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Debate: H.L.D Mahindapala replies to Chula de Silva

by H. L. D. Mahindapala

In last Sunday's reply (March 26, 2006) Mr. Chula de Silva was wondering, quite loudly, when the Editor of the Sunday Observer would put an end to this debate. As for me, I am in no such hurry. I wonder why Mr. de Silva is in such a hurry to end it?

He is also worried about my making him look like a joker, wearing a neat little dunce cap. He says: "It's probably because Mahindapala is abysmally low on substance, that he makes a hobby almost of making all kinds of statements that border on the personal to the effect that I am a joker who should be patting his dunce cap etc etc." Let the readers decide as to who is "low on substance " at the end of this reply.

Read this for instance: "But," he says, "more important is why he wants to fix this dunce cap onto my head. He says that it is because I said Ranil Wickremesinghe is willing to offer "reasonable support" and not unqualified support to the Rajapakse administration.

"He (Mahindapala) goes onto cite an entire array of examples from history of instance in which, he claims, differences were sunk between political foes when there were important national challenges to surmount.

I put it to him that in all of these instances, it was reasonable support that was offered, and not unqualified support in which the opposition ceased to be opposition and folded up its tent and went home." Let the facts of history presented by Sir Ivor Jennings, the leading authority on the Westminster model of parliamentary government, deal with this issue and Mr. de Silva: "When Mr. Winston Churchill became Prime Minister in May 1940 he appointed a Cabinet of eight members, five from the Conservative party and three from the Labour party.

Three ministers, Mr. Attlee (the then leader of the opposition from the Labour party) as Lord Privy Seal, Sir John Anderson as Lord President of the Council and Mr. Greenwood as Minister without Portfolio, had no substantial department duties......Mr. Churchill considered, however, that 'War Cabinet members should also be the holders of responsible offices and note mere advisers at large with nothing to do but think and talk and take decisions by compromise or majority'....When he reconstructed the War Cabinet in 1942, Mr. Churchill promoted Mr. Attlee to the post of Deputy Prime Minister......" (Cabinet Government, Cambridge University, p.309, Third Edition).

Now, who is it who is "low on substance"? Did Attlee give "reasonable support" or "unqualified support"? And did Attlee's opposition fold up its tent and go home, as he says? Those who know their history will remember how after the war and after the common enemy of the British nation and democracy was defeated Attlee led the opposition at the first post-War polls to defeat the hero of the World War II, Churchill.

It is clear from this that if Mr. de Silva is the kind of defender on whom Ranil Wickremesinghe relies to protect his future then his leader too must order a dunce cap to match that of Mr. de Silva's.

Here's another example of Mr. de Silva' speaking through his dunce cap: "What it does not mean is that Ranil Wickremesinghe will abdicate his role as the leader of the opposition, and frankly I do not know of anyone who wants him to do so except of course H. L. D. Mahindapala.

"Ranil Wickremesinghe does not have to be seen as being in cahoots with Mahinda Rajapakse to offer this kind of unconditional support. Neither does he have to be seen with the President on the same platform on Independence Day or on any other occasion." Attlee too had a choice: either to be in cahoots with Hitler or with Churchill.

What did he choose? He chose to be the leader of the opposition to Hitler and not to His Majesty's government. There were ardent fascists like Mosley who backed Hitler. But he was not the leader of the opposition.

As a responsible leader of the opposition - and potentially the alternative head of the government - it was Attlee's duty to support the mandated government of the day and not the fascist dictator threatening the very existence of the nation.

Attlee revealed that in a time of national crisis he could rise way above petty politics by accepting the junior position as a minister in Churchill's War Cabinet first and later as Deputy Prime Minister.

Wickremesinghe's greatness would be in following Attlee and not Prabhakaran who has already stabbed him in the back and will continue to do so even if he becomes the next prime minister. (Absit omen!).

And was not Attlee on the same platform with Churchill to show solidarity with the government of the day? Mr. Chula de Silva also declares that he does not know how many would want Ranil Wickremesinghe to abdicate his role as the leader of the opposition.

Forget for a moment the role of the leader of the opposition! Does he know how many UNPers are voting with their feet by crossing over to the government rejecting his leadership of the UNP? With some patience it is possible to suffer nit-wits. But with all the patience in the world it is not possible to suffer those who go below the level of nit-wits ! In the course of dancing his verbal jig, he is also tripping over his own statements.

