Coalition politics

The future of the new government of President Chandrika Kumaratunga will depend very much on the cabinet of ministers she will choose from members of the Peoples Alliance, the Eelam Peoples Democratic Party, the National Unity Alliance and the Sri Lanka Muslim Congress.

The ideal coalition in the context of the hung parliament would have been the PA and the UNP coming together but that is wishful thinking given intense rivalry between the two parties and constant vituperation over the years. It is indeed a pity that the two parties that have almost the same economic and foreign policies as well as a common approach to national issues, cannot come together. The agreement on the basic principles of the draft constitution itself is indicative of how close they are in their political thinking. Many prominent politicians in both parties want the two parties to work together but that is not to be.

The new coalition will be a very tough proposition, even to President Kumaratunga who has already six years of experience in leading a coalition. She will have to use all her charm and political skills in keeping together the combination. The main problem that most coalition governments are plagued with is the demands made by the minority parties. Much time and effort is spent on coalition politics than economic development.

It is rumoured that the EPDP and the NUA have already made many demands as a price for their co-operation. In coalition politics it often happens that the tail wags the dog. But this can happen only infrequently because if the tail attempts to wag the dog ever so often, the coalition will be doomed

President Kumaratunga should impress upon her coalition partners that while their minority interests would be given due consideration national interests have to be given top priority. It is obvious that national interests cannot suffer at the expense of minority interests.

The greatest challenge to the new government will be to defeat terrorism in the North and East. During the election campaign the Peoples Alliance hardened its stance against terrorism and leaders such as Prime Minister Ratnasiri Wickremanayake unequivocally declared that the objective of the PA is to defeat terrorism militarily. Perhaps at some stage, negotiations are called for but there can be no relaxation of the military effort, unless there are positive signs for a negotiated settlement coming through

A disastrous example where the interests of the nation was sacrificed for minority interests was when President R. Premadasa caved into to SLMC demands – even though they were not in his government-and broke off diplomatic relations with Israel. The stupidity of this decision was realised when the country was in peril a few months ago and wanted to purchase military hardware immediately. It was Israel and Pakistan that came to our aid immediately while our good friends were mumbling about’ humanitarian assistance’.

The new government faces tremendous challenges and how successfully it can cope with such challenges will depend on the minority parties placing national interests above their own interests.

We are Sri Lankans!

During the last election, every voter had a finger daubed with what is called ‘indelible ink’ – as it has happened in recent elections – to prevent voters fraudulently casting ballots more than once. The scant amount of ‘indelible ink’ applied by officials of the Elections Department indicated that the department had only a very limited supply of ink.

Even if the ink was generously applied, it would have had no effect because mere application of soap and hard rubbing made the ‘indelible ink’ disappear. Over the years, every voter has come to realise that this is a mere cosmetic device that does not achieve its objective but we keep repeating it. We are Sri Lankans who keep repeating such stupidities when it is plain obvious that these bureaucratic decisions have no bearing in achieving stated objectives

Another such instance is the Sri Lankan election tradition to shut down all legal retail liquor outlets, bars and clubs during election time. Ostensibly this is to prevent people from getting Dutch Courage and going on the rampage. But closure of bars during election time did not prevent the marauders from storming polling booths and even attempting to storm police stations! Whether they were drunk or not is not known but even if they had wanted to summon Dutch Courage there was plenty of illicit liquor flowing around. Closure of bars, clubs etc. resulted in even those who partake in an occasional drink at a club or restaurant stocking up bottles for the long dry season ahead! Excise Department officials appear to be of the opinion that their duty is to prevent revenue going into government coffers and not increasing collections. One worthy of this department has said that he was taking action against tourist hotels for not closing down bars on Temperance Day.

Perhaps the government got to choose between temperance and tourism.

The closure of liquor outlets, meat stalls slaughter houses and cinemas as a mark of respect for former Prime Minister Mrs. Bandaranaike can be appreciated. Even though western nations may not take such action to respect the dead, it is in keeping with our culture. But while slaughter houses remained closed, the fast food joints selling hotdogs, hamburgers and the like were doing a roaring trade! Perhaps tons of meat were consumed during these days at a newly opened fast food joint at Kotte! If slaughter of animals is banned why permit public consumption of meat on these days? With this rate of consumption of meat – animals being killed in a way which animal lovers will certainly not approve of – we wonder whether there will be a head of cattle left in this country soon.

Is there any rhyme or reason in going through these futile exercises? Never mind all that. We are Sri Lankans and we do things the way we want!.

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