Apology accepted, second visit against consensus view

IN a previous opinion piece (https://www.ft.lk/opinion/Against-the-consensus-view/14-723203) I wrote, “Wickremesinghe being a member of the government in the 1980s is unlikely to admit at best his Government's blatant cowardice and at worst obvious complicity in the incidents that took place. In politics, you have to be pragmatic. The Tamil polity should build ties not with the policies but with the people of the JVP and form a united movement against the executive presidency.”

- By THE PRINCE OF KANDY

This piece was dated 18 September 2021 appearing in print of the Daily FT. The reason print is so valuable is that people are more considered with their words than if they were just speaking.

I will contend that Ranil Wickremesinghe basically did just this in his recent Al Jazeera interview. Over time as larger segments of the video get released he has even been able to turn this into a net positive in terms of votes.

By not heeding my advice the Tamil polity stands today in a much worse position than it ever was. I think the dreams of provincialism have long been defeated with it being fragmented into a group seriously pursuing secession and the moderates pursuing a policy of national unity. Invariably a system of much stronger local councils and national government sans the provincial element will emerge.

The very real threat to it is being posed by the imposition of the land tax wherein the IMF seems to be looking “move towards a new assessment basis should be accompanied by transferring the authority for the timing of valuations to the central government and the Government Valuation Department (GVD).”¹ and also “transfer the authority for planning of valuations to the GVD.”

Time has passed and nothing has happened

Contrary to the reactionary discourse that followed the event, Ranil Wickremesinghe has emerged unscathed. His social media presence now highlights an even greater number of diplomatic outings, suggesting that the controversy did little more than earn him a perfunctory “I’m sorry you feel that way” apology an all-too-familiar tactic abusers use to deflect responsibility while glossing over the serious shortcomings of the UNP under his family’s stewardship.