Political decision making process in gridlock
* Partners in govt. pull in different directions
* Questions over latest international bond issue?
* IMF programme in jeopardy
* Street protests against VAT continue despite SC interim order
-tas.jpg)
That this government has tied itself up in knots not only locally but internationally as well became apparent last week, when the former head of state Mahinda Rajapaksa - now the central personality of the opposition - was the only important to politician to send a proper letter congratulating the newly appointed Prime Minister of Great Britain Theresa May. President Maithripala Sirisena has sent only a twitter message. It is certainly true that Sirisena ran a jazzed up presidential election campaign designed to appeal to the younger generation with his name written as ‘My3’ – sms fashion. Yet, need this be taken so far as for an incumbent head of state to congratulate an incoming head of government with a twitter message? However he at least sent a twitter message. All we heard from the prime minister about the appointment of a new Conservative Prime Minister in Britain was a deafening silence.
The UNP especially is supposed to have a special relationship with the British Conservative Party both being members of the International Democratic Union – the global brotherhood of centre-right political parties. As such, for the UNP not to send a letter congratulating the new Conservative PM of the UK borders on deliberate rudeness.
This is a direct result of the Sri Lankan government needlessly getting involved in the internal politics of foreign countries. The present government sent a special ministerial team comprising of ministers of both the UNP and the SLFP to Britain to canvass among Sri Lankan expatriates on behalf of the ‘remain’ campaign. Even Suren Surenthiran of the Global Tamil Forum had the good sense to avoid getting involved in the Remain vs Exit controversy, giving their supporters the freedom of choice probably because they had a better awareness of the ground realities in Britain. Now with David Cameron, one of the foreign patrons of this government gone, there is an awkward silence on the part of the Sri Lankan government not knowing how to react to the new powers that be in Britain whose internal and external policies will be quite different to that of their predecessors.
