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| Wednesday, 5 May 2004 |
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UNP's losing streak by Dr. Wimal Wickramasinghe Having been an MP for ten years from 1984 to 1994 and also Minister of State for Policy Planning and Implementation (1989-1994), Cabinet Minister for Environment and Parliamentary Affairs and Chief Government Whip of Parliament (1993-94) in the regimes of Presidents Jayawardene, Premadasa and Wijetunga, I may be one of the fit persons to write about the UNP and its failure at the last elections. In terms of Cabinet ranking, out of the present parliamentarians in the UNP, only Ranil Wickremesinghe, Joseph Michael Perera, M. H. Mohammed, Alick Aluwihare, W. J. M. Lokubandara and P. Dayaratne are senior to me. There are only a few other pre-1994 persons representing the UNP in Parliament today: Sarathchandra Rajakaruna, Gamini Jayawickrama Perera, Lakshman Seneviratne. I did my politics honestly and without bribery, corruption, thuggery and hooliganism. I was one of pioneers who underlined the need for a code of conduct for parliamentarians way back in the eighties. Having done a yeoman service to the UNP in and outside Parliament and at a time I was editing Janajaya tabloid for the UNP at the request of the then Deputy Leader of the UNP, Gamini Dissanayake, I was ceremonially kicked out from the membership of the UNP Working Committee in March 1996 by appointing me as Advisor to the UNP without voting rights at the Working Committee. There were others too. This prompted me to leave the party informally and since then and up to now, I have never attended or addressed a single UNP meeting. Neither did I ever step into the Sirikotha building. Some UNP members lost at the General Elections of 1994 but only two resigned from the post of chief electoral organiser bowing to the verdict of the people, one being U. B. Wijekoon (now ambassador to Russia) and the other being myself. Let us now turn to the UNP first and its defeat at the last General Elections next. The members of my family and most relatives are out and out UNP supporters. My father (now deceased) was one of the five members from the then Ruwanwella electorate who were invited by S. W. R. D. Bandaranaike to attend the first meeting at Palm Courts that formed the UNP in 1947. I was appointed to Parliament in February 1984 following the death of the sitting member of Eheliyagoda, my home town. When the then General Secretary, Harsha Abeywardene, of the UNP was shot dead by the JVP, I volunteered to be the General Secretary of the party, at which time President JR had already decided to appoint Ranjan and knowing that well, Ranjan took me to dinner at Oberoi one night. It is true that the UNP is used to both victories and defeats, conforming to the theory of cyclical fluctuations. When the UNP was brought to 8 seats in Parliament in 1956, many thought at that time that its coffin was nailed for good. But it came back in 1960 (for a short period), 1965 and 1977 (with a five-sixths majority). There were classic statesmen in the party such as DS, Dudley, Sir John, JR, followed by Premadasa, Gamini and Lalith. One of the best Cabinets in the recent past (and also up to now) was that of JR. The UNP lost in 1994 due to the operation of a number of factors: the party being in power too long (seventeen years), rift in the party during the period of Premadasa, demise of Premadasa, weak leadership of Wijetunga, and above all, charismatic leadership of Chandrika Kumaratunga. Since then, the UNP has been losing all elections, be it parliamentary, provincial council or pradeshiya sabha, until 2002. It is a pity that the UNP government that won the General Elections of 2002 could not win the last election. Winning apart, it lost all the districts it contested except Colombo (with the support of the Sinhalese and minority parties), Kandy, Nuwara Eliya and Badulla (all with the dominant support of the minority parties). Usually, when a governing party loses an election, it will have little time for hibernation and convalescence but the UNP had to go into business almost immediately, cashing in on the minority government and getting its own member elected as Speaker. Being jubilant and rejoicing over this triumph which gave rise to a lot of resentment between the JHU and the UPFA, the UNP has kick-started the process of annihilation of the new government by planning to field candidates for the posts of Deputy Speaker and Deputy Chairman of Committees in Parliament. Their attempt to field another person for the post of the Leader of the House was shot down by the Secretary General of Parliament. The UNP should have known that it is not the done thing and that it is not in conformity with the Standing Orders of Parliament. Restructuring of the UNP after the ignominy of the defeat, as has been the case always in the past, after giving vent to the feelings and criticisms of some parliamentarians at the group meeting, is now on, expecting a change in the party hierarchy except its leader. By the turn of events, he managed to escape from the wrath and was lucky to continue as de facto and de jure leader without being exasperated by the members. There should be a complete overhaul of the party hierarchy without resorting to patchwork. For example, replacement of one with another only would be tantamount to a camouflage. I think the Chairman, General Secretary and General Treasurer should bow out graciously and the leader of the party can hold the post of Chairman too, a ceremonial post. Bringing in outsiders as administrators of the party looks generally feasible as they can discharge their functions and duties without favour or prejudice but they are no doubt not conversant with the pulse of the members in particular and the voter community in general. A political party cannot be managed only as an administrative machinery with being oblivious of the sentiments and feelings of the rank and file. When Prime Minister and President Ranasinghe Premadasa was at the helm of the party, he appointed to these posts suitable persons who had experience in the political arena. An overhaul of the party should be preceded by a change of attitude from the leader to the bottom of the hierarchy. Placement of anyone at the top of administration who had crossed over from another party after enjoying all the perks there and on account of personal or venomous reasons should be done with utter caution as such an act may injure the feelings of the ardent party supporters, including the stalwarts of the party. |
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