. Viknarajah." "I shall be very grateful if you would nominate your delegation for this negotiation".

On Tuesday, soon after the government nominated its delegation, Mr. Kotelawala was in a hurry to contact the Opposition Leader in Parliament. When he got through to him, Mr. Wickremesinghe asked Mr. Kotelawala to fax his letter so that he could send his response. Once the fax was received, Mr. Wickremesinghe found that the letter was not in keeping with the discussion the UNP had with the business leaders. When Mr. Kotelawala mentioned about "peace negotiations", in his letter, the UNP leader wondered whether Mr. Kotelawala was seeking assistance of the UNP in a bid to talk to the LTTE.

In the UNP's opinion, the talks with the business leaders were basically aimed at adopting a bi-partisan approach between the government and the Opposition to solve the national issues. The text of this letter has also run into severe criticism of the co-ordinating body of the business leaders. Some members of the business delegation say they had not been consulted by Mr. Kotelawala before sending the letter to the UNP.

A section of the UNP even believes that the draft has been sent to Mr. Kotelawala by the government to trap the UNP to discuss the devolution proposals with the business community acting as the mediator.

As far as the UNP is concerned, the composition of the delegation was also not acceptable to it. The UNP feels that except for Minister Peiris, the others in the PA team are not heavyweights. Given these scenarios, the UNP is not likely to nominate its delegation to liaise with the business community until these issues are clarified.

The UNP also holds the view that it should not make any positive response to the call of the business community unless the government announces its stand on the Liam Fox initiative for a UNP-PA bi-partisan approach. When the business community met UNP leaders, the Fox initiative became the main subject of discussion and it was decided to await a response from the government on this matter.

However, the President's move in nominating a delegation for peace negotiations was obvious. The main idea behind the President's move was to rope in the UNP since she failed to get any positive response from the UNP on the government's devolution proposals, and to keep the issue alive in the hearts and minds of the people.

It is clear that the President is keen to have some kind of solution to this burning problem even at this late stage. But the UNP's response was important to push the necessary constitutional reforms through Parliament.

The previous weekend, the President announced that she was willing to give one more opportunity for the UNP and its leader Wickremesinghe to respond to the government's peace call but Mr. Wickremesinghe who is annoyed over the President's recent remarks on him as well as the leaders of the UNP, had categorically stated that the UNP would not support the government's initiative.

Mr. Wickremesinghe told a UNP meeting at Mawanella that he would not support any government initiative that would lead to the division of the country. President Kumaratunga on many occasions had pointed out that she was short of 16 votes to make the constitutional reforms proposed by the government a reality. She blamed the J. R. Jayewardene constitution for her inability, to get the UNP to the negotiating table. Addressing the district convention in Galle, the President said that under normal circumstances, the P.A. would have won at least 80 percent of the seats in Parliament had the general elections been conducted on a first past-the-post basis.

The UNP too was vociferous.

At the Mawanella meeting, Mr. Wickremesinghe tore apart the government's devolution proposals. While refusing to support the devolution package, he said he did not know how peace could be achieved with this package.

UNP sources believe when Mr. Wickremesinghe made this stater-nt, he knew he was talking with some responsibility. He was aware that the 13th Amendment to the Constitution which created provincial councils and broadbased the administrative structure had failed to achieve its objective.

However, the UNP's alternative proposals to the government's package were no better than the 13th Amendment. While the 13th Amendment talked about devolution, the UNP's so-called alternative proposals talked of sharing power at the centre.

Many political analysts and politicians expressed their disappointment over the UNP's proposals and its sincerity.

Analysts point out that under the present constitutional framework, nothing could be achieved without the participation of the main opposition party in Parliament. Under these circumstances, it would have been better if Mr. Wickremesinghe had grabbed this opportunity to make his presence felt in the country, since otherwise, the whole country may lose another opportunity of achieving peace through dialogue and the blame would go to the opposition leader.

