Implementing 13th Amendment is Only The First Step
Prof. Tissa Vitarana
We are really gathered here today with the haunting spectre of Kosovo, I think none of us want to see that outcome in Sri Lanka; we have to work a solution to what is almost an intractable problem, avoiding possible pitfalls which await us.
I am glad in choosing the subjects for this seminar; the international dimension also been addressed. As a colonised country we are deeply aware of the policies of divide and rule that were the basis of colonisation. We know that internationally that there are moves to go back to similar types of controls of our economies, this has become deeply evident in this context, and we have to act with circumspection, at the same time with determination to achieve our goals.
[Prof Tissa Vitarana]
As part of the APRC process, I would like to crystallise the issues before us in this way. There was a time when the conflict could have been resolved within a unitary state, without anything more than decentralisation by solving the language problem.
Today, the problem has escalated to the point, where the Tamil speaking people of this country, no longer have confidence in the majority community meeting their needs on their behalf. In fact there is a desire to share power both at the canter and at the periphery to enable them to meet the needs of the Tamil speaking people. We have to recognise this very clearly.
On the other side we have a Sinhala Buddhist majority who are afraid that the process of devolution could be utilised as a legal basis for affecting the separatist agenda.
I myself have found in the APRC process the task is to assuage the fears on both sides and to make people believe that devolution rather than facilitating separation, would be the base for preventing separation.
It is really a process of trying to create the necessary understanding, confidence, mutual respect that this situation demands, that is the APRC process today.
In this context the APRC over a period of one and a half years met on 71 occasions, sometimes five to six hours at a time. I have to acknowledge the cooperation and support of the fourteen political parties, who are in it and acknowledge their active contributions.
I thought the first meeting we had would have been the last, it was so confrontational, but I am happy to say there is now mutual respect and a team effort and also I am also happy to say that we can have a successful completion of our deliberations. Reaching a consensus is a vital part of this process; I must also appreciate the significant contributions of H.E the President has made.
I remember when I was the convener of the National Alliance for Peace, which bought together 147 organisations, trade unions, peace organisations, NGO’s, religious organisations and so forth. And with a team headed by religious dignitaries, the leader was the present Mahanayake Thera of the Asgiriya chapter; we went to Kilinochchi in 1997 at the height of the battle and met most of the L.T.T.E leaders including the late Tamil chelvam, except for Prabakaran.
We were trying to achieve at least a laying down of arms. Their main point was, that having an agreement which the government would not serve any purpose because, since we periodically have changes in government, the new government will not honour an agreement with the previous government. This was the crux of their argument.
After a post mortem examination of our visit, it was agreed that the prime task should be to reach a consensus, which must include at least the UNP and SLFP parties, which form successful governments in our country.
At a recent meeting the president had with Ranil Wickremesinghe- Leader of the opposition the understanding was reached whereby in our document agreement was reached on ninety percent of the proposals. It was agreed that I prepare a report on the areas of agreement and hand it over to Mr. Choksy the U.N.P representative and start an unofficial dialogue and give them the completed document to draw them into the process.
The discussions have now covered all areas pertinent to the problem. Regarding the ten percent under dispute, we have identified options for discussion and I hope this will take place in the near future. In my view we have been drawn into this process of trying to fashion out of our discussions an amendment to the present constitution without a 2/3 majority because, the president was under immense international pressure, and the charges were that the government had shifted from a political solution to a military solution.
The government is having difficulty in trying to achieve this task without the necessary stability in the government. This is the dimension we have to reckon with, When former president J.R Jayewardene came out with the 13th Amendment he had a 5/6 majority in Parliament, when there was a Sinhala Buddhist backlash, he gave into that.
By large the situation has improved a lot from the days of J.R Jayawardene, because racists’ opinions were much more prevalent during this time period and the need for a political solution was not adequately appreciated. Now from the public opinion point we are on a better wicket.
In my view, basically it is a process of winning over the Tamil Speaking people, restoring their confidence that within one country the necessary structures will be established to ensure their needs and aspirations would be fulfiled. Anything short of this will not carry conviction.
The 13th Amendment is the first step in the process of restoring confidence of the Tamil people. The government has been trying to promote economic development by politicians elected by the people of the east with the recently concluded local government elections.
