They are stuck — their campaign was geared against me

— Ranil

Opposition and UNP leader Ranil Wickremesinghe who is on the frontlines stumping for the opposition common candidate General Sarath Fonseka, took time off his campaign schedule last week to speak to Rajpal Abeynayake.
Wickremesinghe spoke about the election, media and the Tamil issues, and the Rajapaksas etc.,

The TNA is supporting the General. The government seems to be making use of this move to show that the UNP is back to its old tricks.

The TNA dealt with the General. Not with us.
The TNA met General Fonseka and he gave them his ten-point programme on immediate relief to the Tamil people. This was released in Jaffna when he went there. Prior to that Jayalath Jayawardana, Mano Ganeshan and I went to Jaffna. We got the views of the Jaffna people. We had also had discussions with others in the North and the East. We met with the General — the JVP and all of us.
The General prepared his programmes approved by all the parties backing him at that time. Now the numbers have been added on. Subsequently General released it (the programme) in Jaffna. Then Mr. Sambanthan wanted to meet with him.
He met me earlier and I gave him a copy of it. Subsequently he met with the General and General gave him a signed copy of the ten points, which was already released to the media. Mr. Sambanthan said, look this meets with the immediate requirements of the Tamil People. This is what we have been asking for. We had not got this from president Rajapaksa. Without asking, you have given us, and you have decided to remove the high security zones and (that) you can be trusted. That’s all the discussion that took place. As far as the TNA and the UNF are concerned, we have ongoing discussions on immediate issues as well as the future. But, Mr. Sambanthan was very very clear that Sarath Fonseka as the president could only attend to these issues. The other issues which revolve to power sharing and all the matters are up to parliament, and not General Fonseka, because he would cease to be the executive president. And he has no political party to back him. He (Sambanthan) said this is quite satisfactory for us. We get our day to day life going. That is the main issue. About this so called statement of Mr. Sambanthan in the ‘Lankadeepa’, when I asked Mr. Sambanthan, he said he never gave an interview to the ‘Lankadeepa’, and he has made that same comment to the electronic media

Are you talking of the so-called North-East merger (....when referring to the Lankadeepa interview)?

Nothing on the North East merger was discussed with the General. There was no agreement even with us on the North East merger. You have to decide the composition of next parliament before you can discuss anything you want to do. We as UNP is pressing for a new constitution, so as far as this issue is concerned he (Sambanthan) said I never gave an interview to the ‘Lankaadeepa’ and he wanted me to convey this to ‘Lankadeepa’, which I did. And, they made an inquiry and have found that there has been no interview and I am informed that one of the journalists there is resigning

Did they (Lankadeepa) give you a reason (for all this)?

Yes, what has happened is that Mr. Sambanthan had a press conference. Some of the questions and answers at the event had been turned into an interview. And then, the lead story in the front page has no connection to the so-called interview. I don’t think the responsibility can stop at the journalist concerned. I have to say that the responsibility must go up the editor himself.

So you are saying it’s planted?

It is at the press conference that Mr. Sambanthan announced the TNA decision to support (the General). It is not the same as the interview.

But the substance (....of the story that appeared)?

The substance is in the purported press interview to Lankadeepa, he never said that the General agreed to his conditions. The front page story, therefore, which said General agreed to the conditions had no relation to the so called interview. It is a plant
You can quote me.

There is a school of thought that UNP and the General are not assured of the Tamil vote just because Sambanthan is backing you all. The government has done a lot of development work and in the North and East, they say?

As far as we are concerned the UNF has talked to the Tamils directly. We also spoke with Mr. Sambanthan. So TNA support will add on to the votes in the North and the East. You can see that it does when it’s there, when the votes are polled. Not only the Tamils, the army in the north, the majority will vote (with us.)

But, how would you assess this so called development by the government in North and East?

What development? There’s nothing. There are some roads. But they (the people) have no provisions. There is no other development. You go down to Batticaloa. They tell look we have done some work, but most of it is Tsunami work like the Arugam Bay bridge.

The other issue is, though you may not want to answer this, how is your personal chemistry with the General in this campaign?

I suppose I get on well with many people. I even got along with Mahinda Rajapaksa for a very long time.

And the JVP?

JVP and we have worked together in the parliament on many issues. It’s the first time we are on the platform together. That certainly is an experience. In the parliament when issues come up we talk with each other, in times you take up common issues in parliament.

I can understand that, but is it a positive experience now?

Definitely a positive experience. It’s very interesting.