Contrary to the UNP's position, the government's aim is to implement its proposals in whatever way possible and hence the effort now is to make the business leaders their vehicle.

But it appears that a series of differences are now surfacing among the business leaders, too. On Wednesday, when the National Chamber of Commerce met, some members raised objections to Asoka Gunasekera's nomination to represent the Chambers in the peace committee of business leaders.

Mr. Gunasekera's name came after the former president Armyne Wirasinha quit his job as the president of the Chambers on the completion of his term. Harry Selvanathan of Carsons opted to go from there, but he did not want to play a prominent role in the drama. The objections to Mr. Gunasekera's nomination as the Chamber's representative at the business leaders' peace committee came after many members expressed the view that Mr. Gunasekera, believed to be a UNPer, was not independent in his views. It is also said that he is being projected as Mr. Selvanathan's representative in the committee.

In the circumstances, most members lobbied for the re-appointment of Armyne Wirasinha as the representative of the National Chamber of Commerce. But Mr. Wirasinha told them it was too late. He was of the opinion that they should have come up with this idea at the time he was quitting his job as the president.

Soon after Mr. Wirasinha declined to accept the offer, a clear division was seen in the Chamber's approach to the business community's bi-partisan peace initiative.

On top of this, the Federation of Chambers of Commerce and Industry of Sri Lanka too, had run into a similar crisis. Its annual general meeting which was to ratify the appointment of Macky Hashim of Malship was postponed, owing to some problems.

It is learnt that the outgoing fccisL President, Patrick Amarasinghe, who is fully involved with the business community's peace moves, has second thoughts about quitting as it may affect his role in the peace initiative.

Meanwhile President Kumaratunga while co-operating with the business community's peace initiative is also studying alternative ways to implement the government's peace proposals. The President's recent announcement that she would explore other possibilities if the UNP was not willing to co-operate with the government has become the subject of intense discussion in political circles.

Most analysts think that the President may hold a Presidential election, asking for a mandate to change the Constitution as it was done in 1970, for she knows that under any circumstances she would not be able to obtain a 2/3rd majority in Parliament.

The President also is of the opinion that she could make it at the Presidential election which would be a one-to-one clash between herself and Mr. Wickremesinghe. Not only the President, but PA constituent members also think that at the Presidential election the scales would tilt in favour of Ms. Kumaratunga.

It is now believed that in the absence of the UNP's co-operation, the government could only implement the devolution package by getting a mandate from the people to set up a Constituent Assembly. This matter had been discussed and debated at length during the past few years with the UNP vehemently opposing such a move. But PA politicians think that it would be a last resort move if the PA wanted to resolve the ethnic crisis.

Though the UNP is thinking twice before responding to the call made by the business leaders, there appears to be a glimmer of hope when some enthusiastic parties are trying to make peace and initiate talks between Minister Peiris and Mr. Wickremesinghe.

Analysts believe that this might bring in some results favourable to the government in solving the ethnic crisis. The UNP, too, would extend its hand of co-operation, but subject to a main condition that the sovereignty of the people is inalienable. US Ambassador Shaun Donnelly was appraised of the UNP's position on the peace initiative by former BOI chief Rohitha Bogollagama who is actively working behind the scenes to get the UNP's point of view across to the international community.

As the initiative by the business community is fading away from the minds of both Mr. Wickremesinghe and Dr. Peiris who, too, has expressed his reservations over the matter, the only hope for the government now is to give its blessing to the proposed direct talks between the two. It is likely that both the PA and the UNP would agree not to make the Fox agreement an issue any further if the discussions between the two prove to be fruitful. It appears to be a good beginning, but political circles are sceptical since the UNP has locked itself in the concept of a rigid unitary state.

Another talked about topic this week was the President's categorical denial of a story in the Lankadeepa - a follow up story also appeared in The Sunday Times -about a move by the Inland Revenue Department to obtain a list of depositors who have more than Rs.100,000 in their accounts.