We also need to ensure that adequate funding is made available to the provincial council members, which will result in the successful implementation of the 13th Amendment. The process is not going to be limited to the implementation of the 13th amendment; we have to come up with a new constitution that eliminates the short comings of the 1978 constitution.
Finally, touching on the military aspect, we have something to learn from the experience of ache in Indonesia, in ache they had three ceasefires all three were failures. On the fourth occasion the government, in particular the minister of justice, who was chief negotiator, had a year and a half of unofficial secret talks with the leaders of the ache rebels addressing core issues, and only when he felt that sufficient progress had been made, that they went in for open talks. Throughout the whole process there was no ceasefire, the government kept on pounding the rebels and weakening them militarily, during this period their strength had been reduced by 1/3 and at that point there were open public talks.
The government acted sensibly and magnanimously and gave the ache rebels more than what they had dreamt was possible. Previously in ache a very oil rich province, all their earnings were taken by the central government and only a pittance was given to the province, on the table seventy percent of their earnings could be retained in Aceh, therefore, they agreed to lay down arms straight away.
I hope in Sri Lanka. While we approach this problem from all angles, we will act with wisdom and learn from the experience of other countries.
The question of Human rights is also being raised, I don’t know whether similar questions have been raised in Iraq, Afghanistan or in any other conflict for that matter, but it is being raised here. I think I hope I am wrong, that Kosovo is not in mind- lets not leave any openings for that to be exploited.
Once again I thank you all for your support to this intractable problem, which we must solve if we are to forge ahead as a nation.
(Extracts of a Speech given at an International Seminar held on the 26th and 27th of March Titled “Conflict in Sri Lanka: Road Ahead” organised jointly by the Bandaranaike Centre for International Studies and the Centre for Security Analysis, Chennai, India)
Devinda Fernando said,
March 31, 2008 @ 11:37 am
Prof Vitarana says:
“We are really gathered here today with the haunting spectre of Kosovo, I think none of us want to see that outcome in Sri Lanka”
LOL! He obviously has not been reading this forum and others like it where the Tamil Diaspora (A.k.a Eelam’s finest Chicken-Hawk cheerleaders) are on their knees PRAYING nightly for the ‘Kosovo outcome’ in Sri Lanka.
That being said I applaud Prof. Vitarana for supporting and advocating the 13th Amendment and basically endorsing the idea of equality among all Sri Lankan Citizens regardless of Race, Ethnicity and Religion. The difficulty is going to be the implementation, but Lord knows it will get done in time. ‘Rome was not built in a Day’.
And while I’m not fan of TMVP, as they are Race Based Politicians alone with that ‘Jihad-Wannabe’, Rauf Hakeem of the SLMC, and the wild Monks of the JHU, and our favorite Tamil “Human Rights Crusader” Mr. Mano Ganesan…. I have to say that some democracy and representation of the people is better than nothing. I look forward to the day that Tamils, Muslims, and Sinhalese abandon voting for the likes of these Carnival Barker Politicians and vote for Parties and people based on real issues other than Race, Religion, and Ethnicity.
ilaya seran senguttuvan said,
March 31, 2008 @ 12:12 pm
Prof Tissa Vitharana’s honourable intentions in the task entrusted to him are widely acknowledged. However, in the entirety of his
address I did not see anywhere any comment from him about the unfortunate feature where
he was “ordered” by his political superiors – with that half-wit
from the JHU Gammanpilla running up and down Temple Trees and the Committee – to disregard all what took place under his Committee in the previous months and simply to come out with a “2 page document” sans Police Powers,
Land alienation etc that were to remain in the Reserved List. President Rajapakse can congratulate himself he has hoodwinked the country in the matter – but he certainly has not fooled the international community – certainly not India. So once again, as the late Amirthalingam woud say “the whole thing is an exercise in futility”
In the circumstances and also in view of the jettisoning of the merge by GoSL – originally the central feature of the 13th Amendment – the whole endeavour of the good Professori and his Committee were derailed. The Committee has lost its essential integrity.
aratai said,
March 31, 2008 @ 1:29 pm
Prof. Vitharana (and some others) is missing a point that the Island is already separated.
It was separated democratically in 1977, and armed froces from one side is occupying the other.
Since then, we’re trying to unite the nations through negotiations and unfortunately hardliners from both sides are not allowing to do so. They like killing each other.
