The Hon. G.G. Ponnambalam

¶ 01 Hon. Presiding Member, I wish to commence by making some comments regarding certain remarks made yesterday. The Hon. Ramalingam Chandrasekar, Minister of Fisheries, Aquatic and Ocean Resources, spoke very eloquently about the Government’s policy on dealing with drugs. The war against drugs is something that we, as a party, fully support because the Northern and Eastern Provinces are the worst affected by that menace. In the course of his comments, I interjected with his permission and mentioned that unless the Government deals with the involvement of the military in the spreading of drugs, this matter cannot be dealt with in the North and the East. It is an unfortunate hangover from the war years. As we know, Sir, during the war, the military establishment had a counter-insurgency strategy, and that strategy, unfortunately, involved the spread of drugs in the North and the East so that the youth did not go and join the LTTE. Similarly, there were other vices that were systematically spread. But now, the war is over; it has been 17 years since then, and we have consistently been asking consecutive governments since the end of the war to deal with that counter-insurgency strategy because for as long as the military remains in the North and the East in the way that they do and still have that same mindset, then dealing with issues such as drugs – the war against drugs – would be an utter failure.

¶ 02 When I made those comments, the Hon. Minister of Fisheries, Aquatic and Ocean Resources stood up and agreed with me. He has been living in Jaffna for the last 15 or 16 years, representing the JVP. He cannot say that what I said is a lie because then he cannot go to Jaffna. So, naturally, the Hon. Minister, in a responsible way, agreed. But, to my surprise, the Hon. Deputy Minister of Defence, who is here – I started my comments today with this issue because he is here – stood up and denied it; when his speech came up soon after, he denied it saying that the military is very pure and that Gajendrakumar Ponnambalam must produce the evidence. Sir, I can tell you with utmost responsibility that when the people affected go to the police station to make complaints against the military, the police refuse to accept those statements. When these matters have been brought up every month in the District Coordinating Committee – not only during this Government’s time, but even during previous governments’ time; not only during the times of Ranil Wickremesinghe or Gotabaya Rajapaksa, but even before that during Mahinda Rajapaksa’s time – even the Chairmen of the DCC, who have always been from the government, agreed that the military is involved. But here, the Deputy Minister of Defence of a Government that calls for a system change standing up and completely denying it is unacceptable. I say with utmost responsibility that the military has a presence in that. In the Vanni, the ratio of military presence is 1:2 – for every two citizens, you have one military personnel. Do you mean to tell me that without the military’s knowledge the drug menace could happen? In Jaffna, that ratio is 1:14 officially, and with military intelligence we know it is much higher. Please do not try to fool us. I do not want to make personal comments against the Deputy Minister of Defence.

¶ 03 We know that when he was in charge of the Eastern Province and when two police officers were killed at the Vavunativu checkpoint, the LTTE was accused. They tried to make out that it was former LTTE cadres attempting to recreate the LTTE, which was an utter lie, and he was the Commander of the Eastern Province at that time. I do not want to cast personal aspersions, but I am saying this with utmost responsibility.

¶ 04 This Government has our best wishes and will have our entire support in the war on drugs and other vices. But I am telling you again: in the North and the East, unless you deal with the military’s involvement, you will never get rid of that menace. And I can tell you again, it is retired military officers who are now involved in the entrenched drug menace in the South because you did not deal with it in the last 17 years. It is now a menace even in the South. So, for God’s sake, please make sure that Deputy Ministers of Defence do not whitewash what is essentially a cancer that started in the North and the East and is now spreading all over the country.

