Mirror, Mirror On the Wall, Who is the ‘Commonest’ of them all?

By Cat’s Eye
Courtesy Sunday Island

(December 06, Colombo, Sri Lanka Guardian) Having lived through the long years of armed conflict and futile attempts at peace making, we in Sri Lanka know well that peace does not merely mean the absence of war. While the state has now certainly won a war, the country needs to win peace, and this is the critical need of this immediate post war period. To win and consolidate peace we need to build a culture of peace which includes economic, social and political justice. We need inclusivity and participation in governance and decision making; we need equitable sharing of resources and development. We also need to work towards eliminating institutionalized, structural violence which manifests itself in intolerance, force, marginalization, discrimination and exploitation on the basis of ethnicity, gender, sexual orientation, class, caste or other identities. Above all we need to remember that human rights are inherent in human dignity and peace must include the presence of justice.

The Common Candidate

In the upcoming Presidential election, the two main contenders have pitched themselves as the ‘common’ candidate, whether of a political alliance, or the nation as a whole. The former General has said that he has entered politics because he could no longer ignore ‘waste, corruption and rapid deterioration of society’, while the President has portrayed himself as the leader who, after unifying the country, is intent on taking Sri Lanka forward through economic development. But without doubt underpinning this façade is both candidates’ commitment to, and achievement, in the war. Hence, they will utilize the war and their role in winning it to gain legitimacy amongst the majority electorate and capture the Sinhala popular imagination.

De-legitimizing the Other

The war victory is also a means through which both candidates de-legitimize the other by casting doubt on the other’s contribution to the war and commitment to safeguarding the rewards of victory. At the conference announcing his candidacy, Fonseka declared his commitment to re-establishing democracy and the rule of law and called the executive Presidency a dictatorship that he would abolish upon being elected President. At the same time he praised the armed forces and accused the President of seeking personal glorification by using the immense sacrifices made by the soldiers. A senior minister of the government has gone even further and challenged anyone’s right to ‘seek a mandate to replace President Rajapakse after he liberated the country from three decades of terrorism that bled the country and launched the largest and most ambitious development drive in its history’. The battle for the sole ownership of the war victory has therefore begun, with the consequence being the glorification of militarism and the entrenchment of the militarization of government and development.

Approach to Governance

War privileges a securitized approach to governance and social control. A view currently doing the rounds is that the country needs discipline and requires a leader who understands and implements discipline. However, the danger here is that this form of discipline is generally obtained through tight control, surveillance, censorship and fear. These tools of governance are not what the country needs. Governments have ruled through centralization, the PTA, and a war regime. Both candidates have pledged to shed this approach and return the country to a more democratic regime. However, whether they can genuinely shed their stripes remains a big question.

Key Concerns

It would be beneficial for both candidates therefore to pledge their commitment to a fresh start in a new way by focusing on pressing issues of democracy and justice. Importantly, their attention should be drawn to the international conventions that Sri Lanka has ratified and needs to be implemented. If the candidates are genuine in their aspirations of ‘building the nation’ and ‘restoring democracy’ they should appreciate the fundamental rights and values of citizens that are enshrined in them - instead of seeing such benchmarks as ‘alien’, ‘western’ and ‘against Sri Lankan culture’. Take for instance, the UN Convention on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women (UNCEDAW). Though ratified in 1983 (and transferred into the national context through the Women’s Charter), it still needs to be translated into legislation and action. Given the international focus on climate change, another pressing issue deserving the candidates’ attention is that of ensuring that the UN Convention on Climate Change is operationalized beyond policy – particularly as those who will be extensively impacted by the long-standing effects of temperature changes, droughts and floods are women.

Health & Education

Furthermore, there are other on-ground needs that need urgent attention. Our health system, not the most efficient at the best of times, has plummeted to new depths when considering the issues of mismanagement, pharmaceutical scandals and patient deaths that have occurred in recent times. The candidates need to formulate policy and devise workable solutions to overcome the current crisis - on which they should be evaluated. