Blue brigade – friend or foe
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Ten years ago, the armed forces and police would be patrolling the streets of Colombo and the suburbs to deter a LTTE suicide bomber or in preparedness for LTTE cadres entering the city and causing mayhem.On Wednesday, while passing the Police Park grounds at Thimbirigasyaya, I saw a group of police personnel training in preparation to counter a different kind of scenario – protests on the streets, to some a necessity and to others, a menace, depending on whom you talk to.
Dressed in smart, blue police uniforms, men, donning helmets and carrying batons and shields, were being put through their paces in what appeared to be a training session to tackle a growing number of protests not only in the city of Colombo but in the outstations too.
Today the issues are many. The controversy surrounding the private medical college (SAITM) at Malabe, the Central Bank bond scam, the proposed entry of private medical colleges, Hambantota Port developments, the Colombo Port City, contract workers facing threats of being discontinued at the Sri Lanka Telecom and the Ceylon Electricity Board and cost of living are among the larger problems. There are other day-to-day issues with some bankrupt politicians holding daily briefings and revelling in the never-before glare of publicity as the media lap up every word of theirs. There is very little substance – just ranting and raving about the misdoings of a government. Joining in the ‘chorus’ of protests, is the joint opposition, each day raising a fresh issue.
As public protests increase by the day in the city, roads are closed and traffic moves at snail’s pace or not at all. One motorist said it took him 90 minutes to drive from Waters Edge, Battaramulla to Galle Face on Wednesday, when five or six different protest groups converged on Fort. That trip normally takes a maximum of 20 minutes.
“Aney mahattaya monawa karannaada, paarawal den block neda?” responded Kussi Amma Sera when asked why she got late the other day.
Talk to any of the city’s bus or train passengers and their initial outburst is anger against protestors, saying this is a public nuisance and people are either getting late to get to work or getting late to return home. But a longer conversation with commuters invariably turns to bashing an administration that is at sixes and sevens, on all fronts.
Public inconvenience is not the only frustration. The economy and business is disrupted and adversely affected. Blocked roads cause delays which, in turn, costs money – millions of rupees in lost business and opportunities. While to some tourists, this is a new ‘enjoyable’ experience, to others who have a one-night stopover in the city with a shopping experience thrown in, it’s not a joke.
This is adding to the government’s nightmare of trying to attract more foreign investment – last year was a dismal US$300 million – with unrest in the city becoming another stumbling block. To the business community, this is apart from lopsided policymaking.
At media briefings and public events, government ministers present a brave front, sometimes jocular or cavalier in approach as if protests are irritants, will fade away and life will return to normal. On the street the mood is different; in buses and trains, frustration and anger is growing.
While a heavy-handed approach at the beginning by the police against protestors didn’t go down too well, the authorities are more tactful now in dealing with protestors – well aware of the two year-old government’s promise of allowing dissent and expression of views, without fear or brutal suppression.
The government is considering creating a special public space for protests to reduce the inconvenience to the public, a move that trade unions and opposition political parties are not in favour of.
The reality is that public inconvenience is the main weapon to put pressure on the administration. Without such inconvenience, protests in a designated public space won’t bother anyone, least of all the government and only provide some entertainment to the public passing by.
There is one point on which most people, and grudgingly, opposition politicians, agree: That such freedom to protest without being arrested (in large numbers) or brute force used, was not possible earlier.
Trade unionists and civil society activists agree that pent-up emotions by public spirited groups, bottled up for long under the former Rajapaksa regime, are now spilling into the streets; just like popping the cork of a soda bottle!
“There is space for dissent today,” a trade unionist says, acknowledging at the same time that public frustrations against protests are also mounting.
There are other reasons for far, more genuine protests in the provinces; the dissolution of local government authorities with the public unable to sort out many issues. While some local government commissioners appear to be working far better in the absence of political interference, the larger part of the system is not working, leading to frustrations which turn into anger and eventually street protests.
The chaos in governance, mismanagement and corruption has led to deep divisions within the government. Ministers are openly criticizing each other or claiming they don’t have powers; some ministers and ministry secretaries are contradicting each other – particularly secretaries who are political appointees and not career officers. To the public, the government is deeply divided and fighting these internal battles seems to be the priority.
Protestors are using such disputes to their advantage to either win their demands or get some assurance. If the UNP section of the government is unwilling to bow to their demands, the protestors run to the President who gives them a ‘reasonable’ hearing and defuses the situation.
Watching the fun from afar, the joint opposition – with the authorities dragging their feet over the promised prosecution on corruption of key opposition politicians and their henchmen – has got rejuvenated.
On all fronts, the crisis is unsustainable and could lead to serious issues, some civil society activists even fear a 1980s scenario breaking out, if the problems are not resolved. Universities were closed down for many months in the 1980s during protests – with dozens of student protestors killed or injured – against the then private North Colombo Medical College. The college was eventually taken over by the government.
Trade unions are also flexing their muscles for a new round of acrimonious negotiations with the government over draft legislation ostensibly to regulate contract workers, a festering problem in
Sri Lanka.
Unions claim the draft is more about regularising contract works and ask why proposals in 2010 to deal with contract work jointly supported by the unions and employers have not been implemented.
To many in Sri Lanka, freedom was hard fought and against all odds, two years ago. But that freedom is being chiselled away by both sides – the government and public protestors – which could lead to a bloodbath, when protestors get braver and the authorities, firmer.
No one wants to go down that road, least of all Sri Lanka’s business community which is slowly making profits after a 30-year dry spell that ended in May 2009. The threat of anarchy emerging is real and all sides need to sit down and sort out their issues before it gets out of hand, and out of control.