{"id":41359,"date":"2015-02-09T14:38:01","date_gmt":"2015-02-09T20:38:01","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/?p=41359"},"modified":"2015-02-08T14:45:02","modified_gmt":"2015-02-08T21:45:02","slug":"the-first-30-days-of-the-first-100-days","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/2015\/02\/09\/the-first-30-days-of-the-first-100-days\/","title":{"rendered":"The first 30 days of the first 100 days"},"content":{"rendered":"

H. L. D. Mahindapala<\/em><\/span><\/h2>\n

To reassure that My-3\u201d \u2013 CBK-Wickremesinghe-Sirisena — meant business and should be taken seriously before casting the vote of January 8, 2015 a time-table was set to impress the voters that the Manifesto comes with a day-to-day schedule guaranteeing progress leading to the promised ideal country\u201d. We have now arrived on February 9 \u2013 time to test how far the political guarantors of the Manifesto had progressed during the first 30 days of the first 100 days.<\/p>\n

Of course, it is too early to pass judgment on the totality of the promises. But, at least, it\u00a0 is possible to probe the early indicators which could point\u00a0 to where the My-3\u201d trio are heading? Are we making any substantial progress advancing towards the ideal country\u201d as\u00a0 promised in the My-3\u201d Manifesto?\u00a0 Or are we being taken for a ride with some cosmetic changes that will eventually take us back to square one?<\/p>\n

The success or failure of My-3\u201d can be measured only by the\u00a0fulfillment of the promises kept by the new regime. What they hoped\/promised to achieve can be summarized in one single concept which caught the imagination of the voter :<\/strong> change for Yaha Palanaya\u201d (good governance) through a new constitution within 100 days. Serious\u00a0 political commentators \u2013 not the starry-eyed ones —\u00a0 knew that this time-table cannot be realized in 100 days and, true enough, the architects of the 100-day Agenda\u201d have\u00a0 failed to keep up with the over-ambitious timetable. Knowing\u00a0 the overall complexities and magnitude of the promises it was inevitable that the My-3\u201d apparatchiks should fall behind. That is understandable though not acceptable. No responsible leader has a right to make promises which can\u2019t be delivered.<\/p>\n

But in politics the norm is for promises run to peaks in one\u00a0 direction on hot air and time tables to run in the opposite direction, going down the pallang, <\/em><\/strong>as they say in the vernacular. So at this early stage what can be measured are the initial steps taken to keep the faith with the voters who were made to believe that the promised change\u201d (when-a-suck<\/em><\/strong>) is coming for good.<\/p>\n

What\u00a0 is important is not keeping to the 100-days\u201d timetable, as promised, but the change (when-a-sir<\/em><\/strong>) per se. What then are the big and dramatic changes initiated so far by the My-3\u201d regime to confirm the hopes for the all-important when-a-sir<\/em><\/strong>?<\/p>\n

The President himself is playing his role in a low-key, cutting down the pomp and ceremonies and even titles and honorifics, to underscore his promise of reducing the Presidency to\u00a0 the optimum. There is no doubt that his simplicity and political piety is coming out strongly, giving the impression that there is a tangible change in the elaborate political rituals that preceded his regime. \u00a0That, of course, is only one aspect. The real issue will come to the fore only when the use of his presidential powers manifests itself in governance. More of this later.<\/p>\n

My-3\u201d regime made a good start by appointing young Ruwan Wijewardene as the Minister of State for Defence to deal with security — a key and sensitive issue that still keeps every one edge in the post-Nandikdal period. His self-effacing, unobtrusive demeanour, quite in contrast to the militaristic nature of the job, runs parallel with that of the Minister of Defence, the\u00a0 President,who projects himself practically on all occasions as the Minister for Maithri – Baha-wanas<\/em><\/strong> and Upa-saka-ammas<\/em><\/strong> rather than regimented Army Commanders and IGPs.<\/p>\n

However, both the President and his State Minister for Defence seem to work in tandem, giving a sympathetic ear to the advice of the Mahanayakes in particular who had cautioned them about de-militarizing and downgrading the forces at the expense of the nation\u2019s security. According to media reports, Ruwan had been approached by the US officials and, though I do not know what transpired, I hope the State Minister told them that Sri Lanka is following the good example of America which has established roughly 1,000 bases round the globe even though World War II ended nearly 70 years ago.<\/p>\n

