The Sunday TimesNews/Comment

11th May 1997

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The evil which the Bill permitted

By Kishali Pinto Jayawardana

As the Supreme Court decision on the Broadcasting Authority Bill became public last week, a jubilant lawyer remarked "This is indeed the coming of age of Sri Lankan human rights jurisprudence with regard to freedom of expression. We cannot be more pleased about the outcome."

He had reason for his jubilance. In throwing out the Bill as being unconstitutional and needing a two thirds majority in Parliament as well as the approval of the people at a referendum, the Court used strong language to convey a clear message

"The Bill holds very real potential for the arbitrary suppression of the freedom of thought and free speech... these things may not happen, but they might happen because they are permitted. The evils to be prevented are those that might happen" warned Chief Justice G.P.S. de Silva delivering the judgment of the Court .The Bench also comprised Supreme Court Justices A.R.B. Amerasinghe and P. Ramanathan.

Quoting American law, the Supreme Court agreed that "If the First Amendment means anything, it means that the State has no business telling a man sitting alone in his house ,what books he may read or what films he may watch. Our whole constitutional heritage rebels at the thought of giving government the power to control mens minds"

Human rights lawyers, academics and journalists hailed the decision as one of the most far reaching judgements in recent times.

"This will go down as a notable pronouncement by any Supreme Court on the right to free speech in a democratic society" commented senior counsel in the case R.K.W. Goonesekere.

"Print media has already been dealt with thoroughly by the Court in the past. This judgment is an expanding of the frontiers. It will serve as laying down important guidelines as to how the new information channels sweeping the country ought to be treated" added Dr. Deepika Udugama ,lecturer in law at the University of Colombo.

This is only the second time that the Supreme Court has had reason to rule on the parameters of the rights of electronic media in the country. Last year, the Court was called upon to decide whether the stoppage of its controversial Non Formal Educational programme by the SLBC could be upheld. In holding against the SLBC, Justice Mark Fernando held that preventing a person speaking does not amount to a violation of the right of free speech of a listener, in the absence of a specific right to information in the Constitution. But at the same time, Justice Fernando recognized that this could well amount to a violation of the right to freedom of thought. In last weeks case, the Supreme Court took this reasoning further and declared that it was only by receiving information imparted by others through the exercise of their freedom of speech, can opinions and views of the public be formed. The Court pointed out that in a democratic society, diverse views whether they be political, religious, cultural or educational ought to be tolerated. The right to debate, discuss and dissent is constitutionally protected for this purpose.

"In other words, the Supreme Court reiterated the view that the Government holds this right in trust for the people. The Government cannot abuse this trust." said President's Counsel L.C. Seneviratne who appeared for TNL ,a private television broadcasting station.

In their judgment, the Supreme Court did not agree that state bodies like the SLBC and the SLRC could be treated differently from private stations.

"Such distinctions drawn in terms of expected standards of performance as well as accountability for the maintenance of these standards is invidious and offensively discriminatory... we have formed the opinion that there is no rational basis for treating state bodies with special favour on these matters," the Court stressed.

Both private and state broadcasting bodies therefore should have the same rights and should be subject to the same conditions under which they operate. These conditions are permissible, provided they are set down by law and do not depend on ministerial fiat. The Court did not accept the view that like in the case of print media, the ordinary laws of the land are sufficient to control the broadcasting media. Different rules apply to both media.

"......The electronic media is the most powerful media, both because of its audio visual impact and its widest reach, covering sections of the society which the print media does not reach.' explained the Court.

Broadcasters could, as a result, be subject not only to technical restrictions but also content based restrictions. What is important is that the Authority having the power to apply these restrictions must be totally independent from the government of the day. It was on this ground that the Bill which sets up a blatantly politicised body to control broadcasting was thrown out.

