Change UNP; Change the Nation

This is not the type of the post I thought I would make. Politicians don’t SWOT analysis their parties on the net. Barack Obama discusses everything under the sun, but not the Democratic Party issues.

Ajith P. Perera too is very much a part of United National Party. So everyone expects Ajith P. Perera to debug the system before opening his mind in public.

On the other hand, what the heck? This is the age of openness. UNP itself stands on the very pillars of democracy and pluralism. It encourages, not suppresses dissent views. Thus I guess a dosage of straight talk does no harm. Not even at a point Ajith P. Perera is standing for public office. (I am waiting for my number to make the big announcement!)

Added to that some readers, most long term supporters of UNP, have raised genuine concerns about the future of UNP. I have an obligation to answer them.

Is there anything wrong with UNP?

UNP has not shown a creditable performance in a series of recent elections. This will positively change in the forthcoming Western Provincial Council elections, but I will come to that later. For the moment let us only focus on past performance.

It is easy to provide excuses. SLFP shamelessly abuse public resources in its election campaigns; state media offers virtually no space for opposition while private media is threatened to follow suit; some self-concerned UNPers have already crossed the floor to badmouth their former colleagues. The list is endless.

In spite of all that, we cannot solely blame external factors for our poor performance. The genuine UNP supporters like to see the dawn of another JRJ or Premadasa era. When they see we don’t deliver, they feel annoyed. I do not blame them. We are not perfect. We need to find what’s wrong and address.

Where we have gone wrong?

The opinions vary.

A large section seems to think that UNP should blindly support Kurakkan uncle’s war agenda to earn its popularity. I vehemently disagree.

Firstly, why UNP, the only political party with a clear stance on the ethnic issue follow others’ formulae? UNP fervently opposes terrorism of any kind, but simultaneously believes the long term solution to ethnic issue can only be political. ‘Military solution’ is an oxymoron. War victories by the current regime will only be meaningful if supplemented with corrective measures to age old Tamil grievances. Otherwise, terrorism will soon raise its ugly head behind another acronym. Elimination of JVP in 1971 in a genocidal manner did not prevent Sinhala youth taking arms two decades later. Why should that change for Tamil youth? As long as breeding grounds exist, procreate the mosquitoes.

Secondly, the extended intentions of war agenda are dangerous and damaging to the nation in the long run. The war is not just to eliminate LTTE (if so, UNP finds no problem backing it) but also a long list that includes human rights of the Tamils in North and East; Tamil political parties first and the entire opposition later; any dissent voices including those of journalists and eventually the very foundation of democracy. All what Kurakkan uncle wants it to create Sri Wickrama Rajasinghe type dictatorship and continue the legacy of feudal rulers.

Sorry, No. Whatever the name, UNP has no intention of blindly supporting such a feudal dictatorship. We stand for democracy and not feudalism.

The policies of United National Party are crystal clear. They remain largely unchanged from the D. S. Senanayake days and will not change in the foreseeable future. Let me repeat in a nutshell and as I understand.

1. Unity and Equality: United National Party, as its name rightly suggests, is the party of united nationalistic political forces. UNP believes in equality. We do not think one’s ethnicity, race, gender, religion or any other attribute should stand in the way him/her enjoying citizens’ rights and privileges. We believe the country belongs to all Sri Lankans, and not to one ethnic or religious group.

2. Devolution of Power: UNP believes in an undivided (Eksath) Lanka; but not necessarily a system that concentrates power in Colombo. We have seen the flaws of such Colombo-centric governance and introduced Provincial Councils as a solution, which SLFP and JVP initially rejected, but now faithfully follow. We believe in devolving power, not only to Tamils in North but to Sinhalese in Hambanthota as well, instead of accumulating it in the hands of dictators. We believe empowering people not only at regional level but every stratum.

3. Economy: We believe in free markets; liberalization and globalization. We do not espouse unrealistic socialist dreams. We trust the private sector for its abilities. We do not equate suppressing the private sector to nation building. Economy has always thrived under previous UNP governments and there is no doubt it will continue to do so under a future UNP government.

4. Poverty Alleviation: Nobody understands the necessity of poverty alleviation than the UNP. We do not think poverty can be eliminated by redistributing public wealth. UNP had once spearheaded the most effective poverty alleviation program in Sri Lanka, under President Premadasa. What we look for is that. Beat poverty by creating more and more employment opportunities. Let poor stand on their own feet.

