How to torpedo MCC compact

Saturday 12th September, 2020

Opposition Leader Sajith Premadasa, addressing Parliament, on Thursday, made no bones about his opposition to the Millennium Challenge Corporation (MCC) compact, which, he said, he had opposed as a minister of the yahapalana Cabinet. He said there had been no change in his stance thereon; he considers the compact detrimental to the interests of Sri Lanka. He may not have been able to express his views freely as a member of the UNP-led regime, which was an American puppet, but he is free to do so now. He asked the government to reveal its position on the MCC compact. The SLPP, which accused him of duplicity, must be regretting that it provoked him. He has checkmated the government.

The SLPP, during the previous dispensation, said the MCC compact was a danger to Sri Lanka’s sovereignty and territorial integrity. It called upon the yahapalana administration to reject it out of hand. Some SLPP heavyweights even claimed that the MCC compact would enable the US to acquire a vast tract of land stretching from Colombo to Trincomalee and divide the country into two. But following last year’s presidential election, these grandees who wrap themselves in the flag and would have us believe that they are even ready to lay down their lives for the country have made a U-turn; suddenly, they have found some welcome features in the MCC compact! (Strangely, they have chosen to ignore the progressive sections in the 19th Amendment, which they are all out to get rid of!)

The SLPP politicians are behaving like the proverbial curate, who lacked the courage to tell his host cum master that the egg on his plate was bad; they are too timid to give Uncle Sam their candid opinion on the MCC. They are in an unenviable position. They fear to tell the US they will not allow the implementation of the MCC compact; at the same time, they cannot tell Sri Lankans that they are not in a position to resist US pressure, which is mounting. They are blowing hot and cold on the issue. Prevarication, obfuscation and vacillation will not help the government tackle the MCC issue. It has to grasp the nettle.

The only way the government can wriggle out of this situation is to have the MCC compact shot down in Parliament. During the abortive October coup in 2018, the US joined other western nations in pressuring the Joint Opposition to uphold the supremacy of Parliament and respect parliamentary majority.

So, if the MCC compact is presented to Parliament and shot down, the US, being the biggest exporter of democracy in the world, will not be able to protest. The SLPP ought to get its MPs to vote against the MCC en bloc. It can muster a two-thirds majority (150) in Parliament, and Sajith has 54 seats. The JVP has also opposed the MCC compact publicly and, therefore, will have to vote against it. Thus, even without the help of others, those who claim to be opposed to the MCC compact will have 207 votes among them. If 207 MPs in a 225-member house reject a compact, nobody who claims to uphold democracy will be able to ask Sri Lanka to sign it.

Opposition Leader Premadasa has talked the talk––very eloquently––and now he has to walk the walk. Let him be urged to prove that he is actually opposed to the MCC by moving a motion in Parliament against it so that all SLPP, SJB and JVP MPs will have to back it or be exposed for their hypocrisy. Or, the JVP can do so and steal a march on others. It behoves those who claim to be opposed to the MCC compact to fish or cut bait.