It\u00a0 is imperative that the international community\u00a0 should accept the commonly shared principle which grants the states the right to deploy their forces to any place of its choice within its sovereign borders. No state, federal or unitary, gives the right to the periphery to decide where forces should be stationed for national security. In short, no foreign state, nor a local administration, has the right to dictate to a sovereign state where it should locate its troops. Wijewardene\u2019s unequivocal message delivered to the forces, underlining that there will be no change in the stationing of forces in the north, is reassuring and a relief\u00a0 to the nation as a whole.<\/p>\n

An equally good appointment is that of H. M. G. S. Palihakkara as Governor of the North. This appointment is not\u00a0 only in keeping with the spirit of the times but also a necessity to appease India and the West. It would also take the sting out of the attack of the Tamil Diaspora that paints the North as a\u00a0 militarized gulag with bayonets pointing permanently at the back of every Jaffna Tamil. Above all, Palihakkara has the requisite diplomatic skills to calm and soothe the tense and irritable nerves of the over-sensitive Tamil touch-me-nots who are ever ready to blame anything and everything\u00a0 \u2013 even the killing of Tamils and Muslims by Prabhakaran — on the Sinhalese.<\/p>\n

Then, of course, there is Ravi Karunanayake\u2019s mini-budget where he distributed some goodies with an\u00a0 eye to win votes (for the UNP!) in the proposed general election due to be declared in mid-April. As usual, he has got his priorities\u00a0 mixed up. Like the way he rushed to Pamankada thinking it is Alimankada he has rushed to reduce the price of sugar for a nation riddled\u00a0 with diabetes. It is like reducing the price of cigarettes to ease the pain of cancer patients. Despite some temporary relief the budget, as a whole, is a one-off gimmick. No budget can play the role of Father Christmas day in day out. Rationalizing the distribution of resources and fiscal discipline are bound to come later.<\/p>\n

There are, however, early signs of the euphoria waning and disillusionment setting in. The\u00a0 opinion poll of Business Times <\/em><\/strong>revealed that the confidence in the National Unity Government is waning. Though the drop in popularity is marginal it is significant that the drop has come in rather early.<\/p>\n

Of course, the decline is to be expected as it is rather difficult to maintain the momentum on which NUG came into power. The high expectations created by the Manifesto were bound to erode day by day with NUG running into various snags. So far everything has gone fine because there has been some\u00a0 tinkering only at the surface level. The sensitive and deep-rooted fundamentals have not been touched yet to create possible destabilizing turbulence. My-3\u201d is still operating on the socio-economic foundations laid by the Mahinda Rajapakse regime. Literally and metaphorically, My-3\u201d is actually running\u00a0 smoothly down\u00a0 the\u00a0 highways and byways constructed by the Rajapakses.<\/p>\n

In fact, the economy which, we were told, was about\u00a0 to come\u00a0 crashing down\u00a0 on our heads under President Mahinda Rajapakse, has suddenly become a sound and\u00a0 robust economy with seven months reserves. When the Rajapakses were in power a myriad scare stories were circulated to downgrade the economy. Dr. Harsha de Silva, the economic expert of the UNP, was howling from roof tops that Central Bank had cooked up figures, the overheated economy will meltdown, mounting\u00a0 debts will be unserviceable, low production in all sectors was a serious threat to export earnings, foreign reserves and the future of the economy, increasing unemployment and rising\u00a0 costs of living are looming large in horizon etc. Cassandras were ringing alarm bells loudly in our ears warning that these threatening forces were all gathering a momentum to grind the national economy to a halt. But the new Governor of the Central Bank Arjun\u00a0 Mahendra, is expressing confidence in the economy and projects a positive\u00a0 picture which has not been contradicted by the new Finance Minister, Ravi Karunanayake either. So how did the grim economy under Mahinda Rajapakse suddenly, sus gala<\/em><\/strong>, become a sound economy overnight? Anyway, the fact that the new governor can read the figures accurately \u00a0must\u00a0 be read as a positive sign of the My-3\u201d regime.<\/p>\n

Another development is the TNA attending the Independence Day celebrations. Though it is not a part of the government promises it should be welcomed because\u00a0 it augurs well for the promotion reconciliation \u2013 a vital necessity for\u00a0 whoever is in power. However, one has to\u00a0 be wary about this because not even the TNA knows how long this will last.<\/p>\n

These and a few others can be put in the Okay\u201d basket. But the Nokay\u201d\u2019 basket too is filling up on the other hand.\u00a0Take, for instance, the following cases:<\/p>\n

