The Week That Was
Premadasa Museum attracts Cabinet attention

by Shan Wijetunga
By the time the Leader of the Opposition arrived in New York, the President had left U.S.A. for London. However, Mr. Wickre-mesinghe got an opportunity to meet and discuss matters concerning Sri Lanka with Minister Kadirgamar who was also staying at the same hotel pending his visit to Cuba.

Wickremesinghe was in possession of more information relating to the war than the minister, but no details are available on the subject and content of their short discussion. Wickremesinghe spent two days in London prior to his return to Sri Lanka. He would most probably have been further informed on the war while in London as well.

The Kilinochchi attack prompted the UNP parliamentary group to hold an emergency meeting on Wednesday. Wickrem-esinghe who had returned in the early hours was there.

The meeting opened with a brief description of his visit to the States and meeting with world bank officialsÉ with passing reference to Monica Lewinsky who according to the UNP chief was in the centre of news in USA these days.

Next, the arrest of Judge Tillakaratne came up for discussion. Wickremesinghe remarked that it was a case of interference with the judiciary and the steps taken by the UNP on this matter were not sufficient. Then came the subject proper. Kilinochichi.

The discussion was opened by Jayalath Jayawardane who said that Kilinochchi was the biggest defeat in the 15- year-old history of the war. He had prepared a report on the subject. "We lost an area of 15 square kilometres. There was a brigade camp, three ordinary camps and several small camps," he said.

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"Although the government's military operation was launched with the objective of opening up the road to Jaffna, now there is no supply route. Civil administration in Jaffna has broken down. People cannot go by sea or air. They are fully isolated. The ICRC has handed over 674 dead bodies."

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He maintained that conducting the war on the short sighted plans of politicians has placed the army in jeopardy. 'The LTTE had used weapons grabbed from the Mullaitivu camp to attack Kilinochchi', he said.

Mr. Ronnie de Mel who got up after him remarked that although he generally does not take part in emergency debates because he wished to give a chance to others said he wished to speak on this matter as more than 250 have died from the Southern province in this attack. This is the biggest reverse we have faced in this war. And its echo is reverberating throughout the island.

But, the government is attempting to present this as a victory. This has happened due to wrong tactics, wrong political decisions. The war is carried out for image building of politicians. Therefore, the people must be told the truth, he said.

Tilak Karunaratne, M.P. stated that he had always maintained that the war tactics are wrong. We must demand a parliamentary debate to enlighten the people on the war. The time has come for that. In addition to the Emergency debate, a request must be made for that also ."This is the worst defeat in 2500 years," he said.

Dr. Rajitha Senaratne proposed that the people must be enlightened on the war at meetings scheduled for October 10 and 11.

Dr. Sarath Amun-ugama attacked the news censorship as a tool used by the government to present the biggest defeat as the biggest victory to the people.

Mr. Sarath Ranawa-ka said that the army is still trying to ascertain the number of dead and missing army personnel at Kilinochchi, because, troops had been pulled in there from all locations".

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"This is not a journey with a military objective. Its objective is political. Now the government is trying to say that what it wanted most was the capture of Mankulam" he said.

Mankulam is only a small township surrounded by jungle on three sides but Kilinochchi is a two mile long town. Despite the claims, how are they going to open the road to Jaffna now?" he questioned.

Mr. Lakshman Seneviratne charged that the government is sacrificing the lives of innocent soldiers to build images of politicians. Even after a debacle like this , Minister Ratwatte raises flags and goes about in tanks. The LTTE had said that they got arms and ammunition sufficient for five years", he stated.

Minister Ratwatte had said that 95% of the war is over" he continued.

"That is true Mr. Mervyn Silva commented, "At this rate of deaths in the army, the war will be over 100% very soon".

"We must stand on a single platform at the Emergency debate" the Leader of the Opposition stated. "We have a role to play for the country. We must discharge that responsibility. The army responsibility is to protect the country not a government."

"There are those who believe that exposing the truth about the war would lead to a demoralisation of the armed forces. Are there any persons who hold that view? he queried. All replied in the negative and requested that the truth must be exposed to the public.

The Leader of the Opposition said that he proposed talks while the war went on because he sensed the possibility of a massive attack like the one at Mullaitivu. The way the government is conducting the war, the situation is going from bad to worse", he charged.

"They dismissed the Mullaitivu attack saying that it was an unimportant place. Now what have they got to say"? he questioned.

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"If the war continues like this, we may have to embark from Kirinda and leave the country. The government had been lying all this time. It also carried out false propaganda to the effect that the UNP is not co-operating with the government to place the package before an executive committee and implement it. They did not go froward with the agreement with Liam Fox."

In the course of his long explanation, he came up with a valuable idea. "We work with a sense of responsibility towards the country. Even now, if the government comes up with the truth and acts honestly, the UNP is prepared to consider the steps that could be taken to bale the country out of this mess".

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At the end of this discussion, two proposals were adopted. One was to agitate for the withdrawal of war news censorship. The second was to demand the appointment of a Parliamentary Select Committee to inquire into the Kilinochchi debacle.

On the following day, the UNP MP billed to speak on the debate were summoned to the office of the Leader of the Opposition and assigned their roles. Wickremesinghe emphasised the need to maintain a common stand and information on the government's conduct of the war up to date and details on arms imports were made available to the speakers.

Accordingly, Dr. Jayalath Jayawardane would be presenting a critical assessment of the government's total war effort. Mr. Ranawaka will speak on the Kilinochchi episode and its effects. Polit-ization of the war is the subject assigned to Messrs. Yapa and W. J. M. Lokubandara.

