family rule is sitting on a volcano;

Crisis in the UNP
Q:It seems there is another crisis brewing within the UNP, with the failure to appoint a deputy leader. What exactly is happening inside the UNP at the moment?
These are all internal party matters and I don’t see it as a crisis at all. The UNP after a long time is moving, even at the grassroots level. We have commenced programmes for grassroots level organization and on the 2nd of February there will be a mass recruitment programme, which will start in Galle. The leader has told all the organizers that they have to complete the re-organisation process by June the latest. Whatever there is in the UNP, it is an internal matter and it is certainly nothing compared to the crisis brewing in the country. I think it is mostly those in the government who want to divert attention from their own bungling of governance—that keep pointing to the UNP and attempting to highlight whatever is going on in our party. However these are day to day occurrences of any political party; I have seen it happen before, in the SLFP and especially when people are in the opposition these things tend to happen.



Q. Why was there a failure to appoint a deputy leader, was it that there was no suitable candidate?
It is not an issue, it is something that the party leadership has to sort out. The fact that there is no deputy leader, at this time, is not hampering the work of the party at all. I remember when President Kumaratunga became the leader of the party, only in her 5th Year of presidency, she and the SLFP decided to abolish the post of deputy leader, altogether and that is one of the reasons why there isn’t a deputy leader in the UNP. These are internal matters and we should leave it at that.



Q. Are you saying there are plans to abolish the Deputy Leader position?
No, this is just my experience that I was talking about. I’m not saying there are any plans but what I am saying is that considering the enormity of the problems the country is facing, these are small matters that will be sorted out internally and will have no bearing whatsoever in our activities as an opposition party, and the government in waiting.



Q. Do you think that the former Deputy Leader is a suitable candidate for the position?
I rather not express my personal view on that.  



Q. There is also an external assail on the UNP from the side of the government; where the members from the UNP who crossed over are now threatening to take legal action against the UNP for requesting that they vote against the UNP. How will the UNP counter this?
This again, shows the serious crisis in the country today; because here we find members of parliament who were elected by UNP voters, who owe their existence as members of parliament to the UNP—crossing the floor with impunity, almost as if they are just crossing the road. They think they can cross forward and backwards as they like, and get away with it. I would say it is a violation of all democratic fundamentals; of course this is all thanks to one of the previous Chief Justices during a period when I was also part of the government. This is one of the important aspects which triggered off the crisis that the country is facing, as a whole, today. This is why I feel that the judiciary, at least at this stage, takes a clear and firm decision to uphold the rights of the voter.
However there is the question now of whether we have an independent judiciary, which is able to take independent decisions.
crisis in the judiciary




Q. Do you think the public has any confidence in the independence of the judiciary?
Not really, because the gradual decline of the judiciary happened at the turn of the century; in 2000-2001 but with the advent of the Rajapaksa brothers the attack of the judiciary became even more. Initially they tried to compromise the independence of the judiciary by offering various little perks and privileges to judges; a son of one of the judges was sent on a diplomatic posting, without any qualifications. We also know that Dr. Shirani Bandaranayake,s husband was also given a posting at  a bank on the basis, that they can all be bought over. Fortunately for Sri Lanka, they found someone in Shirani Bandaranayake, that despite the fact that her husband took the post of Chairman of the Bank, she refused to compromise the integrity of the judiciary. In this instance, the whole façade of democracy was put aside and they went on a witch trial against Shirani Bandaranayake and now the rightful Chief Justice has been barricaded out from her rightful seat. Within this context it is, very very doubtful whether we can expect an independent judiciary at all.