¶ 05 Sir, I read through the entire Budget Speech. I am not a fast reader. President Anura Kumara Dissanayake might have taken four-and-a-half hours to deliver it, but I took about six to seven hours to read, and I went through all the supporting documents. This Budget, unlike the previous one – the NPP’s first Budget – says nothing about the North and the East. At least in the first Budget there was some tokenism about roads for the Northern Province: Rs. 5 billion for new roads, made out to be a huge amount. The Northern Province has five districts; that is about Rs. 1 billion per district. I asked the Divisional Secretaries what that means in practical terms. They said 20 kilometres of roads per district. That was the so-called emphasis for the Northern Province; for the Eastern Province, there was nothing except a sentence: “India will take care of the Eastern Province.” In Jaffna, Rs. 1 billion under this Government compared to Rs. 1.2 billion the previous year under Ranil Wickremesinghe – actually a reduction of Rs. 0.2 billion. That is what happened last time.

¶ 06 At least there was that tokenism. This time, not even that – nothing for the North and the East, which were war zones for almost 35 years and faced an economic embargo. In 2001, when I first became an MP, a litre of petrol in Jaffna was Rs. 2,000. Do you think during those 35 years we could have grown our economy? We were systematically pauperized in the name of fighting the LTTE; it was the average Tamil-speaking people who were pauperized. Today, there is no war. In the 17 years since the end of the war, has any government chosen to recognize that the North and the East are different from the rest of the country?

¶ 07 No. By this Government’s own logic, you could not expect that from previous “racist” governments. But this Government came on “system change,” as a leftist party. Leftism, last I checked, is pro-protectionism – protecting the weakened so they can later compete. That has not happened in one year.

¶ 08 In this Budget, the North/East are mentioned only twice. One is the Lower Malwathu Oya Multipurpose Development Project with Rs. 5,000 million allocated, primarily for irrigation and agriculture in the Northern Province, particularly Mannar. I say with utmost responsibility: this was identified under Gotabaya Rajapaksa as well. We objected then. Only 15 Muslim families would actually be affected by submergence, but the Government identified 1,500 Sinhala families from Anuradhapura as “affected” and planned to relocate them into Cheddikulam, Vavuniya South. Divisional Secretaries confirmed to us those 1,500 had no connection. We oppose demographic reengineering of the North and East. Last Budget also mentioned this project and another in Batticaloa; this time, Batticaloa is dropped but Malwathu Oya remains.

¶ 09 The other mention is development of four airports – Hingurakgoda, Sigiriya, Trincomalee and Jaffna – with Rs. 1,000 million in total. That is Rs. 250 million per airport. You would struggle to build a luxury house in Colombo for that today. Jaffna is supposed to be an international airport. Whom are you fooling?

¶ 10 One positive: as Minister of Finance, the President pledges to increase the allocation for 2,500 homes from Rs. 3,850 million to Rs. 5,000 million – about Rs. 2 million per house. We welcome that but it is only 2,500 homes. India gave 50,000 houses, including to our Malaiyaha Tamils. You should think at that scale for a war-affected area. Put things in perspective: it has been 17 years after the war. A Government that claims to change the entire system must see the immense gap between the North/East and the rest, or else you create a situation where people cannot compete and are forced to flee the country. Is that what you want?

¶ 11 Refusing to accept the North and the East as having special status means deliberately perpetuating a situation where those people are forced to leave the country because they cannot eke out an existence. That is no system change; it perpetuates the rotten system the Rajapaksas pursued through racist policies. That has to change, and I ask the Government to kindly intervene at the highest level.

¶ 12 I am concluding, Sir. Sri Lanka must integrate with South India. If Sri Lanka is to reach its true potential, it has to integrate with South India’s economy. When India offers to help, are you accepting it? No. You look at everything with suspicion. You are giving only Rs. 250 million to develop Palaly Airport, whereas India said they would develop the entire Palaly Airport with their own funds. You are putting blocks to it – just as the previous Government did. You even had to change the Minister because he was a hurdle. Not a word about accepting India’s offer to develop Phase II of Palaly – to resurface the remainder so aircraft from Singapore, Dubai, etc., can land directly. Why can you not do that?

¶ 13 So, if you are serious about changing the economy, you have to integrate with South India, and to do that you must completely change your regional perspective.

¶ 14 Thank you.