Prabhakaran not Sinhala Nationalists destroyed federal concept
by Gomin Dayasiri
A Prabhakaran dead can be more menacing than a Prabhakharan alive. Prabhakaran missing could be still worse. The call to surrender laying down arms is to place the pill under his tongue - Prabhakaran fears to face Tamils without arms and ammunition. Prabhakaran dead or alive would not matter, if the legitimate grievances of the Tamils are attended, without leaving it in the freezer.
Tamils fleeing the northern sector (except those planted by the LTTE as moles to cause economic and military damage) know Prabhakaran better than those in the South. They had to escape from him to tell the sorry story. To the parents- Prabhakaran is the prime child snatcher; to the children-Prabhakaran has ruined their future; to all- the man has rendered them homeless by ethnically cleansing his own creed. Resurrection conjures reincarnation from the grave, icons can become idols; the second coming of Prabhakaran is possible through fable and legend in the form of fairy tale and folk lore, mime and music.
Prabhakaran and Wijeweera are the anarchist children of J.R.Jayewardene. He fathered them when he aborted the election and gave birth to a referendum. Instead of becoming babes in parliament they went into the woods to emerge as killers in battle dress. Prodigies became megastars with a dream in mind and a gun in hand. Holding out as freedom fighters they hunted and killed their own kith and kin which made them fall from grace with division within their own divisions.
The self proclaimed freedom fighters alienated their own people when they denied them their freedom to live with dignity. The student circles destroyed Wijeweera in hiding – military cadres are doing the same to Prabhakaran in hiding. To operate from hiding with a remote controller is handing power to others to make grave mistakes. History will show cadres alienate the people more rapidly than the leader, in isolation, to accelerate his downfall.
Wijeweera died with few friends at home. So will Prabhakaran. JVP has to still depend on support and funding from abroad from their diaspora. So does the LTTE. After Wijeweera, the JVP entered the democratic process. So will follow suit, the remainder of the LTTE after Prabhakaran; the JVP politicians who remained at home became parliamentarians. JVP keeps metamorphosing into further fractions. It will happen to the LTTE more so with a political vacuum. JVP blow themselves big with small and energetic cadres. LTTE does it better. The post Wijeweera youthful leadership in the JVP made a greater impact as democrats winning 40 seats in parliament than their discredited revolutionaries whose exit only their families mourn. The breakaway former LTTE group captured power in the East at the first democratic opportunity. Out of crushed revolutions grow meaningful evolutions.
JVP hardly talks of Wijeweera and his fighting forces except on the commemoration day. Few knew him in JVP to talk of him. Ask Wimal Weerawansa or Vijitha Herath-they merely have a picture image of the founder being schoolboys. Probably only Somawansa Amerasinghe speaks of him fondly. Still less would know Prabhakaran, living in splendid isolation, and few would care to talk of him endearingly. Like Wijeweera in the JVP, Prabhakaran will live more in the minds of the diaspora who are living overseas seeking attention for a moment when they come home on furlough to be recognised and willing to pay for it. Prabhakaran will be made the fall guy like Wijeweera and blamed for killing fields-a topic JVP assiduously avoids. Once the upper echelons of the JVP were eliminated the next generation was willing to walk the path of democracy.
It is the governments by procrastination and neglect that can make northern homes decorate with garlands the photographs of a murderer. If the legitimate grievances are attended to, in a reasonably satisfactory manner, Tamil will put his picture in the ustbin. The greatest setback for the launching of the Federal concept for the Federalists was the emergence of Prabhakaran; not the Sinhala nationalists who energized the federalists. Prabhakaran destroyed it for more than a generation He inherited the federal trappings and killed those propelling it and converted the weaklings to be his mouthpiece. He made an exhibition by deed and act, that federalism will lead to secession.
It is to the credit of Anandasangaree that he fearlessly stood alone on the deck when others deserted him. It is ironical that a Tamil fighting for a homeland pulled the curtain down on federalism eliminating it from the constitutional choreography. Now is the time to move the idol from iconology- by being genuine towards Tamil grievances.
The priority must be the Tamil people and not the Tamil politicians. The lesson to be learnt is from the CWC which has been warming cabinet seats uninterruptedly under every administration for 30 years, while the Indian Tamil community has hardly progressed; the beneficial flow has been to the party officials and the community still deems it to be neglected. Provincial Council is side stepping the issues affecting the Tamil people.
The 13th Amendment was never sought-it was imposed and accepted by a weak leader who was a thug only at home. It has stands flawed fractured flayed because the present constitution was plotted at a ‘mad hatters’ tea party- an Indian midsummer nights dream. It could be said a programmed coup is worthwhile merely to rewrite a constitution.