"There is nothing wrong with regulation per se. International law allows this. In our country however, regulation has been synonymous with abuse of power. This is an unfortunate tendency, and ought to be checked," said Dr. Udagama

The general euphoria over the Supreme Court decision was heightened by the willingness of the Court to take into account international human rights principles declared not only by foreign courts but by international NGOs. Guidelines laid down on the importance of uniform standards for public and private broadcasters by Article XIX (a media freedom NGO) was referred to in detail by the Court.

In retrospect, Sri Lankans deserve to be excited over last week's decision. In spite of the short time within which the Bill could be challenged or the fact that it was presented in Parliament during court vacation when most of the senior counsel are normally absent from the capital, victory was won. But amidst the hurrahs, a note of caution might well be sounded. As leading fundamental rights lawyer R.K.W. Goonesekere puts it succinctly.

"The decision is a definite victory for all those who fought for it, and it is a warning to the government against future arbitrary action. But in spite of all this, one should not forget that the record of the present government continues to be better than its predecessor with regard to human rights. We are living in a freer climate than before. This point ought not be lost sight of."


The legend that was Daha

"I am of the view that Dahanayake the magician always surpassed Dahanayake the politician. The success of the politician Dahanayake was mainly due to the brilliant performances of the magician Dahanayake"

By Gunadasa Liyanage

The most illustrious, most outspoken, most honest, oldest and most colourful politician of our era is no more.

He was Don Wijeyananda Dahanayake, a son of the late Don Dionesius Panditha Sepala Dahanayake, a specialist in oriental languages and a well-known intellectual, who lived at 'Sri Bhawana' in the southern city of Galle in the latter part of the nineteenth century and early in the twentieth century.

In a country, where the general opinion was (and is?) that the Prime Ministers most come from ''Walauwas" only. Dahanayake became the first Prime Minister from the ordinary class, 38 years ago. However, we must bear in mind that it was by sheer accident Dahanayake became the Prime Minister, after the assassination of S.W.R.D. Bandaranaike. Dahanayake himself said: ''I became the Prime Minister under fortuitous circumstances''. His premiership was limited to a short period of six months.

Dahanayake who started life as a teacher, did politics even when he was in government service. On one occasion, he sent his twin brother, Kalyanapriya Dahanayake to teach the children in his class and attended to his political activities. But, the trick was discovered by the principal within two days.

I am of the view that Dahanayake, the magician always surpassed Dahanayake, the politician. The success of the politician Dahanayake was mainly due to the brilliant performances of the magician Dahanayake.

Though Dahanayake was born in Galle, he entered the State Council in 1944 from the far away constituency of Bibile. There are interesting anecdotes about his election campaign in Bibile.

Instead of big rallies and meetings, Dahanayake walked all over the Bibile area and mingled with ordinary people. Though there were well-to-do houses, ready to provide him with meals and accommodation he preferred to eat something from a wayside boutique and sleep in a verandah.

His rival was a powerful bus magnate called S.A. Peiris and Dahanayake made several complaints to the police daily to say that Peiris' buses tried to run over and kill him. Actually, when the election day neared, there were real threats to his life.

Disappeared

One night, after dinner, Dahanayake disappeared and did not return even by lunch time the next day. The supporters came to the conclusion that the bus drivers had taken Dahanayake to the other world. However, by about 2 in the afternoon he reappeared in the town eating 'kadala' from a 'gotta'. (Those days his favourite bite was gram. He used to buy gram from wayside vendors and eat freely).

So, the inquisitive supporters got round Dahanayake and asked him as to why he disappeared for almost 16 hours without telling them. According to his explanation, on the previous night, after dinner, he had met a group of people from a jungle village called Hampola, and wanted to take the 'jolly good fellow' to their village. Dahanayake agreed, walked through the jungle with the men for five or six miles and reached the village. There he addressed a 'propaganda meeting' in the dead of night, had a second dinner (or supper?) of manioc with wild boar and slept in a 'piduru' (straw) hut.

