Independence: Where and for whom?

By Ayesha R. Rafiq

'As the day wore on, people began to enjoy themselves with joyous abandon as only a once subject people would do. A mammoth crowd flocked to Colombo where most of the celebrations took place.

'When the Commander in Chief of the East Indies squadron switched on the lights the word set high read "Nidahasa". A cry of joy rose from the throats of all who were gathered there. We experienced one of the worst traffic jams as we drove buffer to buffer along Galle Road that day. This was something new to us.

'The Ceylon Government Railway offered special two-way tickets to Colombo and Kandy for people to see the illuminations. Air Ceylon offered 45 minute night flights to the city'.

That was how Lalitha Witanachchi then an undergraduate described Sri Lanka's first Independence Day celebrations on February 4, 1948, at which she was an eye witness in the Daily News 50th Independence Celebrations Supplement of February 4, 1998.

Fifty two years later, last Friday, there was no joyous abandon or mammoth crowds as Sri Lanka observed its first Independence Day in the new millennium.

Conspicuous by their absence were Sri Lankans for whom freedom was won half a century and two years ago.

If security considerations had in the past years, reduced their numbers, there were hardly any last Friday. For the first time in post independent history, the same considerations had kept away the high and the mighty too.

Among the absentees were President Kumaratunga Prime Minister Sirimavo Bandaranaike, the three service chiefs Army Commander Lieutenant General Srilal Weerasooriya, Navy Commander Vice Admiral Cecil Tissera, Air Force Commander Air Marshal Jayalath Weerakkody and Inspector General of Police Lucky Kodituwakku.

The celebrations began with the arrival of the VIP's from 8.15 a.m. onwards and in the absence of the Head of State President Kumaratunga for the first time in the history of Sri Lanka's post independence celebrations, Speaker K.B. Ratnayake hoisted the National Flag.

Following the National Anthem and the Jayamangala Gatha, the invitees participated in a two minute silence honouring the country's war dead.

Meanwhile, during the ceremony even the sporadic bursts of music by the navy band hardly served to kindle the interest of the sleepy crowd, some of whom were lightly dozing helped by the heat, the lightly rippling waters of the Diyawanna Oya and the twitter of birds.Many of them had been required to be at their respective Government Departments as early as 6 a.m. to be taken to the grounds by 8 a.m.

While the announcers blared out the arrivals of the VIP's the telecast was interrupted to announce that the President would not be attending the Celebrations due to ill health. After a brief pause the cameras switched to Temple Trees to show President Kumaratunga flanked by the three service commanders. The President had chosen a pink saree in contrast to her usual choice of blue for state functions, and sported a pearl necklace and earrings. President Kumaratunga, sporting a pair of tinted spectacles, read out her Independence Day speech to the people of Sri Lanka, centrering on the ethnic issue and ending it by calling on the people to help the Government resolve the problem.

In view of the brevity of the celebrations however, the build up to the event was a public nightmare. Traffic was interrupted for rehearsals on the main roads on two occasions for over five hours. First on a Sunday which kept people from going about their daily chores, and then in the morning of a working day, resulting in jubilant school children being given a day off and frustrating those in a hurry to get to work on time.

Meanwhile ensuring maximum security in view of recent assassinations and attempted assasinations, temporary checkpoints at every access route to the Parliament Road meant that a long road journey ensured a number of stops while vehicles and identity cards were cursorily checked. Thursday (February 3) night, had hordes of security personnel lining the Parliament Road, huddled under trees which provided little shelter from the pouring rain.

Despite all the time, effort and inconvenience caused to the public in preparation however, the country's celebration of independence turned out to be a non-event with the Head of State herself being absent and with public morale and participation at an all time low.

While ministers, selected service personnel, government officials on duty and foreign diplomats, all amounting to less than 3000, hurried to the venue, roads were deserted and an atmosphere of almost eerie quiet prevailed. 'Ordinary' Sri Lankans, again shunned from participating in the celebration of their independence, had no choice but to stay indoors as some roads were closed to the public and security tightened.

At the celebrations itself a mood of unwillingness to be present was almost tangible as the invitees shuffled uncomfortably in the morning's heat. The lack of any fanfare in the form of parades, floats or marching bands which all had to be abandoned due to security precautions, resulted in the crowd seeming to find the event a stiff and formal affair with the only distraction being the arrival of some of the better known ministers.