5. Employment Generation: UNP strongly believes more and more employment opportunities are the only way towards prosperity. It plans to achieve full employment by developing the private sector and not fattening the already overloaded government structure. To stimulate private sector growth UNP will also give utmost importance to infrastructure building. These may not be the highest priorities in populist agendas but we think in long term and not just the next six years.

I guess all UNP lovers should be proud that in spite of the immense pressure that we still stick to our original principles. We have no intention of changing these policies to enter the populist game.

If not policies, what can be the problem?

As I understand UNP faces serious organizational issues. That happens not just in political parties, but they are more vulnerable. SLFP underwent a similar period when in opposition. It won only 8 seats in 1977 election under the leadership of Sirima Bandaranaike. It could not come out of that misery for 17 long years. However, under the new popular leadership of Chandrika Bandaranaike, it did not take long for SLFP to regain the lost steam.

The poor performance at the recent Provincial Council elections was nothing but a symptom of poor organization. While working in the Eastern and Sabaragamuwa Provinces I have witnessed this firsthand. I visited many areas untouched till then. Given time limitations, even I could not visit so many areas. We surely need more man power. Strong and committed organisaers at ground level was the need of the hour of UNP at the Provincial Council elections. We could have obviously done much better with a stronger organization.

So, what is the solution?

Fortunately we see the remedial measures are already on the way and an improvement of the situation. Western Provincial Council will be the Waterloo for SLFP. UNP is geared to easily win all three districts. We have a solid unbeatable organization in most areas. The challenge is only to repeat that victory at the next Provincial council elections, to be followed by the General Election.

What UNP seriously need are true leaders who can make that victory happen. Fortunately we see many dynamic leaders emerging from the Western Province. This phenomenon needs to be replicated in the other parts of the country. That needs Change; stating from the Change in the way we act.

Barack Obama could make that Change within a period of one year. What made the ‘One woman race’ to end with a first American-African in White House was his sheer determination and organization. I see the same happening in the UNP now.

We are ready to Change the nation. Before that we need to Change UNP.

Let us start with the Western Province.

Laugfs too laughs at North Central and Sabaragamuwa voters

Poor souls. Everybody is taking them for a joke.

North Central and Sabaragamuwa voters got another kick below the belt yesterday.

Laugfs Gas increased the price of a 12.5 kg domestic cylinder by Rs. 189 with effect from midnight yesterday. The new price is Rs. 1857.

No doubt, Kurakkan boy has enough excuses. The world market prices are going up; we have a war to fight and free the land from terrorism etc., but what he completely fails to understands is the hardships thus caused to public.

I do not say we could have avoided price hikes had a UNP government were in power. Still the difference would have been under a UNP government economy would have been doing much better and the public would have had increased their sources of income to face the challenge of inflation better.

Under Kurakan regime the only option left for many rural folk to beat inflation is send a make a son join army. Their plight is not too different from that of innocent people living under Prabha’s dictatorship.

How long should we let this vicious cycle continue?

Back to REALITY: Now election honeymoon is over, forget KILINOCHCHI; think GAS!

All I have is sheer sympathy for the voters in North Central and Sabaragamuwa provinces. Poor souls were waiting for the good news of the fall of Killinochchi any time. (They were told it might happen even prior to elections! Ha Ha Ha – and most of them bought it without questioning!) Now all they got was a horrible kick below the belt – which might have made them cry with intense pain.

Now knowing well he got all he wanted; nothing would prevent Kurakkan boy from going ahead the temporarily halted price hikes with a sarcastic smile for the voters he had successfully fooled. It will start with gas.

Shell Gas Lanka limited will increase the price of a 12.5kg domestic cylinder by Rs.126 with effect from midnight today a company spokesman said –reported Daily Mirror. Accordingly the new price of a domestic cylinder will be Rs. 1863.

Whoever said ‘Modakamata Beheth Netha’ (There is no medicine for stupidity) was dead right. Majority of poor voters in North Central and Sabaragamuwa provinces learnt it the hard way.

A candid postscript: Why UNP lost North Central and Sabaragamuwa Provincial Councils?

A defeat is not a pleasant experience. For somebody directly involved in the campaign for the main opposition party, it becomes even more difficult. However, an analysis is essential as this is not the end. Realising our weaknesses is crucial for future success.

Before I get into details, let me tell this. What follows is my personal opinion. I write this as Ajith P. Perera, after removing all hats. I waited long enough so that the party has done its own postmortem and a reader might not take my analysis as official. Any overlaps are unintentional.

