Balancing change with continuity to

ensure public support

By Jehan Perera-February 2, 2015

The Independence Day celebrations this year will be significantly different
from those of the recent past. The government has said that the
ceremony will be simple. There is an emphasis on cost cutting. The
previous government spared no cost to make its celebrations grand affairs.
One of the main issues on which the presidential election was fought over
was corruption and waste, and the misdirection of economic resources
away from the poor to those at the helm of the government. The
opposition parties leveled charges against the former United Peoples
Freedom Alliance government that it led the country into massive debt due
to its white elephant projects, waste and corruption.
There will also be another significant difference. Over the past five years
since the end of the war in 2009, the previous government emphasized the
war victory at the Independence Day celebrations. There was a display of
the countrys military power. The previous government believed it had an
unbeatable formula to obtain the support of the majority of people due to
its constant mobilization of Sinhalese ethnic nationalism. It constantly
reminded the ethnic majority of the military victory it had obtained over

the LTTE and the militancy of the Tamil ethnic minority. It also claimed
that the international community was seeking to revive the LTTE and used
that justification to bolster the strength of the military and rule the ethnic
minorities with a heavy hand. Even the Independence Day celebrations
were used for this purpose.
On this occasion, however, the celebrations will be led by a government
that comprises the spectrum of political parties in the country, and also its
ethnic and religious diversities. Those who are in the government are
bound at this time by bonds of commitment and loyalty that came about in
contesting against, and defeating, a government that centralized power
and focused on ethno-nationalism to gain popular support. The new
government has decided to express sympathy and reach out to the victims
of the country's three-decade long war at this years Independence Day
celebrations. This will be an action that binds the people of the country
together in recognizing that the war, violence and destruction that
accompanied it were a tragedy to all sections of the people.
ECONOMIC FOCUS
It has been announced that the government has approved a joint proposal
made by the Acting Foreign Minister Ajith P Perera and the Minister of
Home Affairs and Fisheries Joseph Michael Perera to make a special
Statement on Peace at the Independence Day celebrations. The new
government took into consideration the recommendations of the Lessons
Learnt and Reconciliation Commission appointed by the previous
government. The LLRC recommended that a "separate event be set apart
on the National Day to express solidarity and empathy with all victims of
the tragic conflict and pledge our collective commitment to ensure that
there should never be such bloodletting in the country again." The
previous government did not accept this recommendation and only
remembered the soldiers who had sacrificed their lives in the war.
However, it is not only with regard to the ethnic conflict that the new
government is making a break with the past. The interim budget of the
National Democratic Front government presented by Finance Minister Ravi
Karunanayake was easily the most people-friendly budget of any
government in recent times. It was described as a mini-budget, unlike the
main budget that makes its appearance in November. Although the new
government is led by a political party that is known to be pro-business, the
interim budget has been criticized by the business community for being too

harsh on big business and being a "Robin Hood" type of budget that takes
from the rich in order to give to the poor. It will have a significant impact
on the lives of the majority of people who are still far from being the
middle income earners that Central Bank figures given during the period of
the former government used to make out.
The new government is not repeating the politically damaging policies of
the short-lived United National Front government of 2001-04 which was
also headed by todays Prime Minister, Ranil Wickremesinghe. That
government too inherited an economy in very bad shape. The
expenditures on the war against the LTTE that was taking place in full force
at that time had drained the economy. One prong of the governments
remedy to this problem was to slash government expenditures and to try
to stimulate private sector investments. The UNF government was
successful in reviving the economy. Its policies were rational in terms of
economics. But its policies created hardships to the masses of people and
were resented by them. This had negative implications for other reforms
that the government felt it had to make.
ETHNIC FOCUS
In 2001 the war was going badly for the government. Elephant Pass, one
of the biggest military bases of the government in the North had fallen to
the LTTE. The economy had plunged to negative growth. The UNF
government sought to deal rationally with the issue of the war against the
LTTE by entering into a ceasefire agreement with it with the support and
praise of the international community. The international community was
prepared to support the government in this. What followed was a textbook
case of mediation and conflict resolution. However, the UNF governments
efforts to make the LTTE a partner in the peace process caused unease
amongst the majority of people who did not trust the LTTE. This enabled
the governments political rivals to accuse it of betraying the country to the
LTTE and to the international community. As a result the government could
not keep its hold on power and was soon defeated at elections.
In catering to the needs of the majority of people through its mini budget,
the new government has shown it is being pragmatic about retaining the
support of the majority of people in anticipation of general elections in
June. If it is to prevail at the forthcoming elections, it will be important for
the new government to woo the ethnic majority, of whom a majority voted
for the former president at the recently concluded presidential election. In

the period 2001-04, the UNF government lost its popularity due to its
harsh economic policies in relation to the majority of people, but also due
to the erosion of confidence that accompanied its efforts to compromise
with the LTTE for the sake of peace. There is a similar issue this time. This
time around, the LTTE is no longer the party that has to be placated. The
international community is pressing for governmental accountability on the
issue of war crimes.
Unlike the former government that refused to engage with the
international community on war crimes, the new government has shown
its willingness to engage with the international community on the issue of
war crimes. It is in this context that the pledge of the new government
leaders not to permit any Sri Lankan to be taken away to an international
court for war crimes and instead to hold a domestic inquiry into
accountability issues needs to be viewed. It has sent one of the countrys
top diplomats Jayantha Dhanapala to meet with the UN High Commissioner
for Human Rights to ask for time and space to cope with this issue.
Unless this is given, the issue of war crimes and accountability can
undermine the prospects of the new government with the Sinhalese
majority regardless of the economic benefits it provides the people.
Posted by Thavam