It’s Not A National Government But A Coalition – Tilvin Silva
By Waruni Karunarathne
JVP General Secretary Tilvin Silva says the party is still of the view that according to the Constitution of the country, the government that is formed is not a national government but a ‘coalition government’ which is formed by a few political parties in parliament only with the intention to increase the ministerial portfolios to satisfy those in the government but not for the benefit of the country and its people. Following are excerpts of the interview:
Q: Would you be able to share the views of the JVP on the state of affairs in the new parliament and the formation of the government?
A: The government that has been formed is a coalition government. In the constitution, a national government is defined as a government that is formed by the party/ the independent group that secures the most number of votes with the support of the other recognized political parties/ independent groups in parliament. However, the present scenario is that all the recognised parties in parliament have not come together to form a government but only a few recognised parties have joined the United National Party (UNP) to form the government. Therefore, we cannot call it a national government but it is clearly a coalition government.
The other issue that we have is that the objective of this coalition government is not to solve the issue faced by the country but to take political advantages. The UNP alone cannot form a government as they do not have the majority in parliament. Therefore they need the support of the SLFP. And on the other hand, the SLFP wants to be in the government to get ministerial portfolios and enjoy power.
Those are the reasons for those two parties to come together. If the union of these two parties is for the betterment of the country, there is no necessity to increase the cabinet ministerial positions. The entire country and the parliament came to agreement to enter a clause in the constitution to limit the cabinet ministerial portfolios to 30 seats. That means 30 is the sufficient number of cabinet seats in the Sri Lanka parliament. Therefore, if a few parties come together and try to increase the number of cabinet seats, that means it is not the necessity of the country but the necessity of those few parties who are greedy to have portfolios in the pretext of serving the country.
Q: However, now the proposal to increase the number of ministers in the national government has been approved by parliament. What is your opinion about this?
A: As I said before, the amount of ministries needed to administer the country was earlier determined as 30. Even with the approval of the proposal to parliament if they have increased the number seats than what is required that means they need ministerial portfolios to satisfy those in the government – but it does not help the country’s administration. This clearly shows that they have formed a coalition government only to get ministerial portfolios for themselves but not for the betterment of the country. Therefore, we do not think that this coalition government intends to establish good governance in the country or to address the issues faced by the people in this country. In this context, the JVP has the role of the opposition and we are ready to play that role diligently.
Q: The Leader of the Tamil National Alliance (TNA) has been appointed as the Opposition Leader in Parliament. Some of them in the United People’s Freedom Alliance (UPFA) who are sitting in the opposition have shown objections to this. What is the opinion of the JVP regarding this matter?
A: The leader of the UPFA has informed the Speaker of parliament that they are with the government. If the UNP and the UPFA are both in the government, the TNA is the next party with the most number of seats in parliament. Thereby, the position of the Opposition Leader should go to the TNA without a question. That is the tradition of the Sri Lanka parliament and that is in fact parliamentary democracy.
We have no issue regarding that. If anybody thinks that the TNA should not be given the position of the Opposition Leader because it is a Tamil political party then that is absolutely a wrong concept. Their ethnicity is irrelevant as long as they have secured the most number of seats when compared to those parties that are in the opposition. The TNA thus qualifies to get the post of the Opposition Leader and that was a result of the UPFA joining the government. That is their issue.
Q: A set of the UPFA members including some members of the SLFP are in the opposition which has led to some confusions within parliament. In this context, do you think that the JVP has any role to play to help people see things clearly as to what is happening in the political arena?
A: The state of confusion in parliament is not something that we have created. The two main parties should take the responsibility of that state of confusion in parliament. If that confusion leads to create adverse effect on the country and its people, then the JVP will intervene to play our role to prevent that from happening. We cannot untangle the state of confusion in the government that they have formed.
Q: The national list appointee of the JVP, Sarathchandra Mayadunne resigned from his post as a parliamentarian. Does the party have anything to do with this decision?
A: No. It is his personal decision. We received two slots from the national list and we offered one slot of the national list to him with great honour for him. He accepted that with respect. However, he is of the view that considering the mandate given to the type of politicians and policies by the public in the last general election, a person like him does not have space to function properly to serve the country in that institution. He feels that the public have rejected the professionals and intellectuals named in the JVP National List as the public have not given a mandate to the policies of the party. He expressed his views clearly about this matter in parliament last Thursday and took a decision to resign. It is entirely his personal decision.
Q: Has the JVP decided who should be appointed in his place? Would that be a person from the national list or from the JVP politburo?
A: Now the party has to get together and decide as to who should be appointed in his place to parliament. We have not yet taken a decision on that matter.
Q: As a party, what are the areas you expect to focus in the new parliament?
A: We have a huge responsibility in the new parliament. We have made a promise to the people that we will always represent their aspirations in parliament. On behalf of the people, we expect to push forward certain necessary political reforms and several prominent demands of the people in order to get the government address many issues faced by the people of this country. We will launch a strong steady struggle and movement in parliament and outside parliament to win those demands. We expect to bring together people from all the levels of the society who supported us at the last election to take forward this movement while we continue our struggle in parliament to win things for the betterment of the public of this country.