As it was announced that the President would not be attending the celebrations, the invitees seemed to be surprised despite earlier rumours to that effect, and many hardly paid any notice to the President's speech.

Meanwhile, Independence Day went by hardly noticed by the majority of Sri Lankans. Few shops and houses if any sported the National Flag.

While the main celebrations centred in Colombo the provinces too marked the event with a few ceremonies. In Jaffna as in many of the provinces the National Flag was hoisted at around 8. 35 a.m. while the National Anthem was sung. The President's speech was telecast and broadcast on radio while a tree planting ceremony and a Shramadhana was held at the Secretariat premises while a special pooja was held in Nallur.

In Kandy in addition to hoisting the national flag the statue of the country's first premier D.S. Senanayake's was garlanded. Meanwhile long queues had formed outside the Bogambara prison, as relatives were queueing up to visit their loved ones.

In Galle it was more colourful with a massive fireworks display, celebrating independece and the millennium together.

In Batticoloa, religious dignitaries of all denominations and several government servants attended a ceremony at the Kachcheri.

All in all Sri Lanka's 52nd Independence Celebrations wound up leaving behind not a feeling of national pride but one of indifference, annoyance and disappointment.

They know no freedom, only tears

By Chamintha Thilakarathna

In a country where there was little right to life and freedom of expression, independence was only a myth, charged a group, that organised an event at Seeduwa to remember those who have disappeared over the years.

"Disappearance is a crime against humanity, let us not allow it to happen again," reads the plaque underneath the monument raised on Friday at a sombre and sometimes moving event to remember those who have disappeared without a trace.

"We do not enjoy independence to celebrate it," said Jayanthi Dandeniya of the 'Kalape Api' movement, the organisers of this event. "People at the top made promises to these people that they would find out what happened to their family members but all they have been given is 15000 rupees and a death certificate. The monument is our way of saying independence is only a myth in a country where people are deprived of the basic right to life and freedom of expression. It is meant as a cemetery for all those who have been deprived of a funeral and burial site," Mrs. Dandeniya said.

For many who attended this event the memories were still too vivid and frightening.

Children who did not remember their fathers, wives, parents and siblings who still waited in hope for the return of their loved ones, wept in silence while religious functions were carried out.

Photographs of some of those who have disappeared adorn the monument. Twelve year old Tilini Ranasinghe stares at a picture of her father of whom she has no recollection. Her father had been kidnapped when she was just two years old.

There were those who remembered their children who had gone missing as a result of the on going conflict. "My son is said to have escaped from the army and walked into LTTE territory at Pooneryn in 1993. The army says his records have been burnt in an attack at the camp and that he would have been taken in by the LTTE. But I am certain my son is alive somewhere," says one mother.

For Ven. Induvimala Thera the monument holds memories he would rather forget. "I was teaching at a school in Divulapitiya when some policemen took us away. There were seven of us. We were stripped, questioned and assaulted. One girl and some boys were shot on a bridge in front of my eyes and I jumped into the Mahaoya to save myself," he said.

Leela Wickramarrachi of Magalegoda, Veyangoda said her son was kidnapped in 1989 and she had not given up on him. "Till I die I will keep looking for him," she said through unshed tears.

Some 60,000 people are recorded missing over the last two decades, with little or no attempt being made to locate them, a member of Kalape Api said.

Indifferent over independence

By Roshan Peiris

U.N.P. chairman Karu Jayasuriya-

"Independence does not mean parades, other forms of celebrations and newspaper supplements. To me true independence means people being able to elect governments of their choice. It must spell out the freedom of expression without fear or favour.

"Having been born to pre-independent Sri Lanka, I am sorry to see the deterioration that has set in. In 1948 we were the second richest nation in the whole of Asia.

"Today we are among one of the poorest countries. Instead of spending time accusing each other even at this late stage we must try to rebuild our shattered nation. Let there also be discipline in the country and let politics be confined to elections.

M.E.P leader Dinesh Gunawardena-

"I think independence day is the most important day for any nation and at the turn of the new millennium we must face the challenges before us putting party politics aside.

CWC leader Arumugam Thondaman-

My wish is that independence that was gained by all communities working together is used to unite the nation by settling the ethnic issue.

ACTC General Secretary N. Kumarguruparam-

The British left Sri Lanka with a legacy of divide and rule. Since then we have not experienced real independence with the on-going ethnic problem in the North and East being unsettles.

With emergency rule, Tamil parties are badly affected in the context of fundamental rights. Therefore how can one say there is real independence.

