Archives

THE OBSERVER

The Oldest English Newspaper in South Asia
Founded 4.2.1834
P. O. Box 1217,
35, D.R. Wijewardene Mawatha,
Colombo 10, Sri Lanka.
Telephone: Editor - 94-1-429226; Fax: 94-1-429230

JVP on probation

The PA-JVP parliamentary accord places the People's Alliance Government on probation, no doubt, but it presents the Janatha Vimukthi Peramuna too with a major new challenge which will test the political mettle of this one-time insurgent movement. After all, it must now function - even from the Opposition side of the House - as a prop to Government on a daily basis, dealing with the nitty gritty of State administration, planning, and public policy.

Tilvin de Silva, Wimal Weerawansa, Nandana Gunatilaka and comrades can no longer sit on the sidelines, make generally critical comments and throw up loose visions of socialist or anti-capitalist alternatives. They are now compelled to prop up the Government of an under-developed capitalist nation-state. In tandem with the PA, the JVP must now respond to the daily nuances of the economy, national administration, and the management of a bitter war. It must support a Government as that Government strategies for the intermediate and long term life of nation and country - at the political, social, economic and ecological levels.

The JVP, therefore, must be ready to demonstrate a flexibility of policy and an extreme sensitivity to the nuances of governmental action, if it is to function as a prop to Government.

Concretely, the JVP will learn that the kind of ad hoc relationship with Government that it has now formed will require it to compromise on long term policy as it endeavours to remain faithful to its commitment to interim political stabilisation.

The Janatha Vimukthi Peramuna, in successfully clinching this deal with the PA, has again demonstrated a certain sagacity and adroitness in political strategy for which the Peramuna has been notable since its 'revolutionary' origins in the late 1960s. Can this adroitness now mature into a competence suitable for governance, even if indirect?

News | Business | Features | Editorial | Security
Politics | World | Letters | Sports | Obituaries |

Produced by Lake House
Copyright 2001 The Associated Newspapers of Ceylon Ltd.
Comments and suggestions to :Web Manager