UNP boycotts APRC:

Will APRC suffer same fate as its predecessors?

by Ranga Jayasuriya

If the Tigers' intransigence is the main cause for the perpetuation of the ethnic conflict, needless to say that, it has thrived in the continuous failure of the two major political parties to put their acts together.

The absence of a southern political consensus remains high in the fatal mixture of social, political and military reasons which ensures the perpetuation of the ethnic conflict.

When the All Party Representative Committee and its Panel of Experts met this week in their inaugural session, certain quarters viewed it as bound to face the same fate as its predecessors.

An ambitious effort, it is, but divisions were evident at its very outset. The main Opposition United National Party boycotted the session.

The UNP could make its own excuses, the latest being that the government was poaching for its members, while it seeks the UNP's support for the peace process.

Needless to say any over emphasis to strengthen the government at the cost of the UNP would not augur well for any effort to seek a Southern consensus.

Manifested reluctance

But, the UNP too has shown a manifested reluctance to share the glory of a settlement to the ethnic conflict with any other party, of course other than the LTTE, since the very outset of the peace process. Once the Wickremesinghe Administration was ousted, it conveniently distanced itself from the peace process. One would say some pronouncements of the UNP spokesmen amounts to an expression of sinister satisfaction at the escalating violence.

The UNP excuses not to participate at the All Party Representative Committee meeting sounds shallow due to the very fact that it intentionally delayed the nomination of its representative to the APRC for over a month. That was long before the defection of MP Susantha Punchinilame.

And the other excuse put by Mr. Tissa Attanayake, the party spokesman is that the "obstructionist" parties like the JVP and JHU were holding a disproportionate say in the advisory committee. How the JHU and JVP hold a disproportionate influence in an assembly where each political party could appoint only one nominee needs further clarification.

If the two nominees, one each from the Marxists and the monks command an undue influence, that is due to their articulate talents. The UNP could have deterred them dominating the assembly, if it sends a more articulate member.

But, unfortunately, the UNP chose to evade the challenge rather than meeting it. A shame for a party which once dominated by the orators of the calibre of the late Lalith Athulathmudali, Gamini Dissanayake and Ananda Tissa de Alwis to name a few.

If the UNP views the Rajapaksa Administration being disproportionately influenced by the JVP and JHU ideology in the peace process that is a different issue.

The UNP boycott in the APRC is a pointer to the sorry situation in the factional politics in this country.

The UNP is conveniently distancing itself from the government's effort to seek a consensus.

Whatever excuses it would offer to justify its action, the UNP is only clinching to the desperate tactics of the past followed by both major parties alike in order to torpedo the past attempts to seek a political solution.

Intransigence

The Tigers stand condemned rightly for their intransigence in the peace front and their well cultivated ruthlessness and barbarism shown during the two decades of war.

But the inability and reluctance by the two major political parties to reach a consensus on the nature of the solution could only help the Tigers to thrive.

The LTTE official newspaper, Tamil Guardian editorialised this week that divisive politics in the South would eventually lead to the collapse of the APRC and APC.

"The UNP's exit guarantees that the outbidding which torpedoes every peace proposal, no matter how weak, by previous governments will happen again," wrote the Tamil Guardian.

President Mahinda Rajapaksa in his address to the inaugural session of the APRC was frank enough to admit the past failures in the efforts to seek a consensus.

"Successive Governments have taken initiatives to resolve our national problem without much success,which points to a weakness which we need to overcome."

It is obvious that the absence of a national consensus aborted ever previous effort to seek a solution to the ethnic question. That is the weakness, which the nation needs to overcome if it needs to establish itself on a stronger footing against the Tigers.

International heat

If the government wishes to keep international heat on the Tigers, it needs to seek moral high ground and should pre-empt the Tigers on the peace front, offering a devolution package which would address the legitimate grievances of the Tamil people.

The President is calling on the nation and political party leaders in particular, to learn from past mistakes which cost the nation its prosperity and lives.