TULF Batticaoloa MP Joseph Pararajasingham-

"Independence today is just an annual event which comes and goes. It is just another day of celebrations as far as we Tamil people go. For there to be real independence, the Tamil community has to be treated on par with the majority community.

How can we celebrate or talk about independence when many Tamils are languishing in jails without trial.

E.P.R.L.F. Secretary Suresh Premachandran-

"What is independence and do we have it in the whole of Sri Lanka?

We are a divided country with an ethnic war going on for the past 17 years. Our leaders are yet to find a solution to this burning problem

What is independence when many Tamils, Sinhalese and Muslims are being killed everyday.

EPDP leader Douglas Devananda-

Independence does not mean anything to us. It is like any other event. We in the EPDP have no special feelings of exuberance about independence.

In our lifetime we have most certainly not enjoyed the fruits of independence. It may be different once peace is established with the ethnic problem being solved. Only then will we be able to talk about independence.

JVP spokesman Wimal Weerawansa-

We have no independence. How can one talk of independence when economically we are subject to the whims and policies of world capitalists? There is no justice too in the country as the recent attack on artistes have shown. Therefore there's nothing to crow about independence day.

Tracing the roots of the ethnic problem

By Kumbakarana

On September 28, 1944, Mahatma Gandhi lost his temper, 'Pakistan' he said "means war to the Knife", immediately Jinnah exclaimed, "Here is an apostle and devotee of non-violence threatening us with a fight to knife" (Seevai, 1990 XX).

At a prayer meeting on the 31st of May 1947, Gandhi supposedly said that "even if the whole of India burns, we shall not concede Pakistan, even if the Muslims demand it at the point of a sword" (New York Herald Tribune, 2nd of June 1947).

Gandhi was proved wrong but only at the cost of a million lives.

In the 1930s, Choudry Rahamet Ali asked for ten Muslim states in South Asia from the British, two of these from Sri Lanka, Safistan and Nasanstan, but was able to obtain only two truncated states, that of Pakistan and the present state of Bangladesh.

In recent years in India, there has been a strong drift towards a centralized religious state, away from the secularism created by Nehru. In Sri Lanka, exactly the opposite is happening as there is a move to adopt a strictly secular state with a federal structure exceeding that of India.

Sri Lanka boasts of obtaining its independence from the British in a bloodless manner. However, there were several independence struggles up to 1948 which now seemed to have been forgotten.

In the post-independence period, there was a hartal in 1953, an insurrection in 1971, conflicts in the South from 1987-1999 and an ongoing conflict in the North which has lasted nearly two decades. It appears that the 'bloodless' independence has given rise to a vicious cycle of violence in the land.

During the time of independence, the Tamil elites claimed that they were excluded by the Soulbury constitution. However, some would say that the sole aim of the new constitution was to bring in the Tamils. The Soulbury Commission came about in 1944 just after the formation of a new Tamil party, the All Ceylon Tamil Congress, led by G. G. Ponnambalam. Mr. Ponnambalam said that his demand was to give 69% of the Sinhala population 50% of the seats. His earlier formula was to give 50% of seats to the minorities by nomination, and the other to be contested, thus he had suggested around 35% of representation for the majority Sinhalese. Later he changed this call to a 50-50 division for the minority.

In addition, the elite Tamils argued that they were discriminated in front of the Commission. However, when they claimed a non equal allocation of resources, the Soulbury Commission found that the Tamils had obtained more than their fair share after computing on the basis of population.

Although a 50-50 demand was not won, a situation very close to this was contained in the Soulbury constitution. According to Sir Ivor Jennings's formula, the scheme of representation would result in 58 seats as against 43 seats for the minorities (sessional papers XIV, 1944, A:12,13). The two who drew these clauses were Alan Ross and Murugesu Tiruchelvam, the father of Neelan.

It required 68% to change the constitution while the Sinhalese representation was only 58%. The final objective was to maintain the semi-colonial state, with a majority representation for the minorities. There was also a direct appeal by G. G. Ponnambalam not to grant independence to Sri Lanka as this may erode the power of the minorities.

The lesson of this tract is that while the colonials fragmented India and thus weakened it, in Sri Lanka they tried to maintain a semi colonial state. The problems today result from these attempts. It is ironic that they, these same people, have reappeared as 'mediators'. Today's terrorism cannot be solved by constitutional reforms, but by mobilizing the power of the people against terrorism.

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