Eastern Province election: Warrant for nation building

by Javid Yusuf

(May 07, Colombo, Sri Lanka Guardian) Consequent to the Supreme Court ruling de-merging the "temporarily" merged North and East and the Government's decision to implement the 13th Amendment as a first step to resolve the national question, the Provincial Council elections in the Eastern Province have now been fixed for May 10.

Detractors of the Government have criticized the decision to hold elections on several grounds. The UNP's criticism is that elections are being held with TMVP cadres being allowed to carry arms. The TNA opposition is on the ground that elections are being held in a de-merged Eastern Province while they insist on a merged North Eastern Province. The SLMC claims that the election is one that no one wants.

The question then is what the Government could have done. One option would have been to continue with Governor's rule which is what the North East enjoyed for twenty years. If this had been done there would have been howls of protest saying such a course of action was undemocratic. The people of the East were deprived of the benefits of devolution under the guidance of democratically elected representatives during the last twenty years as the administration of Varatharajah Perumal was short lived The situation has been a cause of particular dissatisfaction for Muslims from the East as the Provincial administration sans political direction by elected representative was almost exclusively manned by Tamil officers and therefore did not enjoy the confidence of Muslims.

The alternative path chosen by the Government is to set up an elected Provincial Council to exercise the powers that have been devolved under the 13th Amendment which is by any standard more democratic than Governor's rule.

While there is merit in the argument that the carrying of arms by the TMVP has a negative fallout, the situation is mitigated by the fact that they have been given strict instructions not to use such arms. In the face of potential threats from the LTTE to TMVP cadres and the impracticality of providing security to each and every TMVP cadre, the Government seems to have adopted this course of action. The Government also has been successful in strictly enforcing compliance with these directions as evidenced by the fact that there are no reports from Election monitoring groups of the use of arms by TMVP cadres.

While permitting any group to carry arms is not a desirable option, given the circumstances, if the Government is able to continue to prevent the TMVP from using such arms, the Government will have succeeded in making the best of a difficult situation.

The invaluable contribution that would have resulted in the TMVP's "controlled participation" at the Provincial Council Elections is that it would facilitate its transformation from an armed group into one that would opt for a democratic process.

One of the objectives of the Ceasefire Agreement of February 2002 was the transformation of the LTTE into a democratic political entity and towards this end the LTTE was allowed to open political offices in government controlled areas. Unfortunately this objective was not achieved during this period and the LTTE did not undergo the intended transformation. In the present instance by its participation at the Local Government Elections and the Provincial Council Elections, the TMVP is halfway through the process of transformation into a democratic entity.

The criticisms on the grounds of carrying arms and violence ring hollow when one is reminded of the DDC Elections in 1981 under UNP rule which resulted in the burning of the Jaffna library and the 1987 Provincial elections when stuffing of ballot boxes on a large scale was first practised with the EPRLF doing the honours in Tamil areas and the SLMC in Muslim areas.

The TNA’s criticism too does not have merit because it could still contest the East and continue to canvas the merger. The SLMCs view that no one wants an election is not likely to find favour with anyone on the premise that even a flawed democratic process is better than no democracy.

The elections to the Eastern Provincial Council can be justified on the following three broad grounds:

1. It is a revival of the democratic process in the Eastern Province after a period of twenty years.

2. The elected Provincial Council will have an opportunity to put devolution into practice in an area where it was originally intended. This will enable weaknesses in the 13th Amendment to be identified as well as give an opportunity to those who have apprehensions about the dangers of devolution to see whether such fears are justified or not..

3. As it is a Province that has all three communities living in almost equal numbers, it will be an opportunity to commence the process of reconciliation and co existence which should in turn facilitate nation building.

Revival of the democratic process

After 20 years of the non-functioning of the Provincial Government, people are being provided an opportunity to look after their affairs through their elected representatives. The process of Local government and Provincial government has fallen into disuse with the inevitable negative consequences on the people. The conflict and the militarization of society have snuffed out the possibility of all forms of democratic discourse which has prevented the Province from harnessing its rich intellectual and material resources for its development. The revival of the democratic process will therefore empower the people of the East and facilitate efforts to bring it on par with other Provinces in the country. How well they succeed will of course depend entirely on the people of the East and their representatives.

Devolution in practice

The implementation of the 13th Amendment has been envisaged by the Government as a first step in the process of resolving the conflict. The election of the Eastern Provincial Council will give the people of the East an opportunity to practise devolution in accordance with the 13th Amendment. Thereby the inadequacies in the devolved powers and structures could be identified and steps could thereafter be taken to strengthen gaps in the system. Devolution has been held out as a solution to the ethnic problem. There has been support for this view as well as opposition on the grounds that it threatens the sovereignty of the country. Devolution has not been implemented in any form in the North and East which were the areas that it was meant for since the aborted rule of Varatharajah Perumal. Thereafter the North and East have been ruled by the Governor.

Co-existence and nation building

The third argument in support of holding the Eastern Province elections is that it creates the conditions to facilitate co-existence and nation building. Whether this objective will be achieved will depend on the elections and its outcome. The space for leading the Eastern Province towards such a goal has been created by the holding of elections in the East but the realization of such goals will depend on the wisdom of its representatives and its people.

Unfortunately there are many obstacles to be overcome. Immediately after the elections were announced the SLMC set the negative tone for the election campaign by raising the communal cry and stating that it would work towards the objective of installing a Muslim Chief Minister which in turn drew a counter response from the Tamil community. The question that the voters have to ask themselves is whether the ethnicity of the Chief Minister is the critical factor in determining the suitability of a person to that post.

Is it not more advisable to look for a Chief Minister who enjoys the trust and confidence of all three communities; someone who will apply the principles of justice and fair play to all irrespective of ethnicity or religion; someone who ensures good governance and transparency in the process of developing the East which has been fractured by the scars caused by the conflict, someone who will have the capacity to give the lead in this healing process?

The government seems to have been able to retrieve the situation somewhat with its formula for the position of Chief Minister. Authoritative government spokesmen have stated that the one who is elected with the most number of votes will become the Chief Minister. The one who will succeed is likely to be one who is able to draw at least a minimum level of votes from the communities other than the one he belongs to. The government has two high profile candidates who will probably endeavour to do just that. Given the high level of suspicion among the communities it will be a formidable task to achieve even a minimum level of cross community voting. The UNP on the other hand has sponsored only the SLMC leader as its Chief Ministerial candidate and no possible contenders from any of the other communities.

The future Chief Minister and his team will have their work cut out in bringing the communities together and becoming partners in the effort to make the Eastern Province a model in more ways than one - in development, in inter ethnic harmony and in devolution. Thus a huge responsibility is cast on the voters at the May 10th election as their decision can influence the course of not only the future of the Province but also the nature of the solution to the ethnic conflict.
- Sri Lanka Guardian