On the following day he went round the village and moved freely with the people, but, never asked for their vote. After a very pleasing lunch with venison, he walked back to the town accompanied by some men from the jungle village.

I hope readers would tolerate just one more anecdote from the Bibile campaign. One day when S.A. Peiris was addressing a giant rally at Bibile, there came an old rickety car decorated with gokkola, kekilla and various other odd things. Inside the car a man was making a big noise by beating a 'thappu'.

When the car stopped just in front of the rally, the inquisitive crowd deserted the speaker and flocked round the car. Then the magician got down from the car, addressed the crowd for about ten minutes and went away.

However, when the election results were announced, Peiris had won the seat defeating Dahanayake. Dahanayake filed an election petition against Peiris and the latter was unseated. At the bye-election that followed Dahanayake won and entered the State Council as the member for Bibile.

A few years ago, in an interview over SLBC, Dahanayake said he used to go to Kataragama once a month. One night, during the festival time, when the fire walking was in progress, an unidentified person walked over the embers and disappeared. No one, even the police, was able to say who that person was.

Said Dahanayake: "Later, we were told that it was God Kataragama who walked over the fire and disappeared. So far as I am concerned, it was after that miracle, that my rise in the political field started''.

I first came to know of Dahanayake in 1953, after joining the 'Times of Ceylon' in 1953. His favourite joint (or rather his home in Colombo) was the Colonial Hotel, opposite the Fort Railway Station. There was a room reserved for him. Of course those were his eating, drinking and enjoying days (He became a teetotaler and vegetarian in the mid-fifties).

Dahanayake was one man who never retained lawyers to defend him in Courts. During the Second World War the British rulers took him into custody for encouraging a strike. But Dahanayake, with an exercise book full of notes, argued before the Court and won the case.

Black flags

On another occasion, he hoisted black flags on the birthday or the Coronation day of King George V. He was prosecuted for contempt. In his defence, Dahanayake told the Court that he hoisted black flags not to insult the reigning monarch, but to commemorate the death anniversary of the King's great, great, great grandfather, whose death anniversary too fell on that day. However, the Court did not believe what Dahanayake said and he was asked to pay a fine.

Then, when his election petition against the winning candidate of the Bibile seat was taken up for trial in Court in 1943 Dahanayake argued (with his exercise book) and won the case.

Just before the General Election in 1965, Sirima Bandaranaike's Government had appointed an Assassination Commission, mainly to probe the political involvement in the Bandaranaike killing. Even on that occasion Dahanayake defended himself with the usual exercise book in hand.

I was one of the reporters who covered that Commission. During that period I was writing a weekly feature to Sunday Lankadipa describing the adventures of well-known politicians during their young days. One day, when the Commission suspended sittings for lunch, Dahanayake was busy writing some notes in his exercise book. I walked upto him and said I wanted to get an appointment to interview him for my article.

Mr. Dahanayake got up from the chair and shouted at me: "Aisay mama revula gini aran dangalanawa, thamuse suruttu paththu karanna enava" (Here my beard is burning and you come to light your cigars from it).

Actually, I felt very ashamed for the foolish thing I did at the wrong moment.

After the General Election in 1977, Dahanayake filed an election petition against Albert Silva, the victorious MP for Galle. Even then, it was Dahanayake (with the exercise book) who appeared before the Court, argued for Dahanayake and won.

In the fifties and sixties sometimes, Parliament sat continuously for two days. As Parliament reporters it was a tiresome job for us. But we were kept glued to our seats by the brilliant performances of MPs like Dahanayake, Philip, Colvin, Robert etc.

So far as filibustering is concerned, it was Dahanayake who created history by making the longest speech (13 1/2 hrs) in Parliament. The previous record holder (11 hrs) was G.G. Ponnambalam during the State Council days.

In Parliament

While speaking in Parliament Dahanayake was famous for producing various things as examples. He used to pull out a packet of rice from one pocket and a handful of sprats from the other pocket to show their inferior quality. One day he was speaking at length about the danger of inferior quality matches. All of a sudden he pulled out a box of matches and struck one stick. Result? The spark severely burnt his hand.