    \n
  • Virulent politics seems\u00a0 to\u00a0 have been injected into the economy confusing the\u00a0 market and\u00a0 investors. One of the biggest development project is Port City development. Ranil Wickremesinghe (UNP), citing environmental concerns, (read: China) is threatening to cancel the project. Rajitha Senaratne (SLFP) says that an environmental study has been made initially and the Cabinet has agreed to go ahead with the project as there is nothing wrong with the project. In the\u00a0 meantime, Wickremesinghe has\u00a0kick-started \u00a0his usual trick of appointing committees to\u00a0 problems he can\u2019t handle. When he was Prime Minister he appointed nearly a hundred committees with Bradman Weerakoon as \u00a0chairperson. Neither of the two\u00a0 had the time nor the inclination to proceed beyond putting a name board to the committees. So we can expect this to be the first of\u00a0 the many committees that Wickremesinghe will appoint to politically dodge\/postpone\/pigeonhole decisions.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n
      \n
    • Then comes the first use of\u00a0 power by President Maithripala Sirisena. It is a startling start for a leading champion of democracy and\u00a0 rule of law. The entire election campaign pivoted round the promise of\u00a0 not to abuse presidential power to subvert law and order. Under the promised Yaha Palanaya (good\u00a0 governance) rule\u00a0 of law was going\u00a0 to be a corner stone of its regime. The sole objective of the constitutional change was\u00a0 to pare down the authoritarian\u00a0 powers of the Presidency and restore the lost powers of Parliament.\u00a0 President Maithripala Sirisena had\u00a0 the grand opportunity to demonstrate his commitment to this principle when the issue of the tenure of the Chief Justice, Mohan Peiris, was taken up by the Maithri\u201d Palanaya. The pen he used to sack Peiris without going through due process proved to be deadlier than the arbitrary use of the sword by a dictator. In one stroke he removed the Chief\u00a0 Justice and re-installed the dismissed Chief Justice, Shirani Bandaranayake, disregarding the\u00a0 precedent he\u00a0 himself set by duly going\u00a0 through the\u00a0 Select Committee process as prescribed in the Constitution to remove Shirani Bandaranayake. In other\u00a0 words, President Sirisena who promised from every political platform to restore the powers, privileges and the rights of Parliament has done exactly the\u00a0 opposite\u00a0 by brushing aside the Parliament \u2013 the only authority recognized by the Constitution to remove judges \u2013 and dictatorially using his pen to stage a judicial coup\u201d by overthrowing a judge of the highest court of the land. One of the primary objects of the anti-Rajapakse campaign was to restore the supremacy of the Parliament. But with one stroke\u00a0 of the pen President Sirisena has confirmed the supremacy of the Presidency over Parliament. The first step of any authoritarian rule is also to target the judiciary. Removing judges that do not please the regime of the day is the primary means of legitimizing diktats of authoritarian regimes. President Sirisena has no excuse to do what he did because he was an integral part of the Parliamentary process adopted by the previous regime of which he was a leading member. The argument that Select Committee process adopted to remove Shirani Bandaranayake was flawed is not tenable for the President to remove Mohan Peiris by an arbitrary diktat issued from his office. With his past experience the legally valid alternative was to remove Mohan Peiris by adopting the correct parliamentary procedure, or the same procedure adopted\u00a0 to remove Shirani Badnaranayake, and not by a diktat issued by the President. If the President\u2019s argument is that the appointment of Mohan\u00a0 Peiris is invalid because of an erroneous parliamentary procedure then it was the duty of President Sirisena to put it right by adopting the correct parliamentary procedure to remove Mohan Peiris, using the powers of Parliament and not the Presidency. What President Sirisena has done is to exercise his powers to override the supreme powers of Parliament. Does two wrongs add up to one right? This knowing violation of the Constitutionally enshrined process has sent\u00a0 shivers down the spine of the nation. If he can remove the Chief Justice\u00a0 with one stroke of the pen how can others feel secure with him as President? If he can violate the laws of the land and arbitrarily dismiss the Chief Justice without going through the due process how safe are the lesser individuals under the new My-3\u201d dictatorship?<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n
        \n
      • Then came the\u00a0 JVP accusation of the President\u2019s brother illegally sand-mining the banks of\u00a0 Mahaveli.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n
          \n
        • * Also the newspapers went to town with his son, Dham, parading in Race Course complex with \u00a040 PSDs at a time when the ministers security personnel was cut down.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n
            \n
          • * After lambasting the Mahinda Rajapakse government for family bandyism came the shocking news of appointing president\u2019s brother to head the Telecom.<\/li>\n
          • * After lambasting the Mahinda Rajapakse government for cronyism comes the appointment\u00a0 of\u00a0 Kavan Ratnayake, the brother of young Sagala Ratnayake,\u00a0 Prime Minister Wickremesinghe\u2019s favourite MP who accompanies him on his\u00a0 regular trips abroad.<\/li>\n