"In the past we may not have demonstrated the political courage to take the bold decisive steps necessary, and as a result have failed to improve the quality of life of our people leading to dashed hopes and aspirations, not to mention lost opportunities".

"... I will take whatever measures necessary to bring peace with honour and justice to my country; your country; our country.

When he addressed the APRC, the President said that he could not perform this task single handedly, however powerful the office of the Executive President may be.

What he said was an affirmation of the popular discourse that it should be a multi-party effort and an inclusive approach.

Then he said that we need to develop a "home grown" solution and that it should underpine our traditional values and heritage moulded by the four great religions practised in our country.

But, "home grown" does not mean that the APRC should reinvent the wheel. The President was appreciative of that. There are devolution models and constitutional experiments successfully implemented in other parts of the world.

But, the President qualified his remarks saying that such models should be explored bearing in mind our own specificities as well as commonalities.

"We must look to other inspiring examples and draw appropriate lessons".

Not treading

The President, most notably, refrained himself from referring to any particular system of government, there by not treading into troubled waters of federal vs unitary state debate.

His only condition was that a solution must exclude any division of the country.

He admitted that there were divergent views held by political party representatives on the form of the solution and suggested to synthesize them and develop "our own Sri Lankan model."

The fact that the APRC is comprises of people with divergent political opinions on the national question gives into danger that the deliberations would be a long dragging affair.

But, it is unlikely either the international community or the Tiger leadership waits for years as local leaders debate the pros and cons of constitutional models. This requires the representatives to agree on a time frame.

That is indeed the idea of certain political parties as suggested by CWC MP Muttu Sivalingam (his comments appears on this page elsewhere)

As the Deputy Head of the Peace Secretariat Kethish Loganathan put it," the government could not wait till the stalemate in the track one negotiations as well as on certain military related issues are resolved".

Discussions

"So the government decided to open up discussions on another track. And the objective is to ensure a multi-party and multi-ethnic approach in the peace process."

That sense of urgency is the same with the international community. So the government should not let the APC and APRC to be dragging affairs.

What will be the Tigers response to the APRC?

Tamil Guardian in its editorial this week described the APRC as an "elaborate theatre to appease the international community, particularly India."

If it is the position, it would be hard to expect a favourable response from the LTTE.

Exclusive exercise

Indeed, the LTTE wanted the peace process to be an exclusive exercise between the two adversaries.

A multi-party approach, where moderate Tamil parties would have a voice would be anathema to the Tigers.

The President said: "People in their own localities must take charge of their destiny and control their politico-economic environment. Central decision making that allocates disproportionate resources has been an issue for a considerable time.

In addition, it is axiomatic that devolution also needs to address issues relating to identity as well as security and socio-economic advancement, without over-reliance on the centre. In this regard, it is also important to address the question of regional minorities."

"... Improving the lives of the impoverished in the North and the East is a priority...the government has committed US$1.25 billion for this purpose and we are encouraging active private sector and international agency involvement in the development of the North and the East"

It is widely accepted that investment should follow peace. Investment in social infrastructure would strengthen the Peace process. Peace dividends should trickle down to the grass roots who will in turn endorse the peace process.

But the question remains how much the government could do in the North-East in the present context.

Optimistic and ambitious

Despite the impressive pledges of 1.2 billion dollar investment, how can it to be put in action, especially in the Wanni where the government institutions work under the mercy of the LTTE.

As long as accountable and efficient institutions are set up in the North-East, an accelerated development would not be feasible.

Still the President sounded optimistic and ambitious in his address early this week.

"My hope is that this conflict that has torn brother from brother and sister from sister can be brought to an end now.

Let the soothing thoughts of peace be a balm in your discussions. Let your work provide hope to every tear drenched eye and an inspiration to every flickering dream".

That is the hope of an entire nation indeed, the time will tell whether it is too ambitious.