A sub committee headed by the distinguished jurist Nirmala Naganathan identified areas which can be treated as minority grievances -listed broadly under the headings (1) Language (2)Security (3) Land (4) Water (5) Employment (6) Development (7) Abductions and Kidnappings (8) High Security Zones (9) Multi Ethnic Security Forces (10) Child Recruitment.
The sub committee was an off shoot of the barren experts committee which the President with wisdom disbanded swiftly having appointed ill advisedly.
Though many of the problems of the aforesaid grievances touch the majority community, current country situation warrants solutions on a fast track to the grievances of the minorities, if found to be legitimate The nature of the grievances requires the intervention of the centre which must act with speed courage and determination.
A federal solution is most unhealthy as it will result in an inevitable clash between the existing centre and the emerging periphery. It will again aggravate and revivificate the existing grievances with interested parties waiting to exploit political advantages to lead to another explosion and revive secession. After the elimination of the prime LTTE military structure, there will surface again the federal school of thought engineered by INGOs, closeted government federal agents posing off as intellectuals, decrepit leftists, Tamil politicians now in hiding and foreign advisors. The inside story of the Burghof Foundations intrusions into the activities of a Ministry to propagate federalism as stated in the Parliamentary Select Committee Report on the INGOs has sufficient source material for a future researcher to write a paper.
Their combined threat could be as deadly as that of the LTTE, as it will lead to the revival of the LTTE under another name; the same voices that once convinced society that the security forces cannot defeat the terrorists, will raise the federal issue. If the war was fought at the costs of so many valuable lives at such great costs, to usher federalism, totally rejected by the people consistently at elections, it may have been more prudent to hand over the North and East to the LTTE without spilling blood. A clash between the centre and periphery would mean the legitimate grievances of the minorities will remain to fester while politicians posture to gain mileage- the prescription of the LTTE medicine man. Reaching the people and attending to their grievances is a fast forward approach to eliminate the problem without placing power in peripheral political units more enthusiastic in widening their political cult than solving problems. The lesson learnt in the East is an intensive course in adult education and a learning curve to handle a more complex North. The answers to the listed grievances can be assuaged without constitutional amendments by legislative and administrative measures by the central government through the existing peripheral units. The speed has to be accelerated by Presidential Directives.
All Party Representative Committee [ARPC] is poppycock. It cannot justify its existence or continuation. It has become a convenient façade to do nothing on the national problem. It neither receives nor delivers direction from or to its parent, the All Party Conference [APC]. Both deserve a public caning for allowing the national problem to rankle.
With the successful completion of the war, must emerge an immediate formula as a reasonably feasible solution to the problem. It will not be a perfect solution to satisfy all stakeholders but with time it can be perfected but yet it will never be and/or expect to be the flawless resolution to the issue-that is to live in cuckoo land. The resolution of the ARPC- of fulfilling the terms of the 13th Amendment- is not an answer to the question but a question to answer, as to whether the 13th amendment which has lasted as long as the war, has created rather than solved problems?. An instant IQ test- name one benefit conferred by the 13th Amendment to the people? So many for the politicians but is there just even one for the people or a semblance of a contribution to solve the national issue? We are stuck - marooned in an island with a constitution like an albatross around our necks and a judiciary attempting to break out from its moorings.
The Constitution cannot be amended to change its character due to its inbuilt locking system. The eerie spirit of J.R.Jayewardane, still hovers over it to exorcise any efforts to dismantle the structure he constructed to permanently disable any tinkering that will bring down the house that Dick built. The curse of Jayawardane has outlived his life and times. It is Sri Lanka’s twentieth century disaster stretching into the twenty first. It is worse than a tsunami-financial or tidal- since both are repairable or replaceable but the supreme document is a construction fabricated on alien soil that is hard to dislodge unless a pragmatic and innovative judicial process is operated.
If the grievances remain un attended it will be the Sinhalese who will be unwittingly restoring the image of Prabhakaran The streets of the peninsula will be decorated with graffiti in praise of the LTTE by their underground remnants, to be scored off by their competing rivals. The danger will be when photographs of Prabhakaran will be restored in the homes from where he ejected the occupants to build a safety net for himself.
The spectre of federalism may raise its head, unwittingly, through the forces which fought terrorism- the founding fathers of terrorism were those who originated federalism.
7 Comments
What Sri Lanka has is POLITICAL DEMOCRACY. Based on J.R.Jayawardena's constitution and the electoral system.
What Sri Lanka needs is Representative Democracy. Where people in an electoral VOTE for their representatives using Preferential Type system of voting.
This is along with politisation of the Public Service and the Executive Presidency has led to the most problems EVEN discounting the LTTE terrorist problem which is the BIGGEST Threat that Sri Lanka faces right NOW.
But previously mentioned reforms to the :
Electoral System
Executive Presidency
Indepedency of the Public Service
Merit based selection and promotion
is as equally important to the well being of Sri Lankan state.
The writer seems unaware of the historical back ground of what the tamils had gone through in the fifties ad sixties.
