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WATCH YOUR NEW FRIENDS PRESIDENT RAJAPAKSE!

By Shyamon Jayasinghe, Australia

What exactly are we to make of these UNP crossovers? The prominent political issue that arises is whether President Rajapakse has made the right move on the political chessboard as opposed to the uninterrupted continuance of the MOU with the UNP. While on behalf of President Rajapakse it may be said that in seducing the UNP’s crossovers he is engaged in political power-play to keep afloat, a huge ethical cloud would certainly hang over the crossing MPs of the United National Party raising concerns for the government and wider society. The SLMC has always been a capricious decision-maker and one need not waste time in writing about the latter.

Muralidah Reddy, reputed Indian political analyst writing to the Hindu newspaper (on 29/1/07), takes the position that President Rajapakse has made a move which is going to be counterproductive and eventually costly to him. Reddy states that it would have been better had the President continued graciously with the MOU signed with Ranil Wickramasinghe rather than abrogating it this way. Reddy’s conclusion is based on assumptions such as that the defecting UNP group is likely to retain a different identity and a different stand on the key issues critical to the country today, especially the national question.

My own view is that Reddy may be wrong in the latter assumption. It has been patently clear from the outset that this breakaway group had been eager to get into the seats and perks of power and hopefully enjoy the rest of their career this way rather than remain in opposition. This group will therefore be very much part of the establishment and will kowtow to President Rajapakse at every turn. Furthermore, although called ‘the Karu Group’ this group is far from homogenous and each one will go their way to feather their own personal interests.

From the outset, a discerning observer could have spotted no genuine concern for their party within this group. The protests about the need for reform within the party have been in my view mere hocus-pocus. Firstly, until the time of Ranil Wickremasinghe’s (RW) election defeat the latter had been good and Mahinda Rajapakse was evil. People like Rajitha, Lokuge etc are reported to have slandered Mahinda Rajapakse during the campaign. With RW’s defeat, the latter suddenly became terribly bad and suddenly the party gravely needed large -scale reform. The fact is that from the point of view of the aggregate electorate (voting and non-voting electors) RW had in fact probably won, so that the loss was more of a technical nature. Hence, RW did not do badly although he may be judged as having had bad luck, whatever metaphysical meaning that may have. Besides, RW had eventually agreed on a timeframe for reform and the group had collectively expressed assent to that.

I suppose one cannot expect public morals from our ‘pollies’ these days. The right thing for dissenting party members to do is to resign as people like Gamini Jayasuriya did in the foregone era of honourable leaders. The crossovers had been elected primarily because of their party and only on a preference basis as individuals. The party did not become bad suddenly after the elections; it was the same party –good and bad. Had this group joined government eschewing portfolios they would have looked better. Even their threat of signing a MOU with the President is now seen in retrospect as a face-saving bluff as it never materialised. On the other hand, they clamoured for the plums of office. The next step is to get the cars, positions for their family members and the whole works and all the hampers.

The ethical implications and consequences are nakedly clear: These politicians have deceived the electorate and that for their own gain. In this sense, they have undermined the working of the country’s fledgling democracy. From a wider societal point of view, these ‘crossies’ have sent down the wrong message to our young and old namely that no act is inherently right or wrong and that it is only thinking that makes something right or wrong. This is a dangerous message to our society at large

President Rajapakse will have to watch these guys as they are going to milk the government and, if possible, be smarter than him. Milinda Moragoda is particularly to be watched as he is the guy who spoiled RW’s chances by announcing at election time that the latter had manipulated Karuna’s break away thereby angering the LTTE who blocked the Tamils in the North- East from voting for RW

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