In the third week of September 1959, when Prime Minister S.W.R.D. Bandara-naike was to go to New York to attend the UN General Assembly, an acting Prime Minister had to be appointed. Though the Leader of the House C.P. de Silva was at the top of the list, he was undergoing treatment in a London hospital as a result of a poisoned drink at a Cabinet meeting, here. So, Bandaranaike recommended the name of Education Minister Dahanayake as the acting Prime Minister. By the time Bandaranaike died on September 26, the letter recommending Dahanayake as the Acting Premier was in the hands of Governor General Oliver Goonetillake. And that is how Dahanayake succeeded Bandaranaike and became the Prime Minister, 'under fortuitous circumstances.'

When he came to reside at 'Temple Trees' he brought only one suitcase. Even his slippers were in that. When Prime Minister's Secretary, Bradman Weerakoon conducted Dahanayake to the Prime Minister's bedroom, the latter said, "Bradman, this is not a room. This is a big hall. I will get lost if I live in this. Please get some carpenters, partition this and make a smaller room for me''.

So, during his sojourn at the Temple Trees, Dahanayake was living in a room within a room. He used to get up early in the morning and walk bare footed on the grass, wet with dew. Along with Bradman, he started attending to all the files from 7.a.m. and finished the day's work by 9.a.m.

He was a methodical worker. His handwriting was clear and beautiful. Purple was the colour of ink he used for his pens. When he started writing a letter it was non-stop, continuous writing. He never stopped to cut or change a word. It was only after putting his 'W. Dahanayake' signature that he raised the pen from the paper.

However, the premiers' chair was a thorny one for Dahanayake mainly because of his ministers who wanted to oust him by hook or by crook. He never gave in, and sacked the ministers at dead of night. When things went from bad to worse he advised the Governor-General to dissolve Parliament and hold a General Election.

Dahanayake contested as the head of his newly formed Lanka Prajathantrawadi Pakshaya (LPP). Cynics nicknamed it 'Lanka Pisthola Pakshaya (Lanka Pistol Party).

When he lost at the General Election (He lost his Galle seat too) Dahanayake left Temple Trees and went back to Galle, carrying only that old suitcase.

Honesty

Dahanayake was one great politician who never made use of politics to earn money and become rich. He was one of the most honest politicians that I have come across in my life (According to Dudley Senanayake, Robert Gunawardena was the most honest politician that he had ever met).

Though Dahanayake's days as the Prime Minister were short he did a great service by introducing one day elections to the country. Not only that. But also it was he who introduced facilities for the party leaders to address the voters over state radio.

There is a very interesting episode during Dahanayake's premiership which I must place before the readers.

Dahanayake had a hostile press. Both Lake House and Times newspapers joined hands to see the downfall of Dahanayake. When the merciless attacks by the newspapers reached an intolerable point he decided to start a radio programme to attack the newspapers. That was the first time state radio attacked the newspapers and Dahanayake created history.

The programme to attack newspapers was 'Deshapalana Satahan Potha' in Sinhala and 'Political Note Book' in English. Dahanayake himself selected the suitable men to handle the Political Note Book. Information Director Lionel Fernando (Not the living Lionel Fernando, who went to Jaffna for peace talks with the LTTE), Sinhala Service's chief Thevis Guruge and popular Sinhala announcer, Ananda Sarath Wimalaweera were the three I can remember. I am not too sure about the English announcer. I have a faint recollection that the person was my friend Mark Anthony Fernando (Subject to correction).

Those days, Evening Observer and the Evening Times were powerful newspapers. With the morning papers and the late editions of the Times and The Observer, the Political Note Book team went to Temple Trees, and waited for Dahanayake. Sometimes, he came early and sometimes past midnight. However, the first thing that the Prime Minister did after returning to Temple Trees was to prepare the Political Note Book.

