There was a news item headlined ‘Prabhakaran rejects peace talks.’ This is purported to be a message issued by the LTTE leader to mark their National Heroes Day on November 26 which was his Birthday. First it is clear to all what a selfish, execrable extortionist this man, the self-acclaimed liberator of the Tamil people, Prabhakaran is - who has declared his own birthday as National Heroes Day of the Tamils. This alone speaks volumes for his pseudo-psychedelic mentality. Although certain sections of the local and foreign media still classifies this brutal, blood-thirsty, world-condemned terrorist as ‘LTTE Supremo’ (probably to give an undeserving boost-up). Even according to many ordinary Tamil citizens who have suffered untold hardships, agony and difficulties at the hands of the LTTE for well over a decade, he is a ‘Maniac’, a terror and a phoney.
The message that this man has declared on his birthday is clear. There are no ambiguities in it (unlike statements made by many other politicians of our time, specially of the Government Party and the Opposition Party). This statement is strongly worded. He had said in no uncertain terms ‘we will keep on fighting. We will pay our blood as the price and we will fight until we have achieved our liberation.’ The important question is what is the liberation Prabhakaran is speaking of? That is nothing less than a separate State of Eelam.
Let us not harp any further on this statement. We’ll try to, in the light of his consistent policies still collaborated by his latest declaration, analyse how successful, if at all, will the Government’s Devolution Package be, if the Government decides to go through with it. Already this Pandora’s Package as S.L. Gunasekera has rightly termed it, had been discussed and debated at various forums. It is crystal clear that the majority who are well aware of the dangers the Package possess, specially to the Sinhala race, are against it. If this diabolical package is to see the light of the day, it will be tantamount to giving Eelam on a platter. If so, why are we fighting a war for? Why should we continue to sacrifice so many tens of thousands of precious lives?
The fact is that the LTTE has on numerous occasions officially rejected the Package as a plot. The TULF and Tamil Congress scoffed it off as a mere farce. I now ask why Devolution? To satisfy whose whims and fancies is Devolution for? Is Devolution really or at all necessary? Who wants power devolved on the provinces or regions? Is it not just a handful of self-proclaimed, so-called racist and fascist Tamil leaders who are themselves not acceptable to their own Tamil masses in Jaffna and elsewhere. It was by a strange twist of events that the Tamil MPs representing the North and the East who do not deserve even a place in a Village Council, have been pushed into Parliament due to a vacuna or a loop-hole in the Constitutional Laws. They have not even polled one percent of the votes. Hence can we ever call or recognise them as duly elected representatives of the Tamil people?
Our research clearly points to the fact that the ordinary Tamil no longer clamours for political power, or a self-governing unit. They have been longing for the day when this senseless brutality will end, when peace and civil administration will be restored and when they will be able to again live in harmony, understanding and friendship with all other races, specially the Sinhalese sans any discrimination or differences.
Hence it is our uncompromising and unreserved belief and conviction that the Centre should be and must be able to govern, administer and manage the affairs of Sri Lanka as one united, unitary State by strictly and strongly ensuring equilateral, equitable social justice, freedom and independence for all races and communities alike by Statute. We state categorically that despite false and malicious propaganda, the Sinhalese have not discriminated against the Tamils (may be until and unless they were provoked by the Tamils) and that the Sinhalese will not discriminate against them. Nor will the Tamils be treated and looked upon as a minority without any self-respect or status. They will be treated as our equals in all spheres of life. We stress that the Sinhalese have never been racists or communalists and they will never be in the future too. So we appeal to the Tamil leaders not to sow the germ of communal hatred for their own selfish, petty gains - but let all live like children of one closely knit family, forgetting the past atrocities.
This is nothing impossible. What is paramount is that all parties must be honest, clear and straightforward in their attitudes and intentions.
In the interest of the country at large, the Select Committee should minutely examine the land policy relating to the regions, especially the North-East.
There were thousands of Sinhalese living in the Jaffna Peninsula: furnishers, bakers, hoteliers, carpenters, merchants etc. There were Sinhala civil and police officers, a Sinhala member of the Municipal Council, and a Sinhala Government Agent too. There were a Government Sinhala School, a Buddhist Temple and a Pilgrim’s Rest - all in the heart of Jaffna. They are all destroyed now and the Sinhalese who were living in perfect peace and harmony with the Tamils and Muslims have all been driven out at the point of the gun.
