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In an interview with Ranga Jayasuriya, Colombo University Lecturer and Full Bright Scholar Dayan Jayatilleke identified three distinctive, but inter-related and inter-active challenges for the new administration.i.e. the war waged by the LTTE, problems of ethnic relations and the battered economy.

Jayatilleke, one-time a Minister of the North-East Provincial Council stressed that the talks between the LTTE and the government should be unconditional. He called for counter-conditions from the government side if the LTTE imposes pre-conditions for the talks.

Excerpt from the interview

War and peace negotiations

In respect of the war, the United National Front in its election manifesto clearly signalled that it will work for a negotiated peace settlement.

However, the PA soon after the election victory in 1994 did the same, but talks failed and the government returned to the military option. Then we saw a see-saw battle between the security forces and the LTTE.

Since the early 80s, successive Sri Lankan governments and, of course, Rajiv Gandhi's Congress party government had negotiations with the LTTE. The history of negotiations runs back to the Thimpu negotiations in Bhutan. But, in all such occasions the LTTE quit the negotiation table to re-start the war with a higher intensity.

However, one would hope that now the LTTE might deviate from its previous conduct since it is facing new challenges in the post-September 11 world. Now, the LTTE is named as a foreign terrorist organisation in some Western countries and its foreign accounts have been made somewhat difficult to access. So what is important is taking advantage from this unique situation.

The new administration should draw the Tigers in and lock them in the process of negotiations. But, the government should not get the Tigers off the back hook placed on by the change of attitudes in the post September 11 world, in the process of negotiations without gaining something for the Sri Lankan State in return.

Talks should be unconditional. And if the LTTE imposes conditions, the Sri Lankan Government also should impose counter-conditions and there should be a mechanism of linkage. The Government must not give any unilateral advantage The Government should not de-proscribe the LTTE prior to negotiations, because it could lead to the "irreparable changes" in the ethnic war.

Ethnic reforms

While the peace negotiations are going on, the Government should have adequate monitoring of Tiger behaviour in order to fall back in case the Tigers return to war.

At any point of the process of negotiations, the Tigers can exit with a big bang, with an all out offensive on the military.

The new administration must learn from the experience of 17 years of UNP and seven years of PA rule. In 1977 the UNP did not work fast enough to address the grievances of Tamils. In 1987, when the Indo-Sri Lanka accord was signed, it went to the other extreme. The then Government was unable to win the consent of the majority.

Chandrika Kumaratunga's administration started off with a draft proposal for a union of region, a far too high level of autonomy that was not practical. But Chandrika administration would have succeeded if it presented the August 2000 draft in 1995. But it never happened. Nonsensical utterances about a constitutional revolution on the part of the PA leadership eroded its vote base.

Economy

Now, a viable option opens to the Wickremesinghe administration. The 13th amendment on Provincial Councils can be improved and enhanced by means of a simple majority in Parliament. And subsequent to this the Provincial Council Elections in the North and East can be held.

The new administration should not do the same mistake, the Chandrika administration committed in 1994, i.e to hold up the progress on ethnic reforms to allow for negotiations with the LTTE. Ethnic reforms can be introduced within the 1978 Constitution.

The challenges of the Wickremesinghe administration in the realm of economy are to rapidly absorb the impact of the global economic down turn on the Sri Lankan economy, to find ways to protect the local economy from the global down turn and to pave the way for a sustainable recovery.

The country is in an economic emergency partly because of the mismanagement of the PA government and partly due to the impact of the global down turn. The UNF administration should manage to recover the economy, but it should not place the burden of recovery on the majority of the people, particularly the most vulnerable and the poorest.

The strategy for reform the new administration will embark upon however, must not give rise to a class conflict in Sri Lankan society. For instance, there must not be any attempt to scrap the existing labour laws, and of course there is no need to do so.

The new administration should do everything possible to avoid any perception that economic policy is being disproportionately influenced by non-majority elements. It must avoid rise of any perception that the resources of the state are shifted away from the majority. Similarly it must avoid any notion within the business community that there is a shift from majority to minority.

This is particularly important since the negotiations have to be embarked upon. The majority of people must not be given any reason that the policy on the ethnic issue and LTTE is disproportionately influenced by the non-majority political elements and the business sector located in Colombo.

One of the principal draw backs of the previous UNP administration since 1978 was its insensitivity towards the socio-economic aspirations of the majority.

Rightly or wrongly the UNP historically is being perceived as pro- rich, pro-foreign and pro-minority and relatively insensitive to the Sinhala majority, particularly towards the have-nots. This has resulted in the rise of labour unrest, student unrest and ethnic unrest in the South in past. The new administration should select progressive centrism as its economic policy.

No economic crisis can be managed, if there is social and ethnic polarisation. And in a multi- ethnic society, economy tends to proceed in ethno-economic terms. The new administration has won a clear electoral victory, but also a limited electoral victory (45%). So one would hope that the new administration will be guided by that conscience and make it a considerable realism in the realm of economic reforms and the negotiations with the Tigers.

If it works cautiously and intelligently, it can enhance its vote base. If not it may find its popularity on the wane, and dissatisfaction within its own ranks can not be ruled out.

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