The President described the story as a deliberate lie fabricated with the aim of destroying the economy. She was little aware that letters to all banks had indeed been sent, asking for names of depositors. (See Special Assignment on Page 6).

The matter came up for discussion at the Cabinet meeting when Minister Mangala Samaraweera suggested that the state should take action against Lankadeepa "for malicious intentions." He also suggested that action should be taken against Divaina on the same grounds for carrying a story which said that a large number of factories in the Investment Promotion Zone had been closed down due to various reasons. President Kumaratunga said that this matter is now under consideration and that BOI chief Thilan Wijesinghe would take appropriate action in this regard.

The controversy on the bank accounts first surfaced when a Chairman of a private bank called ULF Parliamentarian Ravi Karunanayake when he was attending a popular TV debate organised by TNL. The others who participated in the debate were Karunasena Kodituwakku, Bandula Gunawardena and Armyne Wirasinha. Mr. Karunanayake asked them whether they knew anything to this effect. When they answered in the negative, he called Inland Revenue Dept. officials who confirmed that it was so.

Some political observers believe that the Tax Department's move came in the wake of a meeting of top Finance Ministry officials to discuss an IMF report where the officials agreed that the government should streamline tax collections in the future. Others say that Deputy Commissioners in charge of areas have been given a target and they were merely using the freedom according to banking laws to call for such details from the banks.

Minister Peiris admitted in Parliament that there had been such a move by a section of the officials. The ultimate result was that the Government had to swallow its own contradiction.

In another development, Minister Dharmasiri Senanayake had a narrow shave in Parliament when the Opposition decided not to call for a division during the debate on the votes on its ministry. It all happened when UNP MP John Amaratunga, moved an amendment to the appropriation bill stating that no money should be expended to meet any contractual obligations under the supplement to undertaking and guarantee made by the government of Sri Lanka to Indosuez Bank in respect of purchases of Airbus, aircraft and spares by AirLanka. The government refused to accommodate the amendment, but said the issue could be discussed at a special debate. In spite of this stand-off, the opposition UNP did not call for a division at this stage given the affable nature of Minister Dharmasiri Senanayake. The UNP leader told Minister Ratnasiri Wickremanayake that he did not want to send two people home, implying that certain government sections were trying to vote against Minister Wickremanayake on the vote on the Plantations and Public Administration Ministries.

At the weekly Cabinet meeting the Ministers discussed a proposal by the Presi dent to introduce inter-departmental tender procedure for each ministry. By this, the President said it would help minimize the costs incurred by each Ministry in getting their jobs done.

Indika Gunawardena said this kind of tender procedure will further delay matters. But the President disagreed, pointing out that she had saved more than 40 percent of government funds when they renovated Temple Trees by following this tender procedure.

Thereafter, the President referred to a Corporation head who was a classmate of Minister Gunawardena. The President told Mr. Gunawardena that she was aware of this particular person with whom it would be difficult to adopt this kind of procedure.

At this stage, another Minister pointed out that C.V. Gooneratne too, was also a classmate of this person. But Mr. Gunawardena quickly disassociated himself with the person concerned while the Cabinet agreed to adopt the President's proposal.

The battle between Ministers Ratnasiri Wickremanayake and S. Thondaman over the distribution of land in Horana once again figured at the Cabinet meeting when the President said it was not proper for Ministry secretaries to inquire into a dispute between two senior Ministers. Mahinda Rajapakse who interjected said the Cabinet proceedings had been wrongly minuted and that the decision of the Cabinet was that the two Secretaries had to discuss this matter and put up their proposals for the two Ministers to decide as to what action should be taken. The President said it would be better if this matter was referred to a committee comprising two senior ministers. Then the President appointed two senior Ministers, Lakshman Jayakody and D. M. Jayaratne to report on the matter. It is now likely that the two quarelling Ministers will settle the matter amicably.

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