The Vitharana proposal and the separatist paradigm

By C. Wijeyawickrema

After two atapirikara-carrying trips to Malwatta and Asgiriya, minister Vitharana, Chairman, APRC, has given an outline of his "power sharing mechanism" to a Daily News reporter (Daily News, 3/30/2007).

Lawyers and "Janayas"

(August 14, Washington, Sri Lanka Guardian) APRC center of gravity has now moved from husband and wife lawyers hands to a microbiology Marxist who is an appointed (not elected by people) politician. Just like his "parity of status" Marxist uncles of the 1935-1964 era, who blindly followed the international dogmas of Trotsky and Stalin, minister Vitharana is on a hurried mission to placate the IC, American ambassador and Tony Blair.

Colombo politicians gave us the 1987 Indo-SL agreement, 13th Amendment and the 2002 CFA. The Vitharana outline will give us an egg scrambled. Unlike the two previous blunders which resulted in loss of thousands of lives, the Vitharana path if entered will have no point of return. This was what G.L. Peiris, the legal eagle, said then. It is a one-way street to separatism. "Janayas" (of the Jana Sabhas) could achieve their aspirations without APRC erecting, intentionally or unintentionally, a separatism ladder.

Upatissa damanaya

Why did APRC ignore 800 or so people's proposals? What is the reason for a hurried solution? Where is the home-grown solution? Does minister V believe in Buddhist economics discussed in Schumacher's Small Is Beautiful (1973) or in Buddhist politics? One example was Buddha's advice to Ajathashatru, the king of Magadha, when the latter had a war plan to capture the Lichchavi kingdom of Koshala. It was Buddhist democracy in 500 B.C. After all the reasonableness doctrine, compromise in modern democracy is the Middle Path in Buddhism. Why cannot V use either the Nalagiri or Angulimala damanaya in dealing with Tony Blair, TNA or Prabakaran?

The Mahinda Chintanaya is nothing but an application of our 2500-year old traditions of living in harmony with other human beings (be they Helanic or Roman or Muslim traders, Tamil invaders or plantation coolies, Malay soldiers or Portuguese who came with Bible and sword, Burghers and NGO evangelists) which got twisted in the hands of Colombo black whites (since 1833) and Marxist preachers (since 1935).

Those who studied Shakespeare or Chaucer and never heard of the Ummagga Jathakaya could call this letter is from a Sinhala Buddhist Chauvinist or from a Sinhala extremist. But that mud ball cannot hide from any objective standard the fact that minister V is taking a suicidal path putting the cart before the horse. He has a duty to explain to his "Janaya" why the following questions/statements are incorrect.

White man's burden theory (1905)

* Why is minister V in a hurry? Is it because more and more time means less and less time for the Prabakaran episode? The IC does not want a total removal of the cancer of terrorism. They want a second Vadamarachchi in 2007. They want him in a three-piece suit flanked by his western-educated children. Why? Is there any connection to the theory of the White man's burden of 1905? Is there any influence from White evangelism of Blair or Bush as outlined by the Polish Pope John Paul II when he visited India in 1999 (evangelization of Asia)? Pope's propaganda cabinet minister with a giant budget was located in Ratnapura. Or was it the "clash of civilization" thesis of the Harvard professor Huntington (1993)? Balkanization of Sri Lanka is a short cut to India. The world federation of Tamils wants a separate state and Tamil Nad opposes Hindia's intrusions. In the Trincomalee harbor even the submarines could be hidden in deep under sea troughs. So there is great temptation that minister V probably cannot see.

"India is a myth" theory and the Indian National Congress (1885)

* What does V know about the separatist paradigm in Tamil Nad and Sri Lanka? It began in Tamil Nad in 1917 and one year later in 1918 it came to Ceylon. In India the colonial master openly promoted separatism stating "India is a myth." They promoted a Pakistan. In Tamil Nad separatism grew to the extent that even the Ramayanaya story was changed stating Ravana was a Tamil king who fought against the evil doers of Rama and Seetha (Adam and Eve?)! Prabakaran is thus a Ravana prince more than a new Chola king with a cyanide pill. In the past it was Sivaji Ganeshan or MG Ramachandran (born in Kandy) who acted as Ravana in popular Tamil Nad movies. Jaffna Tamil boys would go to Tamil Nad to see the opening show by boat in the afternoon and return home in the night!

Despite the total silence of Colombo NGO peace mudalalis with western Ph.D.s and the Marga Institute not producing "papers" on the impact of the Tamil Nad separatist agenda on Sri Lanka, from 1917 to 2007, there had been a continuous flowing of two parallel streams of separatism poisoning each other. Thus in 1949 SJV Chelvanayagam benefited from Tamil Nad's "Dravidasthan movement." In the late 1950s it was the "anti-Hindi movement." When separatism was proscribed by the 1963 constitutional amendment, it came to the Kandyan areas as DMK and a Kallathoni problem (Tennakoon Vimalananda, Dravida Munethra Kasagam Movement and the future of the Sinhalayas, Anula Press, Colombo, 1970). In the 1980s separatism went back to India, officially, with MGR and Indira Gandhi sponsoring it. After the murder of Rajiv Gandhi in 1991 there was a set back but in the coalition government era of India, Tamil Nad voting block in Delhi has become more powerful than the power of Delhi to use the presidential rule to discipline unruly regional states.