Comments

R. Sampanthan - Tamil National Alliance leader

I don't have much to say about the All Party Representative Committee (APRC) for the simple reason that they have not yet commenced deliberations. We get our own views about the All Party Conference (APC) and APRC, but I must say that I don't want to be a spoiler in the process. However, we are not invited for the APC.

Some members of the advisory team hold very fixed views on certain issues. Some of them have given expression to them, some have frequently written about it.

Of course it is going to be a difficult task. It is a long haul task and the fact that many opportunities were lost in the past should not be forgotten.

I would like to reiterate that I don't want to be a spoiler. I am a person who never accepts violence, killing of people, whether they are Sinhalese, Tamil or Muslims.

If you were invited, would you attend the APC?

That is a speculative question, I would like not to answer.

Tissa Attanayake, Deputy General Secretary, United National Party

"We continue to participate in the All Party Conference (APC), but there is no point of participating in the advisory committee meetings."

"We have asked the government what advice we could get from parties like the JVP and the JHU who always clamour for war and are pushing the government in that direction."

"We have already expressed our views on this issue and we are for devolution.

It is also the duty of the Government to tell the public the solution it has in its mind and put forward a draft solution-be it the Indian model or its own model of power sharing or anything that can be acceptable for all communities".

Upali Samarasinghe, General Secretary of Ceylon National Chamber of Industry

We as the business community have underlined the importance of an united action by the political leaders. Unfortunately, the UNP didn't participate in the APRC, but understandably the UNP had its own reasons to do so.

The UNP has said it does not accept the JVP and JHU focal point in the ethnic question. Our point is they have to shed cast all political differences and get unite when seeking a political solution.

But I doubt if that could happen and we feel helpless. What I can see is the same old politics continuing. Parties are not ready to shed political differences. And they have lame excuses to justify their action.

In the LTTE point of view, they are thriving in the inability of our parties to work together. The latest excuse was Punchi Nilame's defection, half an hour before Mr. Ranil Wickremesinghe met the President. We through the Chamber and also through the Joint Business Forum have offered the President our assistance to help economic recovery while the government fights terrorism.

I don't believe that the business community as a body could help to brief two parties to a united front. Some individuals are doing it. But so far we have not succeeded. Both parties are adamant.

On the feasibility of investing in the North-East:

Whatever amount you pledged to invest in the North-East, I doubt whether it could be put into action. For example, we through another organisation are involved in the tsunami rehabilitation scheme in the North-East. We have found it a difficult task.

Muttu Sivalingam, Ceylon Workers Congress (CWC nominee R. Yogarajan as participated in the APRC)

"There are divergent views held by political parties in the APC on the nature of the solution, I am afraid this could make deliberations a dragging affair."

"I would like to suggest a time frame for the deliberations at the APC and APRC".

"However, we will decide to give our support to any decisions reached at the APC depending whether it would provide a 'respectable' solution to the North-East question, perhaps in the federal model.

The LTTE is not in the APC and I don't know whether they will accept the outcome of the APC"

Tamil Guardian, editorial, July 12

"With much ceremony, Sri Lanka's President Mahinda Rajapaksa this week inaugurated an elaborate political mechanism, which he says, will produce a viable proposal to end Sri Lanka's ethnic conflict. The Tamil community is absolutely certain it will not. Despite the elaborate unveiling - a spectacle staged for the benefit of the assembled Diplomatic Corps - the committee on constitutional reforms will go the same way as all such initiatives in the past.

And, moreover, for the same reasons. Like other Tamil voices who are dismissing Mr. Rajapaksa's initiative at the outset, we will no doubt come under criticism as unfair cynics - or even recalcitrant spoilers. But our scepticism stems not from latent prejudice or rejection of a negotiated solution. It is based on the visible weaknesses and inherent failings in this initiative that should worry any seasoned observer. To begin with, the main opposition United National Party (UNP) has already withdrawn its".