by Prabath Sahabandu
The newly appointed SLFP organiser for Colombo East, Minister of Justice, Constitutional Affairs and Ethnic Affairs, National Integration and Deputy Minister of Finance, Prof. G. L. Peiris believes that the sheet anchor of a politician should be the popular mandate.

An exemplary university don and academic of international fame for 26 years, who entered active politics in 1994, he says that he made an appropriate decision when he decided to face the hustings at the grassroots level.

"I’m happy and proud to work with a group like that," Prof. Peiris says about his electorate, "because of the maturity that they showed in ample measure with regard to the procedures and practices of democracy.

In an interview with The Island Sunday Edition he defends the government’s decision to postpone the provincial council elections.

Is the government contemplating devious methods to implement its devolution proposals? And hasn’t its claim that it has postponed the polls for fear of terrorist attacks, given the lie to its claim that it has enervated the LTTE militarily in the north?

Prof. Peiris provides answers to these questions.

Excerpts:

Your appointment as the SLFP organiser for Colombo East no doubt marks a turning point in your life. Any political party would be more than happy to have a person of your calibre on its national list and you could have continued to be a national list MP without taking the trouble of facing the hustings at the grassroots level where politics is likened to a dogs’ fight. Why did you decide to represent an electorate?

Well I am convinced that a politician should ultimately go to Parliament on the votes of the people. The popular mandate should be the sheet anchor of a politician. I came into active politics from university life. I was an academic, a university professor, Dean of the Faculty of Law and Vice Chancellor for 26 years. At that point of time it was reasonable to come in on the National List. But several years after my entry into politics I think it is an appropriate decision for me to face the hustings and seek the votes of the people whom I aspire to represent in Parliament.

As I said at the Shalika Hall, where the "Madyama Balamandalaya" of the SLFP was elected the other day from among the presidents and the secretaries of the branch organisations of Colombo East, I’m happy and proud to work with a group like that because of the maturity that they showed in ample measure with regard to the procedures and practices of democracy.

I noticed that they avoided a conflict whenever possible. There were occasions when people whose names had been proposed and seconded withdrew in order to avoid conflict. They were not hankering after titles or offices for their own sake. And in the interest of the unity of the party, they were more than happy to give up claim to office.

I found that an encouraging experience. I am very happy about the electorate that has been assigned to me and the kind of people I am now required to work with in that electorate.

The essential challenge that has confronted us is to strike a balance at the national level and the organisation of the electorate. But that is the matter of management and I am confident that I will be able to do that. I have the advantage of a very dedicated and able people assisting me.

We have started our campaign in a small way. I have met the grassroots organisations. I am meeting with the members of the clergy, representatives of communities, various organisations, professional groups and others in order to determine the needs and the priorities of the electorate.

I think that is a new dimension to my political life and something that I enjoyed very much. During the last three years or so, I enjoyed going among people and interacting with them much more than attending to work in Parliament, the Treasury or the Ministry of Justice.

That’s why I indicated to the President about three months ago that I now would like to move out of the National List and contest the next parliamentary election on the Colombo district list. And she wholeheartedly agreed with that and said that if I would like to do so, she would be happy to accept my suggestion. That’s how I came to be nominated as the SLFP organiser for the Colombo East area.

You are an academic, an intellectual and the kind of person who will not want to resort to the brand of politics that is in vogue among most of the politicians at the grassroots level. But now that you are a party organiser, you will have no option but to face the challenge of living with politics sullied with violence. Have you got the muscle for this?

I don’t think that brand of politics is really to the liking of our people and there is now a definite indication that the Sri Lankan electorate would like to see a qualitative change with regard to the politics of the country. I don’t think that those methods are likely to find favour with the majority of our people. And anything that can be done to accelerate departure from that particular brand of politics . That kind of politics should I think at this particular point be exceeding the welcome. I therefore have no inhibitions on that account.

The provincial council elections have been postponed on the grounds of the security situation that prevails in the south. But the opposition is not prepared to buy this. Was it really a security threat that caused the polls to be put off?

Basically it was a question of priorities. I think the perception of the ordinary people is that when the war is at a critical stage the war effort would be permanently and irrevocably hampered by the withdrawal of about 30,000 security personnel from the operational areas. The people would not have certainly thanked their government for making a decision that would have jeopardised the war effort.

