Politics of hatred and vengeance

Political correspondent

The former Army Commander giving his first press conference gave two reasons for his resignation from military service. One was the refusal of the government to raise the Army strength by another 100,000 personnel. The other was the turning down of his request for more power or commanding power over the Armed Forces as Chief of Defence Staff. Both these issues were beyond his purview as they involved political decisions. Such decision-making, naturally is a matter for the political authorities.

Had these powers and requests been granted he would not have resigned. This means reasons for his resignation are purely personal and nothing to do with his new found love for the country and his desire to rid the country of corruption.

No one could be blamed if he were to deduce from the above that he had decided to seek the highest office in the land to get back the privileges he had requested. Since he wanted an enlarged Army under his command, the request to expand the Army could have been an attempt to grab more power. It is apparent that he is simply power hungry.

Anyone listening to his public utterances would conclude that he has a grudge with the Defence Secretary. The way he refers to him as a mere computer operator shows that he is pursuing politics of vengeance. The Defence Secretary was a high ranking military officer and a War Hero. It is not proper for the former Army Commander to speak of a War Hero in disparaging terms. By denigrating the Defence Secretary he is only denigrating himself. In the meantime he has also made an allegation against the Defence Secretary and Major General Shavendra Silva incriminating them in war crimes. The United Nations has also initiated a probe on this alleged incidence. This has placed Sri Lanka in an embarrassing position and the country is threatened with punitive actions by the world body or individual foreign countries. This shows how far the politics of hatred and vengeance has taken the country. If this is the man who promises to be the ‘Saviour’ only God could save Sri Lanka from him. (incidentally he is referred to as the Saviour of all by the JVP.)

Speaking of politics of hatred one is reminded of the speech made by the Leader of the Opposition Ranil Wickremesinghe at the public rally held in Kandy to solicit support to the National Democratic Front candidate Sarath Fonseka. In this speech he implored the powers above to destroy the Rajapaksas by lightning, a practice never resorted to even against sworn enemies by our people. Such action is unthinkable according to our culture.

Sri Lanka has to rid itself of this type of vituperative politics of hatred and vengeance. It is time all candidates focus on burning problems facing the country and the people and put forward their solutions to facilitate the voters in taking a decision on January 26, 2010.

Santa Claus on stage

Christmas is the season of cheer. It is the time of peace and goodwill. It is time the advent of the Prince of Peace is celebrated.

For the children it is the time of Santa Claus fulfilling their dreams, bringing goodies they wish for. This year there are too many Santa Clauses around. On the political stage too one finds political Santa Clauses freely not delivering goodies but promising everything under the sun. A Rs. 10,000 wage rise, redemption of deposits in Sakviti accounts etc, etc. You name it, it is given as if by the power of Aladin’s magic lamp.

Cynics, of course, would object as has been done by Candidate Wickremabahu Karunaratne, in asking a naughty question as to how the money is to be found to pay a wage enhanced by Rs 10,000 per month per capita. Is it by taxing the rich companies or by robbing the poor through indirect taxes added to consumer prices.

Monitors and monitors

Monitors like tigers have an animal variant and a human variant. The four legged tigers are animal while the two legged ones were human. We use the past tense in the belief that the species had become defunct by now in its country of birth - Sri Lanka. The former was identified by its spots while the latter was identified by the cyanide capsule.

Similarly the two legged monitors are human while the four legged ones are animal. While the former is of recent historical origin the latter has been a product of the evolution of species as Darwin described.

These two legged monitors lie dormant like leeches during dry weather and spring to action when an election is around. The white-skinned monitors storm into poor Third World countries and try to interfere in the election process by their observations and accompanying demands on the authorities.

Whence this practice of election monitoring? It began from the days when independent rulers in the Third World started questioning the type of democracy practised in the West.

Do the Western countries invite or tolerate election monitors from Third World Countries?

This servile practice should not be continued. In the age of Internet, fax and mobile telephones physical presence of foreign monitors are not necessary even to influence the voters.

The EU has said that they are unable to monitor the forthcoming Presidential poll due to economic constraints. Thanks and no regrets. Sri Lanka has been enjoying universal suffrage since 1931, long before some countries in the West. We can look after our affairs including elections.

Executive Presidency

The National Democratic Front (NDF) candidate for the Presidential poll is promising to end the Executive Presidency. Could he do it? It could be done either Constitutionally or unconstitutionally.

The only way to do so Constitutionally is to use the provisions in the existing Constitution and amend it through an Act in Parliament and subsequent ratification by the people at a Referendum.

The NDF has no representation in Parliament, leave along a majority in it.

He has to rely on the support of his friends in Parliament. The UNP is a friend. It fathered the Executive Presidency. While in office it has never attempted even to introduce slight amendments. Will they oblige him?

What about the JVP? So far it has never attempted to bring a motion to abolish the Executive Presidency. It was boasting about having a remote control to tame governments. Never did it try to canvass support among other parties in Parliament for a joint motion to abolish it? On its own it does not have enough strength to change the Executive Presidency.

What the UNP and the JVP have in common is not the opposition to the Executive Presidency but the opposition to the incumbent Executive President. Opposition to an incumbent is different from opposition to a system.

The other method of abolishing the Executive Presidency is by revolution or coup de tat. Of course, the NDF candidate is not a revolutionary. None would wish him to try the other option left though. As was reported in the press the incumbent President had said that none would have a personal interest in abolishing it than him in his second term. He has also said that he was for a system where the President is responsible to Parliament. That means no candidate at the present election wants to retain the present Executive Presidency as it is. That means the candidates have to be judged on other criteria. It may be performance in office, credibility and the programs they present for the future. None of these have come to the fore in the campaign yet.