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| Sunday, 10 November 2002 |
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From T. D. S. A. Dissanayaka's latest book : 'Federal form of Govt. inevitable' Well known writer on Sri Lankan politics and former diplomat T.D.S.A. Dissanayaka releases his thirteenth book, War of Peace Volume III : The Quest for Peace, on 1st December, 2002. Published by Swastika (Pvt) Ltd., Colombo, it will be priced at Rs. 675/- and is also available at a pre-publication price of Rs. 500/-, purchased direct from the Publisher. The Sunday Observer is privileged to publish, in advance, excerpts from the book. Below is a second excerpt from the Second Chapter of the book, headed 'The Quest for Peace', from Page 528 to 535. A final excerpt from the book follows next week. In the coming years, the unitary form of Government being supplanted by a Federal form of Government (not necessarily in theory but at least in practice as in Belgium) will become inevitable. However any Government of Sri Lanka will find it a difficult package to sell to the Sinhalese, if the North-Eastern Province remains as one entity thereby having two-thirds of the entire coastline of the nation. Firstly, the Sinhalese are a majority with a minority complex because of the huge Tamil population across the narrow Palk Strait in Tamil Nadu, India. Secondly, rousing communal passions is a way of life in the politics of Sri Lanka. In the decade of the thirties of the last century, G.G. Ponnambalam, a brilliant product of Cambridge University, advocated the 50-50 policy which was inane to say the least. In the decade of the fifties S.W.R.D. Bandaranaike, a brilliant product of Oxford University, advocated the Sinhala only policy which was just as inane. Amongst my friends, the only one whom I thought will one day be Prime Minister or President, was Lalith Athulathmudali. He was one year my senior at Royal College, two years my senior at Harvard, and a life long friend of mine. Like at Royal College, his performance at Oxford and Harvard was truly brilliant. I was so happy for Sri Lanka when he took to politics in 1972. His elevation to Cabinet rank in 1977 was inevitable. Thereafter he developed a trait he never had before; he became a Sinhalese chauvinist. Repeatedly I cautioned him, "Lalith, I well remember when you returned from Oxford and Harvard, you had such a mature and balanced view on our ethnic problem. What nonsense are you talking now?" Such advice had the same impact on him as water poured on a duck's back. It was a matter of time before he would blunder. It happened in 1984, his first year as Minister for National Security. He paroled some Sinhalese prisoners and rehabilitated them in the Dollar and Kent farms in Kokilai near Mullaitivu. Within a few months the LTTE carried out a dawn raid and slaughtered all prisoners, their wives, mistresses and children! Such was the deterioration in Lalith Athulathmudali due to communal politics. One generation earlier, G.G. Ponnambalam and S.W.R.D. Bandaranaike deteriorated the same way due to communal politics. All three were products of world famous Universities and all three displayed tremendous ability. The temptations of communal politics are indeed great; too great even for these three famous leaders. Other leaders who disgraced themselves on the ethnic issue while in Opposition, included J.R. Jayewardene in 1957 and Sirima Bandaranaike in 1966. In 1957, Prime Minister S.W.R.D. Bandaranaike proposed the Act, The Reasonable Use Of Tamil. It was fiercely opposed by J.R. Jayewardene who launched a protest march from his residence in Colombo to Kandy, to pray at the Temple of the Tooth to prevent the Prime Minister betraying the Sinhalese! In 1966, when Prime Minister Dudley Senanayake proposed a similar Act, Sirima Bandaranaike, the Leader of the Opposition, launched a protest march from her residence to Parliament to prevent the Prime Minister betraying the Sinhalese! Concessions by the Sinhalese to the Tamils is anything but popular but in the context of reality today, it is inevitable. Otherwise the Civil War could start all over again. To make a Peace package feasible in operation, the UNP and the SLFP, the only two Parties capable of forming a Government, must actively co-operate with each other. There has to be co-habitation in the political life of our nation. Regrettably, the only co-habitation known in Sri Lanka is in sex life! Tragically the UNP and the SLFP are involved in their own internecine "civil war", which defies rational thinking. That "civil war" merits a close look and it will be analysed in depth in my next book, "The Politics of Sri Lanka" (Volume VI) scheduled for 2003. In my judgement that disgusting "civil war" should be omitted in this book on our Civil War, otherwise it will unnecessarily confuse the reader. Politics is basically the art of the possible in the realm of the unknown. Today the highest priority is to engage in confidence building exercises between the Government of Sri Lanka and the LTTE. Already there has been an exchange of prisoners of war and prisoners under the Penal Code. Route A-9 is now open day and night. The rehabilitation of roads in the North-Eastern