UNP performance at PC elections can hardly be called satisfactory. It failed to win even one electorate from any province. Certainly this cannot be the performance one anticipates from the main opposition party especially when the government is becoming increasingly unpopular.

There were slight improvements in the number of votes from 2004. (See figure above) In both provinces we increased our votes by 4% while UPFA lost a fair share. However, that was hardly adequate to bridge the gap. Numerically have improved our performance, but that should certainly not make us complacent.

No doubt, the results reflected the inherent weaknesses in the UNP campaign. There were strong communication failures. Government’s war madness gimmicks went unchallenged, and it seems the voting public bought them wholesale. Even ludicrous claims like “security forces will reach Kilinochchi prior to elections” were not seriously questioned by us. Creation of favorouble short term artificial economic conditions by government purely for election purposes went unexposed. Even our best attempts failed to convince the voters the impending dangers in continually rising Cost of Living and Government’s incapability to face the challenge.

A common argument is that the impact of inflation is truly faced only by fixed income earners while others (like farmers, for example) having options to meet it by increasing the prices of their own produce. A ‘rice crisis’ as we call elsewhere is not a ‘crisis’ but an opportunity for farmers in North Central provinces. This makes majority in these two provinces immune to the harsh economic conditions largely a creation of the economic mismanagement of the present government. The results would have been different if it were the Western province.

There is no question UNP fought in an extremely difficult wicket. In a fair election any contestant should be given equal opportunities. This was something difficult to expect from a Rajapakse.

From the beginning it was clear the government intended to shamelessly use the state resources in its political campaign. This was not limited to releasing ministry and government agency vehicles for the UPFA campaign. Every government agency published full colour advertisements one after the other in national dailies. There was even an eight page ‘SAARC’ supplement in Sinhala newspapers just two days prior to the election. The state channels Rupavahini and ITN gave virtually no publicity to opposition campaign – unless they found a point to attack us. They went even further misinterpreting news for the benefit of their political masters.

In addition to state media, government abused private media too through its henchmen. Publishing a flipped photograph of Ranjan Ramanayake in ‘Divamina’ of Upali Newspapers under the patronage of UPFA henchmen Nimal Welgama and having Bandula Padmakumara brining up the issue in his ‘Mul Pituwa’ surely was a planned gimmick. Sadly we too were not successful in encountering such election follies.

Most pathetic was Army-Navy and Police top brass becoming part f the UPFA campaign. We have passed the good old days of non-political military. The military spokesman had no shame in presenting inaccurate information on the status of the battlefield. Well, that is what he does every day but this time he did it solely for the elections. It is not a surprise in a country the Chief of Army publicly pronounces the political affiliations of his family.

Performance of the police was even more pathetic. In spite of the court order, IGP took no action to arrest Mervin Silva over his alleged attacks to Sirasa journalists – because that would have looked negative for the government at the election. In spite of that pending order Mervin Silva spoke at several election meetings in both provinces. It was a clear message to UPFA henchmen: Do any dirty thing to win the election; I will protect you.

The message was understood at the grassroots. Within few days Dr. Johnpulle’s house at Anuradhapura was torched. Vehicles of UNP candidates were burned. The supporters were assaulted.

I do not say that these were reasons why we, the UNP lost. The government might have still won in a hypothetical situation of them not using state property for the campaign or not unleashing that level of violence. However the margin would not have been that big.

This is my reading. I should not expect everyone to agree. Please feel free to present your own conclusions as comments below.

North Central and Sabaragamuwa Provincial Council Elections: Reporting from the battle ground

1930 hours. Ayagama, Kalawana, Sabaragamuwa Province.

Too tired after campaigning for about one week continuously. So this note is going to be brief. Just a quick update on yesterday night’s and today’s events and my thoughts.

Morale of our supporters has been high since the very beginning and we saw it reaching the climax yesterday night. It was a pleasure to see such an enormous support coming from the ground level. They genuinely believe we will win Sabaragamuwa province and Ranjan Ramanayake would be the next Chief Minister.

I do not try to predict the winners. Nobody can right now. It was a close fight. All I can say is whoever wins, the margin will be low.

Media and public property misuse by the government for their political advantage was highest in this election. Election laws are often broken but certainly not at this level.

Yesterday night, after the official conclusion of promotional activities, we saw Rupavahini playing a new ‘teledrama’ with third rate actors and actresses eulogizing the President. Don’t think that would have done any harm for our campaign. Many do not even know who these guys were. We have no animosity towards them and hope these ‘sereppu soopaas’ who sold their souls will get at least some bones from the kitchen of Temple Trees.

