What the last few years did for Ranil Wickremesinghe was to deprive him of heading a dynamic government. It seems that phase is fast drawing to a close. For one thing, he appeared to be indecisive and many said he lacked charisma. We saw how Gamini Dissanayake came from nowhere and simply ticked him off to lead the party in 1994. Charisma is not everything.

Ranil W. displayed his shrewdness when he left well alone the proposed impeachment affair against President R. Premadasa. Over the years Ranil W. has matured into a seasoned politician. If he was unable to wrest control of the government in those years, it was not his fault, but that of extraneous forces then prevailing.

The general mood was that President Chandrika Kumaratunga could deliver the goods, which she did not for the last seven years reneging on the solemn and noble promises she had all along pledged to fulfil.

Ranil W. is now a vintage politician who could lead the nation from the messy mire it has sunk into. However, he is obliged to make amends to the Tamil community in general for the horrendous Black July riots of 1983. He as a cabinet minister of the then J. R. Jayewardene govt., is collectively responsible for the omissions and commissions of the J R Jayewardene govt. to act expeditiously to quell the spread of mayhem and carnage that took place.

After all, the modern trend is to apologise to the descendents of the wronged for the sins of our fathers — as Pope John Paul II has set the trend. So it is incumbent on Ranil W. to openly apologise to the Tamil community for his indirect involvement in the sufferance of that community for the July 1983 holocaust. While it is the morally correct course of action, it would be expedient at this juncture as he will harvest a sizeable Tamil vote bank.

It is also necessary for Ranil W. to refurbish the image of the UNP. He will have to divest the obsolete and authoritarian thinking and perspectives of the JR-Premadasa UNP political culture. The new-look UNP should not be a refuge for scoundrels — dubious characters such as certain PA dissidents, except for men of integrity.

If the UNP wins the Dec. 5 election Ranil W’s first task will be to set in place the five independent commissions — for the judiciary, public service, police, elections and the media. Also that the state-controlled media be placed under an independent corporation like the BBC. The opposition is duty bound to extend its support for the setting up of the five commissions or else face the wrath of the masses.

No more underworld characters like Soththi Upali etc, should find favour with the UNP Alliance. And the rule of law should be heeded in letter and spirit.

There is no doubt that if the UNP Alliance comes to power the informal economy will come into the open and foreign investors will surge upon our shores. But make no mistake. We should refrain from making our local labour vassals of foreign and multi-nationals as the J. R. Jayewardene govt. did in 1977 with his blighted version of the ‘open economy’.

It is going to be an uphill task for resuscitating the economy from its present predicament. But it has to be done with courage, vision and determination.
I. C. Wilfred
Wattala