Devinda Fernando said,
March 31, 2008 @ 3:27 pm
Ilaya, you’re just trying to argue minutia ad Nauseum.
The fact remains, the East IS Liberated of the LTTE. Elections have begun, and next will be redevelopment. Tamils of the East are going to directly benefit, Politically, Economically, Socially, and Financially.
Stop your yapping about pointless events. Get with the Program.
M.Thiru said,
March 31, 2008 @ 4:47 pm
Before 1972, I belonged to LSSP cult and their philosophy as a small fry. In 1972, I was disillusioned by the acts of my masters who were engaged by one of the two Chief Priests ( UNP & SLFP) who have been taking turns to run Srilanka as a Sinhala Buddhist nation since 1948.
Then I realised that the masters of the left front cults ( LSSP,CP, MEP, JVP ) of Srilanka belonged to an elite club of the best magicians, mentalists, illusionists and hypnotists in the entire political world. The guys like Criss angel, David Blaine and David Copperfield are honest entertainers and earn a living or fortune in terms of money nevertheless they are no way near our left front masters.
Unfortunately the left front cult claims they are part of the Sinhala Buddhist Democratic Religion called Srilanka run by one of the two chief priests since 1948. IN THE EARLY DAYS they accepted or accommodated the parties belonging to Tamils and other minorities, under other democratic religions. But since 1977 the Chief Priests took turns and classified some of the Tamil youth groups as terrorists cults. Only those who are allies or form coalition with the Chief priests are now classified under other democratic religions but inferior.
In the name of democratic religion, to uphold their religion and power and milk benefits , the current Chief priest Mahinda and his regime believe in human sacrifices preferably young humans. They are using the services of best magicians, mentalists, illusionists, hypnotists available within the island and from outside.
The international independent group of eminent persons headed by Bagavathi thought they were invited as a diagnostic authority on democratic religion and its best practices. But disillusioned with the chef priest regime’s motives and have packed their bags and gone.
Unfortunately for the suffering Tamils there is no light at the end of the CFA tunnel, APRC tunnel and IIGEP tunnel.
The NM Perera- Colvin R de Silva pedigree magician, illusionist, mentalist and hypnotist and APRC Chair and came with his new trick ” the Ache solution ” and recommends ( 2/3 Tamil youth ) human sacrifice from the “labeled terrorist cult” and hypnotising the anti ” labeled terrorist cult ” and the educated among the Tamils.
May I ask Professor Vitharane how many first steps your uncles , aunts and big brothers, big sisters, small brothers and sisters, and your comrades asked Tamil youths to accept ? How many of them were made to leave their homelands ? How many of them were sacrificed in the North and the East? Are you recommending to erect human sacrifice Dagobas in the east and the north like human sacrifice pyramids in Egypt and China ?
Appeasing the majority has been going on from DS Senanayake era. That was the first step for the majority. Their legs are being made strong by successive Chinthanaya and implementation through constitutional changes. You are going to convince or hypnotise the moderate Tamils you are doing fine crawling bear with us we are going to help with your first step soon. In the mean time you are weakening the legs of the Tamil so that Tamils can not run at all in the future permanently disabled.
Will the majority of the moderate Tamils get hypnotised soon by APRC Chair and Minister for constitutional affairs Gunasekra’s CP alliance ? I do not think the moderate Tamils will fall for these illusions.
dias said,
March 31, 2008 @ 6:01 pm
Dr. Vitharana: “The process is not going to be limited to the implementation of the 13th amendment; we have to come up with a new constitution that eliminates the short comings of the 1978 constitution.”
Dr. Vitharana also says that enforcement of the 13th Amendment is merely the first step in a long drawn out process.
While the enforcement of the 13th is a positive baby step, the key deficiency in the described approach is the lack of visibility to a target solution – or even the outer contours of such a solution. It is like a blind person taking a step in a forward direction without having a clue about its eventual destination. The dilemma is, to where is the 13th Amendment taking us? What is the implementation Plan? What are the milestones? What are the success criteria? I am certain that even architects of Rome must have had a pretty good Plan prior to embarking in building Rome.
