Divided we stand, united we fall, the less hackneyed iteration of the “united we stand, divided we fall” proverb, is more than likely to prove apt, on the basis of both the balance of probabilities and beyond a reasonable doubt, when the all-party conference convened per invitation of President Gotabaya Rajapaksa, upon request by one of the main constituent parties of the ruling Sri Lanka Podujana Peramuna (SLPP)-led Government alliance – the Sri Lanka Freedom Party (SLFP) – is scheduled to be held on Wednesday (23).
According to SLFP General Secretary State Minister Dayasiri Jayasekara, the President had promised them, during the most recent meeting held between the SLFP and Rajapaksa that he will invite all the parties represented in the Parliament to the said general assembly, in order to discuss the current multiple crises and to take urgent measures to address such. Meanwhile, Leader of the House Minister Dinesh Gunawardena, responding to a request by United National Party (UNP) Opposition MP Ranil Wickremesinghe, said in Parliament that the report on Sri Lanka by the International Monetary Fund (IMF) will be provided to the MPs prior to the conference.
However, putting a damper on the proposed festivities, Janatha Vimukthi Peramuna (JVP)-led National People’s Power (NPP) Leader MP Anura Kumara Dissanayake claimed that the said conference had been convened not to discuss the economic crisis, but for purely political reasons, in order to resolve the “conflict” between the Government’s two main constituent parties. Further, according to Dissanayake, as of last Thursday (17), the Legislature had yet to receive the said IMF report. Additionally, he had noted that it is imperative that the Central Bank of Sri Lanka (CBSL) provides the Parliament with details including statistics on the state of forex reserves and the loans to be repaid. “Without these”, he noted, “there would be no point in just chatting”. Hence, the NPP claimed that their participation in the discussion would depend on the evolving situation with regard to the conference.
As has been observed by Dissanayake, the President’s bona fides apropos the convening of the said conference are, at best, dubious. Would the President, who is disinclined to take “external” advice from those not with “us”, and who has more than once has shown the door to once loyal underlings when they either belatedly criticised fallacious policy decisions or corruption, give a keen and earnest ear to the likes of the main Parliamentary Opposition, the Samagi Jana Balawegaya (SJB), let alone the NPP, and take their suggestions onboard? One would not be off the mark to think that it would be a cold day in hell if that would happen.
While it is prudent to be deeply sceptical and perhaps more than a little pessimistic about the possibility of any productive or even positive outcomes materialising out of the said conference, it is perhaps worth the while to muse on the opportunities that the occasion, the first such forum and platform under the incumbent Rajapaksa administration, provides for both the President and the Government, and for the Opposition for that matter. It does have the potential to mark some kind of a turning point, and not simply a political con or tamasha.
Firstly, it is in the President’s best interests to keep the Government from fragmenting further, to a point beyond repair, and his political opposition, the SJB and the NPP, which both held large protests last week, and the Tamil National Alliance (TNA), which was snubbed by him for the second time when he yet again postponed a scheduled meeting with them last week – from getting too bellicose. This conference provides an opportunity for the same. Secondly, speaking of the IMF and related matters including the upcoming European Union Generalised Scheme of Preferences Plus trade concession review, the President has an opportunity to, if he plays the cards correct, exploit the relative strengths, if not of the Opposition camp’s entire ensemble, at least of certain protean Opposition politicians such as the likes of Ranil Wickremesinghe, who is a bastion of capitalism and West-philia, and still wields some political influence and skill within the gilded hallways of neoliberal internationalism, thus converting this friendly foe into an ace in the hole. In this regard too, the conference throws up some off chance to achieve the same.
Hence, it is vital that the President seizes whatever such possibility for collaboration that emerges out of the collective talks as it is evident that the present configuration of the incumbent administration is not up to the Sisyphean task of taking Sri Lanka towards the light at the end of the tunnel as the burdens weighing down upon the country require a Herculean feat, and also since the present regime’s rank and file are too intellectually lightweight and sorely lacking in vigour to take up this daunting and Gordian challenge. In short, the Government needs all the help it can get, and it is going to have to take aboard all comers. It is also important that the Government, led by the President, at least come donning a protective hide of platitudes if it cannot grow a thick skin against the invective that is bound to come its way at this open to the media conference, check its fragile ego at the door, and keep an open mind, lest the proceedings degenerate into a cacophony of white noise, or worse still, a volley of banalities instead of profundities, and the burning of more bridges as opposed to building ones. The onus is on the President to therefore set the correct tone for the dialogue and resultant divergent views, be tactical, and not squander the opportunities that the event could set in motion.
It takes two to tango, and since the present Opposition too has, to some extent, had more than a dirty hand in the predicament engulfing the nation at present, it should, as a collective, first decide to participate – boycotting is not a sign of democratic engagement – and secondly, come bearing not just motormouths and silver tongues but constructive, well thought out, and wholly practical proposals as solutions to the crises. This is not the time for them to wallow in the ecstasies and glee of schadenfreude or to make a show of feigned superiority by abstaining from democratic exertions, but for the Opposition parties to find the better angels of their nature.
This conference presents a rare opportunity for a broad consensus and a unified national endeavour to emerge from a deep, dark economic hole, if our political leaders play their cards right. We remain largely pessimistic, but hopeful that we will be proven wrong.The all-party (‘con’)ference
20 Mar 2022
The all-party (‘con’)ference
20 Mar 2022
Divided we stand, united we fall, the less hackneyed iteration of the “united we stand, divided we fall” proverb, is more than likely to prove apt, on the basis of both the balance of probabilities and beyond a reasonable doubt, when the all-party conference convened per invitation of President Gotabaya Rajapaksa, upon request by one of the main constituent parties of the ruling Sri Lanka Podujana Peramuna (SLPP)-led Government alliance – the Sri Lanka Freedom Party (SLFP) – is scheduled to be held on Wednesday (23).
