|
|
 |
  |
| Sunday, 26 September 2004 |
 |
|
 |
Politics |  |
| News Business Features Editorial
|
UNP take to the streets sans Ranil by Ranga Jayasuriya The new United National Party of Ranil Wickremesinghe is not a party which believed in street protests. Recent history proves this. When it was the ruling party, the UNP cancelled its May Day rally last year to replaced it with a fanfare, a hawkers carnival. This year, they had a May Day rally, but not a procession. On Friday, the UNP came to streets, but sans Wickremesinghe. Party supporters converged opposite the Fort Railway station to protest the soaring cost of living. They came in typical UNP style: dancing to the music of "papara" bands, some in fancy dress. There was also even horses, or rather ponies. It was like celebrating the rising cost of living. The speakers of the subsequent rally went on bashing the government for its inability to control the rising prices. Gas, diesel and petrol, milk powder, rice and other essentials, the speakers went on to describe and analyze the price increases in all of these, since their departure from the Government. Rajitha Senaratne, the trade unionist cum former UNP Minister was in the front line. But Senaratne did not tell the crowds why prices are sky rocketing. And whether his party could have performed better in the backdrop of an all time high oil prices since the early 70s. Indeed, if the UPFA government opted to its predecessor's policy of adjusting the local fuel prices in accordance with the global oil prices, the prices would have been higher than now. The oil price which stood at 26 dollars a barrel of crude oil early this year rose almost close to 50 dollars before it established around 45 dollars during the last two months. No mathematics is needed to emphasise how the local fuel prices would be, if the prices are adjusted according to the global prices. Senaratne went on bashing the Government, promising cheering supporters a UNP government by April. But he could not tell how his party control the rising cost of living, originating from high oil prices. Unless raging Islamic extremism in the West Asia is to die down, lowering security premium and Chinese oil demand comes down, both are very unlikely to happen in near future, any future administration would face the same problems. Senaratne knows this, but he must have thought that his supporters are better not to know this. However, lost in all this rhetoric was perhaps the most important point, and of course, the UNP's trump card when it was in the Government, the peace process. The speakers seemed to have decided that the peace process is not a issue which could appeal to the crowd any longer. The bitter truth is that the peace process is gradually becoming an elitist topic, people are gradually loosing interest in an endeavour which would decide the destiny of the Sri Lankan State. This is partly the fault of the UNP, which confined its peace process to a few of Ranil Wickremesinghe's inner circle. Senaratne being one among few who still speaks out in support of the peace process, could not totally avoid the topic. He said the President took over the three Ministry's when the talks were about resume. Her move brought the peace process to a deadlock which is not yet resolved, he lamented. The same argument was the thrust in the TNA General Secretary R. Sampanthan's letter of clarification over the President's UN address, in which the President sounded complaining that despite the government's commitment and shown flexibility, the Tigers are refusing to resume negotiations, from which they withdrew 18 months ago. Sampanthan was also lamenting that the President's take over and the subsequent dissolution of Parliament had a negative impact on the peace process. A salient point, which is paramount to put the picture in the right perspective is missing in both Senaratna's and Sampanthan's pronouncements. Of course, the President dissolved the Parliament, while the UNP was holding a working majority in Parliament. But then her party contested the subsequent elections and won it, even though the new government's first days in parliament was haunted by its inability to muster enough parliament seats at the elections. But after all, the UPFA is the party which won the highest number of seats and the only party which could form a Government at that point. Sampanthan in his letter said the LTTE didn't withdraw from the peace negotiations, but suspended, as the Wickremesinghe Administration could not fulfil the promised measures on rehabilitation and resettlement of the North-East. Yes, the LTTE suspended negotiations, without prior notice to the other party in the negotiation table, but not mainly because the UNP could not carry out rehabilitation activities, as Sampanthan said, but as a tit for tat to the Government for leaving it out from the Washington donor conference. Having felt humiliated by the Government and felt its parity at the negotiation table being ignored, the Tigers went to the extremes, by suspending the peace negotiations. And, ironically enough, it was only a month ago the LTTE's unilateral suspension of the peace negotiations, that LTTE chief negotiator Anton Balasingham described the progress in the peace negotiations, at the end of the sixth rounds of negotiations. Only two weeks before the suspension, former government's peace secretariat chief Bernard Gunatilake and LTTE political leader Tamilselvan, who were the co-heads of the Sub committee in Immediate Humanitarian and Rehabilitation Needs (SHIRN) met to finalise a few dozen a development projects for the North-East. And Mr Sampanthan says the Tigers requested the dates to be fixed for the resumption of peace talks after submitting their ISGA proposals. Yes, the Tigers did, but it was after turning down two sets of Government's proposals for an Interim Administration for the North-East. And, again the Tigers' ISGA proposals, even the most pacifist would agree, went to the extremes, taking granted the UNP's shown flexibility and understanding on the peace front. It was the extreme nature of the LTTE ISGA proposals which brought the peace process to its biggest crisis. It dimmed the prospects of a win-win solution to the conflict giving the people impression the Tigers would take in the negotiation table, what they could not win in the battle front. What happened there after was now history. |
|
| News | Business | Features
| Editorial | Security
| Produced by Lake House |
