US embassy cable - 05COLOMBO359

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 02 COLOMBO 000359 
 
SIPDIS 
 
STATE FOR SA/INS 
NSC FOR DORMANDY 
USPACOM FOR FPA 
 
E.O. 12958: DECL: 02/13/2015 
TAGS: PGOV, CE, Political Parties, LTTE - Peace Process 
SUBJECT: SRI LANKA:  COALITION PARTNER BOYCOTTS 
RECONSTRUCTION DEBATE 
 
 
Classified By: DCM JAMES F. ENTWISTLE.  REASON:  1.4 (B,D). 
 
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SUMMARY 
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1.  (C)  Relegated to an undesirable back seat in 
post-tsunami reconstruction, Government coalition partner 
Janatha Vimukthi Peramuna (JVP) demonstrated its displeasure 
by boycotting the February 9 Parliamentary debate on 
reconstruction plans and threatening to resign from the 
Cabinet.  The JVP cited the lack of multipartisan 
participation in key decisions and the potential for the 
insurgent Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) to benefit 
politically from reconstruction as justification for the 
boycott.  The likelier rationale, however, appears somewhat 
more politically self-interested:  concern that the 
Government's Sri Lanka Freedom Party will reap all the credit 
for post-disaster largesse in the JVP's southern 
constituency.  This JVP maneuver is just the latest in a 
series of attempted end runs around the Government that makes 
the party look less like a coalition partner and more like an 
opposition operative.  End summary. 
 
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JVP PEEVED AT BACK-SEAT STATUS; 
STAYS HOME FROM PARLIAMENT 
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2.  (U) The Janatha Vimukthi Peramuna (JVP), the Government's 
contentious coalition partner, boycotted the February 9 
Parliamentary debate on tsunami reconstruction.  The JVP 
leadership cited dissatisfaction with the minor role the 
Government of Sri Lanka (GSL) has assigned it in 
reconstruction planning as the reason for their absence.  The 
JVP was the only no-show at the lively debate.  Even MPs from 
the pro-Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) Tamil 
National Alliance (TNA), who have consistently accused the 
GSL of short-changing Tamil areas in the distribution of aid, 
took part. 
 
3.  (C) Vijitha Herath, the JVP Minister of Culture and 
National Heritage, complained to us that President Chandrika 
Kumaratunga was ignoring his party's recommendations to 
develop a multipartisan consultative mechanism to inform the 
reconstruction process.  Instead, he charged, she had 
appointed Ministers and party members--some of whom are not 
even MPs--from her own Sri Lankan Freedom Party (SLFP) to all 
decision-making positions.  Not a single JVP Minister or MP 
occupied any key position, Herath said, even though many 
represent tsunami-affected districts.  He accused the 
President and other SLFP leaders of using the well-funded 
reconstruction process to serve their own personal and 
political agendas.  When asked why JVP leaders deemed it 
better to boycott the debate than to argue their concerns 
before Parliament, Herath responded that people might 
mistakenly assume, since the JVP is part of the government, 
that it endorses GSL reconstruction plans.  Because the JVP 
had not been consulted in any of the important decisions, "we 
can't take responsibility"--or blame--for how the process 
unfolds, he emphasized.  By not taking part in the debate, 
the party hoped to make that distinction clear to the general 
public, he indicated. 
 
4.  (C)  The JVP's treatment is particularly unfair in light 
of its energetic efforts to help those affected by the 
tsunami, Herath asserted, adding that the party has raised 
 
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nearly $12 million on its own at home and abroad.  This aid 
is being distributed to all affected communities, he 
continued.  The LTTE fears that JVP philanthropic activities 
in the east will increase the party's popularity there, 
especially among Tamils, Herath claimed, and has thus 
fabricated stories about the JVP hijacking aid intended for 
Tamil communities.  (Note:  Jayantha Wijesekera, the 
Tamil-speaking,  rabble-rousing JVP MP for Trincomalee, told 
us that the LTTE is particularly concerned about his appeal 
and has thus threatened him on several occasions.)  When 
asked how the JVP viewed potential GSL/LTTE cooperation on 
tsunami relief, Herath repeated the standard JVP line: 
 
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Cooperation is all right in principle as long as the Tigers 
do not take advantage of it--which, of course, he implied, 
they will. 
 
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SLFP:  JVP FEARS BEING "SIDELINED" 
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5.  (C) According to Maithripala Sirisena, SLFP General 
Secretary, Leader of the House and Minister of River Basin 
 
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Development, however, the JVP has been fully consulted--if 
not placed in positions of actual leadership or 
decision-making authority--at every turn.  The JVP is just 
not cooperative, he charged, adding that at the local level 
even the LTTE is more cooperative than the troublesome GSL 
coalition partner.  Complaints that disaster aid is not being 
distributed equitably are utterly invalid, he stated. JVP 
threats to resign their Cabinet portfolios are mere 
posturing, he said confidently, attributable to a fear of 
being "sidelined" in the reconstruction process.  The 
President seems to share Sirisena's confidence that the JVP 
is just bluffing.  Reacting angrily to a press query on the 
topic at a public gathering in Gampaha District on February 
13, Kumaratunga reportedly dared her coalition partner to act 
on its oft-repeated threat to quit the government, 
responding, "They can leave if they wish." 
 
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COMMENT 
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6.  (C) The JVP has threatened to quit the government 
numerous times since joining the coalition after 
Parliamentary elections in April over a variety of 
issues--from privatization to water management to labor union 
disputes to the peace process.  Reconstruction is only the 
most recent bone of contention--but it is also the one with 
potentially the highest stakes.  The JVP's southern Sinhalese 
stronghold suffered some of the worst damage wrought by the 
December 26 disaster, and the party has been particularly 
active in organizing and distributing relief.  For southern 
voters, the allocation of aid resources likely trumps 
concerns about the peace process--which the JVP had 
manipulated to lure away Sinhalese support for the SLFP--as 
the issue nearest their hearts.  But the south is an 
important vote bank for the SLFP as well, and the party is 
unlikely to cede the lead in reconstruction in the Sinhalese 
heartland to its fractious coalition partner.  Before the 
tsunami struck, the President cited the need to retain 
 
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crucial JVP support as a major obstacle to resuming 
negotiations with the Tigers.  The outpouring of sympathy and 
assistance for the GSL, both from at home and abroad, since 
December 26 seems to have allayed some of the President's 
earlier concerns about upsetting her coalition partner. 
Regardless of SLFP claims to include the JVP in 
reconstruction planning, it seems clear that the President 
has decided that this partnership will not include sharing 
positions of leadership--and the ability to dole out 
resources--with the junior member. 
LUNSTEAD