Democracy
at the centre, repression in the periphery
An otherwise excellent overview of the current position in the efforts
to secure a durable peace in Sri Lanka and prospects for the future
were ruined by two over-zealous- even hysterical- questioners representing
in various ways either side of the ethnic barricade.
A patient Constitutional
Affairs Minister G.L.Peiris gave ear to both-one Tamil woman from
the BBC who, I thought for a moment, would have heart seizure as
her agitated mind (if an overstatement might be permitted) tried
to grapple with the possibility of some new military security zones
in the north.
The other was
a member of some Sinhale association here who climbed his favourite
hobby horse and would have raced away for many verbal miles had
he not been cut short in full flight by the chairman who pulled
at the reins but could not easily stop the patriotic steed.
While the woman
from Prabhakaran-land nearly chewed up poor GL with her bellicosity
over the army obtaining several acres in the north, the man from
the kingdom of Dutugemunu was arguing that the Tamils were recent
immigrants to Sri Lanka from their own motherland in Tamil Nadu
and Tamil Nadu was the proper place for them to go because they
originated there. The Sinhala people were the indigenous people
of Lanka and they had a right to the place.
Former Commonwealth
Secretary-General Chief Emeka Anyaoku who presided at the talk sponsored
by the Royal Commonwealth Society quickly put paid to the patriotic
fervour with words when the obvious body language failed to deter
the man.
I, said Chief
Anyaoku, come from Africa and according to modern theories mankind
originated in Africa. So all you types quarrelling over Tamil Nadu
and Sri Lanka are really from Africa.
The laughter
that followed fell like icy-cold water on the chap who wanted to
send all Tamils across the Palk Strait but he was still heard muttering
and cursing between bites of onion bhaji, which my knowledge of
the culinary arts tells me, came from across the same Palk Strait
to which our hero wants to consign the Tamil community.
As usual GLP
was his eloquent self and it seemed to impress both Chief Anyaoku
and Lord Naseby, co-chairman of the Friends of Sri Lanka in Parliament,
that the minister held forth without a scrap of paper, without a
single note to assist him.
But then he
is not el professori for nothing. Moreover trying to make peace
through constitutional and political reform is a subject he has
been interested in even before he took up a portfolio in the Chandrika
Kumaratunga government.
He is well versed
in all the developments that led to the failed talks in April 1995
and subsequent attempts to restart the process. He is also aware
of the moves made by the Ranil Wickremesinghe government to kick-start
the peace process despite numerous hiccups.
Therefore Minister
Peiris is able to provide useful insights into the thinking of the
Kumaratunga and Wickremesinghe administrations and the points of
departure in approaching a problem that has remained intractable
for so long, but which, according to Professor Peiris appears to
show some light at the end of a long tunnel.
My grouse is
not with what he said but that Chief Anyaoku whose radar was focussed
mainly towards the back of the hall from whence the first foray
into anthropology began at question time, had failed to see my raised
hand though Professor Peiris had spotted it early enough as he indicated
to me later.
I had a few
genuine questions, not speeches masquerading as questions.
Several times
the minister mentioned the prospective talks in Thailand. But not
surprisingly he did not say whether they would begin in June or
July or even August.
That is an indication
that there are some stumbling blocks that have to be overcome. LTTE's
chief negotiator Anton Balasingham referred to a "dichotomy"
of views on core issues. That is obvious, for otherwise the problem
would not exist.
But the vital
question is whether the divisions that now exist with regard to
the agenda for the Thailand talks can be settled soon enough for
the talks to start. But is there a time frame for this or is it
to be allowed to drift without a limit?
But I was more
interested in Professor Peiris's thinking with regard to the revival
of the old committee system that existed under the Donoughmore constitution.
If the idea is to make the current political pluralism more democratic
by bringing all political parties into the policy-making process,
it is a pity that political democracy is being strangled in the
North-East provincial administration, the LTTE demands.
In the early
days the LTTE eliminated the leaders of every other militant or
political group in the Tamil political spectrum. Now by coercion
or other means it has virtually eliminated other Tamil parties from
the political scene by limiting their participation. The Tamil National
Alliance of four Tamil parties is but a mere shadow that moves according
to the LTTE's wishes. It's assigned role is to look after rehabilitation
and similar matters while the LTTE makes all the decisions.
So are we to
have two systems of government in the country- democratic government
at the centre and authoritarianism in the northeast?. The vociferous
Tamils who spoke of human rights don't seem to mind a dimunition
of those rights by their own people. How nice.
|