MoU fake, to hoodwink masses:

It has no legal binding:

Opposition taking voters for a ride?

No MoU supersedes Constitution:

A ridiculous coalition:

By Uditha Kumarasinghe

Mass Media and Information Minister Keheliya Rambukwella said the MoU signed by Common Opposition Candidate Maithripala Sirisena and some political party leaders and social organisations is a fake to hoodwink the public and take them down the garden path by merely signing an agreement.

The Minister in an interview with the Sunday Observer said that this agreement is not worth the piece of paper that they have signed. It doesn't have a legal binding, mandate or proper requirement or constitutional background.

This MoU has no value whatsoever. If they work on trust, then they don't need a 'piece of paper'. The intellegentsia will look at it from the same perspective. It is sad that they feel they can market this kind of political gimmick to the public.

The people are far ahead of this absurd thinking.

Minister Rambukwella said that the document is so complicated that even 10 or 12 members who have signed the MoU knows and understands the contents.

Even JHU parliamentarian Ven. Athuraliye Rathanathera has signed the MoU on Tuesday. They say there will be no change in the Executive Presidency for six years. I don't know how one could put the different thinking together.

Getting complicated is obvious but it is sad if they think that they could confuse the public.

Q: Common Opposition candidate Maithripala Sirisena has signed an MoU with the main Opposition UNP and a number of other political parties. Will it be a threat to the incumbent President at the the forthcoming Presidential Election?

A: It appears to me that the nature of the MoU itself looks dubious for a variety of reasons. Primarily the agreement is just an understanding and there is no binding. When there is no binding, you look whether it is signed by the Party Leaders or whether they were short of people to sign. You see whether you represent the party and sign it.

On what basis did Ven.Maduluwawe Sobitha thera and former President Chandrika Bandaranaike Kumaratunga sign that MoU? Then Maithripala Sirisena also signed the MoU which is understandable. Dr. Rajitha Senaratne and M.K.A.D.S. Gunawardena signed it.

They said that 40 odd parties were coming together to from a coalition. Now I wonder whether it is the party's or individuals. There are 58 political parties. Ten signing from each party which is dubious and complex.

There can't be an MoU that supersedes the Constitution. Very unlikely, if he gets through that, it will be solely in the hands of a particular person who is not in the group.

It will be better to publicly say we don't have an MoU but we trust whoever who comes to power.

I think this MoU is a fake to hoodwink the public and just take them down the garden path saying they have signed an agreement. I would say that this agreement is not worth the piece of paper that it is signed on. It doesn't have any legal binding, mandate or proper requirement or any constitutional background.

This MoU has no value whatsoever. If they work on trust, then they don't need signatures on pieces of paper. That is the standing of this MoU as far as I am concerned.

I am sure the intellegentsia will also look at it from the same perspective. It is sad to note that if they feel that they can market this kind of political gimmick to the public, but the people are far ahead of this kind of stupid thinking.

Q: The JHU has also pledged allegiance to the Common Opposition Candidate. The JHU commands a substantial percentage of votes in the Colombo district. Will it affect the election campaign in the Colombo district?

A: The JHU supporting the Common Candidate has its pluses and minuses.Their vote base is mainly in the cosmopolitan areas, basically in the city.

That is the Sinhala Buddhist vote that they are talking of. The genuine Sinhala Buddhist will find no better person than President Mahinda Rajapaksa who has practically done immense service, not just paid lip service to the people.I don't think there is a negative impact.

On the other hand, JHU MP Ven. Athuraliye Rathana thera gets on the platform and says that the elected President has to go on for six years. He says that they are against appointing Ranil Wickremesinghe as Prime Minister.

Adding to the confusion as I told you, the complexity of the issue will double or treble when an outsider passes judgment.

In a coalition, there can be different views and ideas and then a consensus is reached. But here the thinking is poles apart and they say they are in a coalition. This is ridiculous and they are only ridiculing themselves.

Q: We have observed a number of crossovers during the past two weeks citing various excuses. How do you view this situation?

A: There are not many crossovers, the expectations were much higher. Some websites claimed that 64 Government members were crossing over. Former President Kumaratunga said that she is not a Bandaranaike if she doesn't defeat the Budget and topple the Government.

she has to answer that question and I am not involving myself in that matter. Another website claimed that 61 Government MPs were joining the Opposition and they were planning to defeat the Budget.Later it came down to 26.

M..K.A.D.S. Gunawardena now says that there were 26 MPs to crossover, but they retracted. When they got to know that Maithripala was handing over executive powers to Ranil Wickremesinghe in 100 days. This is hilarious.

The document is so complicated and I don't think even 10 or 12 members who have signed the MoU know what its all about.

Ven.Rathana thera also signed the MoU on Tuesday. They say there will be no change in the Executive Presidency for six years. I don't know how one could put all of them together.

