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Why Kumaratunga has disowned her ‘authorised’ biography?

Dissanayake crossed over to the opposition United National Party in 2001, precipitating a political crisis that forced the president to dissolve parliament and call for fresh elections. The UNP was elected to office and Dissanayake became a powerful minister in the new government.

Political fortunes swung the President’s way in the April 2004 elections but the rivalry between the erstwhile friends rose to personal level, though it is said that in politics there are no permanent foes or friends but only permanent interests.

Subsequently when Dissanayake was given a two-year jail term for contempt of court, he saw it as a witch-hunt by Kumaratunga.

Dissanayake was both literally and figuratively brought to book. He decided to write a book from behind bars and his chief character was none other than Kumaratunga herself. He confided in friends that he knew a lot of things about Kumaratunga, including her secrets, and his book would expose her.

Eight months have lapsed since Dissanayake made the promise of his book but all that he could bring out from his cell was a couple of newspaper articles, which were nothing more than ramblings of a disgruntled politician. Perhaps, he has decided to hold his pen in return for a presidential pardon.

It was disappointment for the gossip hungry Sri Lankan public who wanted a peep into the life of the country’s first lady.

This was when Graeme Wilson, a writer from Scotland, made news when he announced that he had written the official biography of Kumaratunga. Wilson was hardly known to Sri Lanka’s literati before June 28 when he convened a news conference to announce he was the author of the biography titled ‘CBK: President Chandrika Bandaranaike Kumaratunga and her leadership of Sri Lanka’. He said the book would be released on July 17.

But there was no ‘CBK’ on July 17. This prompted one newspaper to ask in a headline, "Where is CBK?"

CBK was finally launched on July 28 amidst much fanfare with the President, ministers and the Colombo’s glitterati being present at the ceremony. But no sooner had the ceremony ended and the first few copies were sold than the book was embroiled in a controversy.

It came under fire from critics and newspaper columnists for errors and a slipshod job. They virtually threw the book at Wilson for not getting the manuscript proof-read or double-checked by a Sri Lankan. Some of the mistakes were glaring. For instance, the caption under the picture of Colombo’s Town Hall says it is Sri Lanka’s parliament. In another place, Wilson says Kumaratunga stayed at Temple Trees, the official residence of the Prime Minister, during the 1988-90 reign of terror. But the truth is that neither Kumaratunga nor her mother Sirimavo Bandaranaike were the residents of the Temple Trees at that time.

But the bigger controversy was not the few factual errors, which the author said he was rectifying, but a political pole vault from the presidential secretariat. At the launch, the book was introduced as the authorised official version of Kumaratunga’s biography and a few lucky invitees at the ceremony got the book autographed by the President. It was proof enough that the book, which the author undertook to write at the behest of Minister Mangala Samaraweera, had President’s nod for it to be described as "the official biography" of Kumaratunga. But six days later, the President’s Office issued a statement denying that the book was the "official" biography of the President.

The volte-face stunned everyone. Why did the President’s Office do it? Even Wilson did not know. So it was left for the media to come out with a plausible answer. One newspaper attributed it to a photograph of a controversial event in the book. It was the photograph of President taking oaths for her second term in December 1999. So, if the book was the President’s official biography, it is an admission by the President herself that her second term began in December 1999.

Accordingly, the presidential election should be held this year. But the President claims that her second term began in November 2000 — she insists there was a secret swearing-in ceremony that year — and the election should be held next year. The matter is now before the Supreme Court. This explains why the President relegated the biography to an unofficial version. It was certainly a big blow to Wilson.

Going by the intrigues surrounding the pre-race politics of the presidential polls, it is obvious Kumaratunga is not yet ready to close the book. She is planning to write a new chapter in Sri Lanka’s politics though the constitution which says she cannot seek reelection for a third term.

Ameen Izzadeen is a senior journalist based in Colombo