DO You AGREE
Posted on August 5th, 2024
Vichara
Members of Parliament are considered the representatives of the people, and their decisions are guided by the wishes of the people and national interests. The exodus of SLPP members to the Ranil camp is under the delusion that RW performed a miracle in taking the country out of the economic and security debacle. It is their right to pledge support to any leader but before that, it is incumbent on them to consider the repercussions of their decisions. In this it is important to examine the principles and policies which such leader represent and his conduct in the past in dealing with vital national issues.
When these dissidents extend their support to RW they are also under the impression that their constituents will follow suit. They must realize that the present-day voters have no permanent loyalties. They go by the existing swing of opinion and also ‘vasi patthata’. SL has had such wild swings in 1956, 1970, 1977. The last swing was in 2019. Even in the United Kingdom the recent victory of the Labor Party was the result of a sea change in voter loyalties.
Whatever their rationale for supporting RW, they should consider the following facts before burning their boats.
RW is an inveterate neo liberal and was an active member of the Mont Pelerin Society which is the key global group which promotes neo liberalism. This group hold the view that government must be limited to the minimum. They believe that government has no role in business.
The past performance of RW in matters of vital national interest has been appalling. His MOU with the LTTE on The Interim Administration of the Northern and Eastern Provinces was a disaster. Paul Harris International Journalist, Specialist Contributor Global Insurgency and Terrorism and Janes Intelligence declared that MOU as The Greatest Give Away in History. He said It seems to me inevitable that the division of Sri Lanka will take place. Although the government will probably not be able to formalise such an arrangement, the LTTE will use the device of an interim administration to consolidate its hold on the north and the east. A system of parallel government, in which the LTTE is actually supreme, will effectively replace governance from Colombo with LTTE operated border controls, customs duties and travel permits.”
Fortunately, RW government was sacked by CBK before he could do more damage.
His role in the Central Bank bond scam has raised many unresolves questions. His sell out to the Chinese the Hambantota Harbor was contentious. His resorting to high interest short term ISBs continues to be the critical issue in the national debt.
Ranil has no national interest he has only self-interest.
1.Do you and your constituency Agree with the-
Full Implementation of 13th Amendment including land and Police powers, foisted by India with more powers than for the States of India-
The obnoxious 13th Amendment to the Constitution has surfaced again with the announcement by the President that 13A should be fully implemented, which also imply the re-merger of the Northern and Eastern Provinces. His argument is that the provisions on police and land powers have been in the Constitution for the last 37 years and should be either implemented or taken off. President should explain why this controversial issue is being raised at a time when the nation is desperately fighting an economic crisis. He did not take up this subject for over 3 decades not even when he was Prime Minister. Is this off his own bat or a stipulation imposed by the IMF or the Western powers? India has been repeating this condition for over many years but would not be inclined to create political turmoil in Sri Lanka at this moment which could impact on the Tamil Community. It is opportune that policy makers visit not only the devolution of Police and Land powers but the vexed issue of the 13A as a whole.
13A was not a demand of any community in Sri Lanka. It was rejected outright by the Cabinet. It was hatched by two ministers of the Rajiv Gandhi government without discussion with a broader sample of the Sri Lankan polity. The most recent progressive Constitution that of South Africa, which is considered a model, took two years of discussion and deliberation In any arrangement for power-sharing, which disregards the overarching concerns of sovereignty and territorial integrity of the country is an invitation to disaster.
In the following notification the Indian Government has declared that the a a separate homeland (Tamil Eelam) for all Tamils threatens the sovereignty and territorial integrity of India”. It is more likely that the full implementation of 13A will be a threat to the sovereignty and territorial integrity of Sri Lanka. RW will facilitate this process.
MINISTRY OF HOME AFFAIRS NOTIFICATION New Delhi, the 14th of May 2019 S.O. 1730(E).
WHEREAS the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (hereinafter referred to as the LTTE), is an association based in Sri Lanka but having its supporters, sympathizers and agents in the territory of India.