The Tamis had suffered enough atrocitis, in spite of peaceful demonstrations, for twnty years. Their properties and heritage burnt and the innocent tamil civilians killed. All this resulted in the formation of the LTTE. Who was responsible? Can you expect anything else from the SL governments? What are you talking about?
How many mutual agreements the Tamils had signed were torn aside by the SL governments on their own?
Do you expect the Tamils to have any more faith in the politicians of the South?
Please think well - if we wish to have a happy SriLanka.
A beutiful happy country has been destroyed by ambitious politicians of the south.
"The devil quoting the scriptures" is what comes to my mind when I read this piece - one from the mind and thoughts of one identified as a front-liner of Sinhala chauvinism. The labyrinth of homilies here
shrewdly hides the three main pillars of Sinhala obstinacy
preventing a settlement of the National Question - no Federal solution; no devolution and no change of the Constitution. So where is the good of the Tamils
Govt Legal Advisor (for talks with the LTTE in Geneva) Dayasiri vainly tries to portray? "Prabakran and Wijeweera are the anarchist children of JRJ" concludes the Writer. I cannot speak of or for Wijeweera. This is true partially - but the actual forces that sowed the seeds of the polarisation of the communities were those special and close advisors of Mrs B's Pan-Sinhala Cabinet of 1960. It is this factor that broadened the differences between the communities to what they came to be. By the way, Mr Dayasiri, you are twisting history when you say "Wijeweera died with a few friends" giving this a routine flavour. The truth is Wijeweera was mercilessly assaulted at the Mutwal Army Camp and then shot - as Minister Ranjan Wijeratne was to tell close associates.
Tamils do not come to Sri Lanka on "furlough" but do so - inspite of the dangers here - to see and help their immediate relatives. Many of them are arrested on flimsy grounds and released after the exchange of large amounts of cash. This is why, Mr Dayasiri, many Tamils from the diaspora come to Chennai to meet their relatives.
It is safer and they are free from the fear of wrongful arrest. I am glad you realise "it is the govt's procrastination and neglect that make Northern homes decorate with garlands the photos of murderers" To an extent this is true because it is not every Tamil home in Jaffna that has a photograph of VP. What have you done about this now that you have so much of influence with the President, the Cabinet and more so the Army - whose darling you are. "Priority must be the Tamil people" you magnanimously state. This is what the Tamil people and leaders have been saying throughout but your side is content to ignore this calling all of them "Tigers" and now you come with this long essay of kindness to the Tamil people. With the clout you have with the Govt, the Buddhist hierarchy and the armed forces
you can help the arrival of peace more than many others. But this has to be serious and objective and without pre-conditions.
ISS
Dear Hon. Secretary-General, UN
hereby I ask you to take steps regarding on war in Srilanka Tamils.
Genocidal war on Eelam Tamils by the Sri Lankan state.
Srilankan govermental forces are butchering the tamil civilians in the north of Srilanka.
Tamil people are suffering and bombed to death and hundred of thousands are been displaced.
The Sri lankan president MR. Mahinda Rajapaksa is doing this war in the pretext of eliminating Tamil tiger rebels( so-called terrorists )
But in truth it is a war against the whole tamil population. Tamils do not have a way out.
Total violation of human rights by Srilankan Army.
It is not a War between the Sri Lankan army and the Tamil Tiger rebels as the mainstream media tries to portray, but is an attempt
by the Sri Lankan state to wipe out the entire Tamil population from the island,
People are bombed with cluster-bombs and hurt by atterlerie fire. Children are dieing, babys without food.
The tamil people are daily attacked by air raids without warning or having any protection.
There´s no medical aid, helping organizations are not allowed to the war zones.
Horrible situation for the Sri lankan tamils. Please help them now.
The world called for cease fire upon Gaza middle east, but why is nobody care about
the war in Srilanka, which goes on for 30 years?
Now time has come for UN and the whole world to stop this war and to stop the suffering.
I kindly request you dear Hon.Sir to help our people now.
Let it not be another Ruwanda (Africa). Allready thousands lifes have been lost because of this War.
PLease take International Action Against Genocide! If you do not take action NOW who is going to do it?
No for genocide !
Please Help us, Sir!
PLEASE !!! Help the innocent Tamil civilians NOW
Yours sincearly
Sritharan
19-01-2009
No point blaming anybody re the past. Let us admit that many old politicians of both sides made mistakes in the past. V.P. was unique in that he killed his own people while killing others. We must think why he killed the democratically elected our own parliamentarians.
There is a grave CASTE and anti HINDU element there.
The best for us would be to get the best possible via Anandasangaree and Karuna as the Govt trusts them.
We mst also try to get the Westminister type of constitution as well. In travel because of 9/11 ungrudgingly we remove our shoes, put everything in our possession in trays & co-operate. What is wrong in obeying our own Security after VP created the terrorists among us ? We must co-operate to bring sanity to the country, to live happily together. Universal Love to all!
