JVP murders proponents for third term; JR advised to continue by Rajiv and Lee

(Excerpted from volume ii of Sarath Amunugama autobiograph

The third Presidential election was due in 1989 and JRJ was under pressure to decide on his party candidate in good time. Premadasa was taking an early lead for the nomination supported by Ranjan Wijeratne who was, as mentioned earlier, appointed the President and Secretary of the UNP and also, as an army volunteer officer the leader in the fight back against the JVP military wing.

At this stage JRJ got a message from Rajiv Gandhi that he should contest the forthcoming election as the implementation of the Indo-Lanka accord would need his steadying hand. This was reinforced by a call from Lee Kuan Yew that JRJ should continue for another six years as President if Sri Lanka was to emerge from its crisis-ridden present. In all likelihood Lalith and Gamini who were wary of the Prime Minister would have encouraged the old man as did his coterie of intimate friends who were loath to relinquish all that power if there was a change of President.

JRJ was in two minds but he allowed a study of the constitutional implications of such a move, as his own constitution had restricted a President’s terms of office to two. Menikdiwela, a firm advocate of the third term, then collared two loyal MPs, Lionel Jayatilleke and Merril Kariyawasam, to propose that JRJ should run for a third term. He would never have done that without JRJ’s blessings. However both proposer and seconder were gunned down by the JVP within days and with Premadasa’s belligerence JRJ was forced to give up the idea, especially because his wife strongly opposed such a move and probably thereby saved his life.

Mrs. Jayewardene consistently backed Premadasa and saved him from the internal battles that have marked other political parties .Another key factor was the unstinted support given to the PM by Ranjan Wijeratne who almost single-handedly battled the JVP to the bitter end. He told JRJ that only Premadasa had a chance of giving a fight to Mrs. Bandaranaike who was to be the Opposition candidate. This was accepted by JRJ who knew that Mrs. B would loath to be defeated by Premadasa for both political and social reasons.

I was present in JRJ’s office in Braemar on November 5, 1988 when Premadasa and Ranjan barged in, in an aggressive manner and began arguing with JRJ who had just concluded a negotiation with Mrs. B to dissolve Parliament simultaneously with the calling of nominations for the Presidency. He had assured her and through her the Opposition, including the JVP, that the election would be fair. The JVP had asked for an all-party monitoring committee to oversee the election.

This decision, taken without consulting the main interested party namely Premadasa, naturally infuriated him and he and Ranjan burst into JRJ’s office and rudely criticized the President for this decision which they said undercut UNP chances of winning the election. Premadasa said that he was withdrawing his nomination and JRJ could field anyone he wanted in the forthcoming election. He wanted to contest the Presidency as the incumbent PM with a two third majority in Parliament and if that was not possible he was out of the running.

Ranjan also strongly backed Premadasa and said that the party would fare badly with any other candidate. JRJ then simply stared at the two heavyweights and made a typically bold instantaneous decision. He got Mrs. Bandaranaike on the line and told her that he was withdrawing his pledge to dissolve Parliament. “Premadasa is here in my office protesting against my decision”, he told Mrs. B, “so I have no choice but to go back on my word”.

She did not have a long response but apparently protested and cut the line. Her dismay is seen in the following paragraph of her letter sent the following day. “To my astonishment you telephoned me about one and a half hours later to inform me that after talking to the Prime Minister and some other ministers you were no longer able to fulfill the undertaking you gave me a short time before, unless the JVP agreed to serve in the interim cabinet”.

After the volte face JRJ smiled weakly at his PM and party secretary and ambled out of his office and went upstairs. But obviously that was the decisive moment when the President was outmaneuvered, and the initiative passed on to Premadasa and his well-oiled propaganda machine led by Sirisena Cooray. Notwithstanding these humiliations JRJ and his wife believed that it was only Premadasa who could deliver victory to the UNP, and they were proved right.

