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| Sunday, 30 November 2003 |
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The return of the White Sahib Sunday Essay by Ajith Samaranayake Mr. Chris Patten came, he saw and even if he did not quite conquer Velupillai Prabhakaran it is safe to assume that he would have been listened to with respect by the LTTE chieftain who received him on his 49th birth anniversary.
The imperious last Governor of Hongkong was greeted in Colombo with a hostility quite unusual for any visiting dignitary. The patriots who assembled outside the Colombo Hilton under the 'Deshahitaishi' banner burnt his effigy while his visit drew epistles of protest from such normally enlightened observers as Mr. Amaradasa Fernando and Dr. Nalin Swaris apart from the usual ultra-nationalist tub-thumpers of the press and 'soi disant' observers of the increasingly muddled Sri Lankan political scene. The gravamen of their howls of protest had a certain consistency. By travelling to the Wanni to pay court to a terrorist the European Union luminary was conferring an unprecedented legitimacy on him and his organisation proscribed in several countries. It was also an affront to Sri Lanka and an interference in her internal affairs. The European Parliament's resolution expressing dismay at the President's recent actions did not help matters either. But these indignant protests and the somewhat childish puns on Mr. Patten's name appeared pathetic when set against reality. They were expressions of a sense of national helplessness even impotence, in the face of the LTTE's increasing aggrandisement following the signing of the MoU with the Government. For the fact is that by choosing to bargain with the LTTE following the MoU it was the Government itself which conferred legitimacy on the LTTE by recognising it as an equal partner. What is more the international community at large has recognised the LTTE as the other major player in the Sri Lankan game and that is a fact however much we might gnash our teeth and tear our hair and mutter darkly about neo-colonialism. It must also not be forgotten that it is not merely the United National Front Government of Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe which has so recognised the LTTE. The People's Alliance Government of President Chandrika Bandaranaike Kumaratunga too entered into negotiations with the LTTE and it is useful to recall that these same patriots then found fault with the Government for carrying out negotiations in a hall where the LTTE's Eelam flag was prominently displayed. This kind of nit-picking displays a kind of pettiness of mind which has often crippled Sinhala opinion and made it incapable of seeing the wood for the trees. Certainly it goes against the grain for many people to see the LTTE gaining Supremacy over the Tamil movement at the point of a gun and this sentiment is not confined to the Sinhalese as Mr. Anandasangari's present predicament demonstrates tellingly. But that again is a fact however unpalatable it might be to some stomachs. For the fact is that it is the myopia of Sinhala opinion and its majoritarian arrogance which has made the LTTE what it is today. The LTTE was a ragged band of terrorists in July 1983 when the countrywide communal holocaust drove large numbers of Tamils living in the South to Jaffna. Indeed by shipping out the southern Tamils to the North everytime communal riots erupt in Colombo successive Sri Lankan Governments have created a de facto sense of separation in the Tamil mind. The LSSP's sole Member of Parliament Ven. Baddegama Samitha recalls how visiting Jaffna in 1995 during the then prevailing ceasefire he was asked by Tamil young men occupying the same boat across the Kilali lagoon about conditions in towns such as Kurunegala, Kandy etc. when the bhikkhu had inquired how they knew about these areas the answer was that they had been living there until they had to flee in July 1983. They were now all LTTE cadres. The other reason why the LTTE was able to enlarge its ranks over the other armed Tamil groups (several of them more favoured by the Indian Government which trained and armed all groups) was the LTTE's fierce Tamil nationalism. In the face of a growing Sinhala nationalism deteriorating into an ugly chauvinism in the brutish 1980s the LTTE looked more attractive to the young Tamils than for example a group such as PLOTE which preached the gospel of the solidarity between the Tamil and Sinhala masses against the oppressive State. It was easier to see the State as a Sinhala State rather than a State which oppressed all alike. Having thus created the monster Sinhala ultra-nationalism looks pathetic now when it cries out its loud lamentations. Having said that, however, it is only fair to concede that the sight of Mr. Patten at his pulpit could churn quite a few stomachs. The well-dressed, well-fed and self-satisfied British Conservative appeared as the epitome of the detested White Sahib armed with his vicious edict of 'Divide Et 'Impera' which caused the communal cleavage in the first instance. In a world where Mr. Blair has become nothing more than a cheer leader for President Bush there is no cheer for such former revolutionaries as Mr. Amaradasa Fernando or such post-modern radicals as Dr. Nalin Swaris in New Labour either and hence their deep hostility to the smug Mr. Patten. But all of us, whether old left warhorses, fashionable post-modernists or Sinhala firebrands, would do well to digest the message Mr. Prabhakaran has sent through his British emissary. Cleverly exploiting the public relations potential of the Patten visit the LTTE chieftain has vowed again that he will not go to war but has shrewdly put the onus on the Southern leadership. We can well say as the hawks are already saying that Prabhakaran's promises are worthless but at a time when the two wings of the Government are locked in combat putting massive pressure on the State itself we can ignore Prabhakaran's remarks only at our collective peril. |
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