Sri Lanka: Jobs for the boys, doles for the rest

By Nirupama Subramanian

COLOMBO, NOV. 16. With just three weeks to go before the parliamentary election, the Sri Lankan Government is handing out doles, jobs and other incentives undeterred by Opposition protests that it is bribing voters.

The state-run radio Sri Lanka Broadcasting Corporation announced today that the Government was giving a grant of Rs. 25,000 each to 2,000 people who lost their jobs in a general strike two decades ago.

The Cabinet also approved sharp hikes in monthly doles to families identified under a state poverty alleviation scheme. As many as 24,000 families are expected to benefit from the increase.

But that is not all. A variety of sops are on offer as the Government tries to reach out to maximum numbers in the time available before voting day.

The state-owned Ceylon Petroleum Corporation announced a 10 per cent reduction in the price of kerosene on Friday.

Three top Buddhist prelates of Sri Lanka and two Archbishops, and the ``chief priests of the other religions'' are to receive diplomatic passports and all its associated privileges, according to a Government press release.

In the weeks since the election was announced, the Government has made hundreds of new appointments, promoted several hundred other employees, and given large numbers of temporary workers permanent jobs. Opposition protests have been of little avail. ``What we are telling people is take the jobs, but cast your vote according to your conscience,'' said the United National Front (UNF) spokesman, Mr. G.L. Peiris.

The United National Party-led UNF was not opposed to people getting employment, but the vacancies had been artificially created, he charged.

``We are not opposed to people getting jobs, it is their democratic right. But what is this great urge to give jobs now?'' he asked.

In the Tamil-dominated Jaffna peninsula, the Eelam People's Democratic Party, an ally of the PA and partner in the Government, has been accused by rivals of handing out pre- election largesse in the form of cash doles and government jobs.

The EPDP is reported to be giving away huge sums, especially to temples for carrying out repairs, and the party's opponents fear that this might influence the minds of the highly religious Jaffna Tamils when it comes to voting. ``They are just throwing money to win over supporters of other parties. I don't know from where they are getting the money,'' complained Mr. V. Anandasangaree, the Tamil United Liberation Front (TULF) vice- president.

However, a similar attempt by the Government to win favour with the mainly Indian Tamil tea plantation workers seems to have backfired when the privately- owned companies managing the plantations refused to cooperate in the plan.

Desperate to woo voters in the estates after the Ceylon Workers Congress, the main trade union-cum-political party representing them, ditched the PA and joined the opposition, the Government announced recently that plantation companies had been ordered to give workers an additional festival advance this year.

The plantation companies were then told by the Government to borrow the money from a state bank and disburse it to the workers. The companies have so far refused to do, saying they do not want unsolicited loans, but that they would be willing to assist the bank to lend directly to the workers. The matter remains deadlocked there.

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