by Deshavimala
The happiest man in the political scene last week was Rauff Hakeem whose dream to succeed SLMC founder M. H. M. Ashraff became a reality. The party earlier appointed Hakeem and Ashraff’s widow Fariel as co-leaders. But, Hakeem said though it was temporary measure, it was against the provisions of the party constitution. The SLMC constitution made provision only for one leader. Pursuing this position, Hakeem worked hard to implement the provisions of the party constitution. After Fariel came out from mourning, Hakeem insisted on the party having one leader. He hoped to get Fariel’s blessings to become the leader. Fariel, however was non-commital.

Despite Fariel’s silence, supporters of Ashraff wanted her to be the new leader. Meanwhile Hakeem canvassed at grassroot level and when Fariel went to lay a foundation stone at Saindamarathu, in Batticaloa Hakeem who was the Guest of Honour arrived in a procession of about 3000 supporters shouting slogans that Hakeem was the only leader in the party. Fariel assessing the ground situation spoke for a few minutes and left the venue.

There was a near clash between supporters of the two aspirants but the police intervened in time.

As the battle for leadership reached a crisis, President’s Counsel, Faiz Mustapha intervened to amicably resolve the tussle. After Mustapha’s mediation Hakeem was appointed as SLMC leader and Fariel as the National Unity Alliance (NUA) leader. Hakeem was also made the General Secretary of the NUA, a powerful position in any political party enabling him to have control over both parties.

NUA is an affiliated political segment of the SLMC which the late Ashraff formed as a coalition to gather more support for his SLMC during the last general election. He enrolled supporters from other communities into the NUA which helped him to win more support for the SLMC. Hakeem now holds three key positions in the party also being the leader of the SLMC/NUA parliamentary group.

The party’s Supreme Command endorsed Hakeem’s leadership of the SLMC for ratification at the party convention due today. However, Hakeem under powers vested in him as party leader put off the convention. Party insiders say that the position given to Hakeem is so strong that Fariel as the widow of Ashraff will have little to do in the party.

UNP

While the SLMC crisis was the main topic in political circle, the UNP was busy from last Sunday with its "Jana Bala Meheyuma" (People’s Power Protest) which commenced from Kandy. UNP parliamentarian Ravi Karunanayake who was also expected to join the march in Kandy had to leave for Bombay the previous day to attend a function for which he had accepted an invitation before the march was decided on. Karunanayake met the Indian Elections Commissioner N. Gill who was also present at the function and discussed the subjects of the four independent commissions drafted by his party to be presented in parliament and explained the necessity of implementing them in Sri Lanka to preserve democracy which he claimed was deteriorating rapidly.

Gill has said he had read various stories about the elections held here in the media and has pointed out that if the reports were true, Sri Lanka definitely needed such commissions to ensure free and fair polls.

"Yes... we are not satisfied with the elections held in the recent past and that was why we proposed these commissions", Karunanayake had stressed. Gill however explained how the Elections Commission in India functioned and Karunanayake invited him to visit Colombo. Gill said he would consider the invitation. Karunanayake thanked him.

Ravi Karunanayake telephoned his leader Ranil Wickremesinghe about this discussion. The UNP leader later directed his deputy, Karu Jayasuriya to arrange for a visit by Gill as Karunanayake believe would be beneficial to get Gill here to educate MPs on the functions of the Indian Elections Commission. Jayasuriya who has to deal with political party leaders in parliament to get their support to move the draft bill covering the four commissions and a constitutional council designed by UNP’s Constitutional expert, President’s Counsel and parliamentarian K. N. Choksy sent copies of the draft to the Prime Minister, SLMC leader Rauff Hakeem and to the JVP politbureau.

The JVP agreed to support the UNP proposals with a few amendments.

The JVP politbureau also discussed the country’s current economic situation and the pressure mounted by donor agencies to implement certain plans which it claimed were anti-social.

The Speaker

Meanwhile, in another development in the political scene, several former cricketers and those with interests in cricket are pressurising Speaker Anura Bandaranaike to run for President of the Cricket Board. Earlier, there were reports that former actress and women’s cricket chief Gwen Herat was to enter the fray. But as the provisions for the contest say that those who vie for the post should have at least played Division One Cricket it is doubtful whether both Anura or Gwen would fill the bill.

UNP sources say that Anura was not willing to contest but if he is the unanimous choice as in the Speakership, he may consider the offer. If it is so the BCCSL rule will have to be amended as Anura has not played Division One cricket. On Monday former Sri Lankan Captain Arjuna Ranatunga met Anura at Rosmead Place. They were reported to have had talks on various matters concerning cricket for over two hours.

Anura meets diplomats

Speaker Anura Bandaranaike invited American Ambassador Ashley Wills and British High Commissioner Linda Duffield and a few other diplomats for lunch in parliament. He also invited the Opposition Leader Ranil Wickremesinghe who took leave from the protest march to attend the lunch on Tuesday. They discussed the Norwegian peace effort, the economy and the UNP march in brief during the lunch hosted by the Speaker.

On Thursday Wickremesinghe left the protest march to attend the party leaders meeting in parliament. Messrs Richard Pathirana, Reggie Ranatunga, Rauff Hakeem, Tyronne Fernando and Wimal Weerawansa were present. Pathirana proposed to revert to the earlier system to have four day sittings as MPs were inconvenienced by the five day programme. "Let us start sittings at 9.00 a.m. and have a half hour lunch break", he said. He added that the 25 hour sittings could be covered through his proposal. Wickremesinghe did not favour this, stating that the people were happy how matters stood about and asked how they could go back and tell the electors about reducing the hours. Weerawansa too endorsed the view of the UNP leader. Tamil parties also backed Wickremesinghe and Weerawansa saying they too would prefer five days of sittings. But Pathirana insisted on the need to revert to the old system. The other parties too stood firm saying ‘no’. It was decided to put off the issue and Wickremesinghe said his position will not change even at a later date.

The UNP then moved for a debate on the economy saying it was not connected to the court case regarding the decision to float the rupee which is challenged in court. "We will ask G.L. to make a statement", Pathirana replied.

President Chandrika Kumaratunga summoned her parliamentary group to discuss the forthcoming budget and the cost of living issue on Poya Day. MPs were told to forward their proposals in writing and many of them came prepared with written documents. Officials from the Central Bank, Treasury, Customs and other Departments were also called in for this meeting. The MEP’s Bandula Gunewardene said that officials must accept the proposals of MPs for consideration and the Prime Minister endorsed that view.

Education Minister Susil Premjayath wanted MPs be given an additional Rs. 2.5 million through the allocation for his ministry for education work at electorate level.

Amarasiri Dodangoda lamented that a bottle of milk was Rs. 11 in the village and a bottle of water was sold at Rs. 25. "It’s better to dig a well and sell water instead of trying to develop the dairy sector", he lamented.

The Deputy Power Minister criticised the Ceylon Electricity Board officials as the President walked in to the meeting. "If you cut down the waste in the CEB there is no need to increase electricity rates", he said. He said a number of houses lacked meters as the CEB has failed to import them. The President requested the deputy minister to meet her personally to discuss the subject. A number of ministers criticised several state agencies. The meeting ended with the President saying she would consider all proposals before the budget was finalised.