'Human-elephant' conflict

Agrarian Services and Wildlife Minister S M Chandrasena has said that villagers and wildlife officials should work together to solve the problem of human-elephant conflict. At the risk of appearing facetious, it might perhaps be said that he should also try and solve the problem of 'human-elephant' conflict.

Not that the United National Party has been much in the headlines recently. The wild elephants have been awfully docile of late - particularly since the Alpha Male fought off the challenges of the younger bull elephants and established himself as the uncontested leader of the herd.

UNP Leader

There is no intention here to dispute in any way the suitability of Ranil Wickremesinghe for the post of UNP Leader. In his understanding of the outside world, he is unequalled within his party's ranks. His speeches in Parliament are generally of a much higher tone than those of his political colleagues.

However, it is to the lack of ability within his shadow cabinet rather than to his own talents that he owes his present position of Generalissimo of the Green Army. The UNP front benches are, with one or two notable exceptions, monochromatically mediocre or worse, totally colourless.

The bulk of the UNP's brains are now on the front bench of the government, starting with the erudite Sarath Amunugama, whom Ranil managed to alienate quite early.

Darusman Panel

The UNP had its Golden Age in the late 60s - when it governed in a coalition. It had a relatively democratic internal structure and many ding-dong battles within. It was led by the charismatic Dudley Senanayake, who had a combination of charm and a feeling for the ordinary citizen - which ensured for him the continuing leadership of his party.

It was the legacy of the Dudley era which kept the UNP afloat, not the draconian centralism of JR Jayawardene's virtual dictatorship. Subsequent UNP leaders R Premadasa and Gamini Dissanayake were products of the Dudley years.

When JRP Suriyapperuma and Jinadasa Niyathapala broke away from JR's UNP, they labelled themselves 'Janasammathavadi' (a more indigenous word for 'democratic' than 'prajatantravadi'). This was the essence of 'Dudleyism' - national-minded liberalism.

When Chanaka Amaratunga, Rajiva Wijesinha and others formed the Liberal Party, it was Dudleyism they espoused, in contradistinction to JR's Leaderism. It was 'Capitalism with a human face' as opposed to 'Robber Baronism'.

There is some indication that the Opposition Leader has begun to tread this path - at least to the extent of trying not to appear anti-national. Just before Sinhala and Tamil New Year he appears to have given up any overt support for the Darusman Panel.

That he did so might be attributed in part at least to the pressure of public opinion - but that in itself is a big step forward for a figure who withstood the force of civic demands with regard to the conduct of the separatist conflict for many long years.

Rebel without a cause

The outspoken Chief Incumbent of the Gangarama monastery, Ven Galaboda Gnanissara Thera made a statement recently that Ranil has come to agree with the government's stand on several issues, and that had been evilly advised before.

It is not for nothing that the party opposing the Her Majesty's Government in Britain is called 'Her Majesty's Loyal Opposition'.

What it implies is not that the Opposition is loyal to the government, but that it is loyal to the Sovereign.

In Sri Lanka, it is the people who are the Sovereign, not any individual and the Opposition must be loyal to the self-same Sovereign. There is no shame in supporting what is right, and no kudos in opposing simply for the sake of Opposition.

The sooner Ranil ceases to look like a rebel without a cause, the sooner will he cease appearing to the electorate as a Rogue Elephant.

Parenthetically, it should be noted that Minister Chandrasena has told Parliament that the Sinhala term for pachyderms in the wild will henceforth be 'Wana Ali' (forest elephants) instead of 'Wal Ali' (wild elephants).

Could this in some way be a metaphor for the UNP, once wild and untrammelled but now tame and disciplined?