Some people say the JVP is doing the bulk of work of this campaign, organizing etc.,?

JVP cadre has been there. The JVP has a dedicated cadre which got out first. In many areas they got out first. UNP has moved in thereafter. But, the UNP is different this time. The difference between a regular army and a reserve army I say. We take a bit longer time to mobilize in every village. Both sides are campaigning.
But what’s important is this, that basically every party which has a grassroots organization is campaigning for the General. The UNP, JVP and SLMC, in some areas, three or four parties of hill country Tamils, which are well organized there etc. They are all working for the General. The government is relying on the state officials at the village level and the ‘Samurdhi,’ agricultural officers at the village level. But now some of them are not working because in those villages, there’s a strong sentiment towards Sarath Fonseka. They really have no grassroots organization.

I read in several places that UNP this time is cash- strapped but the government is fully loaded with bucks?

The government is loaded with cash. But we do have certain amounts. It is because some of the people who are funding us can’t fund us because they are also down. The economy is down. But, nevertheless we have got the campaign going. It took us a longer time to mobilize funds, but other than that, no problems at the moment.

Visibility-wise it appears that there’s huge visibility for the government campaign —- of course the media and all that, too?

Take the posters they put out, the first round for instance. I like those posters staying there because they are faded. And they’ve shown that they have no new posters. It’s the same old thing. They have a basic problem —— we have to realize that this was the campaign prepared against me, and he (President) built himself as a war hero. Now we have put a war hero forward. So the more of these posters they put up the better it is, because they are targeted at me, but the candidate is someone else. Their campaign has not come out of that hole. That’s why they are stuck. It’s their basic problem.

In other words you mean the war favours your candidate?

Initial publicity for our candidature was not done by us but the government. They had this protograph of Mahinda Rajapaksa and the service commanders at every bus-stand. Then they realized they have to remove all that. This is the first government that has given publicity to its opponent!

So pundits and analysts say of course the General has a lot of support, but that is essentially urban, whereas in the rural areas, whatever said and done, the Sinhala constituency supports the president. Is that right?

No, I don’t think so; in all the areas we can see a lot of support for the General. After all, remember the vast majority of service personnel come from the villages, and from the poor villages.

Does it necessarily mean that service personnel will support him?

Majority are supporting him. That’s a good base. The UNP has its own supporters in those areas. So does the JVP. I mean you saw the crowd at Embilipitiya that waited for the General? Just to listen to him. They would have decided about supporting after they listened to him, but the fact that they were willing to come and give him a chance is very very important.

Then there was a lot of extraneous static at the beginning of the campaign such as the notorious Sunday Leader issue....

That you must ask ‘Sunday Leader’

No but there’s some controversy. Has there been a letter of demand sent to them?

I don’t know. You have to ask them. (Smiles).

If you win on the 26th, then still a lot of questions remain about where you all go from there.

After winning, we first appoint the constitutional council and secondly appoint an all-party caretaker government, and thirdly dissolve the parliament. In the meantime it’s pledged to give the timeline for some of the actions that would be published.

All party caretaker government —- any guesses who will be the prime minister in that?

No, we haven’t discussed any of those things.

But of course if you win this on the 26th, then obviously, given the Sri Lankan trend, you will win in a big wave at the general election also. What happens from there, who will be the prime minister then?

The party that has the majority in the parliament will have the prime minister. We hope that will be the UNF, but we don’t know.

That is what I am saying. It will be the UNF without a doubt that comes, provided you win on the 26th, and then who will be the prime minister?

Whoever it is. The ten-point programme is on and we have to first create a new political culture. We agreed on that. But regards the other programmes .... of course opposition may agree to some of the government’s programmes. They may not agree. But, I think we will establish a new environment where the government and the opposition could talk with each other.
Main thing is to build on that, so that we have 10 or 15 years of stability, and certainty with regard to development....

It appears that government’s main instrument they use against the UNF is the ‘traitor- patriot’ dichotomy. UNP is still the party with the traitors in it they say.

Actually, traitor is KP, no? So what else is there? I don’t think the people are buying it. The traitor today means the person who is not with Rajapaksas. If that is the reason we are called traitor, then it is a badge that everyone should wear. It no longer means that you support the LTTE, no? Then you won’t have KP with you?

Well regarding KP, the information you have given the media, is that correct?

We revealed it. He was at Visumpaya initially but now he is moved elsewhere. We are not worried about these labels given by Rajapaksa because I know the label that the people have given the Rajapaksa family is the most damning.

