Tigers must fall in line first - Jeyaraj
 

The charges on bribery and corruption and the waste of public money levelled against the government by the Opposition parties were 'just claims' not with concrete evidence, the Government Whip and the Highways and Road Development Minister Jeyaraj Fernandopulle said.

He said that amidst these baseless charges the Mahinda Rajapaksa government which wowed to end terrorism and to solve the national problem giving more power to provincial councils would remain for its full term. "The government is very stable", he said in an interview with the 'Sunday Observer' .

Minister Fernandopulle is challenging the UNP to name the Tamil and Muslim businessmen who fled the country due to alleged abductions and demanding millions of rupees as ransoms by some armed groups said that the government is not responsible for these incidents.

Here are the excerpts of the interview:

Q: Will there be a Cabinet re-shuffle next month?

A: No, I am not aware of anything but certainly there won't be a Cabinet re-shuffle. However, new Ministers will be appointed and there will be small changes. But there won't be a major re-shuffle as such.

Q: Former Auditor General S. C. Mayadunne is reported to have resigned from his present post as the Consultant to take up duties at the Constitutional Council. So why is there still a delay?

A: There is no indication that he is prepared to resign. What I gathered was he wants to serve in both places - the Parliament and the Constitutional Council. Several members of the COPE and PSE have requested him not to resign from the Parliament. I do not think he can serve in both places. But, he has not indicated that he is prepared to resign from the Parliament.

Q: So, this means there will be further delay in filling the vacancy?

A: As far as the opposition parties are concerned, they have found Mayadunne but he is not the only suitable person for this post. They can find another suitable person.

Q: Under the Constitution only eminent persons who do not belong to any political party can be appointed to this Council. Do you think of Minister Mervyn de Silva as a suitable candidate?

A: If Mayadunne says that he will resign from the Parliament and is willing to accept the post as a member of the Council, in the same way Minister de Silva has said that he is prepared to resign from the SLFP and accept the membership there. If Mayadunne's stand is correct, then Minister de Silva's stand is also correct.

Q: What is the progress of the disciplinary inquiry against Minister de Silva?

A: Two days back Ministers Nimal Siripala de Silva and W. D. J. Senevirathne met and got evidence from some of the employees of the Sri Lanka Rupavahini Corporation. So the investigations are proceeding.

Q: The opposition has claimed that Tamil and Muslim businessmen are fleeing the country due to abductions and demands of millions of rupees as ransoms by some armed groups. What are the actions taken by the government to control these incidents?

A: I do not think that there is any truth in these allegations. We challenge the Opposition to name any such businessmen who have fled the country due to this so-called situation.

Q: But they accuse the government directly saying that these armed groups operate under the patronage of the government. What is your comment?

A: These armed groups including the LTTE and various other groups are operating in Jaffna also. The government is not responsible and we cannot take any responsibility for the armed groups. In 1989 during the UNP regime, lots of armed groups were operating. The government cannot be held responsible for that. But the government is trying to apprehend all these people who are armed with guns. Nobody can take up arms except the police, and the three forces. If there are armed groups, the government will take appropriate action to take them into custody.

Q: The Defence Secretary Gotabhaya Rajapaksa wants to ban the LTTE immediately. But you have opposed it. Why are there contradictory opinions within the same government?

A: There can be contradictory versions and different people cannot have the same opinion. My opinion is that we must not ban the LTTE as when the outfit is banned the government cannot talk to them and even cannot meet them. If by any chance, we are to start peace talks we cannot talk to them as they are a banned organisation. We should not ban them. If we ban them we are pushing them to a separate state.

Q: That is your view. What is the view of the government?

A: I do not know. That is the view of the most of the people in the government.

Q: Is there any need to resume negotiations at this juncture when the military is successfully defeating terrorism?

A: The military is going ahead for their self defence. They are not waging a war against terrorism. The government is prepared to talk to the LTTE any time. As the President has said we are prepared to resume talks without any conditions. They cannot say that the government must stop attacking them. When they attack the government, the military will retaliate. But the doors are still open for negotiations. That does not mean that we are preventing the actions against the terrorism. The government is fighting to eliminate terrorism.

Q: Once you have said that if there is stepmotherly treatment for minorities by the government, you who represent them would resign. Are you satisfied with the way the government looks after minorities?

A: Yes. I am neither a Buddhist nor a Sinhalese and I am a member of the minority community. I personally feel even under former President Chandrika Bandaranaike and now under President Mahinda Rajapaksa there is no discrimination against the minorities. That is why I can be happy with both of them.

Q: Are you still opposing the proposals by the All Party Representative Committee to solve the national problem?

A: No. I did not oppose. What I said was the ideal solution to solve this was the Indian system. That was my personal view. But the view of the party was something else. Now the APRC has proposed implementing the 13th Amendment, which we are obliged to implement.

They have suggested the implementation of the APRC proposals and we cannot oppose now. This is an ideal situation. Although the 13th Amendment is there, powers were not given to the authorities. But we cannot give a separate state for them. All those powers should be given within a unitary government.

No MP of any political party can oppose the implementation of the 13th Amendment to the Constitution. Whether he belongs to the UNP or the JVP or the TNA, all of them had sworn to protect the Constitution. The important factor here is to devolve power to resolve the problem. I do not think that there is any use in naming the system to solve the problem as unitary or federal. The need is to devolve power.

Q: The JVP warned about corruption and waste and said President Rajapaksa will not survive long. What is your comment?