Now, with the devolution of power and the new land policy,
(a) Would the Sinhalese be able to return to Jaffna and other parts of the Jaffna Peninsula?
(b) Can the Sinhalese in general purchase and own houses?
(c) Open shops and do their trades?
(d) Have their own schools and temples; restore the Naga Vihara and the Pilgrims rest?
(e) Perform pilgrimages to Nagadeepa freely?
The Tamils started infiltrating into other towns from early 1900 and have now systematically established themselves. They have their own houses, buildings, shops, trades, offices, colleges, temples etc., all over.
The Tamil leaders themselves and top Government officials too are firmly rooted in Colombo and other towns. Hence why deny the same democratic rights and privileges to the other communities as well in the North-East region? It is only just and fair that the Tamil people and leaders largeheartedly concede on this issue in the interest of intercommunal goodwill, harmony, mutual friendship and lasting peace.
The President, Professor Peiris and the Parliamentary Select Committee ought to address themselves to this all-important question, to ensure Peace with Honour.
President Chandrika Kumaratunga in her usual forthright manner castigated teachers for falling teaching standards. Most parents with school-going children except those attending the handful of top schools in the country will doubtless give a loud cheer to her highlighting this serious situation. We have been told for quite some time that the system of education is being re-structured. Well and good.
However, shouldn’t the re-structuring start with the administration of that very sick giant, the Education Department? How competent are its officers? How efficiently is it being run? What is the level of productivity of its personnel both at clerical and higher levels? How many hours do they actually devote to their duties a day? Has a survey been ever carried out? Those who have any dealings with the Department will be appalled at the sad state of affairs prevailing. Isn’t it reasonable to assume that the malaise in the Department infects schools? When there is lethargy and indifference in the Department, generally the schools tend to follow suit. What the ‘gurunanse’ does, the ‘golaya’ does one better! Even for the merest routine matter, principals and teachers have to visit the Department times out of number. The clerical staff treat principals and teachers with disdain. Here the dictatorship of the subject clerk is the order of the day as the staff officers more often than not are entirely dependent on the clerk, being clueless where administrative details are concerned. Does the Department ever reply a letter from a teacher? Is a teacher’s increment ever paid in time? If arrears of salary of even a few hundred rupees is due how many times has a teacher to visit the Department and plead with the clerk? In short anything a teacher has to get, is it ever given in time and without several visits to the Department? Even registered letters are ‘not received’. Letters handed over are strangely ‘not in file’. Papers being lost and ‘misplaced’ is the norm. Even after retirement the harassment does not cease.
How many teachers get their pensions even six months after retirement? How many times does a teacher grown old in service and usually ailing have to visit the Department and suffer the indifference of the subject clerk in an attempt to ensure that retirement papers are properly processed without delay? There is an incredible lack of supervision and the clerks take their own sweet time as they well know that nobody checks their work and nobody except the poor teacher involved is concerned. But who cares for a teacher? Isn’t this fertile ground for corruption? Repeating ad nauseam that teachers are paid a good salary, so let them get on with the job, displays an abysmal lack of understanding of even the basic tenets of employee and human relations. It is not the salary alone that makes a contented employee striving to give of his/her best.
I had to visit the Greenpath Office and Zonal Office of the Education Department at Slave Island on several occasions some months back. I do not know at what time these offices are supposed to start work but even long after at 9.00 a.m. most of the clerks had not come. Those who trickled in from time to time immediately made a bee-line to a corner table for breakfast and tea, and of course, for a chat! To use the colourful and descriptive words of the President the amount of ‘keechi-beechifying’, that goes on in groups and pairs will only be believed by those who see it. It is scandalous they do it with impunity. It is to these people that the President in her generosity is giving a 50% salary increase! They don’t deserve even an increase of FIFTY cents for the quantum of work they do; they are already overpaid.
Long years ago, I was horrified to read in the newspapers that a high official in the Department was assaulted with a bicycle chain. But now after many dealings with the Department I can very well sympathize with the man who did it and appreciate the frustration that would have goaded him to such a drastic act. It is perhaps the only language that will make an impression on these glorified pen-pushers.
We are fully behind the able, hardworking and concerned Minister of Education in the Herculean task of cleaning up the Education Department and improving the standard of education in this country. But I am afraid this amiable, kind hearted Buddhist gentleman will get nowhere without a sturdy bicycle chain in his hand.
Write a letter to the editor : editor@suntimes.is.lk