by Shan Wijetunga
The fourth anniversary of the PA government falls today, but there was no evidence whatsoever that the party’s intention to have even little celebration up to the time that the paper was going to press. They intend to celebrate it rather silently.

Asked about this apparent inaction, a government minister replied that the intention of the government is to win the people’s goodwill by performing some useful practical service rather than having a tamasha.

However, the UNP had decided to celebrate the fourth anniversary by holding a protest meeting at Hyde Park against the postponement of Provincial Council elections.

This they want to be regarded as the first warning to the government.

Frayed tempers at party leader’s meeting
The meeting of the Parliamentary Party leaders was held last Thursday with the Speaker Mr. Ratnayake in the chair.

There was the Leader of the House Mr. Ratnasiri Wickrama-nayake, Ministers Jeyaraj Fernandopulle and Ashraff, Chairman of the Executive Committee Rauff Hakeem, Leader of the Opposition, Mr. Ranil Wickremasinghe, and the MPs. A. C. S. Hameed, Tyronne Fernando, W. J. M. Lokubandara, Nihal Galapatthy, D. Siddharthan and G. Devaraj.

At the discussion on parliamentary matters, Nihal Galppathy, MP spoke in a critical tone on the rowdy situation that prevailed in parliament during the No Confidence Motion against Minister Mangala Samaraweera.

"The government party members did not allow the last UNP speaker to talk. That is all wrong. There must be some kind of control over this", he said.

"Yes, I read press reports to the effect that Minister Mangala Samaraweera had stopped the members. That is also incorrect. It is the Speaker who must control the members." A . C. S. Hameed agreed with Galappaththy.

"I accept the position, but how can I alone control the proceedings? Members of all parties start to shout. Therefore, every party must co-operate", the Speaker replied.

"The President had come there to watch the tail-end of the debate. The shouting was to please her" remarked Tyronne Fernando.

Hameed spoke again. "During the no confidence motion, the Leader of the Opposition requested for a vote by name. But this request was disregarded", he pointed out. "The question is not whether the request was correct or incorrect, but the manner of treating the Leader of the Opposition by the Speaker is not right", he continued.

Apparently this remark had irked the Speaker. He said "These are not matters to be discussed here". "No. This is the place to discuss them. Otherwise, are they matters to be discussed at home"? Tyronne Fernando retaliated.

"No one need teach me my job" was the Speaker’s reply.

"Why? Do you consider yourself above criticism"? Tyronne persisted. The Speaker did not attempt to answer the query.

"If there is anything against the conduct of the Speaker, it will be necessary to table a motion of no confidence". The Secretary General pointed out the legal aspect.

"In that event, I will go home. I will not stay to face these no confidence motions" was the Speaker’s immediate response.

Ranil to the Rescue
The discussion that had begun to get hotter was cooled down by Ranil’s intervention. "We have talked enough about this. There is no need to speak at length", he stated.

"We are very fortunate to have a Leader of the Opposition with such gentlemanly ways" remarked Rauff Hakeem.

"But do not try to exploit his goodness", Hameed retorted.

"We could have walked out of the House at the time of voting, but we did not do so.. The Speaker had to make a valiant attempt to control the parliament during the last few days", Hameed continued.

"You gentleman do not understand that this situation has arisen due to the Executive Presidential System. We have been compelled to work according to the Executive Presidential System", Rauff Hakeem commented by way of supporting the Speaker.

But the other members listened in silence to his remarks as if they were dumb struck. Rauff, realising the situation, tried to get away with the comment "We must formulate remedies and keep to them".

Executive Committee
The executive committee of the UNP had been summoned to an emergency meeting last Monday evening to take certain decisions relating to the executive meeting scheduled for Friday and the planned agitation rally.

The presence of Wijeyapala Mendis and Anura Bandaranaike right from the start was a conspicuous feature.

Ranil explained the background to the agitation. Postponement of Provincial Council elections is an attempt to deprive a people’s right. The government will next try to postpone both parliamentary and presidential elections, he pointed out. Therefore, it has been decided to hold a protest meeting at Hyde Park to be followed by agitation meetings at rallies at district level. Party Secretary Gamini Athukorale enlightened the members with details of the operation.

Next, the Executive Committee decided to meet the religious heads and explain matters to them. A group headed by the party Chairman Karu Jayasuriya was entrusted with the task of meeting the Nayaka Theras. W. J. M. Lokubandara and Nimal Bandara were also included in it. A Committee headed by John Amaratunga with Joseph Michael Perera, Harold Herath and Festus Perera will meet the Christian clergy. T. M. Swaminathan, K. Putrasigamani and Pullendran were given the task of meeting the Hindu religious dignitaries. M. H. Mohammed pointed out that the question does not arise in relation to Islam because there is no Muslim religious dignitary in the country.

Immediately after the conclusion of the executive committee meeting, party leaders headed by Ranil met the Western Province Pradeshiya members who had been summoned by telegram. The intention was to get their support for the planned agitation movement. Ranil addressed them forcefully and explained the position relating to the postponement of elections.

In the meanwhile, the proposal to be presented to the executive committee had been finalised by Ronnie de Mel and others. This proposal handed over to the Leader of the Opposition was, in essence as follows: — President Chandrika Bandaranaike alarmed at the people's dissatisfaction and loss of goodwill towards her government has postponed elections using the flimsy excuse of war through a stated emergency.