All opposition parties, not just UNP, stood at a disadvantage with this unprecedented misuse of state property. Unfortunately there was nobody to complain. Impossible to think the ‘Election Commission’ will ever be appointed under this regime.

The other drama staged yesterday night at Kalawana aimed illegal collection of Identity Cards especially from estate workers. Fortunately we heard this fast and could stop it at the right moment. All the kings’ men too could not achieve what they wanted always.

There were also intimidations. Estate workers of ‘hathere watte’ were threatened by SLFP thugs yesterday, so none of them went for polling. Finally we had to intervene. It was my team that brought all of them to the polling station. Otherwise the poor people would have lost their right of choice. Thus prevented another triumph for Mahinda Chinthana.

Sorry, Mr. Kurakkan, not everything in the world happens the way you want.

My duty is over now, and I think I can take a nice rest – till someone wakes me up with the results tomorrow early morning.

(Photos from dailymirror.lk)

Govt’s pre-election violence rocks Anuradhapura: UNP district office torched!

Anticipating free and fair elections under Kurakkan regime is akin to requesting feathers from turtles! (Can we ever forget that the man himself was once remanded for election violence and unauthorized bearing of firearms?)

The pre-election violence by the ruling party yesterday was adequate indication for their plans for the election day.

The UNP office housed at the residence of senior party member Dr. Raja Johnpulle in the Anuradhapura town has been set on fire by an unidentified gang yesterday night. Shooting had also taken place during the incident, police said.

With a miserable police force that serves only the needs of the ruling party and top politikkas; not the national interests, public in this country have only Gods to turn to. That too is questionable because just like the IGP Jayantha Wickramaratna God too so far maintaining a blind eye on Dr. Mervin Silva, in spite of the wishful thinking of Minister Maithripala Sirisena.

(Photo from Lankadeepa.com)

Mahinda will follow Musharraf – Ranil

Opposition leader Ranil Wickremesinghe has warned President Mahinda Rajapaksa against playing around with the people’s voting rights, saying that he was in danger of suffering the same fate that befell Pakistan’s Pervez Musharraff.

“President Musharraf had to resign after he played with the people” Mr. Wickremesinghe told an election rally in Anuradhapura yesterday (Aug. 19th).

He said, “If President Mahinda Rajapaksa tries to play around with the people, they all will rise up against him. That people’s power cannot be stopped.”

The UNP leader urged people not to allow any element to rig votes at the August 23rd vote.

“Will the SAARC chairman allow vote rigging? Will the SAARC chairman use thugs against his own people? What has happened to those who had tried to tamper with the voting right of the people of South Asia?” he asked.

The leader of the Maldives announced recently that he would go for an all-party system, while Bangladesh has been forced to hold an election in November.

Similarly, Nepal’s King has lost his position after attempting to halt a vote, Mr. Wickremesinghe noted.

He urged the UPFA government not to use the heroic soldiers to seek votes.

“A vote for the alliance will not be a vote for the heroic soldiers. It is clearly a vote for robbery, corruption, family administration and for hunger. The alliance is trying to strengthen its family power as the people of the north central province suffer. It wants to gain power by any means for five more years and swindle public money… I should say that every vote for ‘betel leaf’ will be a vote for robbery.”

Speaking further, he said the province had around 40,000 families of soldiers, including those who have died in action.

“If you want to vote for the heroic soldiers, vote for the UNP and elect the heroic Janaka Perera as chief minister,” Mr. Wickremesinghe said.

(Lanka Dissent)

Ranjan Ramanayake attacked by SLFP goons

Sabaragamuwa province Chief Ministerial candidate Ranjan Ramanayake was physically attacked by a mob of SLFP goons, yesterday night. One may see this as an early response of SLFP seeing their inevitable defeat at the Sabaragamuwa Provincial Council Elections by fair means. Though violence and intimidation were common even in the Eastern provincial council elections this is the first time it has reached to the level of physically attacking a Chief Ministerial Candidate.

This incident took place at Gallella, Ratnapura around 9.00 pm yesterday.

LankaeNews reports a hand grenade attack, but that is not confirmed. What I hear from party sources is an attack on his vehicle which has resulted physical injury. Two more Provincial Council candidates and Dunesh Gankande, a UNP MP too have suffered injuries.

Ranjan was admitted to Ratnapura Hospital but discharged later on his own will as he fears for his life. Police says four have been arrested after the incident. Still no assurance is offered regarding the security of opposition candidates.