Dr. Neville Fernando and Lankan politics

As the news of the demise of Dr. Neville Fernando reached me, I was reminded of a very important conversation he had with me in 1991 or 1992. What he told me has a direct relevance to the present decay and the collapse of the political system of the country.

The Ravaya which had been published as a monthly magazine for almost five years had become a weekend tabloid at that time. It had a substantial demand and a significant sale. In the political sense, it aimed at strengthening the SLFP-led opposition movement, which had been rendered frail and feeble in the face of the UNP Government which had a formidable power at that time. In this backdrop, the Ravaya had become a widely acknowledged newspaper among the mainstream Opposition groups. The exposures and revelations made by it were often resonated in the Parliament.

Despite my policy being to strengthen the opposition movement led by the SLFP, I had my own critique on it as well, and therefore I was compelled to strive to improve the way they think and act. 

At some point, I asked Anuruddha Ratwatte (we were close friends at the time) for an opportunity to meet Sirima Bandaranaike, the leader of the SLFP, for a political discussion. Not only did she agree to it, but had indicated that it would be better to include several stalwarts of the party in the proposed meeting, which she conveyed to me through Anuruddha. I agreed to that proposal.

Accordingly, the meeting was held at her Rosemead home attended by Sirima Bandaranaike, JRP Suriyapperuma, Mahinda Rajapaksa, Dr. Neville Fernando, Indrapala Abeyweera and Anuruddha Ratwatte.

Vitiating the Parliament

The main issue I discussed with them was on how President Jayewardene had corrupted the Members of Parliament by granting various concessions to them, in addition to making the Parliament a mere rubber stamp of the President.

None of the Heads of State, who ruled the country before 1977, whether they were good or bad, did pursue a policy of plundering the public property of the country. There may have been instances where some MPs had resorted to soliciting petty bribes, but certainly there was no looting of public property under the blessings of the Head of the State. The MPs did not transact business with the Government. 

The laws prohibiting such practices were strictly enforced. There was no system of providing undue privileges for Members of Parliament. There was no system of providing vehicles for Parliamentarians or issuing duty free licenses for vehicles for them.

President Jayewardene turned the situation upside down. He allowed the MPs of the ruling party to transact business with the government contrary to the law of the land and democratic parliamentary tradition. They were given various Government licenses to engage in business with the State and earn money, and were allowed to act as government contractors. It was in the sphere of State lands that the biggest looting had taken place at that time. 

The previous Government of Sirima Bandaranaike had taken over the estate lands owned by foreign plantation companies and also the land which were above the limit specified under the Land Reforms Act. Consequently, the Land Reforms Commission had over one million acres of land in its possession. 

President Jayewardene allowed his MPs to acquire these lands at a nominal price. As a result, many MPs of the ruling party had become landowners and planters. If the MPs had any hesitation in engaging themselves in this squalid act of exploitation, the President himself set an example for them to emulate by exchanging a 50 acre barren coconut estate belonging to him for 50 acres of fertile coconut estate owned by the Land Reforms Commission.

The Government and the Opposition

The system created by JR was intended to keep not only the members of the ruling party happy, but also those of the Opposition as well. It was from Minister Vijamu Lokubandara that I came to know how this policy had been implemented, which he described with a humorous remark. This is how he explained the situation to me. 

“Those in the ruling party are being fed in excess of their capacity to eat. But, the Opposition is not left to starve. Though not to the same level of the MPs of the ruling party, they too, are being fed adequately to a level they could bear up without grumbling. There is still a third party being well looked after by us. Ostensibly, they are in the opposition, but support us underhand while remaining in the opposition. We treat them in a superior manner. Therefore, my good friend, there is no way of overthrowing the Government.”

It was about such matters that I discussed particularly with Mrs. Bandaranaike and the leaders of her party who were present at the meeting. They listened attentively and with interest to what I told them, but remained tacit. Neither Mrs. Bandaranaike nor the others present were inclined to answer the critical questions raised by me.

In the course of the discussion, I posed two major questions. 

“Allowing MPs to transact business with the Government is a serious offense against the law of the land and democratic parliamentary traditions; it being so why didn’t the SLFP oppose it?” was the first question. 

The second question was posed to the Party Leader. “JR established a system to offer special concessions to the Members of Parliament; duty free vehicles also fall into this category; wouldn’t the entire program of JR have become a ridiculous joke, if the MPs of SLFP had refused to accept the concessions offered by JR?” I asked Ms. Bandaranaike.

She merely looked at me, and did not respond to my question.

Neville Fernando’s approach 

At the end of the discussion, we had biryani for lunch which had been ordered by Dr. Neville Fernando, at his cost. As I am accustomed to a very light meal, I consumed only a small portion of the lunch served and left the table while the others were still having their lunch and proceeded to the sink, which stood outside the luncheon room, to wash my fingers. 

While I was washing my fingers, Dr. Neville Fernando came over to me, and said, “Victor, I wish to share with you my observation on your questions to them,” and said: “I was of the view that you were to be killed by the UNP, but after listening to what you have told these people, it is not the UNP but the SLFP that will kill you one day. The UNPers are now in a happy mood because their bellies are full. These people are not like that. They are waiting greedily for the opportunity to come, for them to eat. You will be amazed to see how they will eat when they get the opportunity.”

His observation and assessment was correct. After 17 years, the SLFP seized power defeating the UNP. But they did not make any positive attempt to change the predatory policy introduced by JR, except for advancing it further, by adding new elements to it.

The political ambition of JR was to establish a system which would allow the UNP to remain in power forever. For that, he distorted the democratic political system. Ironically, in the end, it was not the UNP, but the opposition led by the SLFP that was able to stay in power for a longer period. 

Although this destructive policy of plunder, which has been in operation since 1977, has caused a massive devastation and destroyed the entire political system plunging the country into virtual bankruptcy, there is still no discussion or dialogue among the parties represented in Parliament on how to rectify the error. Evidently all the political parties are still thinking in the old way.