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| Tuesday, 20 April 2004 |
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Letters | |
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It can be attributed to the political acumen of President Kumaratunga to have taken over the Defence Ministry etc., dissolve parliament and go for elections when she realised that Premier Wickremesinghe was on a squandering spree of the wealth of the country and follow a policy that was only beneficial to an upper section of the country. The vast majority of the people felt the government attitude towards them was one of indifference resulting in the erosion of the confidence people had in the UNF. Premier Wickremesinghe addressed some hundred odd rallies going all over the country the main theme of which was accusing the President for what he called the ills of the country. Whatever the adverse effects of the CFA was allowing military build up by the LTTE, millennium city betrayal and so on were carefully avoided. The ordinary people were not so foolish as not to see through all this and prudently voted the UPFA to power, who people felt had a better understanding of the problems of the masses, and the path the country should go. During the two years of UNF rule under Premier Wickremesinghe, people found that life was becoming more and more difficult and very many found it difficult to make their ends meet. Every aspect of governance deteriorated putting the public into great difficulty, but the leadership appeared to be in the least concerned. It is surprising that in spite of such a background they received some 3 million odd votes. Perhaps the fault is with the election system which needs to be changed early to maintain democratic governance. Under the present UNP leadership it will be impossible to regain national confidence and it is up to that leadership to make way for acceptable leaders to take the reins of the party. Let not self aggrandisement destroy the party. The new UPFA government under the President Kumaratunga would greatly benefit by going into the faults and failures of the last government and develop a policy accordingly. While it is expected that ministerial portfolios will be limited to 25 or 30, there should be some way by which the people will be kept acquainted of the progress made by each ministry every three months at least. Junketing trips abroad should be banned and any trip should be after the approval of the chief executive. Some ministers in the UNF government are said to have had up to twelve state cars to allow which was shameful to a country neck deep in debt. For what on earth should a minister need more than three state cars at most is beyond understanding unless it is for the wife to go shopping, children to school etc. The habit of some MPP signing attendance book to qualify for the Rs. 500 a sitting and go away should be stopped. In fact no fee for attendance should be paid because as elected representatives they have an obligation by the electors to take part in parliamentary business when in progress. IPN, Kalutara PM Rajapakse - free of communal prejudice Mahinda Rajapakse takes over as the new Prime Minister at a time of anxiety, confusion and contradictions in the economic, political and social horizons of Sri Lanka that has been at war with itself over the years. There will be much pressure on his time and energies just to handle the day-to-day affairs of state in a coalition, some partners of which hold diametrically opposite positions from his in their perceptions to meet the challenges ahead of them - posed chiefly by the multitude of promises to voters. All of this must be met swiftly and within available resources. Hundreds of thousands of restless and expectant youth are waiting for quick results in the fields of bringing down the cost of living and the creation of hundred thousands of jobs - many to waiting graduates. Having known him for some years at close quarters, I wish this pleasant and affable man made this somewhat hot-seat in times more tranquil, so that his innings of over a quarter of century in the political field rewarded him with some well-earned respite. Controversy and challenges this time have preceded even before the Cabinet was sworn in. The JVP which so vociferously spoke in terms of a Cabinet of 20 to a maximum of 25 in the event of their coming to power, now is resigned to eat humble pie as they very likely have to learn to live with one in the region of 35. This is nearly double what they promised the electorate and so they begin their maiden voyage to Cabinet rank - to use Churchillian lexicon "misleading the electorate on a generous diet of terminological inexactitudes." Curiously, even before the President and the Prime Minister have worked out the composition of the Cabinet, the JVP has announced and caused regular press and TV repeat of their own in the past two days - of their own choice of four ministries, ministers and four Deputy Ministers from their ranks. While it is understood Ministries were agreed to prior to the elections, in coalition governments, Ministers and Deputy Ministers usually come from different parties. So, clearly interesting times are ahead as it appears the new government has annointed itself in a baptism of fire from the word 'go'. But contradictions, challenges and an atmosphere fraught of political tension are features that the new PM is quite accustomed to in his 35 years in politics and one would think he will sail through the hurdles comfortably. His main challenge will be to avoid conditions being created to risk the LTTE going back to war - after a two year period of silencing of guns which both Tamils and Sinhalese enjoyed and benefitted from. To the Sinhala psyche the opening of the A9 roadway and visiting the much-venerated Nagadipa brought tremendous psychological relief - now that most Sinhalese had come to terms with the acceptance of the reality of Tamil Eelam (note among others Milinda Moragoda's assertion in December 2001 "Sri Lanka remained divided into two parts in the past few years"), CBK's alliance refusing submit to the popular and studied call of the academic community