He began by claiming that Wickremesinghe was for "consensus" who had offered his support to President Mahinda Rajapakse. (He has forgotten that this debate began on this issue).

Then he retreated into saying that Wickremesinghe was offering only "reasonable support" and not "consensus". And now he comes out with Wickremesinghe real stance: "Ranil Wickremesinghe does not have to be seen as being in cahoots (emphasis is mine) with Mahinda Rajapakse to offer this kind of unconditional support."

In other words, Wickremesinghe, as stated by his champion, wants to have it both ways: pretend that he is the "good guy" offering support to the government while, in his characteristic style, trying to undercut both President Rajapakse and the nation by claiming credit for the Ceasefire Agreement - the document that will go down in history as the most treacherous betrayal of the people of this nation.

Knowing that he was kicked out of office by his current buddy, Chandrika Kumaratunga, and later by the people, for this betrayal he is obsessed with justifying his CFA, which, according to some sources, was dictated by Anton Balasingham, copied faithfully by Erik Solheim and signed secretly by Wickremesinghe with a pen donated by Prabhakaran! Wickremesinghe closed all options to his successors by signing the CFA without the consent of his party, parliament, the president and the people.

In signing the CFA he made the nation a prisoner of the LTTE and Norway. He gave all the advantages to the LTTE - and Mr. de Silva should know that this is the reason why the LTTE does not want to change it. Having sold the nation to the LTTE he is crowing that his successors are following him.

Since Mr. de Silva talks in legal terms ("I put it to you".... and all that) he should know the difficulties of getting out of a signed contract. President Rajapakse is trying his best to extricate the nation from the mess left behind by Wickremesinghe.

Neither the President nor the nation would be in this position if Wickremesinghe and his obedient factotum, Bradman Weerakoon, did not reinforce and consolidate the position of the LTTE with their CFA -- the mother and father of the current political crisis faced by the nation.

Mr. de Silva's argument goes something like this: First Wickremesinghe puts a man into a tight box and when he is struggling to get out of it he dances merrily screaming: "Ha! Ha! That man is following me!" As Prime Minister Wickremesinghe led the most deceitful, treacherous, traitorous, venal and corrupt government in recent history.

The CFA , which contains all these elements, provides ample proof of his untrustworthiness as a leader. He will also go down in history as the only Prime Minister who pulled up his Navy Commander for sinking the LTTE boat.

Here is the Navy Commander acting in defence of the territorial integrity and sovereignty of the nation and Prime Minister Wickremesinghe asks for explanation from the Navy Commander! Of course, all this was done in the name of preserving peace. Mercifully, the people, who saw through him, gave him the boot in the last election.

If he was elected there is no doubt that he would been hit not only by the LTTE in the north but also by the people in the south for selling the nation - the only policy that is near and dear to him. Even at this late stage Wickremesinghe's political ambition is to go further and "strengthen the CFA".

Here's another gem from his dunce cap: "It's worth reminding the forgetful Mr. Mahindapala that as things stand, it's the Rajapakse administration which negotiated with the LTTE in Geneva and decided that the ceasefire should not be amended.

It is hardly fair to start blaming Mr. Wickremesinghe for something that the Rajapakse government is doing." This indicates that the only way Mr. de Silva can justify his position is by misrepresenting or by stretching the truth all the way from Geneva to Vanni.

The government delegation made its position clear that it was for amending the CFA and it claimed that it did. (I do not want to enter into the details of that argument because it is another involved issue which needs space that the Editor cannot spare).

He can't see the difference between his leader and his policies, he can't see the difference between Attlee abdicating his role as leader of the opposition to His Majesty's government and then taking on the role as the leader of the opposition to the fascist Hitler, he can't see the difference between the CFA signed by his leader to sell the nation down the river and "strengthening" it further to reinforce Prabhakaran, he can't see the difference between standing shoulder-to-shoulder with the elected head of the government and la-di-daing at "Kollus", or whatever, on Independence Day.

He can't see the difference....oh, what's the point in arguing with a person whose substance is as low as that of the CFA, or the leader who signed it!

(This correspondence is now closed. Editor)

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