I think it was a very obvious fact that the vulnerability of the exposure of politicians belonging to all political parties would be very greatly enhanced at an election time. Messrs. Lalith Athulathmudali, Gamini Dissanayake and others were killed at election rallies. We have seen some of the problems that have arisen with regard to the overall security situation. And this is by no means confined to the operational areas as evident from the infiltration of the LTTE into the upcountry area, the large number of bank robberies that have occurred. Even the life of Mr. Thondaman has been targeted. In that situation the government needs the advantage of a blanket security cover given our constraints and limited personnel to be deployed for security purposes.

In that situation if were to hold elections in five different provinces, there is no doubt that very formidable problems would arise. By staggering the elections as some people have suggested we can reduce the problems on election day. But that does not look after the problems that would inevitably arise with regard to the entire election campaign. Because those campaigns would overlap. This is the real problem. The government will have to provide security to the candidates of all different political parties. There are more than 2,500 of them. The government in no way discriminates between the candidates of the UNP and those of the PA and also protection has to be given to the candidates of smaller parties.

Those are the factors that have to be taken into account in making a decision to postpone very temporarily the conduct of provincial council elections on grounds of security.

The government earlier claimed that its war effort has considerably debilitated the LTTE. But now it claims that the LTTE is in a position to mount attacks in the south serious enough to disrupt provincial council elections. Doesn’t this claim give the lie to the former?

I think these have to be seen as processes rather than events. The LTTE has been debilitated during the last year or two. But that does not mean that the LTTE is not in a position to do considerable harm by assassinating politicians by engaging in violent acts in the run up to the election. Those are the capabilities that the LTTE has now and will continue to have for some considerable time. The overall weakness or strength of the LTTE has to be judged in relation to the areas they control — the progress that has been made with regard to operations in the north and the east, the situation today in the Jaffna peninsula and so on.

But isolated acts of violence would be a very different matter. And an organisation like the LTTE can easily engage in such acts of violence when and where they choose to do so especially if the security forces have to be spread thin because large areas have to be catered for.

As Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher said after the Brighton bomb, a terrorist organisation is always at an advantage because it can choose the date time and the circumstances. That is a reality which we have to recognise with regard to global terrorism. That in now way is confined to Sri Lanka alone.

Giving security concerns as the reason the government has postponed the polls. But it did not hesitate to hold the Local Government polls in the northern peninsula early this year. The line of thinking of Tamil political commentators has been that securitywise what is sauce for the goose is sauce for the gander. Why is this double standard?

There is no conflict of objectives there. Of course one has to recognise the difference between the two situations. In the northern peninsula civil society had all but disappeared for a whole decade. And the process had to be commenced. It was abundantly clear that it had to be begun in a modest faltering way and the consolidation of that process had to take place as you went along. You couldn’t postpone the polls in the northern peninsula until you were satisfied that a perfect poll could be held. In that case you would have been kept waiting for a very long time. The process had therefore to be started and moved forward. And it was a success. On the other hand in these five provinces where provincial council elections were to be held, democracy is established. It is part of an accepted way of life in those areas.

There is also a difference between holding of an election in the northern peninsula and a far flung election campaign that would embrace the five different provinces of the country, the larger part of the land mass of Sri Lanka.

Of course our intention was to hold elections and to fight the war effectively at the same time. The President had no intention of choosing between these two different things. That is why the nomination process was not aborted at any point. However, once the nomination process was completed, it became clear that both these things could not be done effectively and that a choice had to be made.

Very often in life a very difficult choice needs to be made. And having considered all the circumstances we felt the interest of the country could best be served by postponing the provincial council elections for a few months. And the responses of non governmental organisations, the clergy and various other groups do reflect the public perception that represented a realistic assessment of the situation.

You referred to the members of the clergy. It is said that when the Maha Sangha opposed the Package, they government did not pay heed to their advice or objections. But, the government promptly accepted their advice on the postponement of the polls. Why was this?

