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In this interview, C.A.Chandraprema speaks to UNP Western Provincial Council member Mohamed Muzammil about the new UNP led alliance that was formed this week.
Q. What is the significance you see in the United National Alliance that was signed the day before yesterday?
A. I believe that forming this alliance is a correct decision made by the UNP and the party leader. This alliance will be a force to reckon with, and a threat to the government.
Q. The Muslim Congress, the Democratic People’s Front of Mano Ganesan, the SLFP(M) were already with the UNP anyway. These other parties that have joined, like the Ruhunu Janatha Party, the Ape Jathika Peramuna, are insignificant. What does the UNP expect from these political non-entities?
A. The UNP has managed to group the forces opposed to the government together, which includes the smaller political parties. History has proved that such alliances have been successful. In 1994, Chandrika Kumaratunga’s alliance was worse than this. Also, this is only a first step. What is important is that a common agenda has been forged, which will attract more people to the alliance. The SLMC was able to make a decision to join this alliance only at the last minute, because there were so many forces trying to sabotage this.
Q. What you are saying is a dangerous thing. You say that in 1994, Chandrika Kumaratunga managed to cobble together an alliance with a whole lot of three-wheeler parties and with that, she managed to capture power. Now you say the UNP also needs three wheeler parties to capture power. So the future seems to lie with three-wheeler parties. This is going to encourage a lot of people to set up three wheeler parties so that when election time comes, you join an alliance formed by one of the main parties. Even if you can’t command five votes, you still get to sit on an equal level with the leader of the UNP or the SLFP as the case may be. They may even be able to negotiate for a national list slot. Even Chandrika Kumaratunga gave a national list slot in 1994 to Nihal Perera the leader of the Desha Vimukthi Peramuna. How many votes they had was unknown. This trend is going to encourage people to set up three wheeler parties.
A. Even though there are small groups that have joined, I don’t think its possible to offer everyone a national list seat. That’s not practical. They have to perform and show that they are important and significant, then they will be able to make a claim. What we are trying to convey to the public is that there is a force that is joining hands against the Rajapakse administration.
Q. Are these forces really forces? Mano Ganesan may be a force, as is the SLMC, but what about the others?
A. They will matter for us in a presidential election. They will all be playing some role to defeat the government. Today, one of the difficulties we have is that we don’t have any media for our propaganda. So we have to make use of all these forces for our propaganda.
Q. All these parties have come together with one main objective in mind – the abolition of the executive presidency. How credible is that slogan? The present UNP leader has already contested this post twice and lost. Now he is going to contest for the third time, with the aim of abolishing that which he was unable to win. How would that look to the public? The slogan seems to have been created because this alliance thinks their leader can never win the presidency.
A. I think you have got it wrong, because even though the slogan has been brought in, the candidate has not been decided on as yet. I totally disagree with the view that Ranil has adopted this slogan because he has failed on previous attempts. This slogan has become the need of the hour. If the UNP had agreed to this slogan ten years ago, the political history of this country would have changed. The powers of the executive presidency are being so excessively used that the system can no longer sustain it. Therefore, even Ranil Wickremesinghe, who was an advocate of this system, has come to the conclusion that it has to go. You asked me how credible the slogan is. Remember that this is the first time the UNP has come out in favour of abolishing the executive presidency.
Q. In 2005 when the UPFA declared in favour of the abolition of the executive presidency, the UNP said nothing about it.
A. The UNP went after the presidential vote. Up to this time, the UNP never said anywhere that the executive presidency should be abolished.
Q. That’s why a lot of people feel that this is a case of sour grapes.
A. No it’s not a case of sour grapes. You see, the executive presidency was balanced because of the existence of a balanced parliament. When crossovers became possible due to rulings of the supreme court, the executive was able to put its hand in and take control over the legislature as well. If not for the crossover provision, this system would have been viable. The ability to crossover makes it possible for the executive to buy over parliamentarians or to attract them by offering portfolios. When Premadasa won the presidential election in December 1988, J.R.Jayewardene didn’t want Premadasa to rule this country with a five sixths majority, so he dissolved parliament that very night. It is the crossover provision and the room this leaves to buy influence within the legislature that makes the present system intolerable.
Q. But do you think there is a groundswell of opinion in the country against the executive presidency at this particular moment?
A. Of course, because the executive president is trying to become a king. Today the executive president and his family are controlling 75% of the national budget. There is suppression of the media. During this period many journalists have been killed and many have fled overseas.
Q. In your view, is Mahinda Rajapakse a popular leader?
A. As a human being, he is a very fine man, and a popular personality, but the question is whether people want any more ‘public relations’. PR has not helped develop the country. His popularity has to be tested at the next election.
Q. You say that he is a fine human being and has PR skills, and all this was while he held the position of executive president. So doesn’t that make him a benign and friendly president?
A. He is absolutely a very friendly personality. But the country has to decide on its priorities. In 1977, when J.R.Jayawardene came into power, he was not a friendly sort of person. When the people decide that this regime has to go, however friendly you may be, however humane or polite, or inclined to attend funerals and alms givings you may be, all that becomes irrelevant. But we need a serious leader to take over this country.
Q. The minorities were generally in favour of the presidential system because the minority vote bank plays a major role in electing presidents. Why is it that people like yourself are now against the executive presidential system?
A. At the last election, it was proved beyond doubt that Mahinda was elected by the majority. The minority vote would have come into the picture if the Tamils had been allowed to go and vote.
Q. Well this time the Tamils can vote.
A. That’s true, but the whole concept of minority parties has been undermined because of this executive presidency and the buying over of MPs.
Q. What does the crossover provision have to do with the executive presidency? In any parliamentary system based on the British system, MPs can crossover at will. This was the norm in SL as well until the JRJ constitution disallowed crossovers. A few years ago a supreme court decision allowed crossovers to take place again. So crossovers is a part of parliamentary tradition and has nothing to do with the executive presidency. As for buying MPs, there were charges even in the crossover of 1964, that MPs were bought over. So none of this is new.
A. That was under a parliamentary system. In a system with an executive president parliament has only legislative power. The proportional representation system was brought in along with the executive presidency, in order to ensure that the executive president does not get a two thirds majority, to play hell. Even if the executive president wanted to mess around with the legislature, the anti-crossover provision in the 1978 constitution prevented that. Premadasa was able to sack rebel MPs overnight. When the executive can put his hand into the legislature and buy MPs as he wishes, he becomes very powerful.
Q. You don’t necessarily need an executive president to induce crossovers. Even an executive prime minister or even an opposition leader can buy over MPs. The UNP also used crossovers to topple the Chandrika Kumaratunga government in 2001, so why are you against the crossover provision?
A. When Lalith Athulathmudali crossed over to the opposition, what he told me was that the executive presidency has too many powers to be left in the hands of a man like Premadasa. The executive presidential system has wreaked havoc in this country. If executive power resided in parliament, there would have been no problem in crossovers. But here, executive power resides outside parliament, and the president has the ability to manipulate parliament through crossovers. Today, the UNP has split, the SLMC has split, the CWC split all because of the manipulation of the executive. This ability to manipulate the legislature gives the executive absolute power.
