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| Sunday, 27 October 2002 |
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Editorial |  |
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Editor, Sunday Observer. E-mail: [email protected] Snail mail : Sunday Observer, 35, D.R.Wijewardana Mawatha, Colombo, Sri Lanka. Telephone : 94 1 429239 / 331181 Fax : 94 1 429230 Genuine political partnership President Chandrika Bandaranaike Kumaratunga, in her address to the nation last Thursday, appeared to extend an olive branch to the United National Front government. Meanwhile, the United States' Assistant Secretary of State for South Asian Affairs, Donald Camp, now visiting here, has emphasised the need for a 'bipartisan' approach to the peace process. Both were referring to the need for a joint collaboration by the country's two largest political formations, now represented in Government and the Presidency, at least for specific purposes of national urgency, such as the peace effort. Whether the President's most recent rhetoric genuinely favoured a bipartisan approach, however, is unclear. President Kumaratunga, in her televised speech, did repeatedly call for "all parties" to join together for peace, but her call was for a collaboration in implementing purely the mandate that she and her party, the People Alliance, obtained during recent elections. The President did not categorically acknowledge the electoral mandate of other political parties such as the UNP-led United National Front, which holds a majority in Parliament and is the incumbent Government. A genuine collaboration between the country's principal parliamentary political forces over the most burning issue of the ethnic war requires a genuinely multilateral approach that acknowledges the equal validity of both major national political formations, especially since they share between them the two power centres of the Sri Lankan State - the Presidency and the Government. This 'co-habitation' in power, however, has yet to bear fruit and has been characterised more by estrangement and rivalry between the two political forces rather than any dialogue or active co-operation. Active collaboration between the two parties is what is needed if the country is to regain long-sought normalcy and all sections of society are to be reconciled with each other. For this, it is not enough for either major political party to tout its own programme and political platform. That will only emphasise the differences between the parties and between the political personalities, differences that may be important in policy debates but could also hinder efforts in collaboration. What is needed, however, is an active collaboration and the development of a inter-party consensus on limited specific political issues, such as the resolving of the ethnic conflict. Such a collaboration or consensus cannot be achieved if the two parties concerned are to flog their own mandates, 'visions' and 'dreams' and not acknowledge the validity of their co-habitant in power. Given the fragility of the current peace process, there can be no delay in the achievement of a genuine partnership between the UNF and PA. As events in the East have already shown, the sheer complexity of factors can lead to crises and tensions that, in turn, threaten the larger peace process. Hence, the urgent need for such a political partnership that would, on the one hand, provide the necessary political stability for the conduct of the negotiations and, on the other, help build the required national consensus over the content of a comprehensive settlement. Both major parties, therefore, owe it to the electorate to approach the task of building a workable political partnership with humility and a categorical acknowledgment of the equal importance of each other in relation to the desired goal of peace. |
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