for restructuring of the State; wounding the susceptibilities of Tamils by ignoring mention of devolution to the North and East in their manifesto; rejecting the consistent demand of the Tamils for the acceptance of a Tamil homeland that was in place for centuries when the Portuguese arrived in 1619 - are all reasons that only go to widen the yawning chasm between the Government and the Tamils. PM Rajapakse is left with the unenviable task of bridging this gap and initiating action to deal with the LTTE leadership already carrying a litany of complaints of their own and burdened with an additional baggage of decades-old broken promises and pacts to, and with the Tamil leadership. Mercifully, Rajapakse has better testimonials than many of his successors to engage and win the confidence of the Tamils in a political atmosphere somewhat polluted by the obstinate and deliberate anti-Tamil sentiments of the JVP, JHU and fellow travellers. Widely known for his liberal stand in favour of the Arabs in the Palestinian issue the new PM features in a long list of standing up and raising his voice for justice on behalf of the oppressed - be it Palestinians suffering the loss of their homes and properties under the jackboot of Israeli armed power, left-oriented Sri Lankan youth against the establishment in 1988-89 or the Tamils in the North-East. He counts a long list of friends in the Tamil community. For the services rendered to Buddhism when he was chosen to be honoured with the title of 'Rohana Janaranjana' on March 5, 2000 a group of mutual Tamil friends joined me to Kandy to see him receive this honour. Though we were lost in that vast crowd that thronged the Malwatte Temple the new PM spotted and rushed to greet us. I still recall his request that day to me not to go before speaking to him. When we finally managed to get his attention in that large crowd later in the day, he insisted that we pose for a group photograph - the reason he asked us to meet him before we left to Colombo. My friends and I were deeply touched by this courtesy. In my several talks with him over the past years on the politics of the land, I found there is much space in his thinking to accommodate long-denied Tamil positions to be worked out without losing out vital Sinhala interests. Long gone are the days when the Tamils were lashed with many a verbal invective not excluding the humiliating reminder we were only incidental creepers in a larger tree. From the Tamil perspective, it is encouraging we have now in the Prime Minister a man of reason to whom we can look forward to, provide justice and who is made of nobler stuff. A. KANDAPPAH, Colombo 3 In the 2001/2002 election, the intelligent voters apparently voted against the party in office at that time, due to the rampant corruption, inefficiency, misuse of power and mismanagement seen in that administration. The voters who gave the UNF power in that election expected the new Government to take effective remedial measures. Instead the Corporate Sector as well as the people were shocked during the past two years how all these aspects of bad governance increased without any effort to eradicate same. As a result, I believe at the election earlier this month, many professionals as well as large groups of various sectors en bloc voted against the governing party in order to give them a very clear message of utter dissatisfaction at the manner in which they ignored these important aspects of good governance. Most of us in the corporate sector have no interest in personalities. We are only interested in the country's future. I therefore fervently hope that the new Government and the Ministers who have just taken up office will take a lesson out of the recent past and act wisely. RIENZIE T. WIJETILEKE, Colombo 7 Whenever budget proposals are announced, it is the duty of the Dept. of Inland Revenue, professional institutions, trade chambers and other recognised bodies to organise adequate seminars to educate the public at large regarding the new requirements, ensuring due compliance. Regrettably, when the last Budget proposals were announced on 19.11.2003, the attention of the public was diverted by the political changes that took place in the country at that time and the people are not fully aware of the implications of the Budget proposals. Now it is our duty to concentrate on the changes which would be implemented effective April 1 2004. For eg: (1) Introduction of the Economic Service Charge (2) Taxes on Partnership (3) Non deduction of losses in full The above changes will have material impact on business enterprises and as such, these proposals have to be carefully analyzed and suitable representations have to be made to the relevant authority for necessary relief measures. Therefore, I appeal to the professional institutions, trade chambers etc. to concentrate on the Budget proposals for 2004 and take constructive steps accordingly. S. R. BALACHANDRAN, Council member, The National Chamber of Commerce of Sri Lanka A couple of weeks ago, the Director of the Advanced Technical Institution (ATI), Badulla, where I am serving as an Instructor in English, received the fifth or the sixth letter, as I do remember, from the Deputy Director General (DDG), Head Office in Colombo, advising him to cancel the post of Head of Department (English) and to keep-up the onerous duties with him without any worthy cause, although the post is not subject to any other claim except the monthly salary. Among all the ATIs in the country, the Uva ATI, the sole higher educational institution in the province, is functioning smoothly with a considerable number of students. Not a Ph.D. holder, even a child in grade five or six at present will undoubtedly understand that this is particularly due to the disintegration of onerous duties into the departments and its self-monitoring with better administration. I hope that the authority concerned would take into account the stated matter and would work with indomitable courage and consciousness, irrespective of other mere matters in order to achieve the mission of our august institution. G. H. ABEYWEERA, Badulla |
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