2ndClassTamil said,
March 31, 2008 @ 6:05 pm
#1. Devinda Fernando’s comments are a welcome change! Perhaps there are many in his community who hold similar views. But if one carefully examines one could see some confusion if not concealment in the comment. Disapproval of Kosovo and approval of 13th Amendment are fine. While ‘endorsing the idea of equality among all Sri Lankan Citizens regardless of Race, Ethnicity and Religion’ ( – it is only ethnicity as far as Tamils are concerned -), Davinda says implementing will be difficult but will be done in time. (May I remind that 60 years have elapsed and how many more are needed is anybody’s guess).
Does Davinda believe as Prof. Vitarana does that there should be the following?
1. Changes to the constitution
2. Some form of devolution
I suspect not! Whether he falls into the category of people who hide behind the slogan of ‘no ethnic devolution’ – to conceal their racial, chauvinistic unitary stance – only he can tell in his brusque manner. If not this is the chance to theorize his solution for our benefit!
As an aside, are more and more people applauding and supporting the good professor because they perceive that his hands are tied while being asked to be the court jester?
2ndClassTamil said,
March 31, 2008 @ 7:21 pm
“We are really gathered here today with the haunting spectre of Kosovo, I think none of us want to see that outcome in Sri Lanka”
Successive Sinhalese governments should have thought of this scenario 30 years ago (at least). There is no reason why Tamils should live with Sinhalese in a single country, after 100’s of thousand lives and billions of $s lost.
Garvin Karunaratne said,
March 31, 2008 @ 9:27 pm
While democracy is the best method for governance with powers granted for people to make their own decisions, one has to take into consideration the real ground situation.
Look at what is happening today. We have local councils all over the country which have failed to takle the waste disposal problem. Perhaps the only council that had tackled this is the Tissamaharamaya Council. That was the one area in my travels whre there was no piles of garbage!. Everywhere else one can see huge piles of garbage. If we cannot clear our garbage problem, how can our local government councils handle important subjects like land, policing etc. That is nonsence. In the good old days of our Economic Hit Men(Not John Perkins and his Confessions) we had simple solutions. When the Anuradhapura Council did not attend to work properly, it was the giant Sonny Gunawardena, an Assistant Commissioner of Local Government, that did the task. Till we get down to working like that granting more powers to local councils is mere nonsense. We should know that the local councils could not even handle the administration of hospitals and these have had to be taken back.
It is easy to talk of giving power to the people. But can the people handle the power. Let us look before we leap into total chaos.
S Galpotta said,
March 31, 2008 @ 9:44 pm
“The government has been trying to promote economic development by politicians elected by the people of the east with the recently concluded local government elections”.
Develop the country and solve the unemplyment poroblem. Let our childern to have a decent way of life irrespetive of race, religion or cast.
They will never talk about aspirations, capitalism,revolution, discrimination or any sort of alternatives. It is a waste of time appointing committies and commissions to find solutions.
Yes, develop the country and solve unemplyment problem.
selva said,
March 31, 2008 @ 11:56 pm
The problem the Arch people faced and the Northeast people faced is different. They didn’t like to share the petrolium wealth with the others. They never faced any holocaust like us. We didn’t start fighting that you are taking the illmanite or thinking you are going to take the petrolium from the North. Northeast is the dryest part of the country and wettest part of Northeast is already given to the Sinhalese. Here in the Northeast we don’t want to live in fear of the Sinhalese, like the Tamils of Colombe,Negombo, puttlam or upcountry Tamils live. The Sinhalese colonies.came in our neighborhood only made us to think of going separate. So what we fought for is for power not for resorces. You can take all the resorces from our areas but 100% of the power has to be in our hand. We shouldn’t feel like that we are a part of Sri Lanka. Don’t complain that two third of the sea is going to the Tamils. Just give us about 10% of the sea. Out of 250 nautical miles give us just 25 miles as our Economic Zone. Even in the 25 miles the Sinhalese can come and fish but the Sinhalese Navy shouldn’t be present in that 25 miles. No army should be present in the Tamil province. There should’t be any connection with Colombo whether it is our area harbours ,Electricity or anything. Most of the oil in the sea is in the Sinhalese areas. So if you don’t want the mannar block or other small blocks in the park straight be belonged to the Tamil province then as long as the Oil wells are emptied in Sri lanka for the Electricity you will have to supply Furnace fuel to produce our electricity to the cost price. You don’t even have to share your Hydro- Electricity with us. It is very simple to satisfy the Tamils if you are ready to give up your mentality of being the masters of Tamils and Muslims.
