Personal Perspective: Changing Perspectives - 22 June 2003

by Rajiva Wijesinha

And time remembered is grief forgotten

And frosts are slain and flowers begotten (Swinburne)

Some months back that splendid lady Kanthimala Ratnakara, of Prince of Peace fame, compared me to my fellow columnist Tissaranee Gunasekara. This was flattering at the time, but I felt even better about it when I read Tissaranee's column a couple of weeks ago. There she succinctly and convincingly laid down the need for compromise between the major parties if this country is not to plunge into even greater disaster.

There was one point in her article however on which I disagreed, and that was her suggestion that Lakshman Kadirgamar be appointed Prime Minister. I should note however that much more exalted company than me in this regard, because it was the Malwatte Mahanayake who first proposed that idea to me.

Ms. Ratnakara need not however jump to the conclusion that the Mahanayake is jealous of the Prince of Peace, since the suggestion did not arise through despair about poor Ranil. It was put forward three or four years back, when we were both bewailing the fact that Chandrika was trying to do everything on her own, without a forceful Prime Minister. Whilst we appreciated the personal reasons for Mrs. Bandaranaike's continuation in the post, it was obviously in the interests of the country if someone else were appointed. We agreed that it was not easy for Chandrika to find anyone she could trust, but both K B Ratnayake and Lakshman Jayakody seemed to fit the bill, even if neither were especially dynamic.

It was then that the Mahanayake very gently added that he could think of someone much cleverer and more able and infinitely more suitable, in particular in terms of trustworthiness. Given the composition of the cabinet at the time I was surprised, but assumed, in my infinite naivete, that he meant G. L. Pieris. No, he said, he was referring to Mr. Kadirgamar.

The simplicity and the brilliance of the suggestion struck me at once, and I urged him to go public with it, since no one else could carry similar weight in making such a proposal. But I can understand now his reluctance to involve himself actively in what might seem parochial politics. At the time there would have been those who would have resented this as unwarranted interference rather than a disinterested suggestion at a time of national crisis.

Now however the crisis is patent, and I believe young Ranil could do with a great deal of advice from outside the inner circle to which he has restricted himself for the last eighteen months. He will not of course take it because he has always known best, and observing evidence to the contrary has never come naturally to him. But the claims of the Tigers, both the factual claims of incompetence which he has to accept, and the theoretical claims of quasi-sovereignty which he must reject, may induce even that narrowest of minds to expand ever so slightly.

That is why while the official celebrations of his triumph at Tokyo continue, the international community and also those here who remember similar inflated claims after Oslo, should gently explain to him that a sea change is essential. That sea change, which demands consensus, cannot occur if the President tries to take full control of the government. That will result simply in a mirror image of the situation now. In the first place she has no mandate for this, secondly to seek one in the short term would be disastrous, and thirdly she has not got the personnel to run a government on her own. And it is extremely unlikely that even those in the UNP who realize things are going disastrously wrong could or would join her on her terms. Worst of all, if they did, she would be subject to the same insecurities that Ranil now uses to excuse his failure to take action about burgeoning corruption and incompetence, namely that he cannot afford to upset anyone given his slight majority.

That is why the Premiership has to continue with the UNP. Whether Ranil continues in the post, or whether he steps down, graciously or not so graciously, as Chamberlain or Dev Gowda or Asquith or Willy Brandt did, is immaterial. The point is that the two major parties should agree on a sensible division of responsibilities, and basic constitutional changes that will promote good governance. Though the JVP may not wish to be part of a new government, their input in this last regard is invaluable, both in terms of restricting the size of the cabinet and in enforcing measures that ensure accountability.

That consensus should also include measures that encourage perceptions amongst minorities that they are full stockholders in the nation. Changes in electoral systems, increased authority for the periphery at the centre as well as reduced authority for the centre at the periphery, streamlining of the administration to ensure productivity rather than process, can all be accomplished at basic levels without protracted discussion. Once this is done and pluralistic structures can begin to function, in particular in the areas of greatest concern now, negotiations can resume for a more comprehensive solution.

I am not sure that Tissaranee is entirely right in assuming that Ranil is psychologically incapable of the type of flexibility necessary for this type of arrangement. After all he has come on a long way since the gung ho days of the eighties when he followed J R blindly. And even though, as Tissaranee suggests, he learnt little from Premadasa about people centred development, he has at least shown himself far more liberal in his approach to the media and the judiciary than one would have expected from his J R days. He learnt from Premadasa, whose judicial appointments were always strictly proper, and who allowed critical journals such as Ravaya to flourish. Like Premadasa Ranil has realized that these can do him little harm, and may help to keep his less savoury associates under some sort of control.

In short, he is capable of learning. Though unfortunately in the heady days of his victory in December 2001 he reverted to the exclusivity of his youth, recent speeches indicate that he knows times have changed. This is an advance on what happened in 1995 when Chandrika, having similarly been swept away by the Tigers so that she made no attempt to conciliate the UNP, decided after negotiations broke down still to go it on her own - with a little help from the Sapumal Kumaraya, Ranil knows that that is impossible, and that he needs to work towards at least a basic consensus. Karu may find this easier to achieve, but I believe Ranil too is capable of at least opening up a fruitful discussion once he realizes it is essential.

I may of course be wrong. Despite the recent Tiger pronouncements, they may decide to be conciliatory again, and Ranil may then imagine that all his eggs can go back into the same basket. But, pace Tissaranee, I still do not believe he is that limited, in terms of either intellect or imagination.