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| Sunday, 11 April 2004 |
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Political intellects on UPFA victory : Patriotic citizens should back new PM by P. KRISHNASWAMY Asked for their views on UPFA victory and the current political atmosphere, political analyists/academics said that everybody should pledge support to the new government which has lot of new blood in it and capable of delivering the goods. Answering specific questions on finding a political solution to the ethnic problem, the resumption of the peace process, sustaining the ceasefire, the LTTE's ISGA proposal and the comparatively peaceful parliamentary polls, these eminent personalities, Dr. Ariyaratne, Dr. Jayadeva Uyangoda, Dr. K. Vigneswaran and Jehan Perera, expressed their independent views to the 'Sunday Observer'. Excerpts of their views: Dr. A. T. Ariyaratne, leader of the Sarvodaya Movement: "The UPFA has decided to form the government. There is a lot of new blood in it. The new Prime Minister is very energetic and can deliver the goods. I believe the new governnment should be given a chance and everybody should support them. They should always preserve our traditional value system based on self-reliance and people's full participation, with special emphasis on our rural masses. "As regards resolving the ethnic problem, I think they should recommence the peace negotiations again and see that this is done in a very transparent manner with the support and co-operation at all levels, including the political parties, to make it a success. The government should not get into a conflict situation but instead should take the peace process to a conclusion, safeguarding the interests of all people of this country. A good beginning in this regard would be a mass scale rehabilitation process. Those who have been displaced in the war should be given top priority in that process. "Both the LTTE's ISGA proposal and renegotiation of the MoU should be on the government's agenda so that necessary amendments could be made on mutual consensus before the commencement of the negotiatory process. "The elections this time was free and fair with a higher percentage of voter turn-out and fewer number of incidents because everybody, including the general public and civil organisations, supported the police and the Commissioner of Elections to the maximum. In fact, the people did not want any violence." Dr. Jayadeva Uyangoda, Professor of Political Science, Colombo University: "There is a regime change. Of course, the new regime will face three significant challenges. One is ensuring regime stability. It is a minority government which requires stability. The only way to do it is expanding and broad-basing the ruling alliance. The ethnic foundations of the alliance should be broad-based to include non-Sinhalese political parties. Otherwise it will appear only as a Sinhala national alliance. The second challenge is taking the peace process forward. The new regime faces the task of resuming talks with the LTTE. For the alliance to succeed in the peace process, it should avoid the mistakes made by the UNF government. "The peace process should be a broad-based process enabling all stake-holders to take part in the process. The third challenge will be economic recovery and poverty alleviation. The alliance government has the support of quite a lot of social groups that are helping the poor and the low categories. The UNF had excluded both in its economic recovery agenda. The challenge for the new government is an enormously difficult one. To achieve economic growth requires working in close collaboration with the World Bank, IMF and the donor communities. Poverty alleviation and social justice policies will make it necessary for the government to defy the policy prescriptions of the WB and IMF. The government will have to map out the path that will resolve this paradox. "On the question of the MoU, it should continue. Re-negotiation of it might make the negotiatory process complex. I think that the best strategy would be not to re-open the MoU but to continue with it. As regards the ISGA proposal of the LTTE, the alliance government will have to formulate a constructive response to that. My own feeling is that the resumption of the negotiatory process immediately might be difficult because, the alliance will have to demonstrate that the entire coalition is committed to a negotiated political settlement based on extensive autonomy to the North-East. Secondly the government will have to demostrate that the negotiagtory process is a stable one. Otherwise it will be difficult for the LTTE to come to the nogotiating table or rather the international community to facilitate the next phase of negotiations. The new government will have to do some serious homework about the peace process in the next few weeks. "There are a number of reasons for the increase in voter turn out in the last general election and decrease in the number of incidents. Both the PA and the UNF were controlling the government. The voters themselves were tired of violence. The civil society campaign at last had an impact on the electoral process. The Elections Commissioner and the police were very strict with regard to violation of election laws." Jehan Perera, Media Director, National Peace Council: "There is a sense of optimism in the country and there is uncertainty as well. There were convincing electoral level victories both in the North and the South. But there is no overall parliamentary majority. There is not a single political party or alliance that enjoys the confidence of all sections. There was also a big difference in the voting pattern of the majority community and the minority community. There is a hardening attitude of the people on the ethnic conflict, especially in the South. "The peace process should resume where it was stopped. The progress that was made in the last two years should be acknowledged. What is important now is to strengthen the positive aspects and to address the negative aspects. The positive aspect would be upholding the ceasefire and raising optimism among the people. The negative aspect would be the lack of integration of human rights into the ceasefire agreement, the need for better monitoring of violations and more public participation. "The talks should resume as soon as possible. It will be difficult to sustain the ceasefire agreement in a vacuum. The ISGA proposal was the culmination of lot of preparatory work by the LTTE and it was presented to the Sri Lankan government. Therefore, the government should respond to it in a serious manner. As for the ceasefire agreement, the government should improve it by integrating human rights principles and better monitoring. But certainly it should not be scrapped or re-negotiated anew as an entirely new document. The division of governmental powers between two main political parties was a significant factor that contributed to less incidents of election-related violence. The other factor was the establishment of independaent commissions under the 17th amendment. All three, the independent police commission, the IGP and the Elections Commissioner, performed their duties in a very admirable manner. They showed what is possible if there is a good leadaership and good laws." Dr. K. Vigneswaran, Political Advisor to the Eelam People's Democratic Party (EPDP): "The people have to welcome the UPFA victory and extend their su[pport and co-operation to the new government. I strongly belive that the government will make serious efforts to find a political solution to the ethnic problem. "The ISGA proposal represents the aspirations of the LTTE and not that of the people of the North and East. So any negotiations should not be based on the ISGA proposal. But this proposal can also be taken up for discussion. The government should decide to discuss with all relevant political parties, the question of a just political solution to the ethnic problem. Political solution should go through the process of the constituent assembly for which the UPFA has got a mandate. "When you talk of free and fair elections, it has two contradictory aspects. One relates to the South where the elections were free and fair. But in the North and East, the amount of intimidation and impersonation that was carried out by the LTTE on behalf of the Tamil National Alliance could be recorded in the Guiness Book of World Records. Even small children took ballot cards to vote and many of the dead had become alive on that day. The police turned a blind eye. People were terrorised by the LTTE. So it was not free and fair elections in the North and East." |
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