UPFA’s gamble

Editorial-April 25, 2014

The government has secured the passage of controversial orders under controversial Strategic Development Projects Act. Foreign business tycoons including James Packer must be grinning from ear to ear. The Opposition succeeded in having the so-called casino orders shelved when they were presented to Parliament previously. Their vehement protests yielded the desired results. Its failure this week to amend or defeat the same orders craftily presented again with some cosmetic changes came as no surprise. The government is desperate for money and, therefore, won’t scruple to woo even robber barons.

However, unlike on previous occasions, the government is not in a position to celebrate its success. It had asked all its MPs to be present in Parliament on Thursday and Friday. One or two them could not make it due to unavoidable circumstances. But, the decision of some UPFA heavyweights critical of the ‘Casino Bill’ to skip the crucial vote was tantamount to a refusal to be railroaded into toeing the government line and to buy into President Mahinda Rajapaksa’s claim that the orders at issue will not be used to set up new casinos. The President timed his declaration for Thursday obviously in a bid to dispel doubts and suspicions his parliamentarians had about the government move. But, not all UPFA MPs were convinced. Worse, JHU MP Ven. Athureliya Rathana Thera and Minister Champika Ranawaka voted against the orders.

The government has failed to convince its parliamentary group that its intention is not to promote gambling but to bring in direct foreign investment. So, how could it expect the Opposition and the general public to believe that it is not trying to facilitate the setting up of foreign casinos on the pretext of investment promotion?

The Opposition, too, had asked all its MPs to be present in the House and vote against the ‘casino orders’, but some of them kept away on both days. Two explanations are possible as regards their absence; they do not subscribe to the Opposition Leader’s contention that the orders are bad for the country or they, swayed by those who will benefit from the government move, absented themselves so that the ayes would have it without a fight. If they had been really opposed to the orders, all of them should have been present in Parliament to vote against them en masse.

The government succeeded in mustering the support of all its MPs to secure the passage of its draconian Expropriation Bill, which was rushed through Parliament in record time. It also had its controversial 18th Amendment as well as the impeachment of Chief Justice Dr. Shirani Bandaranayake ratified with a two-thirds majority. When the removal of the CJ was put to vote only a few government MPs abstained, having informed the President of their decision in advance. But, this time around, it has reason to worry. It looks as if there were signs of some UPFA parliamentarians including several prominent ministers asserting their independence.

The government has got two warnings in quick succession—one from the people at the recently concluded PC polls which it won with a disconcertingly reduced majority of votes and seats and the second one from its parliamentary group on Thursday and Friday.

After the next Uva PC polls, the government will have to go for a national election and it won’t be able to play electoral T-20 any longer. Unless it heeds those warnings it will be riding for a fall.

The Rajapaksa administration is lucky that it has got an Opposition which continues to snatch defeat from the jaws of victory and keeps debilitating itself.