Computer model to end UNP trouble

A computer kid asked me the number of MPs still remaining in the UNP, and I told him that it’s about 60.
“I want the exact number,” he demanded.
“What for,” I asked.
“I am making a computer model that allows every member in the UNP to be its leader,” he said.
I laughed and said the problem is over for the moment but, he said it will erupt after the Western Provincial Council (WPC) election. “How else can we solve UNP’s trouble,” he said, and ran to his computer to pursue his effort.
I was reminded of the story of the Tamil Eela Liberation Organisation (TELO) related to me by Sinna Bala (Bala Nadarajah Iyer), one of my good news contacts slain by the LTTE four years ago. He was a good source for the origin of the Tamil militant movements.
He told me that, TELO, founded by Thambithurai Muthukumaraswamy in June 1975, had only eight members. Varatharaja Perumal, later, chief minister of the North Eastern Provincial Council, was its secretary.
“Everyone in the group behaved like its leader. They issued statements on their own, often contradicting each other,” Sinna Bala said. Naturally, TELO did not last long. The TELO that still survives was founded later by Thangathurai and Kuttimani.
Sinna Bala also told me of the internal democracy practised by the Eelam Revolutionary Organisation of Students (EROS), to which he belonged. “Sometimes, we would discuss the whole evening, as to how to spend it: whether to go for a film or to the beach.”
Now, with the latest crisis, no one can accuse the UNP of lack of internal democracy. The members discussed for about a fortnight, about ousting its leader, and the different ways of doing it, secret ballot and the like. They ended up by strengthening the hands of the present leader Ranil Wickremesinghe!
Several papers quoted Kurunegala District MP Dayasiri Jayasekara as saying, “Hon. Leader, you should remain the leader of the party forever. Let’s wind up the meeting.”
The UNP Working Committee that met at 3.30 p.m. on Monday, decided that Ranil Wickremesinghe remains the party leader and Karu Jayasuriya its deputy leader. The Working Committee meeting showed that the members, who agitated for the removal of Wickremesinghe, had no alternative leader!
Three names cropped up: Karu Jayasuriya, Sajith Premadasa and S.B. Dissanayake, but none of them were acceptable to the majority of the Working Committee members. The supporters of Sajith Premadasa were reluctant to propose him as the leader. They wanted him to be the senior assistant leader.
Monday’s decision does not mean that the UNP’s troubles are over. It may resurrect by the end of next month, after the WPC election. These agitations have surfaced after every election. It had happened since the 2004 Parliamentary election, which the UNP lost. In that election, the UPFA won 105 seats to UNP’s 82 seats; UPFA polled 45.3% of the votes to UNP’s 37.83%.
The revolt became vocal, following November 17, 2005 Presidential election, which Mahinda Rajapaksa won, polling 4,887,152 votes (50.2%) to Ranil Wickremesinghe’s 4,706,366 votes (48.43%). In that election, the UNP performed better than in 2004.
A group of 17 UNP MPs demanded in January 2007, a change in the leadership, and crossed over to the government the next month. Karu Jayasuriya led the group that earned the nickname poll-vaulters. In April 2008, another crisis brewed, following the Eastern PC election.
The current crisis erupted two weeks ago, following the UNP’s defeat in the North Western and Central PC elections. The next will be by the end of next month.
Indications are that, the UNP will suffer another defeat. The vast majority of the Sinhala voters are with the Government’s war efforts. The Muslims are going alone to establish a separate identity. The current crisis has eroded the confidence that the Tamils had in the UNP. They fear that the Sinhala extremist group within the UNP is trying to take over its leadership.
I am not concerned about these periodic eruptions. Crossovers are not new to Sri Lanka.  It had happened since the beginning of Independence. Perhaps G.G. Ponnambalam and his supporters of the All Ceylon Tamil Congress set the pattern, when they joined D.S. Senanayake’s government.
I remember Ponnambalam telling a massive meeting in Jaffna, “Why did I join the government? By joining the government, we can bring prosperity to the Tamil people.”
In 1957, soon after Mudliyar M.S. Kariappar joined S.W.R.D. Bandaranaike’s government, I interviewed him for the Lake House Tamil Daily Thinakaran. He told me: “I joined the government, so that, I can serve the Muslim people of the Eastern Province.”  He won the seat contesting as a Federal Party candidate.
In 1978, S. Kanagaratnam, who crossed over to the UNP, from the TULF, told me the same story. “I’ve to serve the poor people of the Eastern Province,” he said.
We know those crossovers were examples of pure and simple political opportunism and caused by parochial self interest. What worries the people is the fact that, crossovers have become a part of national politics. Do you know that, 19 of the 82 MPs the voters of the UNP elected, are in the SLFP led government, and most of them are holding ministerial positions? Do you know that, seven MPs elected by the supporters of the Sri Lanka Muslim Congress, are in the Government?
Do you know that, there are among them UNP MPs nominated on the National list? Nominating on the National list means, nominating to represent the UNP voters.
I now want to raise the fundamental question: Are the Parliamentarians entitled to act according to their conscience?
Does not the use of the cover of ‘conscience’ amount to the betrayal of the trust the voters placed on their representatives.
It is time, Sri Lanka too, enact a law to prevent crossovers. This country should put a stop to self-seeking politicians.