Does the General need a manifesto?

Question is whether he will be an obedient minor employee of Rajapaksa & Co or aim at the directorate where the criterion for membership is to be a Rajapaksa from Medamulane. Has SB committed Hara Kiri?
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By Gamini Weerakoon

(December 14, Colombo, Sri Lanka Guardian) Election manifestos in Sri Lanka could be described as pledges of candidates in long turgid prose which even the candidates are not familiar with and have no intentions of keeping them while voters too do not take these pledges seriously at all. But political manifestos do serve a function if the candidates are elected for they provide a grand opportunity for the opposition to read chapter and verse about broken promises.

In 60 years of politics in this country there has been a plethora of political manifestos presented to the people. But do people remember any of those pledges given save the principal ones such as: ‘Sinhala Only’ of SWRDB, Parity of status for both languages by the Marxists, Self sufficiency in rice by Dudley, Rice even from the Moon by Sirima, JR’s ‘Dharmista’ society, SJV’s ‘Eelam’ and Chandrika’s ‘Peace’? All the rest of the innumerable pledges designed to dupe voters have been dumped to the limbo of forgotten things.

Chinthanaya pledges

Ardent Rajapaksa fans now tucking up their sarongs, putting up posters and cardboard cut-outs while distributing copies of the Mahinda Chinthanaya, that is being conferred the sanctity of the Mahavamsa and is getting bigger in volume each day — with all things good and beautiful happening being added on — will accuse us of being politically blind as bats. But do they and the average voter recall pledges in this Chinthanaya of 2005 other than to maintain the unitary state and fight terrorism militarily? The erstwhile political allies of Mahinda, the JVP comrades who had a big input into drafting the original Chinthanaya, are now recalling broken promises, the biggest charge being non-abolition of the executive presidency.

General Fonseka is a rare presidential candidate in that he has had no manifesto, at least till the time these comments are being made. He is being accused of having pledged to follow economic policies of the UNP and is quite firm about his commitment to the abolition of the executive presidency. As a common candidate of many parties he will naturally have his options open. Most probably he will make some statement on the political principles he hopes to follow in the days to come. Besides the outline of the strategy of the opposition is that once he is elected the executive president he will take steps to abolish the executive presidency while parliament will proceed to draw up a new constitution. Thus, a detailed manifesto is not called for at this juncture.

The General, if he proves himself to be a man of his word in politics, as he had done in war will proceed to abolish the executive presidency and cure the malaise of our body politic which all parties have identified as the main malaise of our body politik.

Rajapaksas and constitutional niceties

For the Rajapaksa administration and their cheer leaders to call for democratic pledges and constitutional niceties having violated the basic law of the land, the constitution, is ridiculous. Today’s state of lawlessness in the country is mainly attributable to non implementation of basic provisions of the constitution together with the amendments that have been adopted by parliament to correct constitutional flaws.

If criminals roam the land and the police are unable to control them because the police are politicised and criminalised, the non implementation of the 17th Amendment is the root cause. The appointment of an independent police chief and an Independent Police commission is provided for in the 17th Amendment but unfortunately President Rajapaksa has been appointing police chiefs whose records of performance speak for themselves. The powers of the executive president override them all. So has it been with the public service, judicial service and the Elections Department where the appointment of independent commissions have been envisaged. This was legislation unanimously passed by parliament which two executive presidents — Kumaratunga and Rajapaksa have kicked away.

Parliamentary control of finance has been lost to the Executive President and the billions spent in rupees and dollars on white elephants such as Mihin Lanka, Petroleum Corporation, Electricity Board too are attributed to the basic law of the land — the constitution — being violated.

Unlimited power and despotism

It has been said that the possession of unlimited power makes anyone a despot and that there is a possible Nero in the gentlest of human beings. Having power does not confer wisdom of those who have acquired power and the greater the power more dangerous would be the abuse that follows. The principle of a civilised state is that power had to be legitimised under a contract, British politicians and philosopher Edmund Burke said two centuries ago.

The current Sri Lanka situation calls for an honest, determined individual capable of restoring law and order in the land according to written law. The hope of those who have chosen Fonseka as the common opposition candidate is that he can play the role.

Whipping boy

Ranil Wickremesinghe has been made the whipping boy for the UNP’s inability to present a presidential candidate. He has to take a share of the blame no doubt but what of the other UNP front rankers? Was their solution to be servitors to the Rajapaksa clan and accept ministerial portfolios with all their perks or stay back and fight Wickremesinghe? What of the remaining ‘rebels’ calling for Ranil’s head? What were their miserable individual performances in provincial elections that followed the last presidential election? Now with a positive hope of a candidate capable of defeating Rajapaksa in the open what do these rebels with their proven impotence and fathers’ hidden sources of wealth hope to achieve?

The hard fact is that Velupillai Pirapaharan decimated all emergent UNP leaders leaving only young Wickremesinghe alive. Mahinda Rajapaksa deploying his Machiavellian strategies and executive presidential powers trapped, enticed, deceived and made puppets of UNPers wanting to be ministers in a hurry. Now he is going through his last movements with his magic wand enticing the young men in a hurry.

Double cross

Much has been made of S.B. Dissanayake, who we know as a small man with a big mouth crossing over to the Rajapaksa government and being received with warm embraces with the widest of publicity. The village boy from Hanguranketha who cut his political teeth as a Communist activist at Peradeniya and was picked up by Anura Bandaranaike, first crossed over from the SLFP to the UNP and last week double crossed back to the SLFP of Mahinda Rajapaksa and company.

SB was welcomed by the UNP from his ‘mother party’ because he along with some others brought down the Chandrika Kumaratunga government. But SB with his big mouth did not impress upon the UNP hierarchy although he demonstrated his marked political guile by taking pot shots at the party leadership and beguiling the rank and file to make him the chief political organiser. But that was not enough. He wanted to be the leader
SB was the jack in the box of the grand old party and when he went behind bars crossing swords with the Supreme Court, there were no tears for him by UNPers. Many thought he was a Trojan Horse but this horse had no armed warriors of his own to creep out of his belly and slay sleeping citizens. Now the question is whether he will be an obedient minor employee of Rajapaksa & Co or aim at the directorate where the criterion for membership is to be a Rajapaksa from Medamulane. Has SB committed Hara Kiri?

-Sri Lanka Guardian