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The task ahead

During the month that has passed since the December 21 presidential election, the country has been treated to intensive political activity that climaxed last week with the UNP leader Ranil Wickremesinghe’s surprise announcement that he was willing to support the government’s constitutional proposals to lay the groundwork for peace. Wickremesinghe did not hide his reservations about the likely success of these measures, but said that his party would not stand in the way of their implementation as President Kumaratunga did not have another solution.

Obviously the so-called package that has already been laid before parliament will not be the final solution. It is clear that further amendments would be made, both at the instance of government and hopefully on the initiative of the opposition. Signs are that the government will not want to abolish the executive presidency as originally promised to the country, but make certain amendments that would make it more acceptable. Similarly, as already indicated by Wickremesinghe, the need for three independent commissions governing elections, the police and the judiciary will be high on the opposition agenda.

It is also clear that the present system of proportional representation (PR) of electing the people’s representatives will be amended. Although the president has on several occasions gone on record decrying PR as ``bizarre,’’ the constitutional draft that was presented kept that system intact. It now appears that we are going to have a fifty-fifty arrangement with half the MPs (or provincial councillors, local councillor or whoever) elected on PR while the rest will be elected by a Westminster-style first past the post method.

Matters like the independence of authorities conducting future elections and their fairness, PR, changes to the powers of the presidency and suchlike are not crucial to the peace process. Those would be concerns mainly of parties outside the war ravaged areas of the country. What will be vital for the LTTE, and it is obvious that the Tigers must be very much a part of the process that will begin very shortly, will be matters like the north - east merger, the unit of devolution, the subjects of devolved power and how close they can come to their objective of a separate state. Given the blood that has already been shed and the sacrifices made, it would be a fair assumption to make that the Tigers will push as hard as they can to come as close as possible to their ultimate objective.

The UNP’s latest stance on the constitutional changes have undoubtedly been influenced by the threatened split in the party. The so-called ``alternative group’’ of five MPs and their supporters were pushing as hard as they could to attract more dissidents to their group so that they could deliver a two thirds majority to President Kumaratunga. In that context, Wickremesinghe has taken the wind off the sails of Amunugama and company with the announcement that they will support the constitutional changes. This tactical element in the UNP position cannot be ignored. But the government must concede that it was its own maneuvers aimed at getting the two thirds majority by offering inducements like portfolios to dissidents that resulted in the UNPs present strategy.

In the light of the newest development, it is not yet clear whether the government is going to abandon its ``Conscience Bill’’ enabling crossovers of MPs without endangering their seats While speculative reports on the subject have been published by the press, the government has not officially stated its position. At a time like this when far reaching constitutional changes are being looked at, there must be a genuine effort at finding as wide a consensus as possible. Nobody should let petty partisan considerations, such as those that have bedevilled the recent political history of this country, affect a process for which a fairly tight timeframe is likely to be set. This would mean that the national debate on the proposals that will be made will be necessarily limited. While that is unfortunate, the need for a quick solution is undeniable. Nevertheless, the people must be fully informed of what is taking place and public opinion allowed free and full play.

Nobody will dispute the fact that a lot of time has been lost and too much blood has been shed before we have reached the current stage when there is room for cautious optimism. But this does not mean that in the hurry to achieve a peace deal, matters of importance are not fully and carefully examined for all possible implications. In the scramble and hurry for peace, the rights of the majority must not be blindly surrendered.

The lessons learned from the last round of negotiations with the LTTE must not be forgotten. The kind of ineptness demonstrated by those who represented the government in the peace negotiations launched soon after President Kumaratunga’s 1994 election must not be repeated. The best possible talent across political barriers must be enlisted for the task ahead. People like Mr. A.C.S. Hameed who played an important role in previous consultations will be gravely missed at this time.

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