Let us face it, both Presidential candidates Messrs. Rajapakse and Wickremesinghe are on a now familiar trail of ‘manipulating’ the ethnic crisis as a vehicle for their electoral success, each in his own way. On one hand, we have the Prime Minister on a bizarre course of aligning himself through written commitments with extreme Sinhala-Buddhist forces such as the JHU and the JVP which espouse what tantamounts to a militarist solution with minimum ‘concessions’ to the Tamils, while at the same time speaking of a ‘negotiated’ solution within a ‘unitary’ constitution.
Even the P-TOMS agreement which is a mere temporary aid-sharing administrative mechanism for the North-East which was most affected by the 26 December 2004 tsunami is anathema to the JHU/JVP combine. One wonders as to what he intends discussing at his proposed meeting with the LTTE leader! Clearly, Mr. Rajapakse is banking on the bulk of the Sinhala-Buddhist constituency with inroads even into the traditional UNP vote bank which does not exclude the Muslims, particularly in the East.
On the other hand, his rival, the Leader of the Opposition, projects a seemingly ‘moderate’ stance vis-à-vis the ethnic conflict with his verbal commitment to the P-TOMS and a ‘federal’ form of government. Of course, the extent to which he is willing to go towards federalism has never been spelt out. It should also be noted that it was the UNP, under his leadership, that literally tore up in parliament the devolution proposals of 2000 which was a diluted version of the 1995 PA proposals. Even the breakdown of the post-2002 negotiation process took place under his government in April 2003 in the immediate aftermath of the LTTE being insensitively kept out of the Washington D.C. preparatory meeting for the Tokyo Donor Conference. Mr. Wickremesinghe’s seemingly ‘moderate’ stance on the ethnic conflict evidently expects to harvest the vast majority of the minority vote, particularly that of the Tamils of all description while keeping in tact the bulk of the traditional UNP vote bank. The Opposition Leader’s stance seems to be, at least on paper, a shrewder tactic, given the presumably general all-round reluctance to venture into another high-intensity military conflict and external realities. If, as is possible, the Tamil voter turn-out in the North-East is low, it could spell serious trouble to Mr. Wickremesinghe.
It seems clear to this writer that both Presidential candidates are playing the now traditional political football at election time with the ethnic conflict. They are both reluctant to face up to the reality that unless and until the stranglehold of Sinhala-Buddhist majoritarianism is tamed, there is little hope to resolve not only the long festering ethnic crisis but also the more recent phenomenon of Christian-bashing.
What is happening in this country today in the name of Buddhism is an insult to the Buddha Dhamma. In this connection it will be prudent to consider the US State Department’s ‘International Religious Freedom Report 2004’ submitted to Congress which has a scathing reference to religious intolerance in Sri Lanka. Amongst others, it refers to “An overall deterioration of religious freedom due to the actions of extremists in Sri Lanka…. Buddhist extremists destroyed Christian churches and harassed and abused pastors and congregants”.
It is no accident that both Presidential candidates are silent on the proposed Anti-conversion Bill, which is now in parliament. The entire edifice of the Sri Lankan State is weighted heavily against minorities, particularly the Tamils, even today. The manner of the recent passing of the Emergency regulations in parliament, which largely result in the harassment of Tamils, is a reflection of this. The only minority support it obtained was inexplicably from the CWC, in spite of plantation workers of recent Indian origin being frequently at the receiving end of much harassment from the almost 100% Sinhala dominated security forces and police.
It is most unlikely that any of the two Presidential candidates elected on November 17 will have the political will and sagacity to meaningfully redress these issues.
