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Bread and Circuses by Cicero

Sri Lanka's politics is coming more and more to resemble something out of 'Alice in Wonderland.' If versions preferred by both the President and the UNF Cabinet Ministers are to be believed the Cabinet meetings would appear to be like the Mad Hatter's Tea Party. The distinction between reality and fantasy begins to fade. Things are not what they appear to be. Respected leaders appear in masks.

This is politics as pantomime played out for the serene joy of an increasingly bemused and bewildered electorate.

Take for instance the sharply conflicting versions of the now famous or infamous handbag episode. President Kumaratunga has accused Minister Ravi Karunanayake of saying that she was carrying a bomb in her handbag to blast the Cabinet to smithereens. The rest of the Cabinet to a man say that the Minister only charged the President with carrying a handbag containing audio-video equipment capable of photographing and recording Cabinet proceedings.

What is more Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe has written to her that she had not made any such complaint when he met her on July 18 but had only made this allegation in a letter rushed to him the day after on the eve of his departure to the United States. Who then is to be believed ?

While the blood hounds of the CID have been put on the trail of the handbag the plot thickens with dark hints from the President that she can expel Minister Karunanayake. The question is not whether she can do so or not or whether she can only do so with the concurrence of the Prime Minister. The graver question as far as the country is concerned is the crisis which such action can precipitate.

It is no doubt unpleasant for the President to listen to carping criticism whenever she attends Cabinet meetings but given the nature of today's adversarial and confrontational politics this is inevitable. Some powerful elements which brought the UNF to power will not rest until it ferrets out all the skeletons skulking in the PA's cupboard. But this also puts the UNF Government in a dilemma. It needs the support of the President and the PA if the peace process is to go on apace. But will not confrontational politics sour the atmosphere.

The Chairman of the UNP Malik Samarawickrema who seems to be playing the role of intermediary and peace-maker between the UNF and the President is said to have drawn a distinction between the two processes when the President had raised this point at a recent meeting. But how long can the distinction hold?

Prime Minister Wickremesinghe cannot be unaware of this conflict. In fact when he goes to Washington and preaches the gospel of bi-partisan support and consensus this contradiction will be driven home to him even more acutely. Delivering an address at the Woodrow Wilson Centre for International Scholars the Prime Minister was quoted as saying that the situation in Sri Lanka today was akin to what obtained in France some time ago. Co-habitation then is the name of the game. But France at least is a sophisticated European country well used to the ways of co-habitation. Sri Lanka on the other hand is having only a first taste of this unlikely brew. And our politicians let alone the people do not seem to have any stomach for it.

Much of the problem, of course, is that some of the most prominent Cabinet Ministers are those disgruntled with the President. Ministers Rajitha Senaratne, S. B. Dissanayake, Ravi Karunanayake and G. L. Peiris were all at one time or another personally with the President or were MPs or Ministers of the PA. They also played a leading role in bringing the Government to power. The problem before the Prime Minister therefore is how to reconcile this fact with the challenge of maintaining co-habitation in the name of consensus. The challenge becomes even more acute when one considers the disgraceful scenes which erupted in Parliament on Wednesday.

According to all reports the fisticuffs between MPs had raged for at least 15 minutes while the jeering hooting and barracking had gone on for at least one hour. These reports also allege that it was the Government which had begun interrupting the Leader of the Opposition Mahinda Rajapakse during his statement.

Another valid question is why the PA parliamentarians had come armed with banners and placards. While both parties cry 'conspiracy' it is quite clear that both parties are always ready for a confrontation and are only looking for an excuse for a collision.

Wednesday's incidents however cannot and should not be lightly dismissed. It is the most serious incident of violence in the chamber of Parliament so far when MPs had not only used their hands but also their legs against their opponents. The last such incident in the early 90s when Vasudeva Nanayakkara was thrown onto the floor and pummelled when he tried to spirit away the Mace pales into insignificance in the face of Wednesday's mob violence. No longer can Sri Lanka afford the luxury of sneering at bodies such as the Tamilnadu State Assembly for their rowdyism.

Can such exotic plants as consensus thrive then on such inhospitable soil ? This is the question which the Government at its highest reaches will have to give its mind to. It has been reported that the Government will now present the Conscience Bill which makes it possible for MPs to vote contrary to a party's.

Whip without forfeiting their seats in Parliament. Will this serve to diffuse the present tensions ? Again a newspaper reported that the Prime Minister at the UNP's Working Committee had dismissed the idea of moving an impeachment motion against the President when some members had raised the issue. Again will this serve to diffuse the present tension between the President and the Cabinet ? What is apparent however as we observed in this column only last week is that the delicate situation which threatens to throw the Constitution into the melting pot continues and will remain so for many more moons to come.

One would dearly like to know what the architect of the Constitution President J.R. Jayewardene and its chief critic Dr. N.M. Perera have to say on the matter from wherever in Valhalla they now reside.

Sir John's Wisdom

It was another by-gone stalwart Prime Minister John Kotalawala who said that he might as well hold his Cabinet meetings on Galle Face green. That was a time when only Fly-by-Night was there to take pot shots at the PM in his 'Sunday Observer' column. At the rate things are going the present Cabinet meetings might well be televised. Franchise rights anybody?

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