Addressing the roots of ethnic conflict

by Jehan Perera

The recurrent theme of this election campaign, which was also seen at the presidential election earlier this year, was the issue of corruption. It is widely believed that the level of corruption in the country, and especially amongst politicians who hold positions of power, has reached outrageous proportions.

The March 12 Movement spearheaded by PAFFREL, has contributed to the perception of the electorate that identifying suitasble candidates should be the priority.

Dealing with this problem is going to be difficult. Corruption is embedded in political and administrative structures at all levels.

The Central Bank bond issue, on which the new government stumbled so soon after being elected on a platform of good governance and accountability, is an indication of the nature of the challenge for the future.

Corruption

However, the opposition was unable to capitalize on this failure of the government. This was on account of the far greater and more numerous instances of corruption that they were accused of. Therefore, the opposition's strategy was to try and resurrect the nationalist sentiment of people, and their fears, to mobilize the electorate.

But this too failed. Despite the best efforts of their orators, the Opposition led by former President Mahinda Rajapaksa was unable to convince the general public of the relevance of the threats they spoke about to the problems of the day, which included getting out of a culture of drugs, false propaganda, violence and impunity.

It is ironic that the very success of the previous government's post-war security system that did not permit a single act of pro-LTTE violence to take place has contributed to the general sense that the threats to national security from both internal and external foes are not a real danger in the foreseeable future.

Nationalism

This may account for the absence of agitation at the entry into the elections of former LTTE cadre who are contesting under the Tamil name of "Warriors for Democracy", and whose slate of candidates includes one of the late LTTE leader's bodyguards.

The opposition's attempt to use ethnic nationalism to capture the centre stage of the election campaign did not bear fruition.But there is another reason also for the failure of the opposition's efforts to bring nationalism to the centre stage.

This was the unwavering commitment of Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe to the vision of a cosmopolitan and plural society which has won the affection and trust especially of the minority communities.

After the war victory in May 2009, a very large segment of the Sinhalese polity was prepared to follow the triumphalism of former President Mahinda Rajapaksa and his government.

But as leader of the opposition, Ranil Wickremesinghe did not succumb to the pressure to conform. He was unwavering in his stance even if it meant repeated electoral losses. He did not seek to imitate the former President's populist stance. By doing so he gave heart to the ethnic minorities. He also provided space to civil society to resist the forces of nationalism. In the post-war period one of the issues that civil society groups addressed with a considerable degree of success was the need to politically address the roots of the problem that led to three decades of war. This was not a task that the political parties themselves undertook on any significant scale.

Civil society

The previous government downplayed the need for a political solution on the basis that the elimination of the LTTE had negated the need for any such solution. It also downplayed the costs of the war and the need to repair the damage to the moral and social fabric of the country. The previous government even denied that there had been large scale civilian casualties in the last phase of the war until the international community began to exert pressure on it to come out with the truth.

It was in this negative context that civil society activism ensured that community leaders in diverse parts of the country were able to engage in inter-ethnic and inter-religious dialogue through seminars, workshops and exchange visits. It is largely this civil society work that has created a general environment in the country that demonstrated a positive resistance to attempts to re-ignite ethnic nationalism within the society.

Re-focusing

Discussions with civil society groups in Anuradhapura, Puttalam, Galle and Matara that I had over the past week reinforce this observation that the electorate is not giving issues of national sovereignty, territorial integrity and conspiracies to divide the country the attention that they once gave. Instead the general sentiment is to focus on issues of good governance and corruption.

It is also to acknowledge that all communities had suffered during the war and this included the Tamil community who needed to be assisted to get back on their feet. There were questions about what might constitute a just political solution. The fact that the main Tamil party, the TNA, had demanded federalism in their manifesto and also the merger of the Northern and Eastern provinces was not uppermost in their minds.

Another important civil society input towards defusing a focus on ethnic nationalism has been the re-focusing of the electorate's attention on voting for un-corrupt candidates. The March 12 Movement spearheaded by the election monitoring organisation PAFFREL has contributed significantly to the perception of the electorate that identifying suitable candidates should be the priority.

This offers voters the possibility of staying with their accustomed political party, but giving their preferential votes to those who will be problem solvers.

On March 12, the leaders of all political parties signed a declaration consisting of eight criteria to select suitable candidates - that they should not be criminals, be free of bribery and corruption, be free of engaging in anti-social trades and businesses, not abuse power, be concerned about the environment, not enter into illicit financial contracts, be close to the people and provide opportunities for women and youth in political life.

It was the weight of public opinion that led the political leaders to sign this declaration. If Sri Lanka is to become a part of the developed world, it needs parliamentarians who understand the need for systems of government in which corruption has no place. It will also continue to need an unwavering commitment to address the roots of the ethnic conflict so that all communities may work together to develop the country's resources.