          • * Along with that came\u00a0 the shocking news that the newly appointed Governor of the Central Bank, Arjuna Mahendra, did not know that his son-in-law was into financial trading. Of all the spins available in the global market place can it be believed that Arjuna, who is touted as the man who knows the Asian markets like his own family, learnt about his son\u2019s financial dealings from the newspapers? After this can the stock market trust the word of the new Governor of the Central Bank? Is this going to be the standard in producing the vital statistics for the credibility of the national economy? Was Arjuna brought as a substitute for Wickremesinghe\u2019s earlier wizard\u201d in the Treasury, Paskaralingam?<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n
              \n
            • Take also the case of appointing Ravi Karunanayake as the Finance Minister when\u00a0 he is facing charges of money laundering in the courts. To rub salt into this wound, as it were, he fixes the date of delivering his mini-budget on January 29 \u2013 the day on which the court was due to take up the\u00a0 hearing of the case.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n
                \n
              • As if this is not\u00a0 enough Ravi Karunanayake leads a Police party to raid a house of a citizen (guilty or not) and question the\u00a0 inmates. He dodges his appearance in court to answer charges against him but he leads a Police party to question others whom he suspects. Ravi Karunanayake will be Ravi Karunanayake. No one can change a kabara- goya into a thala-goya. But how does this reflect on President Sirisena who promised a Yaha Palanaya\u201d?<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n
                  \n
                • Another MP leads another\u00a0 police party to raid Mahinda Rajapakse\u2019s house\u00a0 in search of a non-existent Lamborghini and leads the questioning while the Police wait in the sidelines.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n
                    \n
                  • Then\u00a0 there is the no-confidence motion against John Amaratunga which is sure to pass if\u00a0 the list of MPs who had signed are there to vote for it. The SLFP which commands a majority in the House (127, says President Sirisena) will be eager to strike the first blow to Wickremesinghe hollow claim to be Prime Minister without a majority to back him. Apart from that, \u00a0when violence takes place under the very nose of the Minister for Public Order and Disaster Management what is the example he sets for public order and management of disasters? Besides, the President and the Prime Minister led an election campaign to eliminate violence and thuggery in politics. The voting on this will be a test of the probity of the UNPers, JHU, JVP and TNA who campaigned so strenuously to restore law and order.<\/li>\n
                  • On top of all this comes the appointment of Upul Jayasooriya, the Head of Bar Association, to head the BOI. Commentators have linked this appointment for services rendered to the then opposition in leading the ko-ko-nut krackos in kalu koats<\/em><\/strong> on the Shirani\u00a0 Bandaranayake case. This brings\u00a0 to disrepute not so much the Yaha Palanaya\u201d of My-3\u201d as the pompous purity paraded by Upul Jayasooriya.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n
                      \n
                    • No comment\u00a0 is required on the promise of limiting the Cabinet 25. The leap from 25 to 57 is not because there is no Einstein in the Yaha Palanaya\u201d. It is because the pretentious Einstein (aka Champika Ranawaka) can\u2019t even count to 13 without lifting his white cloth.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n
                        \n
                      • Champika Ranawaka also promised to construct a Cabinet with subjects\/departments allocated to each minister (a total of 25 \u2013 ha! ha!) on a scientific basis. His voodoo science has ended in Prime Minister and Rosy Senanayake handling the single subject of children \u2013 one set of children under the wing of her sari pota<\/em><\/strong> and the other under the wings of his coat! Dangerous, eh?<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n

                        The few items listed above are merely the tip of the iceberg. No wonder the confidence placed by the public in the My-3- pala-naya\u201d has begun to slide. The pre-election promises and the post-election realities seem to be running like parallel lines with no meeting point\u00a0 in the known universe.<\/p>\n

                        If this is the record in 30 days what guarantees are there for the next 70 days look any better?<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

                        H. L. D. Mahindapala To reassure that My-3\u201d \u2013 CBK-Wickremesinghe-Sirisena — meant business and should be taken seriously before casting the vote of January 8, 2015 a time-table was set to impress the voters that the Manifesto comes with a day-to-day schedule guaranteeing progress leading to the promised ideal country\u201d. We have now arrived on […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[18],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-41359","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-h-l-d-mahindapala"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/41359","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=41359"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/41359\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=41359"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=41359"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=41359"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}