UNP Matara District Parliamentarian Buddhika Pathirana has only been in Parliament for two years. However, during this short period, he has earned a name for himself by raising issues faced by people of his district in Parliament. He has also earned the wrath of current party leadership for calling for reforms within the UNP.
While known as a vocal critic of the government and his own party leadership for a period, Pathirana is also recognised for his commitment to social services. In the Matara district, he has worked on providing jobs in the private sector for around 5000 unemployed youth. He has also established an ‘e-Job Bank’ and with aid from donors, has provided library books worth a total of Rs.18.3 million to all 373 schools in the district. Here, speaking to The Nation, he expresses his views regarding current political developments and his own role both within and outside Parliament.
Q) What are your current political activities?
A) I currently have three different roles. One is the role I play in Parliament. In Parliament, I direct questions raised by the people, not just in the Matara district, but from all over Sri Lanka. For example, I have only spent two years as an MP thus far. However, I am the one who has presented the most number of private members’ bills to the Parliamentary agenda among the 225 members there.
I first started drawing attention to problems faced by people in the Matara district. Now, I have had to go further than this as people from different walks of life from all over the island keep sending me details of the problems they face and suggestions for resolving certain issues. I make a point of bringing these matters before Parliament. As such, I invite your readers to also inform me of their issues and suggestions. I will look into them and raise such issues in Parliament where relevant.
We may have been elected to Parliament from a particular district. But we have an obligation to inquire into issues faced by people in any part of the country, and provide solutions if we can. Likewise, if people have any suggestions that would contribute to the betterment of the country, we have an obligation present it before the legislature.
The second responsibility before me is to ensure that the UNP, which I represent, is elected back to power. Whatever issues come my way, I have no intention of leaving the UNP. There were many who said that Buddhika Pathirana will leave the UNP, that he would become a minister of this government. If you look at Mohan Lal Grero, our party treated him with the utmost respect and consideration. Yet, he still went ahead and joined the government. We on the other hand, are firmly with the party even in the face of constant attacks from within. There is no change in that stance. It will continue in the future as well.
My third responsibility is to conduct social services programs. I have initiated social services programs centered on the Matara district. In the Matara district, during the past 8 years, we have been able to provide jobs in the private sector for around 5000 unemployed youth, both here and abroad. In addition, we also established a strong ‘e-Job Bank’ with assistance from private businessmen. How this works is that when vacancies do arise in their institutions, they link up with our e-Job bank than advertise elsewhere. We also provide lessons in computing, English and Tamil languages, and vocational training to nearly 20, 000 youth free of charge. When speaking of vocational training, people mostly think of carpentry and masonry. I don’t believe there are that many interested in learning these skills among the young now. Instead, we teach subjects such as video filming, editing, photography, and screen-printing.
Then let’s take schools. There are 373 schools in the Matara district. Some politicians don’t even visit schools in their own electorate. In such a situation, I take pride in being able to assist every single school in my district. We have donated library books worth Rs.40, 000 to each school in the district. This amounts to a total of Rs.18.3 million. I have personally visited all 373 schools in the district. This is where I obtain the knowledge to speak on issues such as education.
My current project involves providing assistance to around 700 preschools in the Matara district. We intend to provide equipment worth Rs.30, 000 to each preschool. This amounts to a total of Rs.21 million.
There are just some of the projects I have initiated. All of them are being conducted while still being in the opposition. Most of our politicians say they’re waiting until elected to government to initiate such projects. There is no need to wait until that happens. When you’re in government, you are allocated funds from the Treasury anyway. So, it’s very easy for you to work. As an opposition politician, I did not receive a cent of the funds allocated for the projects I mentioned above. I had to find the money myself. I established contacts with sponsors both here and abroad for this purpose.
However, in doing so, I must stress that I never betrayed the country. As you know, the things some of our leaders do when they travel abroad make it very difficult for UNPers to even walk on the road. Even a handshake with some individual may get the party in trouble. The things some of these leaders say and do betray the country and tarnish the good name of the UNP. But, we conduct all of our projects with the firm belief that this is “one country”.
Q) The party hierarchy initiated a disciplinary inquiry against you. Why was this done? What is the current status regarding this inquiry?
A) When I went before the disciplinary committee to explain myself, Mr. Tilak Marapana, who was the chairman of the committee, himself told me he could not understand why I was being called before the committee.
The charge against me was that I supported an independent group during the Matara Municipal Council Elections. The disciplinary committee has now imposed a 3 month probation period on me. However, by the time that probation period was imposed on me, there was no mention of this earlier charge. Instead, they say things like I should obtain permission from area organizers before conducting non-political social services activities. I also act as a sponsor of a party newspaper called ‘Eth Paura’, though I am not directly connected to its contents. They want this to be stopped as well.
