SL Muslim Congress crosses floor before key vote

COLOMBO: With one more day for the decisive third and final vote on the government’s 2008 budget, the Sri Lanka Muslim Congress (SLMC) on Wednesday left President Mahinda Rajapakse’s alliance government, crossing over to the main opposition, the United National Party.

The SLMC which is the main political party representing the country’s Muslims said it had taken the decision to resign from the government as no attention had been paid to the issues put forward by them.

Addressing Parliament before he crossed over with four of his party members, SLMC leader Rauff Hakeem who is also the Minister of Posts and Telecommunications said he was unable to work with the government as it had ‘a far right wing slant’ when dealing with the minorities.

Speaking to Dawn the SLMC leader said that the government had failed to resolve key grievances faced by the Muslim community.

Meanwhile sources said the Eastern Province Mosques Federation had written to President Mahinda Rajapakse regarding several issues such as acquisition of lands occupied by eastern Muslims and the recent restriction on the use of loudspeakers in mosques. The SLMC which had been affiliated with Ranil Wickremesinghe’s United National Party (UNP) switched its support to President Mahinda Rajapakse following his victory at the Presidential election in November 2005. However, in the recent months the SLMC leader has been increasingly critical of the Executive Presidency and has refused to accept the SLFP regime’s ‘war for peace’ theory.

Last week in a public lecture Rauff Hakeem stressed the need for pruning the powers of the Executive President, stating that the concentration of power in one person’s hands did not bode well for the country.

“The Muslims, and perhaps the plantation Tamils, had thought that the executive presidency would give them leverage, especially during election time, but by trial and error it has been realised that this was mistake,” Hakeem said.

Meanwhile political sources say there is a possibility of the plantation Tamil party, the Ceylon Worker’s Congress (CWC) following in the footsteps of the SLMC.

CWC sources when contacted said they were still undecided whether the party would support the government at Friday’s budget reading or not.

The CWC in the past months have had serious disagreements with the government but despite threats of resigning and giving up the ministerial posts its members hold, has stuck on. But recently Arumugam Thondaman, party leader of the CWC filed a fundamental rights petition against the mass arrests of Tamil civilians, a move which some say is likely to be followed by the party joining the Opposition.

Last month, at the preliminary budget vote, with the SLMC and CWC voting for and the once staunch supporters of President Rajapakse, the Marxist Janatha Vimukthi Peramuna (JVP) and the pro LTTE Tamil National Alliance (TNA) voting against, the budget was passed in the 225 member parliament by 16 votes.

But on Friday’s up coming final budget reading, if the SLMC and the CWC vote against the government and the JVP once again oppose the budget, then analysts say there will be a jolt for the government but many doubt whether the opposing numbers would be enough to defeat Mahinda Rajapakse’s regime.

Also political observers point out that the JVP would not want to topple the government and usher in the pro peace United National Party (UNP) which the LTTE bashing Marxists sees as its arch political enemy.

Meanwhile, in the increasing intriguing saga of the budget vote, the Tamil National Alliance (TNA) claims that relatives of three of its members have been abducted by a pro government para military group, threatening to kill them if the TNA members vote against the budget.

All the three victims have been abducted in eastern Batticaloa on Tuesday, sources said.