It seems the UNP has some burning issues to sort out

Ranil says, ‘I always knew that the UNP had burning issues’. Not THAT Ranil. THIS Ranil is Ranil Amirthiah who takes offence in the throughout-the-day good humoured way of his if ever someone refers to the Opposition Leader by his first name without adding ‘Wickremesinghe’. THIS Ranil was not taking things lightly or saying something in jest. He was referring to Rienzie Algama, the staunch UNP activist from Ranamaduragama, Weligama, who succumbed to burn injuries after setting himself on fire outside Sirikotha. He was also referring to the UNP’s internal crisis regarding leadership, constitution and indeed political relevancy.

I think whether suicide is an act of bravery or cowardice will be debated until the end of time. All it says is something about the person and the circumstances that prompted decision. As an act which has ‘spectacle’ written all over it and a spectacle enhanced by political moment and site of immolation this is not just another suicide. This is why, perhaps, Karu Jayasuriya, Tissa Attanayake and Jayalath Jayawardena had to hold a press conference about the incident.

Algama was an activist/organizer. Not one of those fly-by-nights and colour-change experts, but a man with a long history with the United National Party. According to his wife, Algama loved the party more than he did his family.

There’s no way to verify all this now of course, but few would doubt that the man held a kind of loyalty in his heart that few of the so-called party stalwarts seem to have.

He is supposed to have told a police officer, as he literally lay dying, that the act was prompted by a refusal to take notice of his suggestions for party reform. We are told that he was a Ranil loyalist. We don’t know if he was upset with the leader or those who are trying to oust him by way of party reform. His wife says that Algama was very worried that the party would split up. We have no way of ascertaining his analytical capabilities. All we can say is that this man, Rienzie Algama, was clearly distraught and that his distress had something to do with the state of the party he identified with and worked for.

We cannot and should not judge a political outfit by the views of someone who is marginal to decision-making process or someone who can be tagged ‘maverick’, ‘clown’ or ‘eccentric’.

When a person commits suicide it is easy to say ‘crazy’ and I am not sure if this is ever a fair assessment.

Perhaps one way of ascertaining this would be to ask around and find out how many people thought Algama deserved such a sobriquet this side of suicide-moment. Suicide is of course an ‘extreme’ moment; which means of course that there are degrees of ‘extremism’, which must then include fasts, protests, slogan shouting, poster-pasting, petitioning and so on. It boils down to a single word: STATEMENT.

Rienzie Algama made a statement. This was followed by a statement issued by his wife. Statements also came from some UNP leaders. I am sure Ranil Wickremesinghe will also issue one, sooner or later.

A man set fire to himself. We will never know whether Algama had a thing for metaphor or if he thought of ‘fire’ in metaphorical terms. In the very least he was saying ‘something inside that building is insufferable’. That’s the burning issue that THIS Ranil was talking about but which THAT Ranil has made a career out of ‘managing’.

It is not just about leadership though. It is about absolute mockery of democracy and open disregard for the basic tenets of transparency and accountability. It is about ‘what happened to the party funds’ and about ‘why are certain people entertained and others ignored’. It is about a party constitution that is begging for reform and a party rank and file that I feel (correct me if I am wrong) empathize more with Algama than with Wickremesinghe.

Who was Rienzie Algama? A father. Husband. An ugra yooenpee kaaraya (diehard UNPer). Perhaps (I am not sure) he is every UNPer who is not at all happy with what’s happening in that party (regardless of preferences for this or that personality within it).

There’s a burning question that I would love someone to answer and I think THIS Ranil might like it answered too: ‘Is there a Rienzie Algama inside THAT Ranil?’

[email protected]