Crony Capitalism I think, is the ugliest of the ugly features of the prevailing system introduced and established by J.R. Jayewardene. It has bred a group of persons like poisonous snakes who were fondled by Jayewardene and were permitted to suck the life blood of the nation. These snakes have no feeling for the country. They can only suck as much blood as they want from whomever they like. They were given that privilege by Jayewardene.
The man who introduced Crony Capitalism is no longer the ruler of this country. Now he is only a former President living in retirement at public expense. The majestic and tyrannical ruler is now in his dotage. He is too weak even to think coherently of his own vile and villainies of the past. None of his chief lieutenants who helped him to introduce the system are alive today. The vicious system created by him has survived all the main leaders too, leaving him alone to witness all that. When the law fails to ensure justice, I think fate does it. Once I had an innocent wish that Mr. Jayewardene should live long enough to see with his own eyes the collapse of the corrupt system created by him.
I must say that when the UNP Government was heading for defeat at the last Parliamentary
Elections I was happy that my wish was being fulfilled. Even in the mind of the proud old leader, who always arouses an indulgent smile rather than anger, the pending change of Government probably led to misgivings.
He certainly would not have liked the sight of the new head of state who was emerging. He
could not have entirely forgotten the vicious steps he had taken against her mother (Sirima
Bandaranaike) and her husband (Vijaya Kumaratunga). Considering the fact that he had meted out cruel punishments to them for offences which could be considered trivial when compared with the very serious offences committed by himself, he would not have expected the new leader who was coming to power to be kind to him.
However, now he must be wondering whether it was not a storm in a tea cup rather than a real political storm that had frightened a man of his stature. That his followers had been defeated at the elections was a different matter. But when he saw that the political storm he had feared would bring about great changes had failed to cause even minor damage to the vicious system he had created, that fact must have undoubtedly rejuvenated the venerable old leader. It is not difficult to imagine how delighted he must have been when he saw that a party hated by him had, instead of hating him, begun loving him and that his cronies, the serpents, were becoming pets of the new rulers too.
This flock of cronies who emerged and fattened themselves under the special patronage of Presidents J.R. Jayewardene, R. Premadasa and D.B Wijetunga may appear to be extremely
dangerous snakes to us but the three former Presidents saw them as a group of their own fond
children whom they were obliged to safeguard and protect. Those rulers thought of the country as their private property and allowed those children of theirs to suck the life blood of the nation as much as they liked. Ordinary people like us had to be bound by laws, rules and regulations, while these people were not. They had been given the right not only to plunder the country at will, but even to murder its citizens.
This extraordinary group controlled every important transaction in the country. It was they who finally decided what this country must buy, what it should sell, what projects to set up etc. The state banks were obliged to give them unlimited credit facilities. In obtaining loans, they did not have to provide collaterals, nor was their suitability to get loans examined, as is usually done. They had not only the right to get loans, but even the right not to repay them, if they so wished.
They became the new owners or middlemen when state enterprises were sold to the private
sector, and thereby bolstered the economic dominance they had already secured for
themselves. It was mainly they who decided who should get the state institutions which were
sold. They purchased at their own prices the institutions they chose to buy. Very often they paid for them not with their own funds but with bank drafts.
The impeachment, the Premadasa assassination, the Provincial Council Elections, the utter
defeat of the UNP at the Southern Provincial Council Election etc. probably made them
understand that the country was moving towards a political change, and made them uneasy
about what was in store for them. So they followed a policy of moving cautiously towards those who were next coming to power. The People’s Alliance was in need of funds for the Parliamentary and Presidential election campaigns. In the end the serpents were able to become close friends of the PA by supplying it with more funds than were necessary.
It was a different matter that the PA had already placed a large number of firm promises before the people about the need to oust these serpents. But the PA was not a group trained for the purpose of building an alternative political culture essential for a serious transformation.
Therefore, it is probable that they had a realistic understanding of the dangers of getting
enmeshed in the coils of those serpents. To the extent that they craved for money, the grasp of
the serpents tightened, and they became pets of the new rulers too.
If that is the situation at present, it is impossible to expect that the general treasury will be able
to get back the tens of millions of Rupees the misappropriated by Maharajas, the
Paskaralingams, and the Jayakodys through the Airbus deal. It is impossible to think that the
Government will be able to get back the two most fertile tea estates encompassing 3114 acres
of land which has been developed by the Government at a cost of 80 million Rupees and was leased to the Maharajahs at the cost of Rs 121 per acre. It is unlikely that the general treasury will be able to take over the sum of Rs. 950 million improperly paid to the Nawaloka Group for lands acquired for a road which was being built in connection with a container yard at the time the impeachment motion was being defeated, or the other losses caused by similar
transactions. It is unlikely that the daily tribute of Rupees One lakh paid to the Grayline
Company can be stopped. It is also unlikely that the additional funds due to the Treasury for the state enterprises improperly usurped can be recovered. It is impossible to expect that the sum amounting to nearly 30 million Rupees borrowed from the state banks by this crowd and
defaulted, will be recovered.
Even Aquino who is said to be an irresolute leader followed a more effective course of action
against the plunder of the country by the Marcos clique. She even went before the International Court of Justice to get back the wealth that was due to the country. But it is very clear that our Government is not prepared even to go as far as Aquino in spite of the promises made to the people and the oath taken before the Bandaranaike Samadhi. From the limits set to the anti-corruption enactments it is apparent that the Government is not prepared to deal seriously with any offences committed before December 15, 1994. It is national wealth that this crowd had misappropriated. The Government itself admits that these people have misappropriated these funds. The Government is also aware of the individuals involved. But the Government says that there is no way of recovering the funds or claiming damages. If the Government has no way of correcting such major wrongs, such a Government can only be considered an impotent Government and not one that works for the welfare of the people. I think a force that could not be defeated by ballots has been defeated by pellets covered with honey! What shall we do now?
Crony Capitalism had to be made powerless not because the public envied the persons that
represented it, but because it acted as a brake on the progress of the country. If the PA
Government does not fulfil that essential condition for the country’s progress, the people will
certainly look for some other path for that purpose. People handed over to Chandrika
Kumaratunga the task of building a new land to replace J.R. Jayewardene’s corrupt one. If she
does not fulfil that duty and obligation, the people probably will not entirely give up their aim of a new country.
The solution to these problems is certainly not to bring back to power the UNP which was
responsible for this sad state of affairs. An extremist party like the JVP which almost drowned the country in a river of blood cannot be a solution either. An organised civil movement which gives up faith in individuals and supports serious steps taken by any Government which comes to power and acts to defeat whatever wrong it does, can minimise the harm done to the country by the lunacy of these politicians. I think the time has come for such an organised movement of the people.