End of the road for Ranil and UNP?

By M. M. Zuhair

(November 28 , Colombo, Sri Lanka Guardian) Best known as the Grand Old Party, the UNP which had ruled this country for the better half of post-independent Sri Lanka is folding up, with clear signs of the party not wanting to record its 21st defeat in political conflict.

It is a sad period for democracy in this country to witness the quiet disintegration of one of Sri Lanka’s most formidable political parties whose leader will not contest the upcoming Presidential elections. Though die-hard party stalwarts would claim that their party will never die but come back as a greater force under a retired Army General, the truth is the party has dropped its leader and the leader has dropped the UNP as the party, and worse, the party symbol the majestic elephant would be seen no more!

These are unprecedented negative records for a political party which had always been at the helm of the country’s affairs, either in Government or in the Opposition.

Maybe the UNP will not die but just fade away. What must be remembered by all true democrats is that the country needs a strong opposition for democracy to flourish. Can an Army General, whose contribution to victory in the Government’s war against the LTTE is significant, fill this void in a country with a long history of unbroken civilian rule?

The last eight Provincial Council Elections have established nearly 63 percent or near 2/3rd majority of support to President Mahinda Rajapaksa’s ruling UPFA. The last of the Provincial Elections, namely the Southern Provincial Council Election was held less than six weeks ago. Nothing has changed since then, in political terms of any significance, except for the entry of Gen. Sarath Fonseka (SF) into politics.

SF cannot be underestimated. Certain external forces through INGOs and others are expected to subvert the electoral process through illegal funding. The authorities and of course the ruling party would be fully alert to possible bribery and corruption. External interferences in Sri Lanka’s electoral process would be called to account through discreet watch and transparent investigations.

SF can change the current equation marginally. President MR is likely to be deprived of a 2/3rd majority of votes in the Presidential elections. But he would win getting the highest majority any President had previously obtained. That is because, notwithstanding Rauff Hakeem or Mano Ganeshan, the minority votes, Tamil, Muslim, and Christian would substantially shift away from SF to President MR.

Sri Lankans are an intelligent people. They would ask as to how SF can join hands with those who fathered the ‘Eelam foetus’, the CFA? How can he explain his tie-up with those who exposed the Army’s Deep Penetration Unit at Millennium City, with terrible consequences for the forces? Questions, there would be many more.

By joining hands with those perceived by the people of this country as persons who supported the attempt to divide this country, this man would only be polluting his name! The expected votes will not come, though he will perform better than the outgoing UNP Leader Ranil Wickremesinghe.

He cannot be unaware of the great fall from grace that he is risking, in the eyes of the people merely because he could not have his way with the President. The issues alleged to be in dispute with President Rajapaksa are comparatively trivial! They are not worth any confrontation with one’s Commander-in-Chief the elected President of the country, who must surely have the last word on any issue! The country expects such issues to be resolved without challenging the established order or seeking to divide the majority votes.

The coming weeks will reveal whether SF has the support of external forces wanting to dethrone President Rajapaksa. Intelligent people of this country are fully aware of how the jackals step in when the Johnnies fail. People know how these forces overthrew Mossaddiq, the elected Prime Minister of Iran, as to who toppled President Sukarno of Indonesia, how President Jaime Roldos of Ecuador followed by President Omar Torrijos of Panama ended up in two separate fiery plane crashes, both dying within two months of each other and of course, the rise and fall of General Pervez Musharaff, following the overthrow of the elected President Nawaz Sheriff.

Sri Lankans also know that the people of this country will never tolerate puppets of any kind. But puppets are what these external forces are looking for. This country has oil. Countries having oil have seen an array of economic hit men (EHM) being employed by these forces. John Perkins in his New York Times best-selling book Confessions of an Economic Hit Man (2005 Edition), a self-confessed EHM, has this to say:

“Economic hit men (EHMs) are highly-paid professionals who cheat countries around the globe out of trillions of dollars. They funnel money from the World Bank, the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID), and other foreign ‘aid’ organizations into the coffers of huge corporations and the pockets of a few wealthy families who control the planet’s natural resources. Their tools included fraudulent financial reports, rigged elections, payoffs, extortion, sex and murder. They play a game as old as empire, but one that has taken on new and terrifying dimensions during this time of globalization. I should know; I was an EHM.”

Rigging elections is one of the mechanisms according to Perkins employed by these forces. INGOs, NGOs and often journalists are well known tools. One such former ‘journalist’ is today a full time employee of an INGO engaged in Sri Lanka bashing in international fora. Two major elections being lined up, forces inimical to the country’s interests in the post-war process of consolidating the war victory, are likely to raise their ugly head again. With Sri Lanka’s long tradition of duly conducted elections, rigging would be a difficult task but subversion through illegal funding would be a dangerous reality.

The writer is former Member of Parliament

-Sri Lanka Guardian