Devinda Fernando said,
April 1, 2008 @ 5:13 am
2ndClass Tamil,
If Ethnicity is the basis for devolution of power then yes I am against it. I don’t believe in segregation of Ethnic groups I have no problem with what race or religion my neighbor is as long as he is not trying to steal my stuff. That being said Devolution of power to local governments to deal with their local issues are fine with me, but nothing to do with Race, Religion or Ethnicity. I don’t believe the Constitution in its current form needs to be changed because it includes every Sri Lankan Citizen equally. Whether that is enforced equally is not the Constitution’s fault but that of the Government and the opposition politicians who work to undermine the Constitution for their own benefit. That includes MOST Tamil Politicians who are BLATANT Communalists.
And 2ndClass, 60 years it has taken may seem like a long time but if you try putting that in context to other developed countries you will see we are no different. And also, please don’t try to put the blame squarely on the shoulders of the Sinhalese, your Earlier Tamil Politicians like Armithalingam and GG Ponambalam were Colonial Lackeys who were just as much of the Problem to what we are fixing to this day as the SWRDs and Jayawardenes were. You may be ignorant of the Facts but Tamils have had a white-washed history in the International Media thanks to the LTTE.
Devinda Fernando said,
April 1, 2008 @ 5:17 am
*** Successive Sinhalese governments should have thought of this scenario 30 years ago (at least). ***
There was no Kosovo issue 30 years ago to think about. There was Israel, and Tamils thought that Eelam would be the next Israel… I guess Tamil Nationalists will cling to anything and everything to make Eelam a possibility.
harshana somapriya said,
April 1, 2008 @ 7:21 am
2nd class Tamil,
“There is no reason why Tamils should live with Sinhalese in a single country, after 100’s of thousand lives and billions of $s lost. ”
Do you think after, Sinhalese will let Tigers to create a seperate state,after 100’s of thousand lives and billions of $s lost.
With all the barbaric attrocities LTTE has committed on Sinhalese, they also might feel that there is no reaso for Tamils to be allowed to live in their lands.
So let’s seperate. But on what basis?
Main argument by people of your calibre is that before the arrival of Portugese there existed the Jaffna kingdom.(which covered the Nothern province, while the east belonged to the Kandyan kingdom)
So all the Tamils living inthe rest of the country should go to nothern province and it should be given Total independance.(few Muslims & Sinhalese left there can come down south) Any sensible Sinhalese will agree to this since they also must be fed up of living with the Tamils. (Though this will not reduce our defence expenditure as we have created an enemy in the neighbourhood)
Are you happy now?
It is unfortunateful that most of you forget that all the rights/privileges, that you had before 1948 and you claim to have lost since then, existed because Sri Lanka/Ceylon was an united territory. Most of the Tamil doctors/government servants didn’t work in Tamil Ealam, but in Sinhala country. Most of the succesful Tamil businesses were in Sinhala land. There is no point in talking about standardisation because there were no universities in Jaffna, all were there in Sinhala land.
Now having a ‘rich’ diaspora you may think you can lookafter your selves in Jaffna kingdom. I doubt that.
Even today it is the socalled ‘Sinhala’ government that feed, educate & provide medicine to the people in Vanni, knowing very well that LTTE loot most of them.
You just watch the ‘match’ at your leisure times and shout some slogans to encourage oneside so that the game will go on for you to enjoy.
But if you are in Vanni or Jaffna you will pray that peace will come at any cost other than human lives. Eventhough I am also living in Sri Lanka, I can simply ignore what’s going on in North, being satisfied with the ’scorecard’ presented by the ministry of defence at the end of eachday. Some don’t even bother to listen to news! (One of my firend who is a teacher at a vocational training school told me that 88% of the young(16+) students (22/25) did not know who is the primeminister of Sri Lanka. They are innocent kids who don’t care about politics, let alone worry about the ethnic issues.