Kalan.
“The greatest setback for the launching of the Federal concept for the Federalists was the emergence of Prabhakaran.” – Dayasri. I concur, and so would have the American expert on federalism, professor Daniel Elazar who once said that in order for federalism to take effective root, the federating units must first mutually trust one-another – a condition that never was in Sri Lanka and one further exacerbated by Prabhakaran and the cessationists. In this writer’s view, while a symmetric federal model may be ideal for the island, it is highly unlikely that a federal arrangement of any sort will realistically evolve any time soon considering the significant mistrust between the two communities enlarged over the last decades. At present what we need are ways and means to quickly yet systematically restore trust and confidence among the disparate communities and towards this end, the suggestions made by Dayasri are commendable. Nonetheless I do not agree with the final conclusions of the Minority Report of the Expert Panel in which Dayasri was one of four expert members. There needs to be more devolution to all provinces. While Dayasri lambasts the Expert Panel, the APRC, Federalism, the 13th Amendment and rightly the government, the distinguished attorney submits little in the way of any new suggestions towards discovering just solutions. However, it is to his great credit that he has openly criticized the very government that he is part of and warned it about procrastination and emphasized the urgency to address the legitimate grievances of Tamils. Dayasri’s courage is especially commendable considering the general perception of him among the intellectual Tamil Diaspora, as one reader characterizes, a “front-liner of Sinhala chauvinism”. To reject Dayasri as a Sinhala chauvinist is not only an abomination of his good intents but it also typifies the utter ignorance by Tamils about the Sinhalese psyche. For the umpteenth time, please recognize that while the Sinhalese are the 4:1 majority on the tiny island, they are a minute regional power (within 32 km of Palk straits) as well as an irrelevant global power without any representation whatsoever in any other place on planet Earth. If Dayasri and other Sinhalas may appear chauvinistic, may be they are just trying to preserve their tiny race from extinction. It is high time that Tamils as well as the international community begin to appreciate the 'Sinhalas reality' because only through this understanding can a true peace will ever emerge on the island.
-Dias, California, USA
I wish to comment on Dias, California's observations. I have by choice not linked Gomin Dayasiri with his father N.Q. Dias. I do not believe the sins of fathers should visit their children. I have been critical of Dayasiri in these blogs so far but have not named his father - though I notice others have.
NQ Dias was one of the original and enthusiastic perpetrators of those injustices to Tamils that subsequently gave birth to the likes of Prabakaran. Anyone with a Tamil or Christian name was rejected to officer-positions in the armed forces when Dias controlled recruitment as Secy/Defence. Mrs B was made unwelcome in Jaffna (read Neville Jayaweera elsewhere in this journal) not for her
doings but for Dias's anti-Tamil prejudice and theatrics. Dias's name was so unwelcome in subsequent administrations and the country it is widely believed the son opted for a total name change. If you read my earlier articles you will see I am totally for a "larger portion of the national cake" to the Sinhalese in a future United Sri Lanka - simply because they are the larger majority. It is only an imbecile who would argue otherwise in a society as divided as we are.This is no USA 2008 where merit and reason prevails and produces an Obama. In addition to the Parliament in Sri Lanka, that parallel seat of political power with the Mahanayakes in Kandy i the cause of much of our downfall. This Buddhist heirarchy's existence depends on a single-object theory in a so-called multi-religious and multi-ethnic country - if you care to think about it. Merit should be the key to a future united Lankan society - both in spirit and substance. Otherwise, you will have the type of "Kudu MP's" running Parliament and govt as they are encouraged to do now with Doctorates under their raised sarongs. There shall be no 2nd class citizenry in deed or in thought. Gomin's problem is in public he preaches justice to the Tamils but is opposed to all those features that show a way out of our impasse - Devolution, amendments to the Constitution and recognition of historic Tamil habitats. He is typical of the tricky "heads I win tails you lose" failed strategy dished out both by the 2 main Sinhala parties to please Tamil demands. This will not boil any more. The so called imminent defeat of Prabakaran will not spell the total disappearance of Tamils from the Island - although much has been done in various inhuman and illegal ways to bring Tamils to their knees in recent times. The Sinhala side refused to offer justice to the Tamils in the last half a century - despite the pleadings of thier Parliamentary representatives and much of the International Community. And now you have Tamilnadu on the boil and Delhi will soon be forced to act. Unless we read the signs right and take appropriate action it will be 1987 re-visiting us again in a much more intense form - this time more in the South. This is not what I wish because that will be bad for all communities. But India, I suspect, is at the end of her tether and realises MR & Bros Inc do not have the stomach to see reality. So we may be pushing for Eelam with or without VP - although many Tamils do not want this.
ISS
ISS