Dahanayake dictated the Political Note Book, both in Sinhala and English. He mentioned all the newspapers by name, attacked even the Editors by name. One frequent term he used was ''Bere Gedara Pacha Pattara Bissa'', meaning, Lake House papers which are always telling lies.

One main instruction to the two readers was that they must try to imitate Dahanayake and give the impression that it was Dahanayake who was speaking. Sinhala announcer Ananda Sarath Wimalaweera was the most successful man in that attempt. As an excellent radio drama man he imitated Dahanayake's voice very cleverly. However, the end result was quickening the downfall of Dahanayake, by making a hostile press more hostile.

Amude

Before winding up this article I must touch on the episode of Dahanayake going to Parliament in an 'Amude'!

Did Dahanayake go to Parliament wearing only an amude or a loin cloth?

No, never, is my reply.

Then, what is the truth behind this legend?

In 1970s when Ms. Bandaranaike was the Prime Minister, there was a scarcity of various utility items like cloth. One day the great journalist D. B. Dhanapala, who was then the Managing Director of the 'Dawasa' group of newspapers, spoke to his pal Dahanayake and asked: ''Daha, why don't you go to Parliament wearing an 'amude' as a protest against the scarcity of cloth?''

Dahanayake agreed and made arrangements to walk into Parliament wearing an 'amude'. But the all powerful minister Felix Dias Bandaranaike was given a tip off by a Lake House boy and Felix personally spoke to hefty Gafoor, the then OIC of the Fort Police and asked him to prevent Dahanayake coming to Parliament in an 'amude'.

But, Dhanapala had planned to use Dahanayake in 'amude' as the page one picture for the following day's papers. So, photographer W.P. Sugathadasa and reporter D.C. Satharasinghe were sent to ''Sravasthi'' along with Rohana Gamage and photographs of Dahanayake in 'amude' were taken and published in the following day's papers (Once again I wish to stress that Dahanayake never went to Parliament in an 'amude', but he got worldwide publicity as a result of the 'Dawasa' photos.

Whatever is said and done, I do not wish to blame Wijeyananda Dahanayake for some of the wrong things he did. I believe, that he was compelled to act in that manner because of the forces that rose against him. I admit Dahanayake had his own weaknesses, yet, one of the main reasons for some of the forces rising against him was that he was a man from the ordinary class, and not from a 'Walauwa'.

If you think that that tendency is a thing of the past, you are sadly mistaken.

Wijeyananda Dahanayake was a harmless, innocent man who fought fearlessly for the causes he believed were correct.

"May you attain Nibbhana" is my fervent wish for our dear departed DAHA!

-The writer is a senior journalist and an author


A common voice for South Asia

By Ameen Izzadeen

"If We are setting this ship afloat today. There may be mutiny on board, I hope not. The sea may be stormy but the ship must sail on and enter the ports of poverty, hunger, unemployment, malnutrition, disease and seek to bring comfort to those who need it."

These words of one of South Asia's greatest statesmen and Sri Lanka's former President J. R. Jayewardene at the inaugural SAARC summit in Dhaka in 1985, have still not lost their relevance.

His analogy of the SAARC ship in stormy seas has been backed by the association's 12-year history which is replete with disputes among members, sometimes leading to brinkmanship and calls of boycott. Several of scheduled summits have got postponed and even eleventh hour political dramas have dealt serious blows to the SAARC ship, almost sinking it as happened in 1991 when Sri Lanka was hosting the summit.

Yet the South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC) has survived.

Many past summits had been held in the shadow of simmering disputes between members of the association which comprise Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, the Maldives, Nepal, Pakistan and Sri Lanka. The Indo-Pak row over Kashmir and Sri Lanka's ethnic conflict in which India played an active role were the main disputes that had threatened SAARC.

