A tragicomedy of bribes
Editorial
Courtesy The Island 04-10-2007
Those who may have thought the Tigers were thick-skinned and unresponsive
stand corrected. LTTE spokesman S. P. Tamilchelvam has told a Tamil
newspaper, as we reported yesterday, that the outfit never took a bribe
from President Mahinda Rajapaksa to instigate a polls boycott in 2005
to facilitate his election. Belated as his response may be, it is indicative
of pressure that the Tigers have come under vis-à-vis the allegation
in question. They could have taken any scathing attack for granted but
not an allegation that projects them as being no better than the political
goons in the South, who can be hired to rig elections. That is a bit
too much for an organisation that calls itself a liberation movement
to stomach.
Now what will the SLFP dissidents who claim they can prove President
Rajapaksa bribed the LTTE say to Tamilchelvam’s statement? They
shouldn’t be deterred by the LTTE’s denial. They must go ahead
and furnish evidence of the alleged clandestine deal, if any. (A wag
asks whether the LTTE has taken money again from the government to issue
that denial!)
According to President Rajapaksa’s detractors, his cunning knows
no bounds since he comes from the other side of the Benthara Ganga.
He is capable of many feats, they claim, such as ‘taking fire under
water’ and ‘cutting anyone’s neck with a bathing cloth
(diya redda)’. They have a point in that no ordinary person would
have been able to remain a minister in President Kumaratunga’s
Cabinet, having heaped scorn on her, go on to become Prime Minister
as well as the SLFP’s presidential candidate under her leadership
and become President despite an all out campaign by her to engineer
his defeat. So, they argue, he is capable of taking Prabhakaran for
a ride.
It is hoped that the Mangala-Sripathy duo will summon a press conference
hurriedly, dismiss Tamilchelvam’s claim as a barefaced lie and
lay before the public the evidence they say they have. Or, they can
hype up their campaign a bit, present their case to a People’s
Court and gain a great deal of mileage for their attempt to dislodge
the government. If they wait for a Parliamentary Select Committee to
probe that charge, they will have to wait till the cows come home.
Why Tamilchelvam has denied the SLFP dissidents’ allegation at
this particular juncture is puzzling. Did he jump the gun? Had he chosen
to remain silent on the issue, as his leaders had done for so long,
he wouldn’t have put a spoke in the Opposition’s wheel.
The government offers to get the allegation at issue probed by a PSC
but wants it to investigate all the alleged secret deals successive
governments have allegedly had with the LTTE. The intent of the government
is clear: It is planning to give a mud bath to its rivals in return
for the one it is going to take.
All government leaders, save President Wijetunga, have either given
or offered bribes to the LTTE. President JRJ bribed the LTTE with the
13th Amendment—under duress, of course. President Premadasa went
a step ahead and showered money, arms ammunition and cement on the outfit.
President Kumaratunga offered the biggest bribe to Prabhakaran—the
entire Northern Province sans elections for ten years. (Her proclivity
for giving away ‘state land’ is monumental!) Prabhakaran must
be regretting that he ever turned down her offer. Under Prime Minister
Ranil Wickremesinghe (2001-04), Prabhakaran’s terror project got,
so to speak, BOI status for the first time. He gave it duty waivers
which had the trappings of a tax holiday. The biggest bribe the LTTE
got from the UNF government was recognition through the CFA as an entity
on par with the State.
President Rajapaksa stands accused of having given cash to the LTTE.
It behoves him to clear his name as much as it is incumbent upon his
opponents to prove their charge without holding people in suspense like
in a cheap soap opera. However, the fact remains that President Rajapaksa,
too, would have been obsequious to the LTTE and gone to the extent of
offering pooja but for a blunder by Prabhakaran, who dove into the Mavil
Aru reservoir, jolting the former into reacting militarily, albeit hesitantly
at the beginning. Then, the government military campaign clicked and
Mahinda did a Gilchrist of the squash ball fame. Alas, a dumfounded
Prabhakaran got out of Mavil Aru and hooked it as fast as he could into
the Wanni jungles via Muttur. Mahinda, who had been shivering in his
presidential boots, not knowing what to do next, became a hero overnight.
Now he is doing a Jayasuriya in form and dancing down the track.
Bribery as a means of winning elections is nothing new in this country.
Leaders since Independence have offered election bribes to voters. Dudley
offered nikan haal (free rice). Mrs. B promised handen haal (‘rice
from the moon’). JRJ undertook to give eta ata (eight pounds of
cereals). Premadasa promised papol and sapattu (papaya and footwear).
CBK said she would give bread at Rs. 3.50. Ranil promised bracelets
and necklaces to the youth. Mahinda became famous for his poshana malle
(basket of nutritious food).
They all got and forgot. And the only thing we the public got in return
was, as they say, parippu (slang for a raw deal). Is ‘Sun God’
of the North in the same predicament as we the lesser mortals of the
‘South’, having been lured by election bribes?
Will the SLFP dissidents prove Tamilchelvam wrong? The public are anxiously
awaiting the denouement of the unfolding tragicomedy.
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