In truth, the entire disciplinary inquiry was based upon jealousy and hatred. During the last Parliamentary elections, 60 of our party members were elected to the legislature. If you tally the total number of votes they obtained together with their preferential votes as a percentage, Sajith Premadasa had the highest percentage. I was second and our leader Ranil Wickramesinghe was third. I obtained the highest number of preferential votes from the Matara district. This did not sit well with some members from the district. This was because the so-called Gullivers in the region ended up as Lilliputians after the election results came in. In such a scenario, it was only natural that feelings of anger and jealousy came into the minds of some people.
Our party leader spoke to me after the disciplinary inquiry. He asked me about the problems I had with some of the other politicians from the Matara district. I replied that I had no problem with any of them as I always came first in the district. It was the other people who had a problem with me coming first. But what was I to do about that? I did not come first by engaging in election malpractices, or any other dishonest method. I earned every single vote I obtained.
Another thing to note is that the collective vote of the party went down considerably in every election. When you analyze results from the 2004 provincial council election, which I contested, the 2009 provincial council election and the 2010 parliamentary election, you will see that the party vote has declined with each one. However, despite this, my preferential vote increased considerably in every election. In the first one, it was 44, 165. This increased to 57, 802 the second time, and to 62, 499 during the parliamentary election. Why the increase? Surely it must be because the people of Matara have faith in me. The more I try to serve the people, more obstacles such as this disciplinary inquiry come my way. In politics, I consider such things to be ‘postgraduate qualifications’ or gold medals. The more they attack me, the more I’ll work for the people of Matara.
My probation period will end in a few more weeks. I don’t bother about it anyway. I will continue with what I’m doing.
Q) Do you agree that there is a rift within the UNP? Hasn’t it split into a Sajith faction and a Ranil faction? If yes, in which faction do you stand in?
I do not believe that there is a split within the UNP and there are factions within the party. But there are different ideologies within the UNP. There are those within the party who share my ideology. For example, you might say that some sections of my ideology are similar to that of our deputy leader Sajith Premadasa. In certain cases, my ideology might be similar to that of our General Secretary Tissa Attanayake. Ideologies will be different from one matter to another.
My view is that our party has lost elections for 17 years, except in 2001 and 2004. So, what are the reasons behind such a losing streak? Some reasons maybe beyond our control. For example, the government’s war victory, and its development activities: these are beyond our control. But we can’t just give up because of that. We need a strategy to counterattack the government. However, in order for any strategy to work, we need extensive reforms within the party, from top to bottom. I have always firmly believed that. I will continue to believe so even if they hold 500 or even 1000 disciplinary inquiries against me.
We need to nominate electoral organizers for every electorate in the country. We should establish youth and ‘Lak Wanitha’ branches at village level. There should be organisations for professionals, three-wheeler drivers, farmers, fishermen, monks…etc. There should be reforms in our trade union and estate sector unions as well. We should develop our media and propaganda units. We should also strengthen financial transparency and financial stability within the party.
There should also be an extensive campaign of political education. There was an age where voters were firmly with one party no matter how things stood. This is no longer the case. Nowadays, people make their choices based on the personality of the party’s leaders, its development plans, policy statement and vision. The UNP needs to educate its members on this political reality. The international network of the party should also be strengthened.
We must accept that the people have rejected our party’s vision for the past 17 years. We have lost election after election. Thus, we need to adapt to the situation on the ground if we are to move forward.
If we can achieve the above targets, we have an excellent chance of victory. However, we must not forget that the government is also engaged in an extensive campaign to get its own message across. It shamelessly misuses state resources, it highlights the war victory every opportunity it gets, and tries to dupe the public with illusions of development. We must also seriously think of ways to tackle these issues.
Q) Isn’t it the Government and the President who stand to gain most from internal conflicts within the UNP? Why doesn’t someone step forward to resolve this issue?
A) Absolutely. Whatever’s said and done, we must admit that this government shrewdly manipulates any divisions that may arise in opposition parties. We have not been able to do the same when it comes to conflicts within the government. The government is currently reaping the fruits of this strategy. It constantly tries to convince the people that there really isn’t any sort of viable opposition to its rule. The people of this country have a very low opinion regarding this government. They keep telling us whenever we go among them that the government can be toppled any day, but there is no strong opposition to take advantage of the situation.
The most dangerous aspect of this is that it is not just the UNP which is disadvantaged by such conflicts. It has a negative impact on the entire country. This in turn affects Sri Lanka’s standing in the world.