At the centre of all bilateral disputes in South Asia is India. This is because the geo-political position of that nation is such that it shares land borders with four SAARC members and maritime boundaries with two. India by virtue of its size, population, GDP and military strength tended to play the regional policeman role, incurring the displeasure of its neighbours. Thus the early SAARC summits were held in the background of mutual suspicion and distrust.

Quite contrary to past summits, tomorrow's Male meeting of SAARC heads, is to be held amidst relatively a calm political atmosphere.

Sri Lanka and India have now begun to think on the same wavelength.

The new United Front Government in New Delhi headed by Inder Kumar Gujral — whose foreign policy is blended with ideals of peaceful co-existence and cooperation and principles of real politick — will give the much-needed impetus to SAARC which in the recent past appears to have lost some of its early momentum and enthusiasm.

The Gujral doctrine in Indian foreign policy is a 180 degree turn from the Indira doctrine of 1970s and early 1980s. Mr. Gujral has rejected the principle of quid pro quo or reciprocity, except in the case of Pakistan.

Demanding reciprocity with India's smaller neighbours is an unfortunate way of looking at things, Mr. Gujral told Frontline magazine in a recent interview.

Complementing the Gujral doctrine in South Asian politics is Sri Lanka's foreign policy spearheaded by Lakshman Kadirgamar who is being described as Sri Lanka's best Foreign Minister.

The school of political realism says that a good diplomat is a rational diplomat. A rational diplomat is a prudent diplomat. Prudence is the ability to assess one's needs and aspirations while balancing them against the needs and aspirations of other countries.

Mr. Kadirgamar will well fit into that category of prudent, rational and good diplomat. The People's Alliance foreign policy seems to be defined in terms compatible with the national interest of other countries, especially India, thus avoiding unnecessary suspicions which were present in the relations between India and Sri Lanka during the 17 years of UNP rule.

India's relations with Bangladesh, too, have improved with the assumption of office by the pro-Indian Awami League in Bangladesh and the signing of a new water-sharing treaty between the two countries early this year has helped reduced tension.

With Pakistan, India,s relations have seldom reached even levels of near normalcy. However in the recent past diplomatic initiatives have been intensified to normalise relations. Mr. Gujral is keen to meet his Pakistan counterpart Nawaz Shariff at the Male summit.

The controversial Kashmir issue, which is considered as the thorniest issue that impedes the healthy growth of SAARC, is likely to be discussed at Male when the two leaders meet.

Though the SAARC charter prohibits bilateral contentious issues being taken up at its fora, the summit provides an ideal venue for such discussions when leaders meet privately.

For instance, at the Islamabad summit in 1988, India and Pakistan agreed not to attack each other's nuclear installations and Sri Lankan leaders have not failed to discuss the ethnic conflict in the north with their Indian counterparts at the summits.

One of the sticky issues at this week's summit, is the formation of sub-regional groupings within SAARC. Pakistan is not happy about a move by Bangladesh, Bhutan, India and Nepal to form a sub-regional grouping within SAARC for cooperation in water management, environment, transit and trade. Islamabad says the move would isolate Sri Lanka, Maldives and Pakistan and insists those areas be tackled within the greater framework of SAARC. But Bangladesh says such a grouping is a necessity, given the problems the four countries face.

Sub-regional cooperation also figures prominently in Mr. Gujral's foreign policy which sees (northern) India, Pakistan, Bhutan, Nepal and Bangladesh as one unit and (southern) India, Sri Lanka and the Maldives as another unit.

According to Mr. Gujral, the northern sub-regional grouping is being coordinated by Nepal while the southern sub-regional grouping will be coordinated by Sri Lanka. Though Sri Lanka had agreed to toe the line with India on this issue initially, it is said to have expressed concern over such geo-economic sub-regional groups within SAARC as they may lead to the disintegration of the association.

Whether sub-regionalism is to stay within SAARC depends upon consensus, especially that of Pakistan which is generally resistant to India's dominance in SAARC though the association is formed on the principle of sovereign equality of all member states.

