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My dear Mahinda Aiya,
Ayubowan, vanakkam, assalamu alaikkum and best wishes for your 62nd birthday which marked the beginning of a bombshell week or weeks on the political, military, economic and other fronts.
For the past few years, Sri Lanka has been plagued and paralyzed by conflicts within conflicts, confusion within confusion, contradictions within contradictions, and divisions within divisions, horse dealing, wheeler dealing and other sordid party political deals. The build up if not the breakdown to Monday’s highly publicized budget vote was perhaps one of the ugliest examples of the moral decay of party politics in Sri Lanka. Members from all sides appeared to be here, there or nowhere, on the fence or pig sty with the agendas within agendas if not sophisticated bribery and corruption of the worst order. Symbolic of it was the resignation of Wijedasa Rajapakshe who headed the parliamentary select committee which probed bribery and corruption by politicians including ministers and highest level state officers.
In a rare display of moral and political courage, Wijedasa Rajapakshe who headed the parliamentary Committee on Public Enterprises demanded the resignation of two key ministers and two top state officials, Treasury Secretary P.B. Jayasundere and Tax Chief A.A. Wijepala.
Wijedasa Rajapaksa’s crossover set off political shock waves and speculation with many reports speaking of former cricket captain Arjuna Ranatunga also being ready to cross. But other reports said he was being offered the Sports Minister’s post or the presidency of the Cricket Board, while pressure was being applied on him through his father, Governor Reggie Ranatunga. If the budget debate and vote produced political opportunism and selfish horse dealing of the most disgusting order, the JVP’s role was both intriguing and so much like that of a villain in a village drama. Hours before the vote, JVP general secretary Tilvin Silva like a modern day Pilate appeared to wash the party’s hands off the issue by saying the politburo had authorized party MPs to take their own decision on the crucial vote.
Ultimately the JVP voted against the budget but the government fairly comforatbly won the first battle of the budget by 118 votes to 102. Though the budget overcame the first hurdle most observers are wondering whether it was the end or only the beginning of the end but again who will end up where was under a cloak of confusion and contradiction.
According to a Sunday newspaper the President had told opposition UNP leader Ranil Wickremesinghe he had no intention of dissolving parliament even if the government was defeated in the budget vote. Whether it was a policy statement or a casual remark made at the funeral of Elena Jayewardene is another matter and like so many others only adds to the confusion and political chaos. The committee stage of the budget is likely to be more divisive and chaotic than the second reading with the vote likely to be taken on the allocation for each ministry. Who will vote for whom is unclear.
Two other mortar bombs or suicide bombs are also posing a huge threat to the country. One is the LTTE and what it might do in the coming days or weeks and the other is the ever-so-high and never-so-high cost of living. As for the LTTE, the government policy so far has apparently been largely to shoot in the dark, while most ministers are also confessing there is little or nothing they can do to control the costs of living or offer some relief package to some millions of suffering people. If fuel prices and electricity rates go up in the coming weeks, it might be the knock out or blackout blow to provoke a public revolt or street riots which extremist parties like the JVP could use as a launching pad for whatever hidden agenda in their political strategy. Next week LTTE leader Velupillai Prabhakaran is scheduled to make his much awaited Mahaveerar day proclamation. What he will declare or threaten and what will happen in the coming days is more unpredictable than the other muddled issues in the country.
If as a nation we appear to be sitting on a tsunami, the international condemnation, isolation and possible sanctions this country is facing are reaching atomic proportions. The apparently unwinnable and nowhere war is going on while the human rights crisis is worsening with the United States based Human Rights Watch even reported to have carried out a secret monitoring mission here. The United States, Britain and the European Union are known to be deeply concerned and on the verge of imposing strictures or sanctions on Sri Lanka. Our giant neighbour is also known to be gravely concerned for what is happening in Sri Lanka or what is not happening. So the imagery is that of a nation in confusion spinning wildly while the world around wonders what to do about what many see as a failed, lawless or ungovernable state.
In this crisis within crisis what we see at the end of the tunnel is not light but the head lights of an oncoming train on the same track. As the moment of truth or calamity draws near, religious dignitaries and other national figures like former armed forces chief are calling on the two main parties, the SLFP and the UNP to come together and form a national government to pull the country out of the multiple mess and mud-hole. But with politicians from all sides apparently practising the patriotism of the scoundrel and giving priority to personnel gain or glory, unity between the two main parties seems to be only a dream or hope, yet to lose hope indeed we need to hope that that there is some new dawn beyond this darkest of midnights and we need to keep on hoping because the loss of hope is hell.
In that spirit of hope, let us pray that God will give us people that a time like this demands. People who are selfless, sacrificial, humble and compassionate, people who want to sincerely serve and give to the country and even suffer for it -- rather than the self seeking scoundrels who come to serve but stay to plunder or pillage the remaining wealth or resources of a poor country.
Yours sincerely,
Koththamalli
Daily Mirror
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