AND WHEREAS the LTTE’s objective for a separate homeland (Tamil Eelam) for all Tamils threatens the sovereignty and territorial integrity of India and amounts to cession and secession of a part of the territory of India from the Union and thus falls within the ambit of unlawful activities.’
2. Do you and your constituency Agree with-
Import Liberalization which is already taking place.
This policy will affect adversely agriculture and small and medium industries which would be required to compete from cheap imports from India where specially agriculture is heavily subsidized by the State. An FAO study revealed that in Sri Lanka there was “a clear drop in rural employment with 300,000 jobs lost following the drop in the production of onions and potatoes”.
https://www.iatp.org/sites/default/files/Impact_of_Trade_Liberalisation_on_Food_Securit.htm
3.Do you agree to integrate with India and become a state of India. In this context do you accept the President’s plan to enter into agreement with India and establish CONNECTIVITY with India.
- Financial integration and accept the Indian rupee for local transactions.
- Geographical integration by constructing the Rama Sethu bridge .
- Customs integration.
- Invite India to manage Sri Lanka Airports.
- Establish connectivity in power and fuel.
- Connectivity with the Indian Cinema.
On the obsession of RW on connectivity with India the following observations of Dayan Jayatilleke, intellectual and former Diplomat arenvery relevant.
Connectivity with South India has been Ranil’s Big Idea for a quarter-century despite repeated popular rejection of his presidential ambitions (1999, 2005). By his own re-telling, the idea is central to his economic vision. If Ranil is given half a chance he will push forward with its implementation, mightily assisted by Prime Minister Modi and Indian monopoly capital.
The integrationist land connectivity with India project is deadly to Sri Lanka’s National Interest for five reasons.
I.The dangerous asymmetries of physical, material, geographic integration with gargantuan India.
II. Demographic, strategic and security connotations of physical, material integration with South India and Tamil Nadu (as Wickremesinghe himself specifies).
III. Geostrategic integration with India will make Delhi’s strategic planners draw up a scenario of negative ‘reverse’ power-projection by rivals through Sri Lanka; a threat it could seek to preempt or protect itself from, by annexation of the neighbouring Lankan province which the bridge connects to.
IV. A bridge to India will reclassify Sri Lanka in the eyes of China’s strategic planners. ‘Integration’ including physical connectivity with India will ‘integrate’ Sri Lanka with India on any map of potential targets.
V. Sri Lanka will feature on any military map as part of the territory of one of the competing Big Powers or Great Powers in Asia and the world. Sri Lanka will not just be integrated with, i.e., physically part of India in the ‘India vs. China’ competition, but part of the ‘US plus India (and the rest of the Quad) vs. China’ global contest.
Is that who, where and what we really want to be or perceived to be? If not, we mustn’t spare a vote for Ranil who espouses physical connectivity with South India because that would signal that we as Sri Lankan citizens don’t give a damn if this island loses its distinctive separate identity and destiny and becomes part of Tamil Nadu.
When a huge country builds a bridge which connects a small neighbour to itself without the express permission of that country, it is usually termed annexationism or expansionism. When a leader who is not elected by the people, decides to build a bridge linking his small island to a gigantic neighbour without a referendum seeking the approval of the people, then he/she is gifting his country – sacrificing it–to his large neighbour; betraying it into geopolitical slavery.
4. Do you agree with the increase of VAT and not increasing direct tax on the rich?
5. Do you approve of a tax on your house?
6. Do you approve the privatization of profit-making public enterprises which are providing strategic services?
7,Are you happy with the establishment of mono ethnic Tamil villages in the plantations?
- Do you approve of the politically motivated land grants to LDO permit holders which will lead to fragmentation of land and inevitabke litigation on the excuse they could not raise finance on the security of the land. They already had the right to mortgage the land to the People’s Bank.
Vichara
Refences
Malinda Seneviratne, ‘The MOU Capitulation: The Island, March 4, 2002.
https://www.lankaweb.com/news/items/2023/11/17/the-return-of-the-millennium-corporation-compact-mmc/https://www.lankaweb.com/news/items/2023/09/30/theoretical-justification-of-the-neo-liberal-doctrine-of-the-imf/