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The abrasive style

The e-mail debate we’ve been having since Science and Technology Minister Batty Weerakoon took a communication intended for Opposition Leader Ranil Wickremesinghe to cabinet is a clear pointer to the kind of intolerance that we see in Sri Lanka politics today. Obviously this is doing the country no good. But there is no indication whatever that the protagonists on either side of the political divide have realised the extent of the harm they are heaping on all the people of the country. If they do, they obviously don’t care because they carry on regardless.

While partisans of one side or the other will have differing views on who the worse culprit is, sensible people will realize that the onus is largely on the government side to take the initiative to end an unhappy situation that will very likely escalate as elections approach next year. With the dust settling on the e-mail affair, it will be clear to the impartial observer that there was no tapping of Wickremesinghe’s e-mail. The originator of the message that reached the son of one of Weerakoon’s officials had made a single letter error in addressing his message. This resulted in the communication reaching the wrong Ranil.

The next question is what should Weerakoon have done with it when it was brought to him. The minister is on record saying that the reference in the e-mail to the electronics the UNP was procuring - a lapel microphone and some digital video equipment - would be "dangerous’’ in the "wrong hands.’’ That is what made him take the matter to cabinet. He has said that if it was a personal communication, he would have acted quite differently. Although Weerakoon made the remark "I happen to be the minister of science and technology’’ when he was asked how he got Wickremesinghe’s e-mail, obviously implying that there are ways and means; and could have thereby fuelled the tapping allegation, he has subsequently said that he made this quip when a journalist was attempting to probe his sources.

Be that as it may, the minister of science and technology had proved an ignoramus about e-mails, servers and connected matters. That is why he made a bloomer blaming Wickremesinghe’s server for the mistake that led to the e-mail reaching the wrong Ranil. He has made handsome amends for this, apologising to the service provider in writing and authorising them to publicise this fact so that damage to their business is undone. Wickremesinghe should take the cue and also withdraw the tapping allegation. Weerakoon should also be big enough to admit even at this stage that he over-reacted to the perceived dangers of the equipment the UNP was buying and he should have properly directed it to the right Ranil.

But given the current atmosphere, none of this is likely to happen. Both the PA and the UNP are engaging in vituperative politics and unless President Chandrika Kumaratunga gives the lead to end this unhappy situation, we can only see matters getting worse and not better. It is apparent to the simplest mind that the PA and UNP must necessarily reach a consensus that can be presented to the LTTE if peace is to be found. August has come and gone but the famous "package’’ remains unpresented to parliament, and the LSSP and CP who pushed this hard show no sign of quitting the People’s Alliance as threatened. It is true that the Neelan Tiruchelvam assassination altered the ground situation substantially and it is very likely that Tamil parties that were originally supportive have now changed gear. Hence the wisdom of Foreign Minister Lakshman Kadirgamar’s recent statement about the futility of setting deadlines. Who can forget Deputy Defence Minister Anuruddha Ratwatte’s celebrated remark that he would end the war and shake hands with Prabhakaran before a New Year that is long past?

Minister Mangala Samaraweera was quoted in the Daily News the other day saying that the "PA does not have a single television channel despite being in power for five years, just to tell the public the truth.’’ He must be taking the public for simpletons. Every man, woman and child in this country is only too acutely aware that the state television stations, Rupavahini and ITN, are totally at the beck and call of the government. So is Lake House. If Samaraweera had said that they won’t have a channel if they are voted out of office, he would have been closer to the truth. A major factor in the intolerance of opposition that we see today is the way the state media, which Samaraweera runs, is used. When his colleague Dharmasiri Senanayake was in charge, the situation was infinitely better.

But President Kumaratunga seems to like the Samaraweera style much more than she did Senanayake’s. Hence the moves towards replacing him as SLFP secretary with Samaraweera. The head of government obviously sees merit in an abrasive style. But as we said at the beginning, that kind of relationship between the two major political parties in this country will do no good for Sri Lanka’s broader interest especially at a decisive moment like this. The quicker both sides realized this, the better for us all.

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