PEOPLE OF MATARA WOULD STAND FIRMLY BEHIND THE PRESIDENT.

A.A.M.NIZAM – MATARA (A FORMER VICE PRESIDENT OF MATARA ELECTORATE SLFP CENTRAL COMMITTEE)

Sri Lanka Freedom Party is a party built on the sweat and blood of the rural masses and they will not acknowledge anyone who betrays the party. The deposed Minister Mr. Mangala Samaraweera explained so in a TV interview following the betrayal staged by SB Dissanayake and the gang. He made this factual statement based on historical reality demonstrated by the people of Matara in the yore. The fate of those who betrayed the SLFP at that time would have been political wilderness if it was not for the inapt electoral system and the imperceptive UNP voters. In fact, SLFP is the only and truly indigenous party of Sri Lanka which has not borrowed any ideologies from the long bearded and French-bearded theoreticians and there is no one other than President Mahinda Rajapakse to lead it having undergone innumerable humiliations for the sake of the party and having shirked all enticements from various political sources to quit the party.

Mr. Mangala Samaraweera’s long and accusatory letter to the President is somewhat an unwanted tussle, perhaps instigated by vested interests. Prior to delving into the contents of the letter it would be quite appropriate and pertinent to outline the facts about the political atmosphere governing the issue. Upon the defection of Mr. Mangala’s father Mr. Mahanama Samaraweera from the SLFP in 1964 people of Matara remained steadfast in the SLFP, and defeated him in the General Election that ensued in 1965.

The electorate remained without a formidable person to lead the party due to political manipulations by the Community Party and by late Mr. B.Y.Tudawe. It was at this time in early 1980s Mr. Mangala Samaraweera, a graduate of Textile Design Technology returned from U.K having been joined the SLFP at its party branch in London. The late Prime Minister Mrs. Sirimavo Bandaranaike appointed him as the joint-organisor of the SLFP for Matara electorate together with Mr. Wijesiri, and subsequently elevated as organisor of the electorate. Mr.Samaraweera’s mother Mrs. Khema Samaraweera took him to all corners of the electorate to introduce him to the SLFPers and the organizers of the neighbouring electorates including Mr. Mahinda Rajapakse who has a strong maternal bondage in the area immeasurably helped him to get acquainted with people of the area.

In the 1989 election which the SLFP contested without an alliance with other parties Mr. Mahinda Wijesekera, Mr. Mangala Samaraweera and Mr. H.G.Sirisena got elected as SLFP MPs on the order of preferential votes obtained. During this period although Mr. Mahinda Wijesekera showed signs of drifting towards President Premadasa, both Mr. Rajapakse and Mr. Samaraweera worked closely and Mr. Rajapakse guided him in organizing Mothers Front, Jana Gosha and Pada Yatra activities and in strengthening the SLFP power base.

It was during this period that the NGO mafia led by Victor Ivon, Sunanda Deshapriya and their ilk sensing the inevitable victory of the SLFP at the next election, parachuted Mrs.Chandrika Kumaratunge to undermine Mrs. Bandaranaike’s leadership and actively worked to create a non-indigenous group wedded to western outlook and western way of life who could be loyal to Chandrika within the SLFP and capture the leadership of the party. Mr. Mangala too joined Chandrika’s bandwagon as it was compatible to his tastes and outlook.

Having been ardently worked for strengthening the party, and having remained unshirked as the shadow of Mrs. Bandaranaike even at the time of his best friend at that time Mr. Anura Bandaranaike left the SLFP with eleven prominent Parliamentarians/members including Hema Nanayakkara, Haleem Ishak, Hapangama, etc, Mr. Rajapakse got naturally hurt and dismayed about the underhand activities of Chandrika and publicly rebuked her in Matara as the main cause for problems in the party and its downfall in the past. From this incident onwards vindictive and pig-headed Chandrika used every avenue and chose people as her friends to undermine Mr. Rajapakse’s interminable political ascendancy.

Despite Mr. Rajapakse being one of the two oldest SLFP members of Parliament in Chandrika’s 1994 PA Government (the other member being Mr. D.M.Jayaratne) he was not given any prominent Ministry. He was humiliated as “Reporter” and was reprehensively accused as responsible for leaking cabinet secrets although such leakages occurred even when Mr. Rajapakse was not present in some Cabinet Meetings. Unable to stomach his rising popularity following conferring on him the title of “Ruhune Jana Ranjana” by Buddhist Organisations, attempts were made to arrest and prune his political march by regionalizing him as Chief Minister of the Southern Province and deny him claims to national politics.

Following the formation of Ranil’s government, Mr.Rajapakse was not appointed to the post of Opposition Leader despite his seniority. It was after the firm intervention and continuous lobbying of the SLFP Statesman the slain Foreign Minister Mr. Kadiragamar he was appointed to the post of the Opposition Leader. Similarly Mr. Rajapakse had to fight his case with supporters brought from the South to get himself appointed as the Prime Minister. Even after becoming the President of the country there were futile attempts to deny him the presidency of the SLFP and install Chandrika as the Life President of the Party and thereby censor Mr. Rajapakse’s activities, and the people are well aware who were behind these attempts.