Province is given the highest priority and the results are visible. Providing electricity is being given the second highest priority. The next priority will be accorded to re-settling the 800,000 internally displaced Sri Lankans. In October 2002, the World Bank allocated an initial US$30 million for this project, and work is due to commence next month. Similar grants are expected from the European Union, Japan and the United States before the end of the year. An international pledging conference will be held in Oslo, in November 2002, to raise funds for rehabilitation work in Sri Lanka. The fiscal allocation required for 2003 alone will be of the order of US$500 million, by all accounts a staggering figure. The LTTE will of course have to reciprocate on confidence building measures. The first will be the removal of permits for passengers travelling to Jaffna via the Wanni and tax on commercial goods transported through the Wanni. Such permits and taxes are applicable for travel from one sovereign nation to another, not from one Federal state to another, eg. Tamil Nadu to Karnataka, in India or from New South Wales to Victoria, in Australia. Moreover, the LTTE will have to abandon its pernicious policy of abducting people, be they soldiers or civilians, and holding them as hostages. The LTTE has to learn to protest within a framework of a democratic nation. The recourse to violent protests, as demonstrated in October 2002 in Amparai, Delft, Point Pedro, Trincomalee and Valachchenai and the consequential opening of fire by the Special Task Force of the Police, more often than not, was tragic. That certainly did not help the cause of peace. To say the least, it is a penny wise pound foolish adventure on the part of the LTTE, which must be abandoned with immediate effect. Another aspect is that the Sinhalese and Tamils must grow up and stop basking in their glory of ancient times. What is more pertinent now is how greatly the Sinhalese and Tamils have failed since Independence. Above all, Sri Lankans be they Sinhalese, Tamils or Muslims, have a poor capacity in governing themselves. There is no evidence to show that this tragic flaw since Independence, will right itself. It is common knowledge that those in the age group of over seventy five, loudly proclaim that in their personal experience, the British ruled Ceylon better than the UNP or the SLFP ever ruled Ceylon or Sri Lanka. Notwithstanding these limitations, it is obvious even to the sceptics, that Sri Lanka is now well on the road to peace. As this book is being completed, Dr Anton Balasingham arrived in Colombo and was taken in a SLAF helicopter direct from the Bandaranaike International Airport to Kilinochchi. He was scheduled to have extensive discussions with Velupillai Prabhakaran himself, before proceeding to Thailand for the next round of Peace talks due to begin on October 31, 2002. Another delegation which arrived in Colombo, to have discussions with Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe and with Velupillai Prabhakaran in Kilinochchi, was that from Norway led by Deputy Foreign Minister Vidar Helgesen. They too will be proceeding to the Peace talks in Thailand, later in the week. In 2002 the greater part of the negotiations were on the ceasefire. The forthcoming sessions will focus attention on the Joint Task Force to strengthen the ceasefire by obviating skirmishes. Accordingly, each side has included a high ranking Military officer with extensive combat experience. By 2003 the focus of attention will be on rehabilitating 800,000 internally displaced citizens, reconstructing roads, supplying electricity, repairing irrigation networks and promoting the fisheries industry. It will only be 2004, at the earliest, when core issues will dominate the Peace talks. In the intervening years much work has to be done to improve the estranged relationship between the Sinhalese and Tamils. Both communities are cricket crazy. Our cricketers, who are amongst the best in the world in One Day Internationals, consist mostly of Sinhalese. However, a brilliant exception is the world famous Muttiah Muralitharan, who is a Tamil from Kandy. A series of home and home matches, The Sanath Jayasuriya XI versus The Marvan Attapattu XI to be played in Batticoloa, Jaffna and Trincomalee will have the local population in raptures. The nett beneficiary will be the inter-communal relationship between Sinhalese and Tamils. Another such programme, with the same objective in mind, is to encourage GCE (Advanced Level) students of both communities to visit each other during school vacations. Accommodation will then be available in vacant school hostels and the entire programme can be financed under the President's Fund and implemented through Directors of Education at the Provincial level. Thus thousands of Sinhalese students from Anuradhapura, Colombo, Galle and Kandy could visit Jaffna and vice versa. Thus the Peace talks to be held in 2003 and thereafter could be held in an atmosphere of reduced enmity between Sinhalese and Tamils, who so sadly have been estranged for so long. May they learn that the path to peace is mutually beneficial but arduous. |
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