Q. During the impeachment of Shirani Bandaranyake there was a certain level of resistance that built up within the judiciary, against the government. Now that a new Chief Justice has been put in place, do you think that that independent spirit of certain individuals in the judiciary will be suppressed?
No I don’t think the resistance has not gone away at all; it may have moved into a different dimension, but the resistance is more so than ever.  I also feel that what really happened, was kind of a silver lining in the dark cloud over Sri Lanka, because it finally exposed the true dictatorial motives and agenda of the Rajapaksa brothers. It is not by accident that I am saying the “Rajapaksa family” instead of “the government”; because today we have to understand that there is no government, there is no cabinet, there is no parliament and there is no judiciary there are only the Rajapaksa brothers and they found that the independent judiciary was the only obstacle against their agenda for a long term family rule.

We saw with the 18th Amendment that Sri Lanka was moving towards authoritarianism, and we told the people that they must take note and we told the international community that they must pay attention to what was happening; however most of them thought that we were exaggerating.
Some people even thought that I had some personal grudge against the Rajapaksa’s; that I was making things up. However now it is very clear to the whole world, that the Rajapaksa’s have dropped any pretenses that they may have had to having a democratic rule in Sri Lanka. That is why I say that it is a blessing in disguise, because people have begun to realize the situation—now it is time to look for the cure.

Supremacy of Parliament

Q: When you say that there is no longer a government, you are saying that every other member of parliament and even the 2/3rd majority of the government, is now a non-entity? Yes exactly. I confer with this idea that in a democracy parliament is supreme; it must be supreme but the three branches of government must work paralleling without one dominating over the other. However parliament does contain the elected representatives of the people, it is supreme—it should be on a higher pedestal than the others. Having said that, that only applies to a country where there is true democracy and a proper parliamentary democracy. But in Sri Lanka, long before the argument of whether the judiciary or parliament was supreme—the executive had already swallowed up parliament. Parliament is merely a rubber stamp of the executive.  Going back to the impeachment process, those 117 MP’s of the government actually signed a blank paper, without even knowing what they were signing—they simply complied because the orders came from above from the President and his brother. The MP’s did not even ask what it was, they simply signed it, without even reading it or knowing that it was an impeachment motion. Some of the members of parliament were extremely shocked when they heard about it, but they remained silent. You had older brother Mahinda, who found that it was a nuisance to have a judiciary that was trying to establish its independence—so he gets his brother Basil to organize the MP’s to sign an impeachment. Then Mahinda gets his other brother Chamal to illegally pass the motion for impeachment. One day they will have to answer to the world about these matters. The impeachment motion was not even passed, what was on the order paper was for another committee to be appointed, there was no address to the president. But Chamal Rajapaksa, spoke to the President when parliament was adjourned for 10 minutes and illegally, for the first time going outside the standing order, approved that motion. While these three brothers are doing that, the other brother Gotabaya provides the squads, the police and the army for the whole operation. Q: You are painting a picture where everyone else in the government is a mere puppet, that is a very strong accusation to make against, when you consider that there are certain individuals in government who have been in the politics for a long time and to a great extent won the confidence of the people—prior to the Rajapaksas? That is a tragedy; but as I have shown you they have proven themselves to be a bunch of puppets—but I know that they are not happy at all. We know a lot of them, and some of them are very good friends of mine. Q: So you are saying that there is dissension within the government? All I can say is, the Rajapaksa family rule is sitting on top of a volcano. When it will erupt, is something I cannot predict—but it will be sooner rather than later. There is even a limit to the patients of puppets; even puppets have some self-dignity. Q: During the impeachment we did see certain alliance partners, taking some kind of a stand within the government. Even though others betrayed that confidence in the last moments. Yes, of course—I think it just shows what kind of an opportunist someone like Vasudeva is. I was pleasantly surprised by the Communist party and the LSSP, despite being part and parcel of this government during the war and the chauvinistic rule, rose up at this decisive moment. Q: With regards to the opposition’s and especially the UNP’s behaviour within the PSC, why did they not remain throughout the proceedings and prepare an alternative report, similar to the report that was prepared by the opposition members during a previous impeachment attempt? Did the UNP honestly do everything that it could do to prevent this situation? What proceedings? There was no proceedings, there was no chance at all for her to be proven innocent, even before we went there to participate in the proceedings things had already been decided.