Ceylon Today Editorial

JVP’s inconsistent policies

 

31 August 2016

Janatha Vimukthi Peramuna (JVP) MP, Bimal Ratnayake was reported on these pages yesterday of having had said that he's against Government of Sri Lanka's (GoSL's) moves to allegedly privatize the Colombo South Port East Container Terminal (CSPECT).

CSPECT was one of three terminals spawned after the construction of the Colombo South Port with ADB aid a few years ago. One of those three terminals was already privatized in 2011 to the Chinese during the hypocritical Mahinda Rajapaksa regime.

This is because Rajapaksa, soon after he was elected to power in November 2005 disbanded the Public Enterprises Reform Commission (PERC) set-up by his predecessor and former leader President Chandrika Bandaranaike Kumaratunga with World Bank aid to effectively privatize State enterprises and thereby have a control over the budget deficit, eliminate or minimize inefficiencies in the public sector, give a better service to the public and re-channel State/public/exchequer's resources to fruitful investments as opposed to wasteful expenditure/investments.

Rajapaksa was elected to power in 2005 on the back of the JVP. Rajapaksa scored a narrow victory by obtaining under a 200,000 majority over his arch rival, UNP Leader Ranil Wickremesinghe.

Meanwhile, prior to the election, United People's Freedom Alliance (UPFA)'s Economic Adviser, the controversial former Central Bank of Sri Lanka Governor Ajith Nivard Cabraal was quoted by the State-run 'Daily News' on its 21 October 2005 issue, of having claimed that Mahinda Chintanaya (Rajapaksa's policy document) is not for privatization and will always seek to develop 'our indigenous economy'.

Politics, here and abroad, are a mass of contradictions, probably, more so here, just like the above example vis-à-vis privatization only, also played by former President Chandrika Bandaranaike Kumaratunga herself, as well as by the JVP, as shown below:

In as much as the JVP played a major role in ensuring Rajapaksa's win at the 2005 poll, it was this same party that assured the then newly formed UPFA, led by Kumaratunga, to win the April 2004 Parliamentary Poll by foisting the 'Tiger' canard, to the 70% Sinhala-Buddhist majority in respect of Wickremesinghe's ceasefire agreement with the LTTE.

The contradictory stance vis-à-vis privatization, of the JVP is exemplified by the fact that the then JVP MP, Jayantha Wijesekara in an interview with the BBC in March 2005 said, the party has prepared a plan to build a new sugar factory instead of trying to save a corporation, which is up for sale.

This was in the context that PERC announced the sale of many State enterprises including Kantale Sugar Factory in February, the BBC report said. However, UPFA had pledged not to privatize State assets in its 2004 election manifesto.

Wijesekara who was elected from the Trincomalee District at the April 2004 Poll said that he has prepared a plan to build a new factory after President Kumaratunga requested him to come up with a strategy, if any, to safeguard the Corporation. The JVP was a constituent party of the UPFA then.

He denied the JVP is now turning its back to protest any attempt to privatize State enterprises. In this interview, he blamed the opposition UNP for creating PERC to privatize government institutions, perhaps, forgetting conveniently, that it was Kumaratunga who had instituted PERC.

The MP said, the JVP is planning to mobilize people to buy State assets on sale rather than call for a halt.

PERC that functions directly under Kumaratunga has called for investments from local and foreign parties to register 'expressions of interest' to 'purchase assets' belonging to the State, BBC said.
The Eppawala phosphate deposit in Anuradhapura is also among several other State assets for sale, the BBC added. Addressing a public gathering in Southern Sri Lanka after the tsunami disaster, the President warned that anyone who campaigns again to stop the sale of the phosphate deposit will be 'locked up in a hotel and be taken care of'.

PERC has advertised for the 'restructuring' of State-owned media institutions as well.Independent Television Network Ltd., Sri Lanka Rupavahini Corporation, Associated Newspapers of Ceylon Ltd. and Government Information Department have been advertised by PERC for 'restructuring,' the BBC report said.

Ratnayake's vituperation against privatization as reported by this newspaper yesterday, then is a classic case of the JVP being pro-privatization when in government (after being elected on the anti-privatization card), but being anti-privatization when out of power.

Can the JVP, which practises inconsistent policies, be trusted this time round?