Getting complicated is obvious. It is sad if they think that they could confuse the public.

Now we have a stable Government.There is political and financial stability and there is total stability in terms of sovereignty of the country.

Are people going to sacrifice what they have achieved with hard work, blood and sweat for 30 years after a bloody war on terrorism in the country ?

All that has been settled and we are now developing infrastructure, improving bus and train services while millions of rupees have been allocated to improve university facilities.

Are the people going to sacrifice all these things for an unknown person in illusion or clouds ? Nobody knows. Are the people going to sacrifice all these things foran unknown person in illusion or clouds ? Nobody knows. If you ask anyone who signed e that MoU, he will say no.One will say we want a united forum or a coalition for two years. If you ask the next person, he will say the elected President should leave within 24 hours. Then when it comes to Maithripala Sirisena, he will say the Executive Presidency will be abolished within 100 days. If the latest signatory presuming that is Ven.Rathana thera asks from Democratic Party Leader Sarath Fonseka, he will say he has no issue with the Executive Presidency and it can go on like that for six years. I don't think anyone can understand this whole complication.

Q: The main slogan of the Common Opposition Candidate is to abolish the Executive Presidency in 100 days. Is there a provision in the Constitution to effect this change within such a short period?

A: As I told you earlier there is no binding by law or in writing to do so.

Nothing can supersede the Constitution. In fact everything has to be done through Parliament. There are a few clauses in the Constitution which deals with the abolition of the Executive Presidency. There is no way out.Only Parliament can abolish the Executive Presidency. All this talk by the Opposition is to mislead the people.

Q:Some political elements sense that this sudden development is an international coup backed by disgruntled local politicians to oust the incumbent President. Do you agree with this allegation?

A: This is not a question of agreeing or disagreeing. It is a question of taking the broad picture and analysing it.

Ranil Wickremesinghe and the UNP have been struggling for 20 years to come to power. Late Prime Minister D.S.Senanayake who was the architect of this massive political party would be cursing in his grave today.

Let alone 27 or 28 defeats of the UNP, but Wickremesinghe on two occasions handed over the party to outsiders . How do you explain that to the UNP folk? It is a huge community.

It is sliding as a result of the G20s, S20s and the Deputy Leaders. They have created complications within the party and it is a fact that strong members are slipping out of from the party today.

It become worse after bringing the SLFP General Secretary and planting him as their candidate and asking the UNPers to vote for him.

On the other hand, Maithripala calls upon the people to vote for him and says that he will give his powers within 100 days for those who have continuously failed for 20 years. I wouldsay this is a total comedy. I don't think any person or intellectual can understand about this whole jargon that the Opposition is talkingabout.

With the events unfolding, SLFP General Secretary as the common opposition candidate, there is reasonable doubt that it is being manipulated by a hidden hand. Who can this somebody be? If you look at the background in which President Mahinda Rajapaksa was in power within the first five years, he had to eradicate terrorism.

Many people locally and internationally said that it was an impossible task as the LTTE was the most ruthless, organised and wealthiest terrorist organisation in the world.

When the President completed the task, it didn't please many. Some were antagonised by some of the super powers claiming the President to be a stubborn person. That was the tag line.

There is doubt on reasonable grounds for one to analyse and come to a conclusion that some interested parties are working behind the scenes hoping that these people will dance according to their whims and fancies.

Q: Why did the main Opposition party headed by Ranil Wickremesinghe agreed to field Maithripala Sirisenaas their Common Opposition Candidate when the opportunity was for him to contest the election under the green banner and elephant symbol?

A: As I mentioned earlier, late Prime Minister D.S. Senanayake must be rolling in his grave how such a huge political party- the UNP has been dealt with.

Leave aside the fact that Wickremesinghe lost 28 elections or whatever the number. In the case of the last two opportunities for him to take the lead, he miserably handed it over to complete outsiders who didn't even have membership.

I suppose this is more than evident that this coalition business of working togetherof the gigantic party years ago has crumbled down to almost nothing.They really make decisions through sheer desperation which makes them look really bad. That is their standing as of now.

Q: With the crossing over some of theUPFA stalwarts, some say the party's election campaign will becomeweak in some districts in the island. How do you look at thisscenario?

A: Again I think there can be one or two isolated cases. There can be a popular politician where he can have couple of votes. But I find the people who have left the Government would not be able to take 500 people with them.

That is what you can see. We saw the UNP cadres at bottom and Maithripala'speople who have personally helped him at their inaugural rally. Let us see the immediate future and you will find this will be thinning down to a situation where they will have to say “ yes we made a mistake”.

Q:What is your opinion aboutthe Executive Presidency which was introduced by late President J.R.Jayewardena and continued by five other leaders amidst objections by party members and they agreed to abolish it at the beginning of their terms?

