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| Sunday, 26 February 2006 |
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Features |  |
| News Business Features Editorial
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What sideshow? The Foundation for Co-Existence launched its high profile book on peace building this week.
Some interesting images were splashed across these screens, including some of the goriest images from the year of LTTE's run of assassinations and suicide bombings. If you didn't have the stomach for some of that stuff, it could have made you disgorge the contents of your lunch right there on the carpet. There was a blow up, for instance, of the head of Premadasa's assassin being held from the hair by a mortuary worker.. But the cascading images kept going through the entire sessions, and at least half of them would have been of Prabhakaran and Anton Balsingham during their various stages of adulthood as the two most publicised figures of the LTTE. This we say dispassionately by way of placing some information before you, our reader, as fact. But perhaps its relevant to ask what the US ambassador may have thought for instance about this glamorous long-playing parade of two top leaders of a terrorist organisation banned in their country? As slide shows go this was long, and more than a few times, it was more interesting than the presentations, which at least on occasion took on the proportions of the sideshow. Some of the memorable slides from the show included the ones which showed Prabhakaran and Balasigham receiving various guests at the Killinochchi headquarters; impressive photography, but wouldn't gladden the hearts of some of the world's top diplomats who have formulated certain canons about legitimising outfits which have been banned in several countries as being terrorist. But we are not in the business in this column of passing value judgements - all we can say is that there were Tigers shown on large screen here, in poses that can be described as, well, quite upbeat and in jolly states of repose. There is a glamorisation inherent in that kind of display, which can hardly be avoided.. But certain folks working with the United Nations would not like this type of thing, neither would those who were signatories to various UN conventions which do not want armed organisations with a certain proclivity to be given "the of oxygen of publicity", to use that hoary - but still ticking - old Tatcherite description. Who is Tatcher but an old hag to these new fangled conflicteers? Tubes and things
('A skyway - 'one that goes above ground' is being planned.') Before his plans for a skyway would materialise, he had to relinquish his Ministry even though to be later elevated to the highest office that's on offer. Now, a Minister in his government thinks a tube train is better than a sky-train, and that would translate as "yatin yana ekak". But a "yatin yana ekak" was promised earlier, by a Minister in Chandrika Kumaratunge's cabinet. It never materialised. Its better over than underground, as the then Prime Minister planned it, say some transport experts, as anything that's not six feet or more under, would necessarily be more transparently accomplished in many ways. Either way, what's difficult is to get something going at a practical and tangible level - though not at ground level. Barring a catastrophe...
Not being given a chance of a snowball in hell with this record, nobody doubted that his opponent would be banished to kingdom come when the final vote is counted. But lawyers had to be finally asked to go and cast their vote for Jayamanne, as most stayed home being hyper confident of his winning the stakes in style. The maverick could have had him beat, unless there were smoke signals sent to lawyers along with tom-tom beatings to get that vote out, and make it count for the winner against pretender by far..... Brad and the charitable
Said Weerakoon without much ado that there was a simple confidence building exercise during the Premadasa administration - the President gave Tigers arms and ammunition. Say that again? Even though some in the audience pinched themselves, Weerakoon was indifferent to the point of nonchalant. What more confidence building, he asked - or at least inferred by saying things to that effect. The arms-giving is now subject of historical lore - and will be talked about as long as the Sri Lankan conflict is going to be on the conflict resolution handbooks - which is probably an eternity. But this is the first time that we've heard that confidence building can take the form of a dana, a complete and unmitigated sacrifice, which later turned out to be so disastrous that as a consequence of it, the donor himself was wiped out. It was Sirisangabo in modern redux, but it's quaint, hearing all that fell under the rubric of confidence building. How confidently Weerakoon says it - it's amazing, really. Who is afraid of Peiris?
This is true. Kohona was the type who carried away half the prizes at a school prize giving - and if he was not even half as known in this country as Peiris was, it was probably because he was in a faraway place called Geneva and was not as half as media ready as Professor Peiris either. You know what we mean. |
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| Produced by Lake House |
We are not making any value judgements on these good men but its
noteworthy that there were two giant screens beside the podium when speakers
addressed the gathering. 
Is the news of the tube train difficult to suppress, or to deal with,
like getting the toothpaste back in the tube? When a interviewer asked the
Prime Minister Rajapkse once, when he was also holding the office as
Minister of Highways about traffic snarls in Colombo Mr Rajapakse replied
with confidence "ara udng yana ekak nede." 
Nihal Jayamanne won the Bar Association presidency and lawyers raised
their hats and judges their wigs to him for that. But he didn't win without
some absurd theatre that was enacted on the way, due to no fault of his own.
He was leagues ahead in the race, running with a man best know - to put it
in the mildest possible - as a seminar wrecker and maverick. 
Bradman Weerakoon speaking at a symposium had the most devilishly
interesting thing to say about the Premadasa peace process. He was on the
subject of confidence building in negotiations. 
Mr Palitha Kohona advisor to the Sri Lankan peace team in Geneva was
being described in some newspapers as a G. L. Peris's acolyte, but Kohona in
his own right is an intellectual who once quipped in the presence of this
writer "I beat GL for some of the big awards at St Thomas' College." What he
probably meant was that he garnered more awards and medals for his academic
prowess than Peiris did in his time. 
