Save the country from being pushed towards anarchy - Dr. Jagath Balasuriya

By Ranil Wijayapala

National Heritage Minister Dr. Jagath Balasuriya representing the Kegalle district says that history has given lessons for the leaders who have left their political parties for their personal gains and same will apply for the present leaders who have left the party on mere hatred. In an interview with the Sunday Observer Minister Dr. Balasuriya also stressed the need to defeat the international conspiracy against Sri Lanka to prevent the country from being driven into an anarchic situation and creating an environment for separatism. Following are excerpts of the interview.

Q: The Government is trying to show the present attempt by the Opposition to win the Presidential election as a conspiracy of the West. How do you justify this statement?

A: Unlike in the past, the western nations and colonial rulers are not investing their funds to invade countries like the US sent their troops to Vietnam. What they are doing is using cats paws to destabilise the countries which are not working to their agenda through regime change and create governments supporting their agendas. So they release their funds to opposition parties and make use of them to reach their goals. That is what is happening in Sri Lanka at present. This type of betrayal took place in 1815 and is something akin to repetition of that betrayal in 2015. Chandrika Kumaratunga and Ranil Wickremesinghe are playing the leading roles in this betrayal making use of Maithripala as a puppet.

Q: Do you think the opposition has a common goal?

A: There is no justification for their unholy alliance. The JHU which totally opposed giving even Police and Land powers to the Provincial Councils under the 13th amendment to the constitution has joined hands with political parties which supports giving powers beyond 13th amendment to the Provincial Councils.

They have agreed to implement the agreement reached between Ranil Wickremesinghe and Prabhakaran. Therefore, they are dancing to the tune of the Western nations and the Tamil diaspora.

Q: But when we recall the past similar type of alliance was formed in 2004 to defeat the then UNF government. Within it also there were diverse opinions. So how does it differ from this alliance formed by the present opposition?

A: The difference between that alliance formed by the UPFA and the National Democratic Front (NDF) is that there are vast difference opinion within this alliance. Although JVP was represented in that alliance they took extremely nationalistic stance at that time.

Though Marxist parties are in favour of devolution of power they did not agree with that position at that time.

They totally stood against Praba - Ranil agreement. All parties in that alliance wanted to abolish that agreement. But this alliance has been formed totally against those policies and what they really need is to betray the country for western interest and the Tamil diaspora.

Q: What they really say is that they are in agreement to abolish the executive presidency. The UNP is also in agreement with the abolition of presidency. So do you think NDF can work on a common agenda?

A: It is only a group representing the elite class within NDF who are in favour of abolishing the executive presidency. Ven. Maduluvave Sobhitha thera is campaigning to abolish the executive presidency.

But even for that there is no common agreement among them. The common masses of this country are least bothered about abolishing the executive presidency.

On the other hand there are certain things that have to be changed in the executive presidency. For instance the immunity enjoyed by the executive president over criminal offences has to be changed.

There is a necessity to change those powers enjoyed by the executive president. But having those agendas at an election campaign is no use for the common masses.

However, there is a perception among the public that the executive presidency should be there. Our executive presidency has been formed after studying the American and French executive presidency systems. De Gaul of France thought that executive presidency should be there in his country after the war. My personal belief is that executive presidency should be there with certain changes to it.

But there is no use including it in political agenda or in a political agenda because people are least concern about those issues at an election.

Q: Within the government also there are parties and Ministers who are in favour of abolishing the executive presidency?

A: Yes, parties like Lanka Sama Samaja Party are in favour of abolishing the executive presidency. But they are also now saying that it should be there with certain changes to the executive presidency. They are all in agreement that executive presidency should be there in this country.

Q: But there is a perception that war situation in the country is over now and there is no necessity to have executive presidency in the country?

A: Yes, the nominal war is over now. But there are threats posed by the Tamil Nadu. Whether it is Jayalalitha or Karunanidhi they are having extremist political agenda. More extremism they practice, their vote base increases.

There is no room for moderate politicians in Tamil Nadu. So there is a big threat from Tamil Nadu. If we change the executive presidency at this juncture we will have to face a problematic situation if such threat arise from Tamil Nadu or any other organisation. If any threat is posed to the country we are not in a position to reintroduce the executive presidency again to face such threats as we need to have two thirds majority in the parliament to do so.

Therefore, my personal opinion is that the most feasible way is to keep the executive presidency, after making certain amendments to repeal unwanted powers.