Tamil Nad is in such volatile state that Delhi is now surviving by capitalizing the rival demands of its present or former chief ministers to arrest or impose the presidential rule. At least two major caste groups are demanding two separate states within Tamil Nad. It is only a matter of time a future Prabakaran takes control of Tamil Nad politics which is driven by sex scandals and family affairs. The common criminal Veerappan incident (Saradeal or Robinson Crusoe) demonstrated how easily and quickly separatist sentiments could be utilized to overthrow the corrupt and inefficient political establishment in Tamil Nad. The Janatha Party leader Subramaniumswamy's recent book (Sri Lanka in crisis: India's options, 2006; (Island, 3/21/2007) should be an eye-opener to minister V.

Indian states as tiny parts before the Goliath Indian Goliath army

* Does V provide an adequate mechanism to prevent secessionist attempts under the geopolitical conditions mentioned above? He says there are two safeguards: (1) the president can deploy the army and (2) he can dissolve the province and take over the administration. Minister V must be kidding. Even under the 13th amendment conditions chief minister declared UDI and fled to India. Where would be the IC if it happens again? Once V allowed the province to do everything it needed to take the separatist path, the province will appeal to IC for help or justice. It will say the president is not allocating sufficient amount of water from the Mahaveli River and the IC and UNO will intervene. Minister V would be no more there to answer. This is why the next question is so important.

Myth of a traditional Tamil homeland in the Eastern Province

* Does V reject the proposition that there is a traditional Tamil homeland in the Eastern Province? Is he willing to make that rejection the foundation stone of his proposal? V cannot first give his scheme and say that re-merger will be discussed later. Re-merger means acceptance of a homeland. Homeland theory is a colonial western idea. This was what the Neelan-GL package wanted. Neelan went even further and refused to accept the Pondicherry sub-model of the Indian "F" model because the homeland would then look like a moth eaten patch of land with Muslim and Sinhala Pondicherry units like in the Tamil Nad. V will be putting the cart before the horse if he does not clearly understand this issue. If V's constitution is silent on homelands now and if later it comes up making a giant N-E unit, then the Trincomalee state will be as big as the Colombo state. With Malayanadu in between Colombo army will be no match to Trinco power. This is not a day dream. V should read what the retired geography professor G. H. Peiris and the Englishman Paul Harris has written on the subjects of Malayandu youth unrest and Oluvil Muslim radicals. If V accepts FP, TULF, TNA and Anandasangaree versions of a homeland then V cannot stop homelands for Muslims, Indian Tamils or Chrstians in Negombo.

"F" is a marriage contract

* How can V say that "F" and "U" have lost their meaning? Did V tell this to the Mahanayakes? "F" is a political marriage. "U" is Buddhist politics such as the King allowing persecuted coastal Catholics or Muslims to live in his kingdom or temple priest in remote areas giving food and lodging to Christian priests from Colombo or Galle who went on head hunting trips. Could V think of any example from anywhere in the world on the co-habitation of Sinhala, Tamil, Buddhist, Hindu, Christian and Muslim people living in harmony that took place in pre-colonial Ceylon? It was the Colombo ruling families who ruined this harmony after 1931.

An "F" marriage cannot work when one of the partners has a paramour. The IC solution to Sri Lanka is unique in that two parties living in one house is asked to go to two houses for the happiness of both. Unfortunately a marriage cannot be saved that way. This is why even Lakshman Kadiragamar was wrong in proposing an "F" solution. An "F" solution based on language differences (as in India since 1956) is a slippery path with no end in sight. Indian "F" model is the best example. Indian army is fighting against it all over India.

An "F" creates two or more units which have some powers that cannot be taken back from them permanently for ever. The egg is scrambled. This is grade 9 civics lesson.

Discrimination against the majority (1505-1931)

* V says there are about 27 other countries which have veered away from U status towards F states to prevent separation. Without a list of these countries one cannot comment on this point. In the Fiji Islands or in Malaysia there were attempts of separation. In the Fiji case the army arrested the Indian-backed prime minister for anti-national work against the native Fijians. In Sri Lanka Tamils and Muslims enjoy more rights than any where else in the world. In Colombo the richest are the Tamils and Muslims. Thus when Karuna says in 2007or when the JVP said in 1971 or 1988 "give us what Colombo gets" (kolambata kiri apita kakiri -Youth Commission Report, March, 1990, p. xvii)) there is/was no ethnic discrimination. Instead the truth is that the Colombo class has been controlling 95% of people, which became worse under the globalization game and the 1978 Dharmista samajaya.

Section 29(4) of the Soulbury Constitution did not allow the removal of five centuries discrimination against the majority community.

