Archives

Rise above partisan politics says Times of India

by Upali Rupasinghe in New Delhi

"The Times of India" in its editorial on Tuesday referring to the present issues between the Executive and the Legislature in Sri Lanka said the cohabitation could well turn out to be a challenge and an opportunity for the two major parties - especially for settling the Tamil-Sinhala conflict within a framework of genuine democratic federalism.

Since the Sri Lankan votes have deliberately chosen to lock the two leaders in a situation that compel them to cooperate, they should rise to the occasion and demonstrate their statesmanship. Both international and national situations provide them a unique opportunity to prove that they can rise above partisan politics, it said.

Following is the full text of the editorial. Uneasy togetherness

With Ranil Wickremesinghe of United National Party (UNP) sworn in as prime minister by President Chandrika Kumaratunga of People's Alliance (PA), Sri Lanka enters the experimental stage of what is known in France as cohabitation. In the Sri Lankan context, the term is somewhat unhappy, indeed even inapt, and yet it best explains the situation. An executive president from one major party has to co-exist with a government headed by the leader of the main opposition party. In France, the Gaullist president, Jacques Chirac, has a Socialist prime minister, Leonard Jospins. They fought the last presidential election against each other and are expected to fight the next one also. While in France such 'cohabitation' has become the norm, in Sri Lanka it is a new beginning. The fact that the prime minister's swearing-in ceremony was not televised by the state-owned TV does not augur well for the future. President Kumaratunga's term of office extends up to 2005 and the experiment will therefore be watched with interest both in Sri Lanka and the rest of the region. In France, a convention has developed that under a cohabitation arrangement, the president controls foreign affairs and defence and the rest of the administration is left to the prime minister. Unfortunately in Sri Lnaka, damaged by 18 years of civil war, it is difficult to separate issues of defence and foreign affairs from all other aspects of governance. However, cohabitation could well turn out to be a challenge and an opportunity for the two major parties - especially for settling the Tamil-Sinhala conflict within a framework of genuine democratic federalism. Till now the parochialist political rivalry between the UNP and SLFP (now part of People's Alliance) had made it impossible for the majority community to offer a genuine federalist solution to the Tamil minority. President Kumaratunga's initial efforts were frustrated by the UNP and now the latter has come to office by promising to find a solution to the ethnic conflict.

In the new context, it would be politic for the PA and the UNP to form a grand coalition and evolve a consensus on the Tamil ethnic issue and arrive at a basis for a solution. The alternative is partisan politics - to continue to engage in infighting and one-upmanship, and prolong the agony of the nation. The pattern of voting indicates that the people of Sri Lanka would like the two major parties to work together in the national interest. There is today an international climate of opinion which disapproves of secessionism, the ultimate demand of the LTTE, but favours solutions based on democratic federalism. A national government of the UNP and PA as suggested by Mr. Wickremesinghe will send out a clear message to the LTTE that it cannot take advantage of the division between the two major parties and thus improve the chances of paving the way for a settlement. The alternative to consensus can only be confrontation that brings governance to a standstill. That is bound to be exploited by the LTTE. Since the Sri Lankan voters have deliberately chosen to lock the two leaders in a situation that compels them to cooperate, they should rise to the occasion and demonstrate their statesmanship. Both the international and national situations provide them a unique opportunity to prove that they can rise above partisan politics.

News | Business | Features | Editorial | Security
Politics | World | Letters | Sports | Obituaries |

Produced by Lake House
Copyright 2001 The Associated Newspapers of Ceylon Ltd.
Comments and suggestions to :Web Manager