Q) You were there at the prison premises when Sarath Fonseka was released. How are your relations with him now? Will he be joining the UNP in future? What kind of plans does the UNP have for him?
I have an excellent relationship with Sarath Fonseka. He accepted the challenge of challenging President Rajapaksa at a time when he was at the highest level of his popularity. It was this fearlessness which ultimately led Fonseka to become political prisoners as the government went after him quite viciously. As UNP party members, we have a duty to ensure that we protect the man who was our common candidate at the elections. We also have a duty to work towards him being granted his full civic rights.
As for politics, I believe five paths are open to him. One is, he can join the government. However, that will surely be the end of Fonseka if he does so. Second, he can form a new political party which has no affiliations with other parties, and work towards ensuring that it emerges victorious to government. This also is impractical. Third, he can quit politics and spend his days as a retired army officer. Fourth, he can dissolve his own party and either join the UNP or any other opposition party. I believe all these paths are impractical. The fifth option open to him is to rally all opposition forces within the country to a movement centered on him, while still maintaining the independence of his own political party. This I believe is his best option.
When you look at the opposition parties, it is the UNP which takes the lead as it has the most number of party members and is the most organised among the others. I believe he must establish cordial relations with the UNP. If he does that, then I have faith that he can play an enormous role in helping to steer this country towards a better future.
Q) Elections for several provincial councils are to be held soon. Don’t you fear that someone may accuse you of supporting some group other than the UNP this time as well?
No, I don’t believe such a situation will arise again. The government is employing a careful strategy of holding provincial council elections in stages. It is in this backdrop that the Eastern, North-Central, and Sabaragamuwa provincial councils are set to be dissolved and elections held for them. The coming provincial council elections will be decisive for our party. We must win, simply because, this is a time when the government’s popularity is at an all time low. If we can’t win, then the government will go ahead and hold some more PC elections in 4 months or so. What we have seen from the PC elections held in the past is that there is a steady decline in our percentage of party votes from election to election. The government’s strategy is plain. It wants to win these elections by hook or by crook, culminating in a Presidential election somewhere in 2014 or 2015. As such, losing PC elections continuously over a period of time, with the local government elections sandwiched in between, will result in a defeatist mentality imposing itself on opposition party members and voters. Thus, there is the danger of losing the next presidential election if we continue down this path.
But there is an even greater danger lying in wait. We have cause to believe that after the next Presidential election, the government is seriously considering holding a referendum to extend the term of this Parliament. This is because the government knows it can never obtain a 2/3 majority again. Even this time, they only got to that number because several of our own MPs crossed over to the government.
Thus, it is extremely convenient for the government to extend the term of a Parliament where it has a 2/3 majority. So, we strong signs are that it is eying a referendum aimed at extending its term until 2022, rather than hold elections in 2016, when its current term expires.
This is a highly dangerous situation. That is why we are calling for urgent reforms within the party if we are to prepare ourselves to face what is coming. 2022 is ten years away. Can you imagine what would happen to our party if we were to remain in the opposition for 10 more years?
Q) There are claims that the Tamil people never really possessed a voice in Parliament that truly spoke for them, mostly due to the influence of the LTTE. There is talk that even now their real voice is not being heard. What are your views regarding this issue?
All communities including Tamils, Muslims, Sinhalese and others have issues. These issues need to be recognized and addressed. The only way to solve these issues, in my belief, is to implement a comprehensive devolution package that is acceptable to all communities.
Q) How do you define the LLRC recommendations? Do you have any issue over their implementation?
I have studied the LLRC report in detail. I firmly believe the majority of its recommendations can be implemented without any issue. A few recommendations could have practical difficulties in their implementation. However, these issues could be discussed and resolved.
The LLRC was commissioned by the government. There is no reason why the government cannot implement the recommendations made by its own commission.
Q) Do you believe land and police powers should be given to the North and East provinces?
The 13th amendment has granted land and police powers to the provincial councils to a certain extent. Even those who bitterly opposed the 13th amendment, such as the JVP and SLFP, subsequently contested provincial council elections.
What I’m saying is that, implement the police and land powers provided by the 13th amendment for a few years. Then, let’s decide on how to move from there. First, implement what was given in the 13th amendment and see if the powers are being misused.
Q) Finally, you said anyone could contact you regarding their issues and suggestions. Would you care to provide details?
My office address is “Samadhi Medura”, No.47, Sri Rathanapala Mawatha, Matara. Mobile number is 0777306922. You can email me at buddhikaylda@yahoo.com.
(Nation)