Stop fighting success...

The degradation and belittling of success achieved by the winner is the common trait of many losing sides of any duet, war or confrontation. History bears many an example, nevertheless the losers continue to indulge in this futile exercise, which in a real sense, confirms the state of denial the loser dwells in.

It gives me great pain of mind to say that it might not only help the opposition to make the realization that the government’s campaign against the LTTE is gaining grounds, but also the successive governments failed to achieve these military milestones despite their unequivocal dedication and determination to the elimination of the terrorist threat.

Mindset

The history of the northern war is replete with mistake after mistake from both sides of the divide. From the very beginning of the 20th century, from the day National Congress was formed to agitate for political freedom from Great Britain, the Tamil leadership’s mindset has not shown any fundamental change. Although we are driven by many latter day politicians to the contrary, the Tamil political hierarchy agitated for total autonomy in their “traditional homeland”, starting from the retired Sir Ponnambalam Arunachalam up to Velupillai Prabhakaran. After his resignation from the National Congress in 1924, Sir Arunachalam declared that the only path for the Tamil population in Sri Lanka was a totally autonomous Eelam. In fact, his last address was an evocation to an Eelam; when G. G. Ponnambalam formed the Tamil Congress, his call for fifty-fifty fell on deaf ears, not only those of the Sinhalese leaders, but also of the British hierarchy. Then S. J. V. Chelvanayakam broke away from the Tamil Congress after Ponnambalam assumed ministerial portals in the D. S. Senanayake’s cabinet. Yet Chelvanayakam’s cry too was for total autonomy or Tamil Eelam. Although Chelvanayakam’s party was commonly known as the Federal Party, the real name of this party was Illankai Thamil Arasu Kachchi, (ITAK), the direct English transliteration of which is Sri Lanka Tamil Kingdom Party.

Chelvanayakam was succeeded by Amirthalingam and the `Vaddukoddai Convention’. The rest, as they say, is history, the phase of the current turmoil that we are all living in is very a part of that history.

My objective is to throw some light on the most significant advances that our valiant soldiers have made on the battlefield with their blood, sweat and tears. I also wish to point out that the successive governments, both UNP and SLFP/PA, failed to convert many a military victory into a tangible and lasting political settlement of this nagging problem.

Frightening

Today we are standing on the threshold of a military victory of unprecedented scale. It is unprecedented not only because of its very magnitude, but more so because of the rising expectations of the people that these victories have engendered. These rising expectations are almost frightening to gauge; they are the stuff that national dreams are made of; they in turn create a unique sense of national pride of historic proportions, as Pundit Nehru declared at the dawn of India’s independence from Britain, “A moment comes, which comes but rarely in history, when we step out from the old to the new; when an age ends; and when the soul of a nation long suppressed finds utterance.” In that context, the challenge of meeting these rising expectations is even greater than some of the battlefield difficulties we have overcome over the last two years.

History abounds in many irresponsible acts by many irresponsible leaders in Parliamentary democracies. One can argue that the essential function of an Opposition is to oppose. But should they oppose at all costs; should the Opposition contest every point of policy of the government at the cost of national security, should it oppose at the cost of blood sweat and tears of its populace?

When some opposition members make such reprehensible and foolish utterances and try to equate Alimankada to Pamankada and Kilinochchi to Medawachchiya, they not only display their total lack of understanding of facts, but also their callous disregard for the intelligence of the average voter. This is why I ask them in the name of truth and fairness to stop fighting success. However much you scream, you cannot deny the massive military gains of our armed forces; you cannot spin the unspinnable, you cannot denigrate the courage and dedication of our frontline fighters.

For the first time since the beginning of hostilities, today we are witness to a totally harmonious amalgam of the military and political leadership. If one chooses to deny this, one does it at the peril of one’s elementary intelligence.

Chanakya, the first political scientist of recorded history, the chief advisor to Emperor Chandragupta of the Maurya Empire once said “the function a leader is to make his people fearless”. Are we not achieving that noble end by these gains in the North? I recall, in what kind of fear our people were living in cities like Colombo, not knowing when they leave for work with the morning sunrise, whether they will come home in the evening fearing that there might be a bomb-blast at this junction or that building; whether our children who went to school in the morning would come back home in one piece avoiding a blast here and a blast there; whether the stockbroker would fear a another deep dip in the stock market after another blast in Colombo, whether the ordinary boutique keeper will be alive in the evening to close his shop and get back to his wife’s waiting arms not fearing a gang like shooting by the terrorists. That all pervading fear, that frightful sense of fear grips our minds, it cripples our movements, and today that fear, is slowly but surly fading away, thanks to the onslaught that these perpetrators are receiving in the north. Isn’t that a good enough reason to shed our partisan garb and celebrate the good things that have come in the wake of these monumental victories our armed forces have won?

Criticism

It is in the interest of eradicating this fear that I appeal to the members of the Opposition to engage in more meaningful and constructive criticism. I do not want to indulge in frivolous and disrespectful utterances as to questioning the patriotism of any member of the Opposition, but I question their judgment. People elect us to make judgments on their behalf, and if we fail in that fundamental duty, then we have failed as leaders, then we have failed as the guardians of public trust.

Since 1947 until today more than one thousand different individuals have had the singular honour of occupying a seat in this august assembly, which we call Parliament, this Temple of Democracy of whose corridors they walked through; each and everyone of them did his or her best to serve his or her voters. We have seen debating giants like S.W.R.D. Bandaranaike, G.G. Ponnambalam, J.R. Jayawardena, Dudley Senanayake, Dr. N.M. Perera, Dr. Colvin R. de Silva and Dr. W. Dahanayake perform in this assembly with utter vigour and impeccable decorum. They never hurled scorn at the voters; they never ridiculed the soldiers on warfront.

‘Tamil Question’

For they knew better, their patriotism was never in question, their eloquence never faltering. It is a disgrace to the memory of such illustrious members of this house, not forgetting all other members of Parliament, that I appeal to our honourable members of the Opposition, please stop fighting success, the success of our soldiers, the success of the civilians, the success of the political acumen shown by our President in realizing that a military strengthening is a precondition to a lasting political solution for the burning issue of today, the `Tamil Question’. This success may to be too heavy a cross to bear for some of the Opposition MPs, yet bear you must, in the name of our country and our people. Finally, we must all realize that, as one sage once said: success is nothing but success.

But after a successful closure of the war, we come to a more critical phase of our country’s life: managing the rising expectations of our people; their fervent hope that tomorrow will bring more prosperity; the farmer will be expecting a more decent price and harvest for their crops, the shop owner will expect more vibrant sales and filling of their go-downs with goods and materials; the university student will expect a better-paying job when he passes out; the village girl will dream of a better day ahead after her lover secures a more lucrative source of employment. These are all hopes and expectations, hopes and expectations of millions of our youth, millions of our own brethren.

Phenomenon

Are we to let them down? If the country is not galvanized as one single entity to achieve one single goal of collective good and prosperity and peace, ably motivated and led by their leaders, then we will have failed them; we will have failed in our duty, we will have failed as a state, failed as a country and failed as a people. And I don’t think that a single member of this house would like to face that phenomenon. Therefore, managing these rising expectations and giving them effective expression to them is of crucial importance in the coming weeks and months, and I am sure, our economists and planners have given sufficient time, energy and attention to this emerging reality, for failure in this regard is not an option.