So what about the corruption charges against the General which they are now trying to play up?

There is nothing against the General, but his son in law. It’s about the supply of some binoculars and generators. I am sure General is not going to cover anything up. But we are asking why at this time, when there were so many of large massive armed shipments of substance before...

But is it an issue in this campaign nevertheless? What do you think?

I think the General will reply at the appropriate time. I don’t think you should allow them to set the agenda. There’s nothing to talk of. What is the four years of achievement outside the war that they have? For all of which you need a good commander. What else can he (Rajapaksa) talk of? Now he is saying he did the war for four years. We all know that it is all nonsense. He didn’t do the war for four years. The war didn’t go on for four years

But their accent seems to be also now on development. There are Emails supporting the government going around saying Kinniya bridge has been built, and so on?

Kinniya bridge was started by me. Benthota bridge was started by me. Arugam Bay bridge was built with money given to replace the bridge built by Monty Jayawickrema. Tell me what he (Rajapaksa) has started?

Flyovers?

‘Mabey and Johnson’ has been charged in England for bribery in many countries and they are investigating their corruption in the other countries. Let’s see if Sri Lanka also gets into that list.
And also take the flyover in Dehiwala. It’s at the junction but actually it’s Galle Road and the Hill Street that comes down there. The other one is the road that leads to the station and the beach. It’s not a junction in that sense. They use that as an excuse to build a flyover?

Also there is the contention that the General doesn’t have a party. So if he wins he is not accountable, they say. This was said by somebody on TV; that he is not accountable in the final analysis if he wins. So you know he is ‘free radical’, they say....

No, no, if he wins parliament is there. There’s a new parliament. The new amendment will be brought and we have said that we will make the president responsible to parliament. As of now, the president is not answerable to the parliament. The person who has said all this hasn’t read the constitution.

If you are unable to abolish the executive presidency what happens?

We can change the constitution, all the parties are agreed to that.

But when they are in the opposition, if they are in the opposition, the government party today might refuse to cooperate. That’s politics in Sri Lanka; that’s how it works

We would have enough to do it our way. The first people who want the executive presidency abolished is the party in opposition. It is only the party in the government that wants the presidency.

The politics of Sri Lanka is however funny. Even if you want the executive presidency out they might not want it that way.

Yes, I know. SLFP will change however without the Rajapaksas. There would be no Mervyns and all that.

So you are saying end of the road for Rajapaksas if you all win?

Yes, that’s why we have to fight it hard. Where do they go from here?

But he can still be the leader of the party ?

Even the media guys who are holding ‘pandam’ to him, it is the end of the road for them also. They are all fighting!

That’s a good question. I mean why is it that media is pro-president. The UNP seems to have had sway over the media, during your father’s time etc., but now it’s totally different.

It’s not a question of media. It is a question of the person. Some of them wanted to get the benefits, but all the younger people are for media freedom, and that’s what I am very happy about it. Old ones miscalculated thinking Mahinda Rajapakshe cannot be moved out. Some of them are now of course sending secret messages (to us.). But, it shows that some of the media people are bad or even worse than the politicians.

Does that include Lankadeepa itself?

It includes some of the members of the Irida Lankadeepa. I name Dombagahawaththa.

But how come it has come to this?

Just to get benefits thinking Rajapaksa is going to be there (for long.) They forget about principles. There are people in the business sector, there are people in the government sector, they are all getting worried. So this is the rear-guard that’s going on in the country. At the village level UNP and SLFP are used to change of power and they can adjust themselves....

How about the CWC? Last time you got their vote too?

CWC came on our votes. CWC this time will vote with us.

Sellasami and Yogarajan have come over to your side but Thondaman?

Thondaman is left and he couldn’t win Nuwara Eliya last time....

You are saying he can’t take his party to a win?

CWC could never win on their own. They won only when they came with the UNP. And this provincial election they were not with the UNP. They lost Nuwara Eliya.

Why is that?

It’s because most people vote for the UNP. It was our votes and their MPs. Now the MPs are also coming to us.

There is a theory that claims the General is being backed by India?

India wouldn’t back anyone. This came about as the result of people disliking Rajapaksa. It’s he who ran to India saying “we have done you a favour’’. When he can’t get support he just keeps shouting.

So how do you reckon that Rajapaksas became so unpopular so soon according to you?

They were always unpopular. They just used the power. It’s just that the correct forces had to come together (against them..)