I don’t agree that the government ignored the Maha Sangha with regard to the provisions of the constitutional proposals. On the contrary, we took seriously into account many of the reservations that were stressed by the Maha Sangha. And indeed devolution proposals underwent many changes since they were first unveiled in a basic format in August 1995. Since then they have undergone many changes. And some of those changes were made directly in response to some of the criticisms that were made by the clergy. Their point of view has been accommodated to some extent.

However this is such a complex issue that it is not possible to satisfy any particular group fully because if there is one hundred per cent of satisfaction for one group, there would be total rejection of the opposing view.

Therefore it is a matter of striking a practical balance. And that’s how devolution proposals were constructed.

The end of the war is not within sight and so is the implementation of the Package, which the government insists is the only solution to the problem. Unless the war being brought to a close, the security situation is not likely to improve. But the government wants the people to wait until such time to elect their representatives to the provincial councils. How long will the people have to wait without elections?

Provincial council elections have been postponed by means of the emergency. And this means that the postponement can take place only 30 days at a time. Every thirty days the government has to go before Parliament and satisfy the representatives of the people that a further postponement is necessary in view of the security situation.

Once the government decided to postpone the provincial council polls we could have relied on other methods for doing so. For example we could have brought in special legislation to put off provincial council polls for a specified period of time. If we had chosen that particular method, then during that period we would not have had to go to Parliament.

That is the manner in which the UNP government put off the polls in the northern and eastern parts of the country after the Unilateral Declaration of Independence by Mr. Vardaraja Perumal. That was a method that was open to us as special legislation would not have required a two thirds majority. With a simple majority that objective could have been achieved.

But the President was determined to ensure that the postponement should take place under the full scrutiny of Parliament and that there should be regular opportunities for Parliament to reassess the situation from time to time.

All that makes it very clear that what was contemplated was a postponement of the polls for a very short period of time.

The government can muster a simple majority easily and extend emergency without giving the Opposition a chance to reassess the situation..? Won’t the government thus be able to postpone provincial council elections indefinitely with the help of the emergency while pretending to give an opportunity to parliamentarians to reassess the situation?

That will not be in keeping with practical politics. The government will certainly not attempt any postponement in a situation where the public opinion demands the immediate holding of an election. It is a question of ascertaining the intentions of the people with regard to a matter and how we see the current priorities. What is their attitude to military operations? What is their attitude to the holding of provincial council elections? How do they assess the importance of each of these things in the present context?

No government will go against the tide of public opinion in a matter that is as fundamental as elections. And although the government has a majority in Parliament and can therefore postpone provincial council polls from month to month it stands to reason that no government will use that power against the current of public opinion.

Recently it was reported that President Kumaratunga had told a foreign news agency that the government was contemplating some devious methods to implement the Package. What would these devious methods be?

No! The government does not believe in the adoption of devious methods. This is a matter that concerns the country as a whole. It is now quite apparent that a resolution of the ethnic conflict is a prime requirement to ensure stability and prosperity of our country in the future.

Arrangements are for the devolution of power representing our view, a realistic approach towards the problem of addressing the aspirations of different groups of the people. It is essentially a democratic method because by doing so you are admitting more and more people to the processes of decision making within the government. In other words you are taking the government closer to the people. That is the essence of democracy.

However if that is to succeed, it is necessary to have a broad consensus among different shades of opinion. It is not a solution that can be successfully forced from above. We are therefore looking for a national consensus. That’s why the Parliamentary Select Committee took more than two and half years to complete its work. We then took into account all the views of all the parties represented in the PSC. And we presented the proposals to Parliament on October 24 last year.

There are many instances where ideas emanating from the UNP were accepted by the government without any qualification or reservation. Even after the proposals were presented to Parliament, we made it clear to the UNP their alternative proposals would be welcome if they find themselves unable to agree with what we have proposed. We have shown the greatest possible flexibility in this matter.

Even now if they come up with alternative proposals, we would be very happy to accommodate them subject only to the acceptance of those proposals at least in essence by minority groups. Up to date however the UNP has not come up with any alternative proposals.

We will therefore make every possible effort to arrive at a consensus. Eventually if that is unsuccessful we will appeal directly to the people, which is not a devious method. We will go before the people and tell them that this is our solution to the problem.

And this will no doubt be the central issue in the important elections to be held in the future.