Ranil seems to have seen sense, at last!

By Dr Upul Wijayawardhana

My previous writings bear testimony to the fact that I have not been a great admirer of Ranil in the past but must confess that I have started developing a degree of admiration for him since he became President, and that increased greatly after watching his interview with Deutsche Welle, state-owned German international broadcaster. Admittedly, it was not the most diplomatic of interviews but I can well understand his aggressive stance because diplomacy has failed us so far and it was only natural that he got annoyed, as we are being treated as a second-class nation.

Some may say that he would not have had such an easy ride with a BBC interviewer but the forcefulness he displayed could have easily outdone even the toughest of BBC interviewers.

At the time of our deepest national despair, he opted to take on the reins in spite of the mob that hijacked the people’s protest movement burning his house down. True, it was by sheer political manoeuvring that he became President in the most unexpected manner, achieving his life-long ambition. He was helped to a great measure by Sajith by his demonstration that he is not a man of action but of words.

Ranil certainly deserves the credit for having steadied the ship. It looks as if he was taking every available foreign trip, not to miss out on the chance he got but, rather surprisingly, he made an impact on most occasions. His address to the UN was, rather unexpectedly, more pro-Chinese than many expected. Perhaps, he has realised that the US is much less reliable! Even India would come to that conclusion as the US seems to be siding with Canada, albeit reluctantly, in the spat on the murder of a Sikh extremist. The US wants to be friendly with India only to keep China at bay!

Hats off to Ranil for declaring that there will be no international probe into the Easter Sunday attacks. It is very unfortunate that some of our politicians are demanding an international inquiry on the basis of the Channel 4 documentary when the producers of the programme themselves have admitted subsequently that they have no proof! Obviously, they are doing it not out of concern for the truth but for their own political advantage, which they crave even at the risk of tarnishing the image of the country!

It was a programme made on speculations, and as pointed out in my article “How will this drama end?” (The Island, 13 September) it was another link in the chain to destabilise Sri Lanka, which started on the day Gota was elected. It is a pity Gota did not have the guts to chuck out the Swiss Ambassador when the first volley was fired.

Another emphatic statement made by Ranil during the Deutsche Welle interview is that he rejects the accusations made by UNHRC. This sounded paradoxical, to say the least. After all, it was during his time as prime minister that his foreign minister decided to cosponsor the UNHRC resolution against Sri Lanka at the behest of the US! One of two explanations are possible for this change of heart: perhaps, a third too; political expediency!

First, Mangala Samaraweera, the darling of the US establishment, cosponsored the resolution on his own but Ranil opted to keep silent about it. The second explanation is that it was done with the concurrence of Ranil but he now realises that it was the wrong strategy. I presume it is the latter, and hence the title of this article.

I do hope Ranil sees sense as regards another blunder made by Mangala. Unfortunately, during his long political career, Mangala made two vital blunders which did long term damage to Sri Lanka. Maybe it was his enmity towards Mahinda, in addition to his desire to please the US that made him cosponsor the UNHRC resolution against Sri Lanka. Unfortunately, it continues to taint the image of the country which continues to be accused of crimes that were not committed. More importantly, the UNHRC now seems to be considering that it has a continuous supervisory role over Sri Lanka!

Mangala, as the Finance Minister, was responsible for rescinding the Exchange Control Act, which allowed exporters to park their foreign exchange earnings abroad. This is one of the main reasons for the country’s bankruptcy. In fact, the Minister of Justice Wijeyadasa Rajapakshe informed Parliament on 3 October that a total of USD 56 billion had been stashed away abroad by powerful persons during the past few years. If that money is brought back, we can stop begging from the IMF!

I do hope Ranil would see sense on this issue too though it is a little more difficult, as he himself was a party to this ill-conceived decision. I also hope that he will support the measures the Justice Minister is planning to adopt, as it would be to his political advantage. Inward remittance of a huge amount of dollars is bound to give a massive boost to the economy and if it happens Ranil may even win the next presidential election. You never know!