Tilak Marapana

Wijetunge

by Rajiva Wijesinha
Because I know that time is always time

And place is always and only place

And what is actual is actual only for one time

And only for one place — (T. S. Eliot)

I was slightly disturbed last week when I read that Tilak Marapana had been appointed to replace Gamini Athukorale as Minister of Transport, Highways and Aviation. The contrast, as Frank Richards used to put it, is as water unto wine, as moonshine unto sunshine.

Now this is not to say that Marapana is no good. In comparison with some of his colleagues in the present Cabinet, as well as his predecessors (the Minister and in particular the Deputy) he might indeed seem a godsend. Since defence policy is currently in the hands of the Prime Minister, all the Ministry needs is an honest and efficient man who will try to reduce the abuses that prevailed, the corruption, misappropriation of weapons, private armies etc.

Marapana will be fine I think for all that. But whether he can contribute towards nation building is another question. One needs to remember, after all, that he first came into prominence as a principal adviser to President Wijetunge, when that singular individual’s honeymoon ended and his self-aggrandizement became pathological.

Of course Marapana cannot be blamed for all that. In fact he was abroad when Wijetunge committed perhaps his worst public misdemeanour, in pardoning two convicted killers. But the fact remains that he was Attorney General at the time, and there is no record of his advising against this grotesque indiscretion.

For the rest, no one will know how much he was involved in Wijetunge’s political manoeuvres. Some of them were brilliant, if brilliance means achieving personal ends. The way in which Wijetunge played Ranil and Gamini off against each other, so that his own position remained secure to the end, was quite masterly. But the bottom line is that, that end was quite disastrous for the UNP.

And there were other machinations that were unquestionably silly, beginning with the decision initially to set up minority UNP governments in the Northwestern and Southern Provinces, and then, after the Supreme Court put paid to that, the luring over of Franciscu. It was the election after the subsequent dissolution of the Southern Council that first established the PA as a natural party of government on its own, after 17 years in a wilderness from which only the DUNF had rescued it.

Marapana would probably not have been responsible for all this, nor for the racist campaign that Wijetunge ran, which voters rejected as clearly as they did Chandrika’s racist campaign this time. But his acquiescence, his loyalty to a selfish and divisive incompetent raises serious questions about his judgment and his capacity.

And certainly, the present state of uncertainty in the Ministry of Defence makes one wonder about the man’s determination. It certainly cannot be good for morale that the newspapers should one day announce several retirements, only to reveal a few days later that the officers referred to were back in the saddle. And though it is easy to say that poor Marapana can do nothing, given Chandrika’s position as Commander in Chief, one wonders whether she would have been able to get away with all this had Athukorale for instance been in that position.

What then are Marapana’s qualifications to be the Pooh Bah of this administration, as GL was of Chandrika’s first, before she tired of him? He is certainly not of GL’s intellectual stature, but that of course is not necessary. Dynamism however is, but of that there has never been any evidence. The conclusion then seems to be that it is only personal loyalty that has led Ranil to give him Athukorale’s Ministry. But that after all was what they said of Wijetunge, when he was appointed Prime Minister instead of Lalith or Gamini. And though Marapana is, one trusts, streets ahead of DB, this sort of makeshift operation makes one begin to wonder whether this too will be a government that will disappoint, and disappoint badly.

One wonders too whether the appointment will be for the long term or the short. If loyalty alone were the criterion, then it may well be indefinite, to make up for the disappointment at not being able to assert himself at Defence. But divided energies at this stage would be disastrous, given the quick decisions and efficient implementation needed in both sectors. On the other hand, if the appointment is only short term, one wonders why it should have been done at all.

For it was only the previous week that the papers were full of speculations about the elevation of other people to the cabinet. Those highlighted were, in purely alphabetical order, Karunanayake and Kodituwakku, Markar and Moragoda, Samarasinghe and Senaratne. I should add that, apart from the first two, I have little knowledge of the rest, and it is quite possible that the various rude stories one now hears about them are not entirely inaccurate. But the fact still remains that they are all able and innovative in their own ways, and should at least be given a chance, not only to perform effectively in particular spheres, but also to contribute to national policy making.

But it seems now as though they will not get into the cabinet yet. Current speculation now is of a reshuffle in March, after the 100 days are over. But is it necessary for the country to wait that long for some concerted action? Surely all these people should have been tried and tested while in opposition, without having to go through yet another trial. And what criteria will be used? Will they be the same as led to the elevation of the present bunch to the Cabinet?

What an honour it will be for Milinda Moragoda to know that he is as highly thought of as M. H. Mohammed. Imagine Ravi Karunanayake’s joy on being judged the equal of Gamini Lokuge. And who can aspire — who will dare to aspire — to step into Alick Aluwihare’s shoes?

Chandrika wanted time to prove herself, or so Rauff Hakeem thought when she did not appoint another Deputy Minister of Defence in constituting her Cabinet in 2000. Doubtless Ranil too wants time, which is why we have what may or may not be the stop gap appointment of Marapana to a second Ministry, on top of what may or may not be a stop gap cabinet. But time is too precious to be trifled with. And it never forgives.