A: That is true. But as far as President Mahinda Rajapaksa is concerned, I think he explained as to why he held onto the Executive Presidency.

Firstly there was an on-going war on terrorism and that is understood by even the worst critic. The second part is that we were backward due to 30 years of he bloody terrorist war.

We needed some thinking for immediate development which is evident now. We can see it happening and the ground reality is that.

If we look at the North, is it the North of five years ago? It is not.

It is time to think how one should get about constitutional change. It is Parliament which has to move in the matter and the President has given his approval.

When it came to the 13th Amendment and various other constitutional changes that they are talking about, the President appointed a Parliamentary Select Committee(PSC) headed by Minister Nimal Siripala de Silva.

The President wanted everybody to put forward their views before the PSC. What did Ranil Wickremesinghe say? He said unless the TNA is present, he was notcoming.

The PSC was appointed for them to participate and give their views. But they failed to do that. the President's first term was focused on winning the war against terrorism which he fulfilled.

His second term focused on accelerated development process which has taken place.

Perhaps his third term will be vibrantly opened for possible constitutional reform.

We feel as you rightly said that there is public interest over this issue. All of that can be looked into. But there is no reason as to why President Mahinda Rajapaksa should quit at this particular moment.

Q: Former President ChandrikaBandaranaike Kumaratunga who openly supports the common opposition candidate, said that she wanted to abolish the Executive Presidency while she was in power but she didn't have Opposition support to do so.

Is there any truth or validity in her statement?

A: This is rubbish. Ranil Wickremesinghe, K.N. Choksy and all of them spent hours on the previous night before that draft constitution was brought to Parliament.

There was agreement and all found that it was okay.But when it came to Parliament, it had a clause where it said that the incumbent President has to continue the full term which means her second term according to the Constitution at that time.

She never wanted to sacrifice that part. That is why the people agitated and set fire to that draft Constitution inside Parliament.

If she was genuine about it, she would not have included that clause because the consensus was to present the draft Constitution without that clause.

When they went through it, they found that and they wanted to change it within a transitional period of one year. But she held her entire period in office. What she is talking is rubbish.

Q: Some people say former President Kumaratunga is trying to re-enter politics winning the support of the majority of SLFPers through this exercise of supporting the common opposition candidate. Do you think that she would muster the majority support of SLFPers?

A: She is half way through political oblivion. This will confirm and seal her political fate. In my view, Chandrika Bandaranaike Kumaratunga's 11-year tenure was the most disastrous and worst-ever period of post Independence Sri Lanka.

Can those who speak on behalf of Kumaratunga point out one single landmark development made during her tenure?

Starting from late Prime Minister D.S.Senanayake, he created an agricultural base particularly in Ampara. We can say during his brief period of rule, these are landmark development plans accepted by the country.

Late Prime Minister S.W.R.D.Bandaranaike had a farsighted vision. He brought in a different social structure which deviated from the capitalist system.

There were two social systems- Capitalist and Socialist. The capitalists were led by USA and socialists were led by the then Russian Government.

Both have pluses and minuses. Americans became wise and destroyed that system. Now that cycle has started again. In that background, S.W.R.D. Bandaranaike's policies as Prime Minister were embedded in the hearts of the people.

Even the average person could take to politics. That was his vision.

I saw Land Minister Janaka Bandara Tennakoon being emotional while talking about his father recently. Because his father and politicians of the calibre of D.A.. Rajapaksa were the pioneers of the SLFP.

They had a Sri Lankan culture and were nationalistic. The nationalisation process took place. The series of activities that took place during this time can easily be identified.

We can see many landmark developments made during the late Prime Minister Sirimavo Bandaranaike's time such as the construction of the BMICH and signing of the China-Sri Lanka trade pact.

Many landmark developments took place during President J.R.Jayewardena's time.

Whether the Constitution introduced by him is wrong or right is debatable. Whether there should be amendments or not is also debatable.

Former British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher and US President Ronald Reagan changed their Constitutions. Leave that alone,the entire system was changed due to the combination of then UK Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher and US President Ronald Reagan. Then the world was moving in that direction and J.R. Jayewardena was able to do that.

The world was moving in that direction and J.R. Jayewardena followed. in the case of late Minister Gamini Dissanayake, still people talk about his Mahaweli Project.

Even today people talk about ports and the Mahapola scholarship introduced by late Minister Lalith Athulathmudali. Former President Ranasinghe Premadasai introduced the 'Gam Udawa' housing project.

Whatever political differences are there, they were landmark achievements during the tenure of all these leaders.

Can you recall a single landmark project during the tenure of former President Bandaranaike Kumaratunga? The most unsuccessful and disastrous decisions were taken during her period. Chandrika Kumaratunga signing the MoU is a hoodoo that the people will reject.