According to SLFP General Secretary State Minister Dayasiri Jayasekara, the President had promised them, during the most recent meeting held between the SLFP and Rajapaksa that he will invite all the parties represented in the Parliament to the said general assembly, in order to discuss the current multiple crises and to take urgent measures to address such. Meanwhile, Leader of the House Minister Dinesh Gunawardena, responding to a request by United National Party (UNP) Opposition MP Ranil Wickremesinghe, said in Parliament that the report on Sri Lanka by the International Monetary Fund (IMF) will be provided to the MPs prior to the conference.
However, putting a damper on the proposed festivities, Janatha Vimukthi Peramuna (JVP)-led National People’s Power (NPP) Leader MP Anura Kumara Dissanayake claimed that the said conference had been convened not to discuss the economic crisis, but for purely political reasons, in order to resolve the “conflict” between the Government’s two main constituent parties. Further, according to Dissanayake, as of last Thursday (17), the Legislature had yet to receive the said IMF report. Additionally, he had noted that it is imperative that the Central Bank of Sri Lanka (CBSL) provides the Parliament with details including statistics on the state of forex reserves and the loans to be repaid. “Without these”, he noted, “there would be no point in just chatting”. Hence, the NPP claimed that their participation in the discussion would depend on the evolving situation with regard to the conference.
As has been observed by Dissanayake, the President’s bona fides apropos the convening of the said conference are, at best, dubious. Would the President, who is disinclined to take “external” advice from those not with “us”, and who has more than once has shown the door to once loyal underlings when they either belatedly criticised fallacious policy decisions or corruption, give a keen and earnest ear to the likes of the main Parliamentary Opposition, the Samagi Jana Balawegaya (SJB), let alone the NPP, and take their suggestions onboard? One would not be off the mark to think that it would be a cold day in hell if that would happen.
While it is prudent to be deeply sceptical and perhaps more than a little pessimistic about the possibility of any productive or even positive outcomes materialising out of the said conference, it is perhaps worth the while to muse on the opportunities that the occasion, the first such forum and platform under the incumbent Rajapaksa administration, provides for both the President and the Government, and for the Opposition for that matter. It does have the potential to mark some kind of a turning point, and not simply a political con or tamasha.
Firstly, it is in the President’s best interests to keep the Government from fragmenting further, to a point beyond repair, and his political opposition, the SJB and the NPP, which both held large protests last week, and the Tamil National Alliance (TNA), which was snubbed by him for the second time when he yet again postponed a scheduled meeting with them last week – from getting too bellicose. This conference provides an opportunity for the same. Secondly, speaking of the IMF and related matters including the upcoming European Union Generalised Scheme of Preferences Plus trade concession review, the President has an opportunity to, if he plays the cards correct, exploit the relative strengths, if not of the Opposition camp’s entire ensemble, at least of certain protean Opposition politicians such as the likes of Ranil Wickremesinghe, who is a bastion of capitalism and West-philia, and still wields some political influence and skill within the gilded hallways of neoliberal internationalism, thus converting this friendly foe into an ace in the hole. In this regard too, the conference throws up some off chance to achieve the same.
Hence, it is vital that the President seizes whatever such possibility for collaboration that emerges out of the collective talks as it is evident that the present configuration of the incumbent administration is not up to the Sisyphean task of taking Sri Lanka towards the light at the end of the tunnel as the burdens weighing down upon the country require a Herculean feat, and also since the present regime’s rank and file are too intellectually lightweight and sorely lacking in vigour to take up this daunting and Gordian challenge. In short, the Government needs all the help it can get, and it is going to have to take aboard all comers. It is also important that the Government, led by the President, at least come donning a protective hide of platitudes if it cannot grow a thick skin against the invective that is bound to come its way at this open to the media conference, check its fragile ego at the door, and keep an open mind, lest the proceedings degenerate into a cacophony of white noise, or worse still, a volley of banalities instead of profundities, and the burning of more bridges as opposed to building ones. The onus is on the President to therefore set the correct tone for the dialogue and resultant divergent views, be tactical, and not squander the opportunities that the event could set in motion.
It takes two to tango, and since the present Opposition too has, to some extent, had more than a dirty hand in the predicament engulfing the nation at present, it should, as a collective, first decide to participate – boycotting is not a sign of democratic engagement – and secondly, come bearing not just motormouths and silver tongues but constructive, well thought out, and wholly practical proposals as solutions to the crises. This is not the time for them to wallow in the ecstasies and glee of schadenfreude or to make a show of feigned superiority by abstaining from democratic exertions, but for the Opposition parties to find the better angels of their nature.
This conference presents a rare opportunity for a broad consensus and a unified national endeavour to emerge from a deep, dark economic hole, if our political leaders play their cards right. We remain largely pessimistic, but hopeful that we will be proven wrong.Kapruka
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Discover Kapruka, the leading online shopping platform in Sri Lanka, where you can conveniently send Gifts and Flowers to your loved ones for any event. Explore a wide range of popular Shopping Categories on Kapruka, including Toys, Groceries, Electronics, Birthday Cakes, Fruits, Chocolates, Automobile, Mother and Baby Products, Clothing, and Fashion. Additionally, Kapruka offers unique online services like Money Remittance, Astrology, Medicine Delivery, and access to over 700 Top Brands. Also If you’re interested in selling with Kapruka, Partner Central by Kapruka is the best solution to start with. Moreover, through Kapruka Global Shop, you can also enjoy the convenience of purchasing products from renowned platforms like Amazon and eBay and have them delivered to Sri Lanka.Send love straight to their heart this Valentine's with our thoughtful gifts!