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| Sunday, 13 February 2005 |
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Features |  |
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Politics of tsunami and tsunami of politics by Jayatilleke de Silva The deadly tsunami struck us on December 26 last year. Nobody was prepared for such a disaster. From infants to elders, from uneducated villagers in the wilderness to University professors, from bureaucrats to politicians everyone was caught unawares. While victims were traumatised the rest were dumbfounded.
The first to awake and respond were the mass of the people. They rose to the occasion, organised relief and care. Youth volunteered to save lives and take care of the dead bodies as far as they could. The sheer scale of death and destruction, however, limited their physical capabilities. All religious leaders stood tall at that early hour. They provided food, shelter and even clothing to the needy. They were the first to be in the field. The bureaucrats and the politicians came only after them. Some were not to be seen at all. In the absence of TV cameras and press photographers they found it lonely to emerge form hiding. Politicians, of course, came with a bang. They made loud proclamations. Waxed eloquently what a great leveller nature was. Called for unity, unity in adversity. Unity was already there, before their arrival. People helped one another without distinction of race, colour or creed. Even the bitter antagonism of war was forgotten. In a rare manifestation of international solidarity the world community too came to our aid. Our closest neighbour, India was here with men, food and medicine by nightfall on December 26, the day of the disaster. Men, women, and children from far away lands began collecting funds and material to assist us long before their politicians, their statesmen woke to the disaster. Now, six weeks later let us look back. Relief activities limped along. The bureaucracy failed to pull up their socks. With over centralisation provincial politicians were left out of the relief and rehabilitation exercise. Or rather they never dared to challenge central authority. With no grassroots mechanism in place the corrupt officials pilfered much relief and diverted them to their kith and kin. Worse still was the effect of the politics of tsunami. With 40,000 dead and million displaced, politicians were wrangling over prestige and brand imaging. Some were building independent power bases. Others had the Presidential or parliamentary and local government elections in mind. Competition and cut-throatism emerged submerging humane values. There arose not only inter-party rivalries but even intra-party feuds. Sad indeed is the situation within the ruling UPFA. The two principal constituents, the SLFP and the JVP are on a collision course. They seem to have forgotten their joint responsibility to the people who voted them into office. Just as much one wants to fix a red flag near every corpse the other detests the red colour with the ferocity of a bull in the ring. While the SLFP had throughout its history never paid much respect to its coalition partners, the JVP too has yet to learn the tactics of unity and struggle without brinkmanship. They cannot be in the government and disown government decisions. Nor can the other partner arrogantly take decisions by itself. The two main parties- the UPFA and the UNP cannot agree to work together even for the common good of the victims of tsunami. While much lip service is paid to unity and reconciliation policies of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde surface every now and then. The plight of the affected people in the North East is much worse. Old wounds of war are being opened up. Too much significance is given to the prestige and standing of politicians and organizations and the people are taken to ransom. Given the stark fact of even southern areas without high profile ruling politicians receiving marginal attention, one could imagine the plight of the victims in Batticaloa, Amparai or Mulaitivu. How were priorities decided in starting the reconstruction process? Was the intensity of needs and destruction a parameter considered in deciding upon priorities? The wrangling over a mechanism of aid disbursement threatens to hamper the flow of international assistance. This has also given a filip to fringe elements to whip up communalism and racism. The media is being manipulated for ulterior motives. It is sad that certain media institutions found the fate of an individual, whether living or dead to be of more significance than the fate of thousands. Thus they revelled in the reported death of Velupillai Prabhakaran and his apparent resurrection. Unfortunately the role of the individual is being exaggerated in all quarters. In this milieu a golden opportunity to heal old wounds and build confidence among estranged communities is being wasted on petty grounds. There is also another danger. That is the possibility of regional and global powers making use of the confusion and the lack of a unified will prevailing here to promote their own geo-political interests. There is a free reign for all types of international and local NGOs, which could very well become fifth columns for alien powers. There does not seem to be any vigil about the long-term security implications of certain international dealings and connections that could be worked out behind the cloak of tsunami relief. Everyone is happy that global bigwigs visit us frequently, their intelligence services help us in humanitarian work. Some are even happier to pose for photo opportunities with these gentlemen. (The Prince and the pauper!) Unless things are sorted out soon and a unified strategy and approach is worked out for reconstruction, persons and organizations with sectarian objectives could pose a threat to tsunami relief and reconstruction efforts. It may even pose a threat to the ceasefire that is currently in force between the government and the LTTE. The killing of LTTE area leader Kaushalyan and several others is a case in point. While some could consider it a blessing at the moment its long-term repercussions may prove to be otherwise. In any case the emergence of a third player with dangerous fire power unbound by any terms of a ceasefire could very well extinguish even the flickering little flame of peace. Such a player is not accountable to anyone local or international. These politics of tsunami has made the victims of tsunami more helpless. While the natural tsunami took away 40,000 lives the tsunami of politics threatens to wipe out the future of even those who were fortunate enough to escape death. |
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