This is an insult to the intelligence of the people and has been motivated by her failure to keep the pledges she has made and her inability to solve the burning problems of unemployment and the rising cost of living.

• Using this as a precedent, attempts are likely to be made to postpone both parliamentary and presidential elections.

• The U.N.P. believes that like all discredited dictators who seek refuge behind war, the President also will follow the same tactic.

• The steps now taken raise doubts about the P.A. government’s commitment to devolution of power.

• The U.N.P. had held elections under more unsettled conditions in the past.

Therefore, the U.N.P. dedicating itself to the protection of the people's rights calls upon all political parties and the people to oppose the unacceptable usurping of the people's rights and demands holding of elections in due time.

It also demands the establishment of:

I. Independent Election Commission

II. Independent Police Commission

III. Independent Public Services Commission

The executive committee proposes to continue this struggle until free and just elections are held in Sri Lanka.

Rendezvous in the hills
The President spent the last weekend in Kandy, she helicoptered there with her son Vimukti and took time to open the Agricultural Exhibition, watch the Esala perahera and met Veddah chieftains and certain others.

The President was at the Queen’s Hotel and among the persons who were at the hotel, Dharmasiri Senanayake, Sanath Gunatilake, Kusumsiri

Balapatabendi and Lasantha Alagiyawanne were very conspicuos. Anuruddha Ratwatte took this opportunity to entertain the officials to dinner.

Meeting with Mayors
The first major event in the President's schedule on her return from Kandy was the meeting with mayors of the island. It had been timed to be held at 4 p.m. on Tuesday according to a request made by Colombo Mayor Karu Jayasuriya to the All Island Association of Mayors. However, it was past 5 p.m. when the President managed to meet them. Along with the mayors there were other officials and political figures associated with the provincial adminis-tration.

She was very happy at 100% attendance of mayors. She said that she appreciated their commitment to the development of the country setting aside political differences and promised to maintain a continous dialogue with them.

During the meeting that lasted over 1 1/2 hours, matters of common interest such as refuse and waste disposal, environmental pollution,illegal encroachments were discussed. The question of exempting funeral expenses from G.S.T. took an important place. The meeting ended at about 7 p.m. with a vote of the thanks from the mayors.

G. L. hurt over media publicity
The cabinet meeting was due to be held at Temple Trees at 10 a.m. on Wednesday. Since the President was late in arriving, the cabinet ministers present took the opportunity to discuss various proposals. The Prime Minister was there after a long absence. Everyone surrounded her and inquired after her health.

One of the proposals before the cabinet was the issue relating to the grant of a land under a 99 year lease near Galle Road to a private company. Although there were some grey areas in the matter, members were able to come to an agreement before the arrival of the President.

Before the meeting was over, Minister G. L. Pieris walked up to Mangala Samaraweera and complained about adverse criticism levelled against him in the TV program Viparama. "I want to know why I am singaled out for this treatment" he asked with obvious hurt feelings. Mangala promised to look into the matter.

The President arrived and was briefed on the progress of the cabinet meeting. G. L. took the opportunity to appraise the President about TV attacks on him.

Bribery Commission figures again
The affairs of the Bribery Commission have come into the limelight again on two counts. First... the charges against members of the commission. Second the complaint made to the CID against the two commissioners by G.L’s private secretary, Kanchana Ratwatte.

Meanwhile, the meetings of the Parliamentary Select Committee appointed to look into complaints of MPs seemed to be getting hotter.

The problem arose due to the proposal made by government MP to hand over investigations regarding the installation of an official telephone for the commissioner in a private house. The UNP and the government MPs appeared in two opposing positions in the matter. Finally it was agreed that CID should present the facts to the committee.

The second meeting of the committee was held on Wednesday, and the two members of the Bribery Commission Wijesundara and Rajasingham were there together with their lawyers. It was at this meeting that G. L. came to know that no steps had been taken to send the charges to the CID as per the decision taken earlier. The Deputy S.G. Priyani Wijesekera informed that the sending of the charges to the CID were delayed until the minutes of the previous meeting were approved.

Although Ronnie talked in favour of the step, G. L. appeared to be angry. He rebuked the official for her in action.

The unexpected barrage rattled the Deputy S.G. who quick to seek pardon for the lapse.

G. L. was not prepared to mellow." Asking for pardon is not enough. All must be recorded" he said.

The two commis-sioners were summoned afterwards. Their lawyers objected to the presence of G. L. and Jeyaraj. Their request to G. L. and Jeyaraj to refrain from procee-dings in the matter was refused.

G. L. in Party Mood
Last week was verily a ‘G. L. Week.’

First, there was his 52nd birthday party. There was a cocktail party at Visumpaya for the occasion. All cabinet ministers, the President, Leader of the Oppo-sition, and a large number of state officials plus G. L.'s relatives were among the invitees. Additionally, some members of the diplomatic corps including those of Britain and Australia were present.

No seats were provided for anyone.

Ranil was there till about 10 p.m. and he left complaining of a cold. The President arrived five minutes later.

Everyone took part in eats and drinks and engaged in small talk. No one appeared to be taking interest in the light music that was provided.

Mahinda Rajapakse attracted the attention of all with his batik sarong. The birthday cake was cut at about 11 p.m. and the ministers applauded. The President also tasted a piece of cake offered to her by Mrs. Pieris. It was past midnight when it was all over. The last to leave were Anuruddha and Mangala.