I only pray for the lives of innocent children of Sri Lanka whether they are Tamils/Sinhalese/Muslim. May they be free from suffering forced on to them by their elder generation.
ilaya seran senguttuvan said,
April 1, 2008 @ 8:05 am
Devinda (4) The East IS NOT liberated, friend. I have no problem if
Pillaiyan won the legal way -without intimidation and without guns. This is not a victory for the Tamil people but – as shamelessly engineered – a victory for Rajapakse & Bros to fool the world
“Everything’s Oki-doki under my reign and so let the $ flow in”
Ask a greater lover of Batticoloa – Fr Miller – an American in his 80s – who has devoted his entire life to Batticoloa’s good.
I also grant even a flawed election, in some instances, is better than no election at all. But here this is not the case. If MR & Bros are genuine let them start re-building infra-structure in the Batticoloa District for a start – hospitals, water, electricity, agriculture, fishing, roads, bridges, new industries, schools. Then we know there is hope for the Tamil people and there is an alternative to the LTTE and the gun culture of the other militants. If the PC Elections and the campaigning thereto are conducted with a greater degree of freedom to the voters under free monitoring this will be cause for joy….Soon, I hope, the people of Batticoloa – until recent decades pre-dominantly Tamil will prove to the good-intentioned Garvin Karunaratne they can handle their affairs as well as the people of Tissamaharama – from what we gather a well-run Council under the JVP.
Suren Surendiran said,
April 1, 2008 @ 10:08 am
“Today, the problem has escalated to the point, where the Tamil speaking people of this country, no longer have confidence in the majority community meeting their needs on their behalf. In fact there is a desire to share power both at the centre and at the periphery to enable them to meet the needs of the Tamil speaking people. We have to recognise this very clearly” – The good natured Professor has unfortunately stated a position that the Tamils held prior to 1977! It seems the Professor has even forgotten some parts of the recent Sri Lankan history. On what mandate did the Tamils give the then TULF a resounding victory and then again to the TNA more recently in 2004? It is also unfortunate that the Professor conveniently ignores the fact that the Party that holds majority of the Tamil votes, namely the TNA team were not even invited to the wicket, as he puts it. I wonder whether that lapse in memory was due to the fact that he might have to admit that the majority of the Tamils back in 1977 and again in 2004 have already spoken loud and clear through the ballot box that a united Sri Lanka is not acceptable to them!
With that fundamentally misconceived and deliberately it seems misrepresented notion of the problem at hand, how does one expect the poor Professor or the Government for that matter to embark on solving the single most important problem faced by the State since independence? This has been the position of successive Governments and their leaders to treat the masses of Sri Lanka and the International Community like fools and swindle the State’s wealth and international aid for their personal gain.
Just for the Professor’s information, the Tamils did not vote for limited independence like the Kosovans. We voted overwhelmingly for FULL independence 31 years ago, long before even the arms struggle started post 1983 riots and the LTTE came into the equation!
2ndClassTamil said,
April 1, 2008 @ 5:21 pm
#8 is not a comment made by me. This is the 3rd time this has happened.
[DBS should ask the site developer to sort this problem. Some bug in the server side code where the buffers are not flushed in time may be the problem, because the name field in the comments box often appears populated (with some person? name) instead of being empty and newcomers may get confused].
Sri said,
April 2, 2008 @ 1:32 pm
Prof. Tissa Vitarana is really and sincerely trying to solve this vexed problem to the best of his ability.
.The 13th Amendment is the solution in the short term as well as in the long term.
The Tamils should understand History, Geography and a little Mathematics!
.Equality? Yes!. No Discrimination? Yes!
We have enough space to achieve all our aspirations within this framework.
The 16th Amendment is really an extension of the 13th Amendment. The 16th Amendment deals with the implementation of two official languages.
But unfortunately this 16th Amendment is a forgotten constitutional provision and nobody bothered about the implementation.
The implementation of 13th and 16th Amendments will definitely go in a very big way in solving the ethnic problem.
Actually there is no any need for any law to be amended.
Simple administrative measures will be sufficient.
It is possible to bring the principle of subsidiary to define the functions to be devolved to various tiers!
The Provincial councils should have the powers as enunciated in the 9th Schedule of the 13th Amendment.
The district and divisional administration should be brought under the Provincial Administration.
So also education and health devolved fully.
The possibility of the concurrent list amalgamating with the Provincial List could be seriously explored.
This was actually recommended by the Mangala Munasinghe Commission Report that was I believe unanimously agreed by all the political parties in the 90s.
If there is a will there is a way!