Appeasement or honesty of purpose is the question

(May 17, Colombo, Sri Lanka Guardian) In an extremely courageous move, President Mahinda Rajapaksha this evening appointed Sivanesathurai Chandrakanth alias Pillayan alias Kubeiran as the Chief Minister of the Eastern Province, realizing a two-decade-old dream of a Tamil Chief Minister for the Eastern Province who is also acceptable to the Sinhalese.

The campaign to appoint a Tamil for the Northeast Chief Minister post was ongoing since 1987, particularly for neighboring India. It was only days ago that India banned the Tamil Tigers for another two years, coincidentally, a few days after the Eastern Provincial Council elections. (Image: DS Gotabhaya with CM Pillayan)

The goals for appointing a Tamil are what counts the most. It is the intention, not necessarily the act that follows. If the intention is at least 50% to look after the Tamil populace and thereby nullify conditions conducive for insurgency and the remaining 50% is pure appeasement of external entities, the decision maybe still quite viable.

From the look of it, there seems to be some thought behind the appointment. President Rajapaksha returned to the Island only yesterday and held meetings with coalition leaders last night on appointing Pillayan, a former lower-ranking member of the LTTE. However, in doing so, Rajapaksha government has completely isolated the Muslims. This is not traditional power-politics as usual in Sri Lanka.

It is customary for governments in the south to trust Muslims over Tamils; a political blunder from a Counter-Insurgency point of view. In their defence, the only other Non-LTTE Tamil politician available until recently was Varatharajah Perumal whose hideous politics further antagonized all groups in the Multi-ethnic east.

Now, Tamils have an official Chief Minister for the East from their own community (Pillayan) and also an unofficial one for the Northeast combined-- in the form of Douglas Devananda, though possibly a puppet of the Sri Lanka government and perhaps even India.

If this so-called 'political solution' were to be arrived at, and that requires incremental transfer of power to a majority Tamil region (North and East), then this is a beginning; albeit at the most basic of levels. Rajapakshe may have very well appeased India and the International Community, avoided political outbidding and outflanking by UNP, JVP etc on the Pro-Sinhala ticket and come up with a solution conducive and supportive of a military solution in just one stroke.

Pillayan maybe the ideal candidate, given his low stature and low self-esteem, he is the least likely to morph into something threatening, compared to Karuna Amman, the more celebrated and greedy of the two. Karuna and Mounaguruswamy, the former Batticaloa Government Agent and the various other anti-LTTE Tamil entities could provide an ideal politico-military counterbalance to the Tamil Tigers.

But as with all paramilitaries, unless there is an honesty of purpose in pitting Tamil man against another Tamil man, the whole setup could crumble, thus further legitimizing the Tigers. It is undoubtedly a finite game of politics that will decide the outcome of this latest move in Sri Lankan politics--one that will decide the fate of the ongoing military campaign into the 'Tamil heartland'.
(Sources: DefenceWire)
- Sri Lanka Guardian