CMU Statement on the Presidential Election 2010: Issued for publication on behalf of the Ceylon Mercantile, Industrial  & General Workers’ Union (CMU)

THE PRESIDENTIAL  ELECTION 2010 AND THE PEOPLE

President Mahinda Rajapakse is seeking re-election for a second six-year term as Executive President. He has cut short his present term of office in order to do so, without having abolished the Executive Presidency, as he had pledged to do, before the end of his first term. What will be decided on 26^th January next, therefore, is whether President Rajapakse is to continue to exercise the powers and enjoy the privileges of the Executive Presidency for another six years, or not. A majority of the millions of voters will exercise their voting rights either to vote for him, or for General Sarath Fonseka. Though the latter has made a pledge to abolish the Executive Presidency, President Rajapakse has evaded making any mention of his former pledge in that regard, in this election. It is not likely, in any case, that the issue of the abolition of the Executive Presidency will prove to be a crucial one for most of the voters. They will probably vote for President Rajapakse to continue in office, or for General Fonseka, in consideration of other matters that are of concern to them.

The Executive Committee of our Union, nevertheless, considers that the abolition of the Executive Presidency is of vital importance to the promotion of the basic social and economic interests, as well as the defence of the human and democratic rights and civil liberties of the masses of the people of this country. Unfortunately for them, they are caught in a trap under the present Constitution, under which their “Sovereignty” can be exercised only on 26^th January. The next day, they will be back to where they are now, whether President Rajapakse obtains more than fifty percent of their votes, and continues to be vested with the powers of the Executive Presidency for six more years, or General Fonseka is elected, and is vested with those powers, likewise.

President Rajapakse used his power to proclaim a State of Emergency, soon after he first took office in December 2005, and has extended it, with Parliamentary approval from month to month, up to now. The Emergency Regulations that he has made have served to suppress or repress fundamental democratic rights and civil liberties;  and human rights have been violated to a greater extent under his regime than under any previous one..

He has gained and retained control of a stable majority in Parliament by appointing 109 of its Members, belonging to the Government Party, or who have crossed over to it from the Opposition, as Cabinet Ministers, non-Cabinet Ministers and Deputy Ministers, at huge public expense. They have provided him with the required Parliamentary approval for the Proclamation and monthly extension of the “State of Emergency”. They have also insured him against the possibility of his removal from office, even for flagrant violations of the Constitution, such as have been publicly pointed out by the recently retired Chief Justice, without contradiction.

Previous Presidents, like most professional politicians, have exercised their powers and privileges and the influence that they have gained thereby, to advance their own interests and those of their kith and kin, in the first place. They have also rewarded various other people who served their interests, in various ways, politically or otherwise. President Rajapakse has done so, quite blatantly. He has promptly awarded Ministerial portfolios and very lucrative “projects” to several former UNP Ministers for their cross-overs from the Opposition in Parliament. Caligula, the Roman Emperor, was said to have made his horse a Senator. President Rajapakse has appointed a “Tiger”, the former commander of Prabhakaran’s “terrorist” army, as a Cabinet Minister, after nominating him as a Member of Parliament. He has also had him elected as a Vice-President of his own  party, the SLFP.

Bribery and corruption have increased to such an extent under his regime, that it is an issue that will undoubtedly weigh with voters against President Rajapakse. His Government seems to have realized this: His non-Cabinet Justice Minister, has just  announced that a Bill would be tabled in Parliament, soon after the Presidential election, “to fight waste, corruption and irregular activities in the public sector”.

Our Union has not supported any candidate at any previous Presidential election. We have always held the view that the powers of the Executive Presidency would not be exercised by any President who may be elected under the present Constitution, to promote the economic and social interests of the vast majority of the working people in this country, or to protect their democratic rights.

We did not support Mahinda Rajapakse at the last Presidential election, because we saw no good reason to change our view in the above-mentioned respect.. The only promise he had given in his Mahinda Chinthanaya” to the millions of workers in the private sector, was that a low interest housing scheme, would be introduced “with the participation of the Employees Trust Fund and private banks”. The loans that could be obtained under the legislation enacted in that regard, were only by a limited number of employees. Even that promise thus proved to be empty for the vast majority of workers in the private sector.

