UNP-SLFP Coalition and The Under-Currents Within The Parties

By Darmitha-Kotte

In Sri Lanka, it has taken nearly 30 years for the two main political parties the UNP and SLFP to realize that a certain amount of national unity is necessary to solve the terrorist problems wreaked out by LTTE and "their partners" both locally and internationally. The LTTE terrorist propaganda machines world-wide have been permitted to continue their distorted publicity for them to gain international coverage and sympathy. For too long, the international communities have been gullible enough to believe every lie that the LTTE terrorists have been dishing out to their citizens. For too long countries like Norway, have been secretly doling out financial support, for terrorists to carry on their "mythical vandetta" of trying to claim a "Tamil Homeland" supposedly for the Tamil Community they claim to represent. However, the majority Tamil community has been suffering untold miseries at the hands of terrorists who have been extorting money, material and lands from them at the point of a gun, for these terrorists to carry on their murderous campaign against peace-loving citizens of Sri Lanka.

Sri Lanka has been known to be a country of friendly, peace loving people who were famous for their hospitality. That pattern changed first with the JVP uprising first in 1971 where they took the law into their hands and destroyed the social disciplines in this country. Their folly was that misguided youth with pro-Soviet socialist ideologies imagined that " they could import" a foreign ideology and implant it in this country without taking our own cultural, religious and social environment into consideration. However they have now entered mainstream democratic politics and have become a formidable political force. The second attempt began with the LTTE terrorists demanding a "Tamil Homeland" when they printed distorted history of the Tamil civilization of Sri Lanka, convinced the international community that they had legitimate grievances against the majority Sinhalese who according to them, were discriminating against the Tamils. History and the developments of events have now shown the entire world that the truth is completely different from the terrorist propaganda! For those countries who earn a major part of their revenue from the sale of arms to developing or "third world countries" as we are called, any situation is good enough for them to sell their weapons and bring misery to the citizens of these countries. When the miseries multiply due to these vested interests, these same countries come forward with their recipes for " conflict resolutions" and more money out of impractical solutions.

The Turning Point in Modern Sri Lankan Politics:

With the terrorists creating mayhem and instability in Sri Lanka, both major political parties thought that only they had the lasting solution to the Sri Lankan situation. The UNP thought right along, that by taking dictates from western governments, they could obtain unlimited financial aid for them to continue remaining in power- therefore, they were even willing to sell the entire country to terrorists including demarcating boundary lines within which the terrorists would be given a piece of cake to eat and enjoy!

The SLFP under Chandrika Kumaratunga, thought they were smarter than the UNP and went on their own agenda under Chandrika Kumaratunga with the Nobel Peace Prize as the carrot that she was aiming to win-again at the risk of the entire nation being fragmented! To achieve this, she conspired and manipulated every possible human resource she had within her purview both locally and internationally. The result was that the country went deeper and deeper into a crisis. The only successful achievement of the SLFP during a period of 11 years, was to defeat the UNP at 13 elections under the leadership of Ranil Wickramasinghe! The greatest treachery committed by Chandrika Kumaratunga was to get Norway involved as "mediators" between the terrorists and the democratic governments of Sri Lanka!

By the middle of 2005, patriotic forces decided they had enough of her manipulations and lies and decided to take legal action to remove her from power, which they did successfully.

With the Presidential Elections of November 2005 and a new Executive President taking the mantle amidst alot of blocks from within the SLFP itself, a new trend set in and the idea that a national crisis must involve all major political parties if the country needed to find a viable solution. The new President continued to invite the major opponent the UNP, to join hands but it took some time for the UNP leadership to accept the fact that they need to put aside their own independent aspirations of taking over power, if they were to survive and remain as a major party in this country.

In the backdrop of these developments, a major destabilizing factor for the LTTE propaganda machine, has been the recent landmark Supreme Court Ruling made on 16th October 2006, that the North and East merger initiated by the late JR Jayawardane our first Executive President "was illegal, null and void." Based on detailed factual submissions made by three extremely eminent lawyers in this country Messrs H.L.De Silva, S.L.Gunasekera and Gomin Dayasiri, the Supreme Court made this ruling. The ruling was not made based on mere heresay!

The UNP-SLFP Finally Gets Together for A National Cause:

23rd October 2006, became yet another milestone in Sri Lankan history with the signing of the Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) between the UNP under Ranil Wickramasighe and SLFP under President Rajapakse, for joint efforts to solve our national crisis. Signing the MoU alone will not prove anything unless we see clear indications of sincerity on both sides to unite for the sake of the country. The common enemy of the nation must be "terrorism" and the LTTE-- not the majority of either the Tamil or Muslim communities in this country.

