Thursday, Mar 10, 2005
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By V.S. Sambandan
COLOMBO, MARCH 9. The Sri Lankan President, Chandrika Kumaratunga, has expressed her confidence that a vast majority would endorse a move towards federalism, and asserted that she would "go ahead" with her plans for greater devolution of powers. "More than 80 per cent of the people will agree for devolution of power if we go for a referendum," Ms. Kumaratunga told a party rally in Colombo to mark the International Women's Day on Tuesday. According to a report in the state-run Daily News, Ms. Kumaratunga said she was "willing to bet" her Presidency but did not elaborate. "I will do it, whatever the opposition towards this, if the people want to solve the problem through devolution of power. I need the strength of the people for it," the newspaper reported.
Opposition to move
Ms. Kumaratunga's assertion on federalism and greater devolution of powers is against the backdrop of opposition from a section of the ruling coalition — the Left-nationalist Janatha Vimukthi Peramuna (JVP) — to devolution. The JVP, which favours retaining Sri Lanka's unitary status, is for "decentralisation" of powers. When it entered into an alliance with Ms. Kumaratunga's Sri Lanka Freedom Party (SLFP) last year, the two parties agreed to differ on this issue. The coalition, United People's Freedom Alliance won the snap Parliamentary election last April. In her address to the SLFP women's conference yesterday, Ms. Kumaratunga said "a decisive moment" had come to solve the ethnic conflict and to usher in peace "through devolution of powers". The President also said the "time was ripe for people to clear cobwebs in their eyes, set aside their narrow political power hunger to take this decision to take forward this country towards prosperity and a united Sri Lanka after solving the problem in the north-east through a great deal of devolution of power." The SLFP had decided to solve the problem through devolution and "the consent of only 51 per cent of the people was needed to go for such a solution in a democratic manner," the newspaper reported Ms. Kumaratunga as telling the rally. On the support for devolution — on which there is agreement by the SLFP and the Opposition United National Party — the President said, "At the 2001 election, four-thirds of the population voted for these two parties," which made it easy for a solution based on devolution.
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