US embassy cable - 05COLOMBO1858

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 02 COLOMBO 001858 
 
SIPDIS 
 
E.O. 12958: DECL: 10/27/2015 
TAGS: PGOV, PREL, CE 
SUBJECT: AMBASSADOR'S CALL ON PRESIDENT KUMARATUNGA:  THE 
GRANDEUR FADES 
 
 
Classified By: Ambassador Jeffrey J. Lunstead for reasons 1.4 (b)and (d 
). 
 
Criticism of Mahinda 
-------------------- 
 
1. (C) I met with President Chandrika Bandaranaike 
Kumaratunga one-on-one late in the evening of October 26.  As 
Kumaratunga appeared from a Cabinet meeting, I commented that 
she looked tired from the campaign.  "Not tired," she said, 
"frustrated."  She then launched into criticism of Prime 
Minister and Presidential candidate Mahinda Rajapakse.  She 
said that Mahinda was turning against all the policies which 
she had instituted during her eleven year rule, but that he 
had never criticized them before.  Now, she said, he had 
foolishly signed an agreement with the JVP, which wanted to 
destroy the SLFP.  I said that Mahinda had told me that he 
could control the JVP.  "He can't," she replied, "he is not 
strong enough."  Kumaratunga said that she thought the race 
was very tight, too close to call. 
 
And the Chief Justice Also 
-------------------------- 
 
2.  (C) I asked Kumaratunga if she had been surprised when 
the Supreme Court ruled in August that her term ended in 
2005, not in 2006. "Surprised" did not cover her reaction, 
she said--the Chief Justice had personally and repeatedly 
assured her that her term lasted until 2006. The Chief 
Justice had also advised her to take her oath of office 
twice, which later led to great controversy. She had many 
plans for her last year in office, both professional and 
personal--now they were all gone. 
 
3. (C) Kumaratunga mentioned that she had heard that a 
Fundamental Rights Petition had just been filed in the 
Supreme Court by one of the minor Presidential candidates 
asking the Court to bar voting by voters from "uncleared" 
(i.e., Tiger-controlled) areas. I told her that such an 
action would be a terrible mistake, immediately calling into 
question the validity of the election. She agreed but said 
that given the way the CJ was acting, anything was possible. 
((We had also heard of this petition, and we understand that 
the CJ might rule today on the request for interim relief in 
the form of a stay. Since it is widely assumed that almost 
all of these voters would choose Ranil Wickremasinghe, 
barring their votes could well tip the election.)  I told her 
that it was important to us and the international community 
that the election be free and fair. 
 
 
More Friendly Towards Ranil 
--------------------------- 
 
4. (C) I asked the President about her Monday meeting with 
Opposition UNP candidate Ranil Wickremasinghe. She said that 
Ranil had requested the meeting to discuss the Peace Process. 
 He told her that he thought the UNP and SLFP should work 
together for peace. "I told him," she said, "that I had been 
offering that for ten years, and he had not responded." 
(Comment: Not likely to endear her to Ranil.) Nonetheless, it 
had been a good meeting. I asked if there had been any 
specific outcome.  No, she said, it was just a first meeting 
and a general discussion.  What happens in the future, she 
said, "depends on the outcome of the election." 
 
See You Soon? 
------------- 
 
5.  (C) I asked the President if she had anything she wanted 
to raise with me.  She said she did not, then suddenly said: 
"Would you be available to see me in 10 days or two weeks?  I 
want to discuss some things with my Ministers, and then I 
will have some specific things to raise with you." I assured 
her that I would be available.  Before I left, in the course 
of personal conversation (her son's recent graduation from 
vet school, etc.), she asked me twice more if I would be 
available to see her. 
 
Atmospherics 
------------ 
 
6.  (C) We met in the President's small private office in the 
back of the Presidency.  The bookshelves, which were 
previously full of personal mementos, photos of her children 
and late husband, and so forth, were bare. Kumaratunga said 
she was busy packing up and planning the new house she was 
going to build.  She seemed distracted and much less focused 
than usual. 
 
COMMENT 
------- 
 
7. (C) The President's comment about a possible future role 
depending on the outcome of the election is intriguing, as is 
the very fact of her meeting with Ranil Wickremasinghe.  The 
analogy would be as if Bill Clinton had met with George W. 
Bush right before the 2000 election and then hinted that he 
might have a future political role if Al Gore lost. The 
President's open disdain for her party's own candidate, 
Mahinda Rajapakse, confirms our view that she will do the 
minimum necessary as a party loyalist to support him, but 
little more than that. 
LUNSTEAD