The budget vote, a divided opposition and difficulties ahead

The second reading of the budget was passed on the 22nd of this month. The budget offered no relief to the people and is widely believed to have been drawn up in line with International Monetary Fund (IMF) requirements  
One-hundred-and-twenty-one MPs voted in favour. Included in this number were members of the CWC. Eighty-four members from the SJB, the JVP/JJB, the SLFP and SLPP dissidents voted against.   

MP Vigneswaran of the TMTK abstained and 18 Members of Parliament including all members of the TNA were absent.  Jaffna district MP D. Sidthadthan speaking on the reasons why the TNA’s did not vote against the budget, said his party decided not to vote against the budget and absent themselves from parliament on the day, was to appreciate the promise made by President Wickremesinghe to present proposals to find a solution to the vexing National Question (ethnic problem) by the next Independence Day.   

While the budget offers no relief in the immediate future, it presents a long-term plan to help this country out of the present economic crisis. Therefore while remaining in the opposition, we decided not to oppose the budget as a means of appreciating the president’s effort to find a solution to the ethnic problem, as well as not to create unnecessary obstacles in the path of obtaining an IMF bailout package.  

Eight other MPs also absented themselves on the day when votes were to be cast. Our country is caught up in its worst economic crisis. The IMF bailout offers a long-term plan to overcome the problem.   

We and our countrymen and women are called on to make sacrifices for problems caused by our ruling classes. But in our own way ‘we the people’ are responsible for voting into power political parties and leaders with known reputations of corruption, criminal behaviour and past records of breaking promises .  In 1994 Mexico faced a situation somewhat similar to ours and was forced to apply to the IMF for a bailout package, ultimately receiving an IMF package of $50 billion.   

During that time Mexico experienced severe inflation, extreme poverty prices skyrocketed as real wages plummeted and unemployment nearly doubled. Prices increased by 35% in 1995. 

Nominal wages were sustained, but real wages fell by 25-35% over the same year. Unemployment climbed to 7.4% in 1995.  

In the formal sector alone, over one million people lost their jobs and average real wages decreased by 13.5% throughout 1995. Overall household incomes plummeted by 30% in the same year. Mexico’s extreme poverty grew to 37% in 1996  

Despite the major hardships and problems ordinary Mexicans faced, by strictly adhering to IMF guidelines and conditions Mexico was able to repay creditors by 2001.   Today our country is facing problems of a similar magnitude and there is no easy way out of the difficulties facing our people. It does appear that in the immediate future problems will increase.  

But our creditors are calling for repayment and pay we have to.   Simplistic calls for a change of government or particular individuals will not change our financial and economic situation. Political parties, need to understand this salient fact if Lanka is to ever recover from this economic and financial crisis. It’s time to grow up, mature and create conditions necessary to help the country’s economy to take off. 

Parties in opposition are not expected to oppose every measure for the sake of opposing it. For instance, the problems of the minorities in the country have been hanging fire since independence. Rather than suggesting solutions to the issue, all political parties are guilty of rousing ethnic tensions to achieve short-sighted party-political gains.

A responsible opposition must at given times work together with government to help solve important national issues... perhaps even playing the role of ‘devil’s advocate’ The budget vote of a few days ago, also exposed divisions within the opposition itself. Rather than putting forward alternate plans for consideration, opposition parties limit themselves to criticism of individuals and calls for militant action leading to regime change.

Sadly the experience from the French revolution to the ‘Arab Spring’ , is that such changes result only in further destabilization. In the case of France, the revolution brought in Napoleon Bonaparte or as in Chile, the overthrow of President Allande brought into power the brutal dictator Pinochet under whose diktat the number of executions and forced disappearances was at least 3,095.  Lanka has already had more than its fair share of killings and counter killings. At this moment our goal is to help the hundreds of thousands who are suffering malnutrition lack of medicines, joblessness and axed wages out of the bonds which shackle them.  
Let’s drop personal agendas and get on with this task.