{"id":46074,"date":"2015-07-23T10:51:02","date_gmt":"2015-07-23T16:51:02","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/?p=46074"},"modified":"2015-07-23T03:25:43","modified_gmt":"2015-07-23T10:25:43","slug":"fearing-foreign-conspirators-is-same-as-favouring-them","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/2015\/07\/23\/fearing-foreign-conspirators-is-same-as-favouring-them\/","title":{"rendered":"Fearing Foreign Conspirators is Same as Favouring Them"},"content":{"rendered":"

Dilrook Kannangara<\/em><\/span><\/h2>\n

Working without fear or favour is a term that identifies the duel impact of fear and favour on decisions. If one favours another, the first person cannot work objectively. Similarly, if one fears another, the first person cannot work objectively. Volumes have been written about foreign conspirators and those who favour them. Attacking those who favour foreign conspirators is the main theme of the UPFA election campaign. However, how about those who fear foreign conspirators? They too are in the same boat.<\/p>\n

13A Cannot Be Removed but Allows Various Middle Path Options<\/u><\/strong><\/p>\n

UNP finds that 13A cannot be removed because it favours foreign conspirators who instilled it. UPFA cannot remove 13A because it fears foreign conspirators trying to send their leaders to Hague. The end result is the same. This is well accepted and received by the electorate. People understand how fear and favour of foreign actors by UPFA and UNP respectively keeps 13A going.<\/p>\n

It is unwise for Mahinda or UPFA to promise to abrogate 13A given their very heavy reliance on Tamil and Muslim mono ethnic parties to secure their intended majority in parliament. UNP has an electoral pact with SLMC and TNA while UPFA has an electoral pact with CWC and a section of the SLMC. As such it is suicidal to tear apart the 13A.<\/p>\n

UNP has already promised to fully implement 13A and a few UNP MPs have called to remove all police stations in the north paving way for full police and land powers to the Northern Provincial Council. UPFA top leaders including Mahinda are silent on what they will do against it. Why?<\/p>\n

There are many other options between full implementation of 13A and abrogating it. For instance UPFA can take a very firm stand against this UNP move and declare it will not go any further on 13A. UPFA can also demand the dissolution of the Northern Provincial Council that passed a resolution calling for foreign investigations into alleged war crimes. Why aren\u2019t they taking these measures?<\/p>\n

If it is fear of foreign conspirators, then there is no difference between them and those who favour foreign conspirators.<\/p>\n

The China Factor<\/u><\/strong><\/p>\n

Elections in Taiwan, Bangladesh, South Korea and even Japan and USA are mostly about China. So is this election in Sri Lanka. People are presented a choice between a pro-China party and an anti-China party. While the UNP follows an openly anti-China policy due to its favouritism for foreign conspirators, UPFA leaders are silent out of fear of foreign, particularly Indian and US conspirators. UPFA leaders have complained the UNP government has stalled its development projects. However, the underlying reason for this is the China factor. Without reference to the China factor, development cannot be discussed in this country. If UPFA leaders fear openly discussing the China factor out of fear of India, people see no difference between UPFA and UNP. Fear and favour are the same.<\/p>\n

In order to differentiate itself top UPFA leaders must come out openly defending Chinese projects and clarify its stand on China.<\/p>\n

UNHRC Interim Report, the Elephant in the Room<\/u><\/strong><\/p>\n

Mid year report by UNHRC in October will have a section on Sri Lanka based on the investigation it carried out into alleged war crimes. UNP openly favours it since it was sanctioned by USA, India and the EU. The UNP leader and Fonseka always supported a foreign investigation. Although UPFA opposed it, the then government appointed a panel of foreigners in its domestic investigation. A domestic investigation by foreigners is hardly domestic! What is the UPFA stand on this? It cannot run with the hares and hunt with the dogs.<\/p>\n

Will a UPFA government go against the UNHRC and defend war heroes no matter what? People need to hear it unambiguously. Although a few UPFA prominent speakers have vowed to defend war heroes, UPFA top leaders seem to avoid this issue during the election campaign. If UNP support for the UNHRC is driven by favour, UPFA inaction is driven by fear. Ultimately both are the same.<\/p>\n

Public Sector and Debt Crisis, the Other Big One<\/u><\/strong><\/p>\n

Sri Lanka is in debt crisis. With close to $60 billion net debt to external parties and a large trade deficit, the debt crisis is biting. Comparing the debt level against the GDP makes little sense as our net trade terms are a negligible part of the GDP. Foreign currency is needed to pay off this debt which the nation lacks. USA on the other hand has debt close to $18 trillion. However, it also has foreign reserves close to $17.9 trillion. Therefore the net debt is very small, smaller than Sri Lanka at $39 billion.<\/p>\n

However, both major parties are silent on this. UNP has turned to IMF for help. However, IMF wants drastic cuts to state spending, reduction of armed forces, a huge reduction in public sector employment and massive depreciation of the rupee. These will be put in place after the election. What is the approach UPFA is taking? Can UPFA leaders guarantee they will honour no cuts imposed by the IMF?<\/p>\n

UNP\u2019s historical favouritism of IMF is well known. UPFA\u2019s fear of IMF is little known. Ultimately, both positions converge as fear and favour are the same.<\/p>\n

Voters Admire Addressing Tricky Issues, Despise Avoiding Them<\/u><\/strong><\/p>\n

Historically voters have punished indecisive political leaders; and elevated decisive leaders. When both major parties are playing safe on key issues, voters are swayed by fairy tales. UNP is in a better position to tell long fairy tales and take the cake unless UPFA top leaders make their position on key issues known to voters.<\/p>\n

People want the fearless Mahinda who gave an earful to Miliband and his fellow meddlers in 2009.<\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Dilrook Kannangara Working without fear or favour is a term that identifies the duel impact of fear and favour on decisions. If one favours another, the first person cannot work objectively. Similarly, if one fears another, the first person cannot work objectively. Volumes have been written about foreign conspirators and those who favour them. Attacking […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[44],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-46074","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-dilrook-kannangara"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/46074","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=46074"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/46074\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=46074"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=46074"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=46074"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}