“Extremist groups outsmarted the Government” – Keheliya

The extremist groups outsmarted the Government in terms of selling the proposed pension scheme to the public, says Minister of Media and Information Keheliya Rambukwella, confessing that such groups created a dark side of the proposed bill and were smart enough to sell it faster than the Government.

The Minister admits that the Government did not go to the relevant people directly and have an interaction, simply because they believed that by looking at the proposal the private sector employees would grab and relish it.

However, he hints that the Minister of Labour has the right to bring another bill in a form of cabinet paper. Following are excerpts from the interview:

Q: Why did the Government decide to withdraw the private pension bill? Does that mean the Government admits there are faults in the proposed bill?

A: A pension bill is different from an ordinary bill. It is a bill that deals with around seven million people and very much of a retired life related. This idea was mooted at the time when the present president was the Minister of Labour. He has always been working with the working class and he found that there is a huge lacuna in terms of the private sector.

When the public sector pension scheme started in the 1930s there was agitation. When the Employment Provident Fund was introduced in1958 there was agitation around the country. Today they are in fact worshiping and accepting the system. They feel secure and believe it’s a lifeline when it comes to the latter part of their life.

If we recall, after every budget there is eternal complaining by the private sector that they are neglected and it is the public sector that is taken care of. There had been an urge, a desire by the private sector to have some kind of a social security network towards the evening of their lives. Taking all this into consideration the Government worked out a scheme with good faith. There were no hidden agendas in it.

Of course I must confess that the Government did not go to the relevant people directly and have an interaction, simply because the Government presumed and looking at the proposal that the private sector employees will grab and relish it. That would have been the case if not for the extremist groups that got in-between.

They outsmarted the Government in one area; that was to go and poison the workers. Now that they are not much involved in general politics because they have been discarded by the public they had enough people who had more than enough time to go from factory to factory, from worker to worker and tell them about a dark side of the story created by them.

My confession is that the Government did not do enough to counter that and go to the people. May be there are certain areas in the proposed bill that needs to be looked at again which the Government was prepared to do. This bill was never brought as an urgent bill.

If the Government had the slightest idea of pushing this through against the will of the public — then we could have brought it as an urgent bill and got through with it — because we have over two thirds in the Parliament. We did not do so. In fact at one stage the President summoned the entire group of Parliamentarians and said “Why should we get the blame, just drop it! Let them go through it and if they feel this must come, then we will consider it.”

But the majority argued that this was a good move. And simply because the extremist groups run riot we shouldn’t drop it. I am reiterating this was done in good faith — complete honesty — with no hidden agenda. The confession I am making is that the extremist groups outsmarted the Government in terms of selling this to the public. They created a dark side and they were smart enough to sell it faster than the Government.

The general public including the media were not educated on the wherewithal and the mechanisms that are used within the Parliament and in the cabinet. They were asking whether the proposed pension scheme will never come again. It is obvious that the Government has withdrawn the particular bill. But the Government has always the right to bring another bill.

The relevant minister can bring it in a form of cabinet paper; and if the cabinet approves it will come to the Parliament. We will certainly not bring it as an emergency or an urgent bill and try to hide it from the people. In fact the Government is contributing initially one billion to this bill. I don’t blame the public. The extremist groups were able very effectively to create a dark side of this entire bill.

Q: Certain members of the Government including Vasudeva Nanayakkara openly said that if the bill is to be brought in, it has to come with amendments. Does this mean there was no common agreement about the bill even within the Government?

A:Definitely I am with Vasudeva on that. What happens is when a bill is presented, the cabinet in principle agrees. Then we discuss further and express our individual opinions, may be at a consultative committee in the Parliament. Unfortunately this bill didn’t come to that stage because there was protest much before that. This bill took a different turn altogether. Before we adopt the normal procedures of presenting a bill people got onto the roads.

Q: What powers does the Central Committee have to suspend a bill that was approved by the cabinet?

A: Because of all the turmoil and agitation that was taking place the Central Committee decided the bill should be suspended. The SLFP will discuss it with the constituent parties and ask for their views and then come to a common agreement. This is an open and highly democratic process.

Q: Why don’t you take the responsibility for the murder of the FTZ worker and the calamity that took place at the Katunayake protest rally? Why are you trying to put the blame on the JVP?

A: The trade unions have the right to agitate, but they do not have the right to damage property, assault people and destroy assets and manhandle uniformed officers. The police are there to maintain law and order in a country. At the same time the Police in a situation like that should use minimum force as mentioned in the code of conduct of the police officers.

Since post independence how many incidents of this nature have taken place? We are human beings and not super humans; both the Police and protesters can make mistakes and somebody has to pay the price. The innocent workers had a peaceful protest and they are entitled do so. But they don’t have the right to behave like hooligans and damage property and cause inconvenience to the general public.

The day they had the protest rally many people missed their flights. The airport was in complete turmoil. They don’t have the right to do that. Similarly the police also have no right to assault an innocent set of people who were exercising rights bestowed on them.

There are enough and more incidents where the police and people have crossed their lines. On the same day around 10:30 a.m., I made the announcement that FTZ workers will be taken out of the private pension scheme. In fact they had cheered and said that they had won the battle. Their target of taking the pension scheme out of FTZ was fulfilled. But in spite of that there were people interested in creating a calamity. It was none other than the discarded politicians rejected by the people. These people are the ones who were trying to disturb the university system in the country. Fortunately now we are moving in the right direction trying to make the university system problem free.

