PA insiders have been saying that the opposition should be ready to take on the government on the issue of the economy as the PA for example has a better record to show than the UNF as far as exports went. Sections of the PA are of the view that there is nobody in the PA who is competent in the area of constructing a vision for the economy.

But yet, they feel that the PA did not 'crash the economy'. But, this claim has been made by the UNF for political purposes, and it has been made effectively. Now, the PA should effectively demolish this argument -- particularly at a time when the incumbent UNF government is struggling with economic issues, they say.

For instance, these insiders have said that the net exports in 2001 when there were adverse circumstances such as 9/11 and surcharges on shipping etc., were 4426 million USD, while in 2002 this amount dropped by 259 million. These facts have not been brought to light, and the UNF has been able to get away with the theory that the PA ruined the economy.

Therefore they are asking for a greater effort to lay bare the 'UNF canards.'' But in the immediate term , the protest campaign on the economy was entrusted to Anura Bandaranaike, thus heightening the already existing tensions between him and Mahinda Rajapakse the leader of the opposition. Anura Bandaranaike will take charge of a rally that will be in collaboration with the JVP - - but it will be more than a rally. It is to be a full scale Pilipino style people's protest against the rising cost of living, and the poor economic performance of the UNF government. Managala Samraweera and Mervyn de Silva are the more high profile members of the organising committee for this event.

But the SLFP is still edgy, and the prospects of an election loom large. Therefore, all organisers of individual electorates have been summoned for a meeting at the presidential secretariat to make a critical assessment of the situation at ground level. The SLFP is seen to be in a state of disunity, and Mangala Samaraweera is determined to set right this state of affairs. For instance, he has despatched letters to all Members of Parliament of the SLFP group to offer a better show of support to Gen Anuruddha Ratwattee at a time that he is facing the travails of a High Court case. This stems from the marked absence of supporters when his case was taken up in court, and this is in contrast to the amount of party 'big guns' who were present when the President was vicariously suing the Editor of a newspaper for criminal defamation.

The immediate gig of the opposition will however, be tomorrow, when the leader of the opposition Mahinda Rajapakse will lead a campaign to make a shindig, literally, about the cost of living and other issues including privatisation and the issue of insensitive labour legislation.

The Premier insists - no burdens on the people

The Prime Minister decided to give some play to the fact that the Japanese are pledging more aid, particularly because he wanted to correct the image that his government has not been able to get its act together on the issue of economy and cost of living.

He explained in detail for public consumption the Japanese aid, and the breakdown in terms of projects for which this aid is to be utilized. But his mind was more on matters of cushioning the cost of living particularly when the contest for popularity is becoming keener between the government and the opposition, given the fact that the UNF's one year of stability with the President being unable to dissolve parliament is now over.

Therefore with all the pundits, among them government officials and Ministers of the special committee on economic affairs advising him to pass on the oil price increase last week to the people, the PM decided that the government will absorb the cost of the increase at a staggering cost of 300 million. The PM went more or less alone on this issue.

What do you want: Win-win or Yen Yen?

Even though the Japanese are playing an increasingly high profile role in the Sri Lanka conflict, it has been a role marked by precession engineering so to say. The Japanese have taken precautions not to rock the boat, and when the boat has been rocked inadvertently or otherwise, the Japanese have been quick to try and undo the damage.
Therefore, when Sarath Amunugama who was among the opposition politicians that Akashi, the Japanese envoy met last week (others were Mahinda Rajapakse and Lakshman Kadirgamar) said that Japan should elicit a promise from the LTTE to lay down arms, Akashi was said to have been taken aback. But he quickly regained his composure and side-stepped the issue, but then he went on to weightier things and told Amunugama that the real issue lies elsewhere.

He used Japanese win-win psychology on Amunugama and said that the opposition and the government could arrive at a win- win equation by forging a bipartisan consensus on all issues including the peace process. Amunugama however was keener that the Japanese use their leverage to get the LTTE to stay on course in the peace process.

But Akashi then came up trumps, well at least in a manner of speaking, when he said that there will be a marked increase in Japanese aid, only if the two key parties the UNF and the PA can get together. Does Amunugama want win-win then, or does he want just WIN only?

Or is it difficult to decide when somebody is shouting 'Yen Yen' in your ear?
Cohabitation cracks?

But cohabitation difficulties are showing up even in issues concerning the Constitutional Councils.

It appears that the Constitutional Council members do not want to be dictated to, either by the PM or the President, and though this can be seen as a show of independence, it may also be hindering the process by which these institutions function.

At least one sticking point has been over the issue of appointments - one which has been recommended for the Elections Commission. The other appointment is to another of the Commissions which have been established, and the bottom line is that the President has refused to approve the choice of appointment of two people to these two separate Commissions.

But earlier, the Prime Minister seemed miffed that the appointments of members made to the Constitutional Commission are not open for public scrutiny and public criticism. He let it be known that this is an essential requirement, but since there is no notification to the public on impending appointments, the two weeks that the Prime Minister wants for public feedback and criticism of these appointments is in fact not available, as the public is unaware of impending appointments in reality.

The Speaker who heads the Commissions had been increasingly voicing his displeasure and said that the President cannot be a fetter in the way of the Commission and therefore defeat its purpose, and he has also said that at a time when the President seems to be a fetter in the way of the functioning of the judiciary, it is a disturbing fact that she is standing in the way of the functioning of the Constitutional Council as well.

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