Pakistan also had reservations when the idea of South Asian Preferential Trade Arrangement (SAPTA) was being mooted.

Islamabad saw SAPTA as a ruse employed by India to swamp the South Asian markets with Indian goods.

With the coming into force of SAPTA last year, many hoped SAARC would be turned into a dynamic regional body in line with European Union or ASEAN. However, SAPTA has still not got the gallop it needs. Member states are still thrashing out areas of preferential trade, thus retarding its desired growth.

Though South Asia is the home for more than one fifth of the world humanity - more than half of which live below the poverty line - its total exports compared with global exports are about 0.7 percent while total imports in global terms amount to 1.5 percent.

However, the average growth rate of the region which was about 3.5% in the '80s, has now risen to 5.5% indicating the great potential pregnant within the region. This rise in growth rate is largely due to the liberalisation of the regional economy and little to do with SAARC or SAPTA.

South Asia is today following liberal economic policies vigorously. Despite fears of political uncertainty, investors are flocking to the region. If the benefits of the boom in one member country were to be diffused into the other SAARC countries, SAPTA needs to be converted into a South Asian Free Trade Agreement (SAFTA), a move vehemently being advocated by Sri Lanka from 1991.

Only then could the much-needed dynamism be infused into SAARC which is essentially a socio-economic body. For such high-levels of economic cooperation, the prevalence of political goodwill is necessary.

Indian policy appears to favour economic cooperation over political issues. Many Indian analysts tend to believe that issues like Kashmir will soon become non-issues through socio-economic development, a view Pakistan refuses to acknowledge.

Many observers say the view that economic cooperation is vital for the progress of SAARC should be nurtured as the aim of the association is to uplift the living conditions of the teeming millions living in abject poverty.

Though hiccups are witnessed in the economic field, SAARC has taken giant strides in other areas such as suppression of terrorism, drug trafficking and abuse, women in development and SAARC emergency food reserve.

In the words of former US Secretary of States, George Schultz, the regional convention on the suppression on terrorism is "SAARC's most important accomplishment."

However it should be noted with regret that efforts at promoting people-to-people contacts within South Asia - a move aimed at easing tension - are inadequate.

Only parliamentarians, academics and judges are allowed visa-less travel.

The regional awareness or the South Asian identity has not still reached the remotest villages of the member states. SAARC means little or nothing to a villager in Kebethigollawa in Sri Lanka or Udamalpet in Tamil Nadu, India or Gandu island in the Maldives.

For regionalism is to acquire some level of legitimacy, the promotion of South Asian identity is necessary. Towards this end, the results of SAARC initiatives have to be more tangible and people-oriented. A South Asian common currency may be a remote possibility but a South Asian common voice is not. In the line of Afro-Asian unity that prevailed in the Non-Aligned Movement during the height of the Cold War, SAARC members must adopt common approach on crucial issues facing the region. Since regionalism is the socio-economic and political phenomenon of the present world order, regional approach could be the panacea for regional ills like poverty, illiteracy and underdevelopment.


New Labour takes charge

Yes, they are still trying to come to terms with the Tony Blair "revolution" .... not just the Tories, the traditional foe, but his own Labour Party colleagues, Fleet Street and the national media, the bankers, and the diplomats. He is a phenomenon say friend and foe, and there the matter rests. But Prime Minister, Tony Blair, the youngest at No. 10 this century, doesn't rest at all.

His government's latest move is a rise in interest rates, from 6 percent to 6.25%, a decision which also means that the Bank of England will have "operational responsibility" for setting interest rates, not the Chancellor of the Exchequer George Brown. His dramatic decision has seen share prices rise sharply, while sterling reached a four-and -a-half year high against the D-mark.

These steps have a political significance too. It is a step that will strengthen Britain's case for joining a single currency, says a Reuter report. But that alone will not qualify Britain. Yet the direction is clear.