Replying to the government side was assigned to Mr. Kodituwakku. The debate will be opened by the Leader of the Opposition and closed by Lokubandara.

The government also has made its counter arrangements. Lists of speakers had been finalised by Wednesday and the final briefing was scheduled for Friday.

Premadasa Museum
The proposal to place the Premadasa museum at Balapitiya under the National Museums or the Premadasa centre had been placed before the Cabinet some weeks ago. Deliberations on the subject had been postponed pending the arrival of the President.

Accordingly, it was taken up at the last Cabinet meeting held on Wednesday. Before the arrival of the President several members expressed their views on the matter. Minister Lakshman Jayakody was of the opinion that it was better to be under the Premadasa Centre rather than National-Museums. There were others who supported it.

Minister Indika Gunawardane said that Mrs. Hema Premadasa had telephoned him and requested that it should not be put under the Premadasa Centre because the Premadasa Centre is now more influenced by Mr. Cooray's supporters and there is no one of the Premadasa family there.

The President arrived while the minister was speaking and she was given a briefing on the subject. Several members were of the opinion that it is unnecessary for the government to take upon itself irrelevant things and therefore, it is better to hand over the museum either to the Premadasa Centre or to his family.

To the President, the Premadasa family seems to be a bit of a sore spot and she appeared to be irritated. "They have enough property. There is need to give any more. The Attorney General's department says that moves are afoot to file action about the losses from Temple Trees. I do not like even the museum to be given over to them" she remarked.

D. M. Jayaratne remarked that there are accusations that proper inquiries are not being made not only about matters of the past, but also about current ones as well. To a query from the President, he said that there are rumours that attempts are being made to gloss over the inquiry regarding the death of the priest at Chitta Vivekashr-amaya. The president said that there is no such thing. The minister turned towards Anuruddha Ratwatte and asked him to continue the inquiry. "She is the Minister of Defence. If she says so there is nothing to stop the inquiry" he replied.

The question of the museum was taken up again. Minister Dodan-goda was not agreeable to the president's suggestion that his ministry should take it over. Thus the matter remains undecided.

During these deliberations, a vote of thanks on the president on her role at the UN was proposed by ministers and delivered by Minister Dharmasiri Senan-ayake.

After the formal closure of the Cabinet meeting the president gave an informal briefing on her tour abroad to several ministers who were there including some latecomers. On a personal note, she appeared to be saddened by the thought of separation from her daughter Yasodhara. Even her brother is not entirely pleased at the prospect of being separated from his sister, she remarked. Several ministers spoke very appreciatively about the academic achievements of Yasodhara.

Someone queried whether the President met her brother while in the states. The answer was in the negative. Further questions on the subject were prevented by Jeyaraj Fernan-dupulle because of the presence of Mrs. Bandaranaike.

There was a rumour that a proposal to remove a top level Chairman of a recently privatised government institution would be placed before the cabinet and that there were two parties for and against the proposal who had come prepared for the event. However, no such proposal was made.

Cooray priming his guns
There is no doubt that Mr. Sirisena Cooray is now planning a come back. The big question is the UNP reaction. There are interested parties trying to bridge the gap, but, if this does not happen Cooray will certainly come forward as an independent candidate. He will base his campaign on the Premadasa platform and he has already taken the first steps in that direction with a meeting where details will be available very soon.

Trouble brewing in Lalith front
Members of the Lalith Front had prior warning that the meeting of the Executive Committee summoned at Flower Terrace had as its objective the removal of Ravi Karunanayake, MP from the committee.

There had reasons to suspect this because of the inclusion of new members who are supporters of Mrs. Srimani Athulathumudali and the addition of several clauses to strengthen her hands. They went prepared along with a petition against the action of their leader.

There was a newcomer at the door. He was a driver. Armed with a list of names, he decided to come in to the meeting. He was stopped by party stalwart Walter Prerera from entering on the grounds that his name is not in the list.

He protested about this noisily and the problem was solved by the arrival of Mrs. Athulathmudali who was shown a legitimate list. However, several old timers were debarred from entering the room and the meetings proceeded with them shouting in the background.

Ravi Karunanayake himself started the ball rolling with an accusation that certain amendments to the party constitution without the approval of the party conference had been made and sent to the Elections Commissioner. Srimani rejected the charge and there followed a very hot battle of words between the two.

By this time Lakshman Gunaratne and several others had joined hands with Ravi while Mr. Lal Gunasekara came to the support of Mrs. srimani Athulathmudali. The opposing members charged that certain amendments had been done without the concurrence of the conference.

Gunasekera maintained that they are really trying to deny what they had agreed upon and accused them of provoking the party to issue statements against the government and thereby destroy it. Ravi and Lal began to accuse each other. Lal Gunasekara charged the other members of the committee about a petition against their leader while maintaining that he had never done anything against the leadership. Ravi countered this by saying that Lal had signed against the Bribery Commissioners while the party has taken a decision not to sign. Lal said that since they are in the PA they must abide by it. Ravi did not agree.

Mr. Lakshman Abe-ygoonaratne who came to Ravi's assistance was debarred from talking by Mrs. Srimani Athulathmudali saying that he is not a member of the Executive Committee. Others were really annoyed about it and they clarified matters to the point where it was necessary for Mrs. Athulathmudali to apologise to Lakshman.

The constitution was taken up at last and Lakshman called the leader of the party a liar in English. She was called lady Hitler by him. Later Ravi also called her a liar.