Punch and Judy show goes on

The Punch and Judy show continues. Yesterday, President Chandrika Kumaratunga came out with a stinging reply to Prime Minister Ranil Wickremasinghe’s devastating response to the allegations, she made previously on the current status of defence against the LTTE.

President Kumaratunga, in her lunu-ambul rhetoric, threw back all the allegations the prime minister had made and it is quite probable that even though the prime minister is the less aggressive of the combatants, another rebuttal will be forthcoming. President Kumaratunga in her diatribe which obviously was meant to shore up the sagging political fortunes of her party, would have infused some life to her cheer leaders. And UNPers will be awaiting a knock out punch from Mr. Wickremasinghe. Entertaining as this pinch and punch show may be to political bystanders it is a national disaster. We doubt whether there is any other country where a subject as sensitive as defence strategy is debated in public by a president and prime minister. While these two supposedly educated and cultured political leaders are slanging each other and revealing the weaknesses of our defence strategies, Prabakaran sans the GCE-O and knowing only gun culture must be guffawing with delight. In war and politics a basic aim is to create splits in the ranks of the enemies. In our case there is spontaneous fission.

What President Kumaratunga in her reply has said is undoubtedly true. The Trincomalee harbour and Naval base are in serious danger as stated by a team of US Defence experts who had observed the defence build up of the LTTE and made their report. The government so far has not taken any counter measures. Her allegations about attacks on Muslims in the Muttur area by the LTTE cannot be denied and the government has not even reprimanded the LTTE quite apart from taking action as is required by law.

The president’s contention: If as you say I have ‘messed up’ the defence of the State during my tenure of office as Defence Minister, you seem to contend that you are therefore bestowed the right to ‘mess up’ further, is indeed excellent debating. That of course has been the standard defence of all political parties in power when under attack by the Opposition. ‘What did you do in your time’, is the defence to all misdemeanours of an incumbent regime.

However, the president’s claim....... ‘for nine long years before you decided to proffer advice on this matter, I have successfully conducted defence matters as well as the affairs of the National Security Council’, is belied by the state the country was in 2000 when her party was defeated at the polls.

Had she conducted ‘Defence Matters’ as successfully as she had claimed, how come defence camp after defence camp fell along the A-9 route and with the fall of Elephant Pass a greater part of the army, 45,000 troops, were trapped in the Jaffna peninsula? The situation was so desperate that even the Maha Sangha were sending SOS messages to New Delhi for assistance? And with the LTTE overrunning the Air Force defences at Katunayake and wreaking havoc on the civilian airport resulted in the economic growth rate going down below zero. And this was the inheritance of Mr. Ranil Wickremasinghe, a fact which cannot be denied.

Mr. Wickremasinghe’s economic performance has been quite commendable as evidenced by the booming stock market and GDP growth but where defence is concerned, the allegations made by the president stick. Various factors have made him captive to many political forces.

Today, the government is very much dependent on the ‘international community’ which is backing the peace process and the prime minister has given in to almost every demand made by the terrorists to save the peace process. This newspaper has been highly critical of the government and the prime minister for this surrender but in terms of realpolitik it appears that he has no other option other than to wait hopefully for better times.

The Island and many others have slammed this government for the stand taken at the UN and at Cancun but once again in terms of realpolitik there appears to have been no other option. The only country that is still solidly behind Sri Lanka is the United States and to go against it on issues vital to it would have entailed endangering the national security of this country. It would have been tantamount to hara-kiri to go aginst the US. That is the bitter truth, however much we dislike breaking away from the ranks of the poor of the world. And for this pathetic plight all of us have to share the blame – President Kumaratunga, Prime Minister Wickremasinghe and the people who elected them, as the letter published on the opinion page argues cogently.

The obvious solution is for the president and prime minister to come together but that is a stupid and vain hope. This is evident from the scathing attack of President Kumaratunga’s reply even though she has made the ritualistic appeal for co-operation. She has said that she is willing to ‘assist, advise and give leadership’ to realise what is best for this country. But this is all a sham. You don’t kick a man in his teeth in public and then offer co-operation, if you are serious about the offer.