Book contents
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- Preface
- Part I Kingdom and Colony: The Mythology of Race (Pre-history to 1948)
- Part II Dominion to Republic: The Politics of Language (1948–1977)
- Part III The New Monarch: Jayewardene in Control (1977–1983)
- Part IV The New Dominion: India in the Driving Seat (1983–1987)
- Part V Changing the Guard: Premadasa's Emergence (1987–1989)
- Chapter 9 The Accord in Action
- Chapter 10 The Façade Cracks
- Chapter 11 The Last Hurrah
- Part VI Using the Executive Presidency: Premadasa in Action (1989–1993)
- Part VII Using the Spoon: Wijetunge as President (1993–1994)
- Part VIII The Procrastination of a Princess: Kumaratunga in charge (1994–2001)
- Part IX The Baby without the Bathwater: Wickremesinghe as Prime Minister (2001–2004)
- Part X Guarding the Change: Rajapakse's Emergence (2004–2006)
- Select Bibliography
- Index
Chapter 11 - The Last Hurrah
from Part V - Changing the Guard: Premadasa's Emergence (1987–1989)
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 05 November 2011
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- Preface
- Part I Kingdom and Colony: The Mythology of Race (Pre-history to 1948)
- Part II Dominion to Republic: The Politics of Language (1948–1977)
- Part III The New Monarch: Jayewardene in Control (1977–1983)
- Part IV The New Dominion: India in the Driving Seat (1983–1987)
- Part V Changing the Guard: Premadasa's Emergence (1987–1989)
- Chapter 9 The Accord in Action
- Chapter 10 The Façade Cracks
- Chapter 11 The Last Hurrah
- Part VI Using the Executive Presidency: Premadasa in Action (1989–1993)
- Part VII Using the Spoon: Wijetunge as President (1993–1994)
- Part VIII The Procrastination of a Princess: Kumaratunga in charge (1994–2001)
- Part IX The Baby without the Bathwater: Wickremesinghe as Prime Minister (2001–2004)
- Part X Guarding the Change: Rajapakse's Emergence (2004–2006)
- Select Bibliography
- Index
Summary
The Democratic People's Alliance of Opposition Parties
Mrs. Bandaranaike was Premadasa's chief opponent. Finally nominated by the SLFP under its own symbol, she ran as the common candidate of five parties which had come together under the title of the Democratic People's Alliance (DPA) on a manifesto prepared by them and three others, including the JVP and the SLMC.
The grouping had begun in February through an initiative of the MEP, led now by Dinesh Gunawardena, who had entered parliament in the by-elections of 1983, after an electoral alliance with the SLFP. It was thought he owed his victory to the refusal of his UNP opponent to allow the fraud and thuggery rampant elsewhere; that opponent was now the Secretary of the ELJP, set up by Rukman Senanayake.
Gunawardena had called together leaders of opposition political parties to take a stand on the violations of human rights and the disappearances of persons in the south, following the government's offensive against terrorism there. The same strategy that had led to disaster in the north was being applied, with similar results in terms of increasing militancy. Whereas the Tamil Liberation groups had a well established information network that kept the issue alive internationally, abuses in the south received little publicity, and only roused indignation when they were as gross as in the case of Liyanarachchi. The parties that came together on Gunawardena's initiative could do little except issue statements, but they decided to meet regularly to discuss issues of common interest.
- Type
- Chapter
- Information
- Declining Sri LankaTerrorism and Ethnic Conlict, the Legacy of J. R. Jayewardene, pp. 141 - 156Publisher: Foundation BooksPrint publication year: 2007