CHIANG MAI, Thailand -- The continuous conflict between Sri Lanka's two main leaders has been covered from nearl every angle. What have been largely ignored, though, are the complications and contradictions arising on that beautiful island from a political system of "cohabitation." At present, public opinion is divided between adherents of the president and the prime minister. Arguments and counter-arguments abound on both sides.

The final verdict obviously belongs to the Sri Lankans, and it will be pronounced at election time, although many fear that the result will leave many ambiguities for the future in terms of the real distribution of power.

Neutral outsiders may want to point to the pros and cons of the Sri Lankan Constitution. Naturally, this issue has to be treated with all due respect as it concerns the fundamental charter of a nation, internally dictated and enshrined. But at least outsiders can claim a certain emotional distance and, if they are genuine friends of the emerald island, a sincere concern for the functions of a paramount mechanism put in place several decades ago.