Colombo ruling families versus the Janayas

* V says "if the minorities don't get the power they need, the only solution is separation." Can V say that the majority got power? Who got power after 1931 or after 1833? A group of Colombo white-kissing families who used Buddhist masks got power. A group of Colombo Tamils who used the language card to prevent the poor Tamil learn Sinhala but gave private tuition in Sinhala to their children got power. The question is will this Colombo control change under V's proposal? Rather than re-inventing the Neelan-GL package V should ask a new set of questions. He has become a prisoner in trying to provide new answers to his old questions. Does he know that by sheer mismanagement the Colombo black whites ruined the country?

* they destroyed the structural democracy of the island since the early 1960s after the 1962 Coup (the separation of powers doctrine started in 1802 when North was the governor and the rule of law);
* JRJ killed territorial democracy after 1978 with a "bahubootha Vyavastava," an electoral system that robbed people of their representative democracy, and by demolishing the VC-TC local government system;
* In the 1980s village level civil administration was politicalized by increasing the number of GSN units from 4,000 to a mind-boggling 14,006 (each GSN unit has a GSN, Samurdhi Niladharee and a mid-wife);
* A corruption trinity developed after 1978 with AGA-local MP-NGO agent (Colombo peace mudalalis or evangelists) in control. Each AGA unit (there are 319 of them) has between 100-150 officers excluding teachers;
* the gap between Colombo and villages increased under globalization and free trade;
* the divide between Colombo rich and village poor widened after 1978;
* Vakarai IDP welfare money stolen by corrupt officers!

Do we need a hurried devolution package, based on the same Neelan-GL formula? Or should we take a holistic approach to handle our antho-jata-bahi-jatas meta-problems? V proposal in its present form will deliver an "F" to a group of Tamil politicians but will not solve the mismanagement problems of the average person Sinhala or Tamil. This is the aspiration issue that V should think of. Not the aspirations of IC or Tony Blair.

In India under the language-based state reorganization, a new tier of local/regional politician class developed who began to challenge the Delhi political class. That brought an end to Congress control and a sick Delhi center dependent on over 20 coalition partners. Indian poverty is still a major problem and politicians at all levels are thriving. Is this not happening in Sri Lanka after 1978?

Colebrook was not a bioscience graduate (1832)

* V says Province is the devolution unit. Does he not accept that PC is a white elephant, and unwanted burden on people and the economy? Is there any scientific, ecological, social or economic justification for this unit other than Rajiv Gandhi and Dixit forcing it on JRJ, Sri Lanka's kaputu bo tree? V is taking the path of least resistance to achieve his goal of paving way for a Tamil homeland.

Ayub Khan's plan of October 26, 1959

* V has proposed a 100-family Jana Sabha (JS) unit (ward) below Gam Sabha (GS). From GS comes Pradeshiya Sabha (PS). A GS will according to V cover about 2/3 of GSN unit. This is similar to what Ayub Khan proposed for Pakistan which was similar to the Soviet people's councils (Pakistan: old country/new nation, Ian Stephens, Pelican, 1964, p. 314). Instead, if V reads the 600-page document of the Local Government Reforms Commission (Sessional Paper No. 1 of 1999, the Abhayewardhana report), it has covered all what Sri Lanka needs in this regard. A.T. Ariayaratne's 1988 book, "The Power Pyramid and the Dharmic Cycle" also gives a plan of action.

Trinity of gama-vawa -dagaba

* V has a golden opportunity to link the Gama Naguma project under the Mahinda Chinthanaya with the mission of APRC if he comes out of his parity of status prison. Tamils have a homeland in Tamil Nad. Muslims have Mecca. Christians have Pope. Sinhala people and Sinhala Buddhist have this tiny island and the ocean. Trostsky or Vishaka Kumari Jayawardena did not know this. The 2500-year old civilization of Sri Lanka should really be a UNECO heritage site. Just think of the biso kotuwa or the Dambulla lamp? Rather than running with ghosts of SJV Chelvanayagam or GG Ponnambalam minister V should think of using his Marxist energy to empower the Tamils, Sinhala and Muslim comrades at the trinity level. Because the dagaba was kovil, mosque or church at the grass roots level. Let aspirations grow at the family and village level and create language-blind developmental units. If in a given village the majority happens to be Tamil let them work on their aspirations. Do not impose Provincial level unit on them by a Colombo group to protect their aspirations. Because it never worked that way. Only a class of politicians exploited it to stay in power. Our trinity with upward representation will create a District level unit where Tamil identity will be protected without creating fear in the Sinhala mind.

Make a trip to New Zealand

* Because our trinity is tank centered it fits very well with the modern concept of river basin-based administrative units. New Zealand, a tiny country like ours is using this concept. The geographer Maddumabandara has produced a river basin-based administrative system for Sri Lanka that V should get his APRC and the expert lawyers to read. Because, one cannot legislate against geography.

Move the capital city to Raja Rata

* While developing the Southern Province get the APRC to think about moving the administrative capital to a location within the triangle of Anuradhapura-Vavuniya-Trincomalee on a 20 year plan. Let Tamil farmers in Jaffna meet with Sinhala farmers in Hambantota. Link that capital with Hambantota along the Mahaveli River with a railway line and a high way. Move the science and integration ministry to Raja Rata ASAP. This is the best way you can win the hearts and minds of the janayas.

-Sri Lanka Guardian