We had then pointed out that there was no mention in “Mahinda Chinthanaya” of the Workers’Charter, which he had advocated and had been adopted by President Chandrika Kumaratunga’ Government, when he was Minister of Labour. We have to point out that the Workers’ Charter has remained a dead letter under President Rajapakse’s Government, and that he has nothing to say now about any legislative protection for several millions of workers, employed on a casual basis, directly or through labour contractors, on low daily rates of pay, with no paid leave or security of employment. Others are employed on “fixed term” contracts, renewable from time to time, but without any assurance of continued employment.

The Rajapakse Government has also failed to implement the two most important ILO Conventions, relating to the fundamental rights of Freedom of Association and Collective Bargaining, that Sri Lanka has endorsed and the Goveernment is bound to implement “in law and in practice”.

With regard to the so-called “National Question”, our Executive Committee observes that President Rajapakse has made no commitment, up to now, to implement even the limited degree of provincial autonomy that President J.R. Jayawardene had agreed to grant to the Tamil-speaking Tamil and Muslim peoples of the Northern and Eastern Provinces, under the 13^th Amendment of the Constitution. Having  achieved the complete destruction of the LTTE by the Armed Forces, last May, and subjected the people of those two provinces to military rule, the President sacked the Sri Lankan Representative to the UN in Geneva, when the latter published a statement in favour of the full implemention of the 13th Amendment, which the Jathika Hela Urumaya had completely opposed. When President Rajapakse repeats his catch-phrase of achieving a settlement of the “National Question”, “acceptable to all”, it is obvious, therefore, that he has no intention to “settle” that crucial question on any basis that would be acceptable  to the vast majority of the Tamil and Muslim peoples in the North and East. His true attitude to them was revealed at the “Victory Parade” of the Armed Forces, last year,.when he proudly declared that there were no “national minorities”, in this country, and that all its people had been reunited under the “National Flag”. In any case, whatever assurances President Rajapakse may now consider it expedient to give to the Tamil and Muslim peoples in the North and East, they cannot expect him to introduce any amendment to the Constitution to accord them any recognition of their fundamental democratic rights to self-determination, even on a limited basis.

The numbers of civilian deaths and casualties caused by the War in the North and East, have not been revealed by the Rajapakse Government, nor the numbers of Tamil youth, including child soldiers, who were killed or injured by the Armed Forces in armed combat. The extent of the destruction of public buildings and private homes by aerial bombing and by artillery bombardment have also been unreported. The kidnappings and killings of Tamil civilians, including journalists, suspected of having LTTE connections or sympathies, have never been acknowledged by the “Security Forces”.

The population in the rest of the country has thus been kept in ignorance of the sufferings and miseries of the hundreds of thousands of people in the North and East. The deaths and destruction caused by the sporadic “terrorist” attacks or “suicide” bombings, on the other hand, were highly and repeatedly publicized. The fear of LTTE “terrorism” so engendered, was magnified by continuous media propaganda. It was also sustained by the deployment of thousands of police and military personnel, to carry out daily “security checks”, which have been reduced but not yet ended up to now.

The severe hardships suffered by the entire population because of the phenomenal rise in inflation and the cost of living caused by the War, have not yet been reduced. The huge “Security” expenditure involved, amounting to hundreds of billions of rupees, continues with the continuing “State of Emergency, and financial corruption in that regard, too, no doubt. Furthermore, the huge debts incurred by the Government will remain as a burden on the masses of the working people. The huge loan of 2.6 billion US dollars (approximately 286 billion rupees) that the Government found it necessary to request from the International Monetary Fund (IMF), and the conditions for its grant will have to be met. The IMF Chairman has explained that the loan was granted to prevent the collapse of our country’s economy.

Having regard to all the  above-mentioned facts and circumstances, our Executive Committee considers that the re-election of President Rajapakse will only mean the continuance or even worsening of the living conditions of the working people, under the continuing political conditions of an already militarised society, in which democratic and human rights are no longer respected by the ruling regime. We have no reason to believe that General Fonseka will end this situation, and change it for the better, for the working people, with the political support of the UNP and the JVP.

It is our considered view, therefore, that our own Union and other organizations of the working people, in urban as well as rural areas, will have to rely on their own strength and their capacity to combine their forces to deal with the situation that they will have to face after 26^th January, whether President Mahinda Rajapakse is re-elected, or is displaced by General Sarath Fonseka.

BALA TAMPOE

General Secretary, CMU

 16^th. January  2010