The rise of Tamil militancy was in response to the implications of the stranglehold of this majoritarian syndrome, regular violence unleashed on Tamils and their property, a litany of broken promises and the offer of too little too late. Although those responsible for the more virulent attacks could be said to be in the lunatic fringe particularly in regard to Christian bashing, the plain fact is that there seems to be at least some tacit acquiescence to this as reflected by the silence of the vast majority of the southern polity. Even the few instances of disapproval for the most part have been muted. The contribution of successive governments to this state of affairs is manifested in different ways. This includes State-sponsored colonisation with overwhelmingly Sinhala settlers in the overwhelmingly Tamil speaking Eastern Province which became more aggressive soon after independence, the infamous 24-hour ‘Sinhala Only’ policy of 1956 making Tamils instantly ‘illiterate’, the tearing up of the ‘Bandaranaike-Chelvanayakam’ pact of 1957, the aborting of the ‘Dudley-Chelvanayakam’ pact of 1966, ‘standardization’ of university admissions in 1972 which mainly worked to the detriment of Tamils, thuggery unleashed at the 1981 DDC elections in Jaffna which included the burning of the world renowned Jaffna Public Library, the farcical Provincial Council system of 1987, the regular dilution of the 1995 Devolution proposals, the tearing up of the year 2000 constitutional proposals for devolution and more recently the strong opposition to the P-TOMS, which is a mere aid sharing administrative mechanism for the North-East which was most affected by the 26 December 2004 tsunami.
Even today, exaggerations, subterfuge, concealment and sometimes even utter falsehood are employed to deprive the Tamils of what is their due to live with dignity and security as equal partners in a truly secular and tolerant Sri Lanka. Alleged child conscription and the ‘Karuna’ bogey are examples of this.
In the UK, children as young as 16 years of age are routinely recruited into its armed forces. Recruiting campaigns often target the more deprived sections of the community through various incentives. While not for a moment condoning the deployment of child soldiers from any quarter, can the strong possibility be excluded that the best promoter of young people being attracted to the LTTE would be factors such as- the acts of omission and commission of successive governments in the form of serious discrimination, harsh treatment meted out by an almost exclusively non-Tamil speaking armed forces, stress caused by insecurity and terrible violence such as indiscriminate carpet bombing unleashed over the years on the hapless Tamil population? The ‘Karuna’ factor being projected as a force to be reckoned with in the east and thus posing a serious threat to the LTTE is an illusory creation of a section of the southern polity to dilute the north-east link. The present policy to marginalize the LTTE internationally, which appears to be gleefully welcomed by the southern polity, will prove to be as myopic and disastrous as the infamous ‘war for peace’ campaign. Conveniently overlooked in this endeavour, are domestic and international state terrorism in its different forms.
Not withstanding all this, there is no question that the LTTE should fast track its transition from militant freedom fighters to a responsible political organization based on tolerance, plurality and democracy. Unfortunately, the Sri Lankan State gives a very poor example in all round good governance which includes an atrocious human rights record.
As indicated earlier, unless and until the stranglehold of Sinhala-Buddhist majoritarianism is tamed, there is little hope of resolving these issues. An interesting phenomenon being witnessed is where large sections of Sinhala-Christians who find it discriminatory when their churches are attacked and desecrated, at least tacitly acquiescing by turning a blind eye to the far more serious and widespread discrimination and harassment perpetrated on Tamils. One wonders as to what chance there is for the Tamils of this country when even Sinhala-Christians are targeted for discrimination and the two Presidential candidates are not willing to even take a stand on the obnoxious anti-conversion bill which has been presented to parliament! Even the NGOs on the ‘peace’ gravy train are not pushing the two Presidential candidates to be more forthcoming on their plan of action towards resolving the ethnic crisis and to state their clear stand on the anti-conversion bill. For example, they should pointedly ask Mr. Rajapakse how realistic it is to seek a solution within a ‘unitary’ constitution, given the ground realities of the conflict which include the LTTE controlling vast extent of territory in the north-east and to unequivocally state whether there will be conscription in his strategy for war and more particularly whether his three sons will be sent to the war front. How the war will be financed is another issue of interest to the electorate.
Mr. Wickremesinghe should be asked to state in more specific terms, the extent of ‘federalism’ he will consider rather than merely repeating ad nauseam that it will be within a ‘united’ Sri Lanka. Also to be determined is his stance on the unit of devolution at least in broad terms. A glaring omission in the just released UNP manifesto is any reference to the P-TOMS. There is also an obvious reluctance to use the term ‘Federal’ which is merely implied in the manifesto. This immediately raises suspicion on his serious commitment for a negotiated solution. The Tamils and Christians are surely between the ‘devil and the deep blue sea’!
(http://www.dailymirror.lk/2005/10/01/opinion/3.asp)
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