From cricket to the harbour - and then to cricket

Sunday Observation: The Political Column

A neutral contingent of cricketers met President Mahinda Rajapakse on his home turf --- for lunch at Temple Trees last week. This was the likes of Pramodaya Wickremesinghe, and others who are not in the direct current of the controversy regarding cricket.

As if the President did not have enough on his plate, these folks suggested that the President takes over Sri Lanka cricket.

This had Mahinda Rajapaksa smiling from a corner of his mouth.

He had read the story of Sri Lanka, in Sri Lankan cricket. For years, Sri Lankan cricket had been a prestige battle between two factions essentially led by you know who and you know who........

'Get these factions working together '' said the President.

It was as if patching up one relatively small rift, could solve the President all the problems of the day...

The port strike had the UNP in a tizzy, meanwhile. Ships were bypassing Colombo, and it appeared that the port strike was becoming the single most inconvenient blow to the economy in recent times -- surpassing the strains placed on it due to the oil prices.

Mangala Samaraweera, the doer, had to return to the country to get this port strike solved.

He made it appear as if it was all in a day's work, but it wasn't.

It's correct that the role of the JVP unions in the port strike was not as significant as that of the other unions. But the JVP unions also made some critical comments about the Minister's contention that the port strike was purely an act of political sabotage - -and had nothing to do with salaries. If the JVP was an irritant on the government's side on this issue, it was nothing compared to some allegations that SLFP unions had played a not inconsiderable part in the strike action as well.

What then of JVP SLFP cohabitation? We do not know about that. We editorialised in these pages last week that with all the forces ranged against these two parties, the best they could do is to get together and work as one unit.

But last week, this paradigm too was put to the test. When four bills came before parliament, the JVP sued for a postponement. But, Nimal Siripala de Silva wanted to go ahead with the presentation of the bills, which drew a storm form the JVP,.

Eventually, there was a decision to put off the voting, but not before some serious intervention from the highest echelons to get the two sides to agree on a postponment..

What unrest could be fomented, had already been fomented with the port strike. But, this was a damp squib for the opposition as the strike was settled. Hence, the opposition seemed to gravitate towards other issues for its agitation - -and one of them was the issue of the levy on television advertising by foreign agencies.

In the final analysis, there seemed to be a clear demarcation in government thinking on this matter. The levy on foreign advertising is one thing - - the levy on foreign tele-dramas is an entirety different matter.

On the first issue, it would seem that the opposition was making it a tool to attack the government with. On the second issue, however, it appeared that this was not the case, as some channels had a genuine grievance as they were supported almost entirely by foreign content.

The advertising issue was a scare mongering tactic. Elements propelled by opposition standard bearers, were running amok , saying that the advertising levy would scare away investors, which was not the correct position. (See our editorial , page 1)

The eventual Presidential decision was to appoint a committee to look further into the issue of teledrams..

Nothing in a government can be totally smooth sailing. Susantha Punchinilame's's entry into government ranks had rankled Dylan Perera MP, and this sideshow seemed to appease oppositionists. They were pleased. It seemed to take the pressure off then to continue to hit at the government on economic issues.

But it was the port strike that seemed to raise same rankling issues. What was Mervyn De Silva's union -- now fallen into bad hands -- dong there?/

There were more question than answers, but the government refused to open a front against the JVP. True, there was trade union action on the part of the JVP, but it was not of the debilitating variety. There was politics as usual, meaning that the JVP and the government agreed to disagree. For example, while the JVP was adamant that the Finance bills would not be taken for debate, Nimal Siripala de Silva was equally adamant that the bills should not be amended.

Its natural that all parties and that includes the JVP, are looking towards maximum political manoeuvre. Nobody was resigned to fate.

Of course there was one resignation. Arjuna Ranatunge resigned as Deputy minister of sports. 'That was to seek a slot in Sri Lanka cricket we are told. Some say its not cricket, but Ranatunge will do all it takes to be at the helm of cricket - - even argue with Jeevan Kumaratunge.