Whereas the Tory Party's Chancellor of the Exchequer Kenneth Clarke had ignored the advice of Bank of England governor Eddie George, the new administration will pursue a different policy. The Bank of England will be free to fix interest rates. The new Chancellor of the Exchequer plans to break the boom-bust cycles which had a serious negative effect on Britain's economic performance in the recent past. Those who acknowledge the primacy of economics will appreciate that Prime Minister Tony Blair's "Labour" is unarguably a "New Labour".

And so Robert Preston, political editor of the Financial Times could claim soon after the first results were announced by the BBC that "the United Kingdom has turned its back on 18 consecutive years of Tory government". However, Deputy Prime Minister John Prescott spoke of a "bumpy ride" for his country. With a massive 179 seat majority, Prime Minister Tony Blair is likely to "shake up the nation" just as he had overhauled the Labour Party. -The old socialist dogma will be dumped. As for the party's long established "left wing", it will be silenced.

So where will he stand ideologically? Perhaps caught unawares, Prime Minister Blair's trusted lieutenant slips into the old jargon, that not even Blair has fully discarded. The Blair administration will pursue a "radical centrist" course.

Bumpy Ride

While admitting that it could be a bumpy ride, at least at the start, the loyal deputy summed up: "He wants to see a new kind of Britain going into a new millennium and he'll have as much effect on British political life as he's had on the Labour party in the last two or three years." Mr. Prescott may not claim total objectivity but he does give us a neat pen-sketch of his leader. There is a good reason why "personality factor" is more important than usual.

The Conservative party had admitted just before the May 1 election that its campaign had been planned on the contents of a "leaked copy of the Labour party's "WAR BOOK". It examined the relative "strengths and weaknesses" of the two parties quite frankly. Among Labour's weaknesses were listed the following: "tax", "Unions", "Europe" inexperience", "hidden Left" and "how will they pay for their plans". Next came a candid admission, Prime Minister Major's personality...." decent, honest".

Blair Image

Its self-critical 'report card' did confess that the Labour's Dirty Tricks Dept., if I may call it that, had planned to put out the yarn that the next Major-led Tory regime would ask parents "to pay more for books", "pay to visit a school" to see your children at work and play, and that "guns and knives" would still be legal and there will be more crime.

But the truth is that once Mr. Blair opened his campaign and hit the road, he projected his own image, what the party back-room strategists had called his "leadership qualities". It is Blair the man, a party front bencher summed up. The favourite question now poses the problem of "team work", "the leader's administrative capabilities" and "collective decision-making". He is not bowling anymore. He is at the crease. How good is he as skipper of the team which now faces the bowling of the Tory team under a new captain?

Ulster Issue

And so the oldest and toughest issue of all.... domestic and foreign. Gerry Adams, a key Sinn Fein negotiator, won the West Belfast seat. Another winner was Sinn Fein's No.1 negotiator, Martin McGuinness who defeated the Rev.. William McCrea of the Democratic Unionists, the most demanding and uncompromising of Irish movements.

But it was Gerry Adams, the most publicised Ulster spokesman, who read the ''message' of the polls results. ''It was a very clear message to those in high places in London and Dublin. The people of West Belfast had a ''right to be treated as equals''.

But Prime Minister's response was: ''I have no reaction to the result. Of course he has..... to what the historians often describe as ''the longest war''. The Labour party position has been stated plainly.... certainly during the campaign. It insists on what the party spokesmen describe as ''a credible IRA ceasefire as a precondition for Sinn Fein to be admitted to the talks on Ulster's constitutional future''.

But a convicted IRA bomber who was a Sinn Fein candidate argued that London could no longer ''avoid accepting our mandate". Seamus Mallon, the winner, is the deputy leader of the Social Democratic and Labour party. Yes, it is a Labour party, too. This is how he read the message of the electorate. The vote for Sinn Fein, he said, gave ''a blank cheque to the IRA.''

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