As many veteran writers have already made critical comments about Mr. Samaraweera’s demands to the President I would like to shorten this writeup confining it only to a few salient points. Mr. Samaraweera states that “it seemed clear to me that you bore a grudge against me for our previous political disagreement”. It is a self-confession and admittance of his past mistakes and disagreements with the President and expression of a pre-conceived but unacceptable notion that the President was holding a grudge against him.

While appreciating the services he performed as the Foreign Minister his claim for getting the terrorist LTTE proscribed in Canada and the European Union does not hold water, as these moves were initiated at Mr. Kadiragamar’s time. In fact when Canada was about to ban the LTTE the then Prime Minister, treacherous Ranil Wickremasinghe advised the Canadians not to do so saying that it would jeopardise the so-called peace process. Even in the case of EU the delay was due to similar reasons.

Justifying that action taken to refrain from voting in support of the Palestinians which caused damage to President’s long standing reputation Mr. Samaraweera emphasises that Sri Lanka cannot go against countries like the United States, and Sri Lanka should formulate its foreign policy to please the international community. It seems that Mr. Samaraweera was unaware of the respect Sri Lanka earned and enjoyed through its bold non-submissive actions in the events such as Suez crisis, Hungarian invasion, proposing to declare Indian Ocean a Nuclear Free Zone, against U.S.Bases in Diego Garcia, in the settlement of Indo-China War, allowing transit to Pakistani army personnel in the Indo Pakistani war to name a few.

Mr. Samaraweera reiterates the treacherous NGO gang view that if it was not for Chandrika’s unification of left parties with the SLFP in the form of PA it would not have come to power in 1994. No one will subscribe to this view as the political climate in Sri Lanka was quite clear that even a dummy could lead the SLFP to victory. Chandrika was that dummy installed by the NGO gangs to destroy nationalistic leader Mrs. Sirimavo Bandaranaike’s leadership. Also it is an undisputable fact that if the well orchestrated UNP-JVP combine did not terrorise the electorates and prevented polling in the rural areas of Sri Lanka, Mrs. Srimavo Bandaranaike would have won the 1988 Presidential election, Premadasa could not have strengthened the terrorists with gifts of arms and funds, and General Kobbekaduwa would have put an end to the terrorist menace. As a reward for its partisan role for helping in the election of Premadasa, JVP got 1,800 of its members released from the prison, in December 1988.

Mr. Samaraweera’s criticism and finding fault with Mr. Gotabhaya Rajapakse is unreasonable in the face of great strides he is making to eradicate the terrorist menace. These criticisms become contributory to the vicious propaganda being made by the terrorist and the peace-merchants against him in a desperate attempt halt the military successes and liberation of the Tamils enslaved by the terrorists. Presently Sri Lanka is in a critical threshold in which each and every Sri Lankan devoid of party politics and other petty affiliations should extend the fullest cooperation to our gallant security forces. In related to this issue, he demands to end the armed conflict and offer a political solution within 2 months. The following extract from his letter to former President when he resigned from the Media portfolio vividly outlines his stand on the terrorist issue. “However, I admit that my role in the present 'P- Toms' debate has not been as proactive as it should have been. As a committed 'federalist'(my emphasis) following in your footsteps, I, too firmly believe that this is the best window of opportunity we have had so far to get back on the road to peace”.

Non-attending the official Independence Day Celebrations as a leading Cabinet Minister and holding a separate meeting in Matara and criticising the government stating that “what Sri Lanka needs is not an alliance of those who quit for portfolios, not an agenda of an individual or a group but an agenda devoid of party colours” is not a right thing to do and not a right statement to make after it was unanimously agreed by the SLFP Central Committee and the Cabinet to accept the UNP crossover group. The President was forced to take this step to establish stability in the government as the JVP was going against the people’s mandate and expectation by failing to extend its cooperation to the government despite numerous appeals made by President to do so,

Mr. Samaraweera criticises the President saying that he is not accessible even to Ministers and Members of Parliament as he is surrounded by a group and even implies corruption charges against some of them. Knowingly or unknowingly to Mr. Samaraweera this is the situation that prevails in Matara and always after elections a group surrounds him and make him unaccessible to ordinary voters, supporters and even to party members. This group is popularly known as “Mangalage Vata Padayo” and some of those in the group who were penniless have become fabulously rich now.

Accusing the President of grooming dynasties, Mr. Samaraweera claims that he doesn’t have aspersions to build a dynasty because he is the last of the Samaraweera family. People of Matara will not accept this claim as his brother Provincial Councillor Mr. S.K.Lakmal, (son of former UNP Deputy Minister Mr. S.K.Piyadasa) is being groomed as his successor.

The President has proved that he is not vindictive as former Presidents and embraced many of his critics including the “Clown of the Century” showing the real meaning of “Compassion”. As time is not late yet, it is hoped that Mr. Samaraweera too without getting fooled by the vested interests would extend his unstinted cooperation to the government and would become a partner in the mega drive being undertaken to uplift the nation and people from its rural poverty and backwardness.