By Kassapa
Just when you thought it was safe to watch the news, Sunil Handuneththi has done it again, this time with a blunder of epic proportions, claiming that a Sri Lankan brand of tea has won the Nobel Prize.
A day later Handuneththi publishes an ‘apology’ on social media. He acknowledges it was a mistake and regrets the error, but claims he meant to say that it was a Guinness world record. Then, he takes to attacking as the best form of defence: he claims that his error has been given ‘false’ interpretations leading to a ‘bankrupt’ discourse.
If this was Handuneththi’s first blunder, he may have been pardoned under exceptional circumstances. It is not. A few months ago, he was in the news, fielding questions at the World Economic Forum in English and making a mess of it. Many mocked him for that but the real question was not that he didn’t have an adequate knowledge of English to provide an answer that was both complex and would have included economic jargon.
The actual problem was that he was not humble enough to answer through an interpreter which is a perfectly accepted practice in such discussions. It suggested a lack of humility that one would have expected from a representative of the Jathika Jana Balavegaya (JJB), a party that thrives representing the underdog.
A week ago, Handuneththi struck again. Asked about his declaration of assets at a political talk show, he stopped the interviewer in his tracks, asking ‘oyaata paanda?’, a rather crude way of saying, ‘So, what does it matter to you?’. If people had questions about his declaration of assets, they should file a complaint and deal with it through legal means, he said. Once again, Handuneththi displayed a level of arrogance and impunity not expected of him. This was precisely the arrogance and impunity displayed by politicians of previous regimes that the JJB vowed to eradicate.
Now comes the gaffe about the Nobel prize. Handuneththi blames his ‘error’ has been given ‘false’ interpretations leading to what he calls a ‘bankrupt discourse’. What he is implying is that his blunder is being used to mock him. That is true. Politics is a brutal sport. Opponents will use whatever ammunition they have to hurt their opponents whenever they can. That is the nature of the game. Handuneththi should either toughen up or get out of the political arena.
Besides, when it comes to light that the Cabinet Minister for Industry and Entrepreneurship Development of the country does not know- or has forgotten, if we are being charitable- what the Nobel Prize is for, it is indeed news, whether Handuneththi likes it or not. Even then, if Handuneththi was man enough to say, ‘I made a mistake and I am sorry for that’, most would have laughed at the error and let it go. He does not; he goes on to impute impure motives to his political opponents.
Handuneththi is being mocked mercilessly for his pronunciation of the words ‘big question’ at the Global Business Summit. However, bigger questions underlie his performance and are worthy of some discussion, for it is a reflection of the plight the government and President Anura Kumara Dissanayake in particular finds themselves in.
The obvious query that comes to mind is why Handuneththi is being thrown to the wolves at public events despite his woeful track record. Is he the best the JJB can find, to front the media? If that is so, it is a sad state from which the JJB will be hard pressed to recover because every plaudit Dissanayake earns with his speeches, performance, policies and actions is wiped off the front pages with just a few words from Handuneththi.
Surely, in a party that took pride in saying that they will govern with technocrats and professionals, there must be individuals who can take the heat of media scrutiny in a calmer, more composed manner? At present, the only people capable of doing so appear to be Dissanayake, Premier Harini Amarasuriya, Vijitha Herath and last but not least K.D. Lalkantha who has a style of his own but comes across as genuine, nevertheless. Even Bimal Rathnayake has a short fuse.
Are we to then assume then that the best kept secret of the JJB is finally out, that it lacks men of calibre to take the country forward? No, we are not looking for Athulathmudalis, Dissanayakes or Kadiragamars, even someone who can hold a candle to Mangala Samaraweera will do. So far, we haven’t seen any. That must worry the JJB and its top leadership.
The other question that emerges is whether the President is finding it difficult to sideline those who have been Janatha Vimukthi Peramuna (JVP) cadres for a long period of time- such as Handuneththi, Wasantha Samarasinghe and Nalin Hewage- even when it is obvious that they are more liabilities than assets. Is their long and faithful service to the party preventing more competent people from taking the limelight? If that is so, it is coming at the expense of the government’s popularity.
Governments survive or fall not merely because of their performance. The public’s perception of a regime as competent or incompetent matters. The demise of the ‘yahapalanaya’ government is a classic example because, towards its latter stages it was seen as impotent.
The JJB government, for all its achievements thus far in restoring a semblance of law and order, tackling corruption head on and punishing the corrupt and the criminal and changing the political culture of the country, will be viewed as weak if its ministers are seen as not worthy of the office they hold. Already, Asoka Ranwala has proved that he was not fit to be Speaker. Handuneththi is fast proving that he is not fit to be a minister. There are many more, too numerous to list here.
This is the real danger that confronts the JJB government. With executive powers at his disposal, a two-thirds majority in Parliament and a fractured opposition, he has nothing to fear from the outside. The enemy lies within.