Who conducted the protest by the bhikkus in Anuradhapura last week? Sanjeewa Bandara, Convener of the Inter University Students’ Federation, who was also convicted by courts, was seen instructing and conducting the Buddhist monks. You can clearly see my allegation and pointing the finger at the JVP was proved beyond doubt last week with priests being brought from Anuradhapura led by the Convener of the Inter University Students’ Federation.

What was the slogan of the Bhikkus during the protest? “Mahinda lokkata enna kiyapiya; mewata unththara denna kiyapiya”— is this what is expected of the priesthood? When priests who are supposed to be above the average man are misled by these elements, an average man can easily be hoodwinked. The allegation by the Government that JVP was behind the Katunayake calamity can be easily justified by the Bhikku agitation in Anuradhapura.

There is one more important that thing I must say. As I said earlier since post independence many incidents of this nature have taken place. In one instance union leader Somapala was trampled and killed. In another instance union activist Sarathchandra was chained. The latest in which I participated when I was in the United National Party; we were shot in Peliyagoda and one youth from Warakapola died.

Following all these instances nothing happened. In fact Police officers were given promotions. The difference between Mahinda Rajapaksa and the then leaders is that President Rajapaksa took prompt action. He immediately appointed retired Supreme Court judge Mahanama Tilakaratne to investigate the incident. The President wanted a complete report within five days.

IGP went on retirement. Now, this move is also misinterpreted. The IGP’s period will be over by next month. The general practice has been to grant an extension. The IGP could have gone for three extensions till 2014. But the IGP wanted to show the public servants that he took the responsibility for what happened in Katunayake on that unfortunate day. This can be interpreted as a resignation or a retirement; but the events led to that.

The pension scheme was withdrawn in respect of the FTZ workers. Two police offers were brought before justice and remanded till the 13th. What more can the public or anybody expect a democratic Government to do? No other Government from independence up to now has acted more democratically than this in an incident like this.

Q: How many were arrested over the Katunayake incident?

A:Around 50 to 60 people were arrested. But they were released from time to time.

Q: How many outsiders were arrested?

A: There were many outsiders. The investigations are being done. We didn’t want to go into the countryside arresting people without any valid reason. We are now saddled and with all evidence and we will definitely take necessary the course of action within the law.

Q: Do you agree that this was one of the biggest and successful agitation campaigns against the Rajapaksa regime?

A: There is no victory or defeat on this. This is a people’s Government and President Rajapaksa is a people’s leader. He finds it that the people must be interacted with more; then we must give an opportunity to do that.

Q: Don’t you feel that although the Government boasts of two thirds majority in Parliament, it is gradually losing the support of the people?

A: That allegation has been there for some time now. But at all the elections held during the recent past it was clearly evident that people have shown faithfulness to President Rajapaksa. So it is yet another slogan, and that will end up as a slogan.

Q: What will happen to the proposed private pension scheme? What would be your next step?

A: We cannot give guarantees. You cannot tell the Minister of Labour that he is debarred from bringing this bill during his tenure, because the right to a bill lies with the minister. If the present minister is unable to bring it, the next minister can do it when he comes to power.

Approving the bill at the cabinet lies with the Government; passing it in the Parliament lies with the public. There are three stages of this; a bill can be brought by the minister, cabinet can debate on it and either approve it or reject it. If it is rejected, that minister will either have to drop it or bring it again with amendments. Till he holds the position he can bring it with many amendments. Even if it is now approved by the cabinet it comes to the Parliament which is the people’s forum where all parties are present. At that stage they can either debate or defeat it.

Q: What kind of impact did this incident have on Foreign Direct Investments (FDI)?

A: We have to study the situation and see how it has affected. I know certain diplomats have made various comments and allegations against the Government and the police. Until the investigations are reasonably done making such comments will create a doubt in the average man’s mind. What I am trying to figure out is whether this is again a part of the major conspiracy brewed by some of the interested parties nationally and internationally.

Q: What is happening to the talks between the Government and the TNA? What will happen to power sharing?

A: There is no question of power sharing. There is a 13th Amendment which we have discussed. The public on the streets are not interested in sharing power with anybody. We are discussing this with all political parties and TNA is just another political party. They are not certainly the sole representative of the cabinet, which they try to claim.

Q: There is lot of criticism about the statement signed by Foreign Minister G.L. Peiris in India. Your comments?

A: Our relationship with India is extremely cordial. We have signed treaties and we have signed agreements. The 13th Amendment is one that was brought out by the Indian authorities at that time. Some say it was with a gun pointed at J.R. Jayewardene. Having said all that, we have been moving forward with India, our neighbour.

Q: The Human Rights Commission is once again talking about war crimes. How prepared are you to counter those allegations?

A: At the Human Rights Commission they decided not to take Sri Lanka’s matter up because a hierarchy of the countries supported us. This has been an ongoing battle and we are very confident. We are true to our heart and honest in these affairs. The UN is talking about accountability. I am waiting to see how accountability is being brought about in relation to Libya and Afghanistan. Where is the accountability and where is the UN?