Q: They are also talking about re-implementing the 17th amendments to the constitution after repealing the amendments made under the 18th amendment to establish independent commissions.

A: Whatever the things they talk to ensure human rights there are no exemplary States in the world. They all talk about human rights when they are not in power and they are talking about Utopian states like Thomas Mogul talked about. But once they come to power they all ignore what they talked once they were in the opposition. For example, the UNP is talking about exemplary administration. But where was that exemplary administration when they curb the JVP insurrection in late 1980s.

I appeared for the most number of disappearance cases in the High Court. Can JVP talk about human rights and ask the people to vote for the UNP. The only way we can judge about their future action is from their past activities. But they all have set bad precedents. So how can people believe their promises and create good governance in this country with their bad precedents. That can never happen under their administration.

Q: Do you think that there is a division in the SLFP and policies with the exit of Maithripala Sirisena?

A: We have learnt lessons from the past. When Bernard Aluvihare left the party in 1956 SLFP members did not leave the party. Bernard Aluvihare lost even his seat. The other example is C.P. de Silva. He was the Deputy Leader of the SLFP and he was about to be the leader when S.W.R.D. Bandaranaike was assassinated. He left the party in 1964. He was a man who had been given a status of a God by the people, calling him Minneri Deiyo. But he also lost his Minneriya seat at a subsequent election in 1970. These clearly show evident that though leaders leave the party the supporters do not follow them. If people decided the fate of popular leaders such as C.P. de Silva, we can understand what would be the fate of Maithripala Sirisena in the future. I am sure he will be defeated in his own seat in Polonnaruwa itself at the Presidential election. There is an elite and professional group who believes that democracy should be further strengthened and nepotism should be removed with them. But that won't be a decisive factor at the Presidential election.

Q: Another factor that has been highlighted is that UPFA has failed to garner the support of major Tamil and Muslim parties. Will that be an issue for the UPFA at the Presidential election?

A: That won't be an issue because majority of the Tamil registered voters in the North have migrated and they are not living in the country. About 300,000 Tamil voters are living in Canada, Britain, Europe and Australia. The other factor is that resistance from the Tamil community towards the Government had systematically decreased and many Tamils are voting for the UPFA.

Those who have been subjected to harassment under the LTTE are not voting for the political parties like TNA. Though Muslim leaders are not with us, majority Muslims are not following their leaders. Muslims are normally voting for the UNP. But majority Muslims who really understand the parties which are having anti-Muslim links are no longer voting for those parties. Because they know that US is behind those parties and they understand the damage the US caused to the Islamic nations through Arab Spring.

Q: Do you think there is a possibility of having increased influence on Sri Lanka on pursuing war crime investigations and other investigations relating to victory against terrorism?

A: There are groups who believe that they can take action against the Government if they defeat President Mahinda Rajapaksa at the forthcoming election. The Tamil Diaspora and the Tamil National Alliance is working towards these agenda. The unfortunate thing is that the groups such as Jathika Hela Urumaya have also joined hands with those groups.

Q: Do you think there will be a change in the voting pattern in the Kegalle district at the Presidential election?

A: The common masses are not divided over these issues. They are not bothered about the executive presidency or other issues and they will vote what the government had done for the people and the country. The people of Kegalle district will follow the majority of the people who are voting for Mahinda Rajapaksa.

Q: One major complaint against the Government is about corruption taking place when implementing development projects. What do you have to say about these issues?

A: There are things that have to be changed in these systems. We have to ensure that our systems are free of bribery and corruption. Otherwise we do not have a future. The countries such as India are acting directly against those who are responsible for corruption. But in our case we have to identify what is most threatening to the country at present. We have to first defeat the international conspiracy first and move forward to ensure that our systems are free from bribery and corruption.

Q: You are talking about an international conspiracy on Sri Lanka. What kind of situation will arise if conspirators get the upper hand at the forthcoming election?

A: The country will be in anarchy if they take the upper hand in the election. We will have to devolve power from the centre to the Provincial Councils if they get the upper hand. There is a possibility for separatism. The Tamils are trying their best to have a Tamil Ealam in Sri Lanka.

They know that is not possible in India due to resistance from other states. That was not possible in Malaysia. But they are trying hard to do it in Sri Lanka and if it happens, Muslims will also try to declare a separate state. That tendency is there in the Eastern province.

That will be a bad precedent to the other nations in the region. Therefore, we should try to defeat that conspiracy and try to prevent the country from pushing towards an anarchic situation.