A: There is nothing to comment. This government will survive long and will run the full term. Allegations on corruption and bribery and waste of public money are just claims. If they need to accuse the government they should pinpoint those, with evidence. But they do not do that. They just claim that the government is corrupt. Anybody can say that the government is corrupt.

I agree there is a certain amount of corruption taking place in the government but politicians are not responsible for them. A lot of corruption take place because of the officials and not because of the politicians or the Ministers of this country. And no one can put the blame on the leaders of the party or the politicians of this country for those.

Q: Is there any attempt by the government to cover up some Ministers who are confronted with charges of bribery and corruption?

A: No. Why does the government need to hide those? We do not want to hide any such allegation against any politician. Recently a Chairman of a corporation was produced before the Courts. He was a Deputy Minister one time and also a very senior member of the party, we could have hidden that easily. The government does not cover up such people.

Q: Former President Kumaratunga claimed that you would do anything to please President Rajapaksa to become the Prime Minister of this country. Are you?

A: I am doing the same to President Rajapaksa what I did for President Kumaratunga. There is no change of my duty.

The other thing is that I am a member of the minority community so I do not have any hopes of becoming the Prime Minister of this country.

Q: Once you have said that Ranil Wickremesinghe will never be the leader of this country?

A: I still maintain that. He has lost 14 times. In last November he tried to topple the government with the help of the JVP, but he could not do so.

Again in December 2007, he tried to do the same with the help of the JVP, but he failed. The UNP complain that the JVP betrayed them. The UNP is trying to come to power with the help of the JVP. So, they will never be able to come to power, if they try to depend on the JVP.

The main problem is that he does not realise the real problems of the country. For an example he has started a poster campaign on the Valentine Day. What ever poster they have put up on the Valentine Day is contrary to Sri Lankan culture. That may be good in a Western country. But he does not realise that and he is not doing serious politics.

He is not serious and taking things as jokes. Because of this people also do not take their campaigns seriously. Either he is not getting correct advice or he is not adhering to advice given by someone.

Q: According to you, who is the best politician after President Rajapaksa to lead this country?

A: There are lots of leaders to take over from President Rajapaksa. I do not want to mention anybody's name but there are lots of leaders. Our doors are open as the President said this party is open to anybody to become the leader of the country.

From 1951 to 2005, the party leadership was restricted only for the Bandaranaike family but that era is over. Now this is open for anybody.

Q: You are popular for making bold statements. Do you think certain statements by you have affected the country's image and became a hindrance in getting the support of the International Community?

A: I am not the Foreign Minister to please the International Community. I am not here to please the International Community. So am not expecting any votes from the International Community. Whoever who made such wrong statements either by the Western countries or other international organisations I have to reply.

They go and kill and violate human rights in Afghanistan, Iraq and other countries and they are trying to be very fair here. They are just talking and trying to build a different image. So, we have to reply those charges.

Q: As a senior politician what's your comment about the mis-behaviour of some of the MPs in the Parliament?

A: Misbehaviours have been taking place since the inception of this Parliament. This is not a new thing. Even in the Indian or the Pakistani or the Western Parliaments there are MPs who mis-behave. These MPs are not elected according to their behaviour but due to their popularity. I cannot find fault with anybody for this matter. These happenings are the same all over the world and are not special incidents in Sri Lanka. If people see that those whom they vote are misbehaving they can take action at the next election, But what happens today is they elect the same wrong person over and over again. So no one - the government or the political party - can be blamed for that. People of this country has the weapon to take action. They can do justice.

Q: How do you see the role of the JVP?

A: The JVP is doing a better job than the UNP. Whatever the issues taken up by the UNP in the Parliament was first taken up by the JVP. They come before the Parliament, they make statements and they know the pulse of the people better than the UNP. The JVP is doing a much better job than the UNP today.

Q: What do you think about the present political situation of the country?

A: The government is stable and we try our best to curb terrorism. The Forces are collectively taking action and going ahead defeating terrorism. I think by the end of this year we can eradicate terrorism from this country.

Who is Jeyaraj Fernandopulle

The little boy was tough for his age. And also being 'brave', the five-year-old lower kindergarten kid walked eight kilometres alone from the Ave Maria Convent, Negombo to his house, the day he was punished for wasting water filled in a bucket at the school premises.

"When I recall that incident which happened in 1958, I feel, a bit scared as it is dangerous to walk eight kilometres alone at that age". That was the feeling of a Minister about his own mischievous past when he was the naughtiest of his family.

Having no more hopes, he is happy that he could fulfil his life long desire to become a Cabinet Minister. "I have no other hopes. But I would like to see my son, who wants to study law, enter politics one day". That is the wish of the Chief Government Whip and the Highways and Road Development Minister Jeyaraj Fernandopulle.

Unable to bear the injustices, the young Jeyaraj, who was the Head Prefect of the school, protested against a certain decision of the Chemistry teacher of Maristella College when he was doing his A levels. He led a group of 37 students to boycott the exam and refused to 'say sorry' as he believed he did not do anything wrong. But he was suspended from sitting for the exam. This incident spiked his longing to become a politician and the determined youth decided to become a lawyer before entering politics.

Today, this experienced politician who faced many ups and downs in his political life believes that the younger generation needs tough skins to survive in politics. "I do not think that they will be able to face the agony we faced in politics", he said.

Planning to practise law from the day he quits politics, this Government Whip, who is not afraid to say anything against those who harm the image of the country, says he is a very humble and simple person in his normal life.