He got Lalith and Gamini to propose Premadasa’s name as the UNP candidate and addressed his inaugural meeting in Kandy. Tempted by Premadasa’s cynical offer of the Premiership to them both, the young aspirants .campaigned hard for him, which enabled the UNP to present a united front. Only Ronnie de Mel, who never liked the PM, changed sides and earned the wrath of Premadasa and the UNP. His role as a front ranker in the local political scene was over though later from time to time, he held several portfolios under other Presidents.

The third presidential election was held in December 1988 with Premadasa and Mrs. B as the key contestants. It was an election in which the contestants had to wade through a river of blood as the JVP used all their strength to sabotage it. It took great courage for Premadasa to carry out his election campaign amidst much difficulty. The odds were stacked against him. Mrs. B was the opponent who had the advantage of the anti-incumbency factor.

Many private sector bigwigs who normally fund the UNP crossed over to her camp especially because Ronnie de Mel was her chief fund raiser earning for himself the eternal hatred of Premadasa. All the skills that Premadasa had mastered in Colombo Central stood him in good stead. His chief of staff was Sirisena Cooray, and all decision making was devolved on him. He used the resources of the Colombo Municipality for his campaign as he was the mayor.

In spite of the naysayers, Cooray decided to hold their inaugural meeting in Kandy. He employed `Soththi Upali’ a gangster and Municipal contractor to rival the JVP in launching their poster campaign throughout the country on one night, thereby challenging the ‘mystique’ that the JVP assiduously cultivated as the ‘second government’ which could enforce its will countrywide.

The mammoth Kandy meeting was a game changer. Usually a UNP stronghold, its Kandy supporters welcomed the new populist approach of Premadasa and ignored the death threats which were by now familiar tactics of the armed wing of the JVP. In Kandy, Premadasa was helped by the support extended by the new Chief Minister of the Central Provincial Council and its members in spite of the fact that the PM had opposed the formation of Provincial Councils.

It was also a poignant moment for JRJ since it was his last major political intervention which ended a long and distinguished career. He called on the party to work hard for Premadasa whom he endorsed publicly as the winning candidate. By this time Premadasa had made it clear that JRJ would be a liability for his campaign and was not at all enthusiastic about his participation. When JRJ returned to President’s House in Kandy after the meeting, he knew that the leadership had moved to the PM, and he was to be a mere spectator. He took it with his usual inscrutability.

In addition to his courage and ambition, Premadasa planned his campaign with his usual panache. He persuaded Ossie Abeygunasekera, a Vijaya Kumaratunga loyalist, to contest the Presidency. A brilliant speaker, Ossie concentrated on attacking Mrs. B and drawing away her votes. TheJVP too attacked her which added to her lackluster performance during the election campaign. Premadasa who was eight years younger than Mrs. B, exploited the age factor which would have been a liability if JRJ had contested.

When the results were declared Premadasa had squeaked in with a much reduced poll. Ossie had also drawn a significant number of votes and added to Mrs. B’s embarrassment. When the results were announced she refused to come to the counting centre to make her concession speech thereby confirming JRJ’s prediction that she was socially uncomfortable to be challenged by an outsider like Premadasa.

In a sense this election marked the eclipse of both JRJ and Mrs. B. The former retired from the scene while the latter hung on but did not have the unquestioned authority she wielded in her halcyon years.

Soon after his victory the new President called for a parliamentary election in February which was in any case due in 1989. For the Presidential election Premadasa had wooed the minorities, especially Ashraff, who had emerged as the leader of the Eastern Province Muslims and was able to drive a hard bargain in reducing the ‘cut off point’ for eligibility for election, from the previous eight to five percent, thereby opening a Panaoras box 61 small ethnic parties which could bargain for ministerial positions, ambassadorships and state corporation jobs in exchange for their crucial support in Parliament.

These transactions or ‘deals’ became a regular feature of Sri Lankan politics and have added to the corruption which is now endemic in Sri Lankan politics.