For the GOSL it is a feather in their cap because, with this new agreement, the UNP will work together on may major issues of national interest rather than sitting in the opposition and vetoing every plan of the GOSL. For the UNP, this is really a "façade" to show Sri Lankans that they are genuinely committed to a national solution. More so, it is a personal publicity stunt for Ranil Wickramasinghe to improve his public image, which has seen a downward trend for 11 years. For whatever reasons, if the two main political parties can work together putting aside their political differences, that is a breathe of fresh air for us, the citizens of this country.

Naturally, this coalition will not be to the liking of the LTTE terrorists because they consider the UNP and Ranil Wickramasinghe as their friend and ally, who could be manipulated by western countries. President Rajapakse, may not be so easy to manipulate when it comes to matters of Sri Lankan sovereignty or fair-play to all -------not just the LTTE terrorists! Let us hope this is so.

Rumblings & Under-Currents of Disgruntled Politicians within UNP & SLFP:

The citizens are watching both government and opposition politicians in the wake of recent developments. We see and hear rumblings & under-currents from within the government as well as the UNP. These politicians are looking at the situation from the point of view, of what benefits or losses it brings them personally-not from the perspective of the benefit to the country as a whole. Our beautiful country has fallen into this "quagmire "due to such self-serving selfish politicians.

On the one hand certain SLFP politicians have been contacted through various "CBK Agents" as well as herself personally, with the idea that she is hoping to form another political party on her return to the country to fight President Mahinda Rajapakse (whether we like it or not, this is the truth) and the SLFP under his leadership. She who professes to uphold the "Bandaranaike Family Heritage of the SLFP" together with her brother Anura, realize that they are extremely unpopular with the people due to their high-handed attitudes. These two children have been talking about how much they value their parents the late Mr and Mrs Bandaranaike are now planning to split the SLFP, the very party their parents nurtured and kept together come hell or high water! Lackeys of CBK are hoping for a "golden tomorrow of manipulations and vindictive rule" under her! They are sadly mistaken-CBK has absolutely no future in Sri Lankan politics anymore! These people have been heard to make comments which expose their displeasure of certain steps taken by President Rajapakse. Cabinet Ministers are part of the government and their loyalty is to the GOSL and the people of this country-not to CBK or Anura who are traitors and time-servers!

On the other hand, the disgruntled UNP members having high aspirations of ousting Ranil Wickramasighe (he has proved he is no leader by his defeats) from the UNP leadership, are banding together to plot and plan his ouster or to clip his wings! These are people who are extremely adept at crossing back and forth from one party to another if they get better monetary or ministerial positions. These are the people who have brought down the level of decency and ethics within the UNP.

One member who has an undying urge to oust Ranil Wickramasinghe is a recent "cross-over" to the UNP. The UNP accepted him into the party because they hoped to use him to sling mud on CBK at a very personal level-which he did and in the process, he also exhibited his uncivilized and indecent personality. For this, he lost his civic rights. There are quite a few other UNPers who are recent "cross-overs" who are equally uncivilized both in word and deed. By accumulating such personalities into the UNP, party members have gone public with internal issues which was never the case earlier. Again, this goes to prove the weak leadership qualities of Ranil Wickramasinghe who permitted these people to take the upper hand while he "thought" he was manipulating other more lucrative agendas together with a few buddies who are his confidantes. These buddies have been the cause of UNP defeats!

Whatever the reasons may be, among the disgruntled UNPers, there are the party stalwarts and loyalists just as much as there are the "time-servers" with personal aspirations to whom the party is secondary. The calibre of UNP membership has deteriorated badly and to the detriment of the future of the party.

Conclusion:

Let us hope that the "marriage" between the UNP & SLFP will bring about the required results related to peace, development and politics in this country. Let us hope that there will be sincerity on both sides and earnest effort to save the country.

It will be very interesting to the see the future developments in the political arena and to see who is patriotic or traitorous both towards the party and the country, of both major political parties. The country needs patriots and loyalists to THE NATION more, in the current scenario of dealing with terrorists and no politician should ever forget that. They can survive in politics only if they prove their worth and their loyalty to the country and us their people. At the moment, the voter is treated like " a doormat " and this attitude must change. It is the voter who brings them into power and therefore, the voter needs to be respected.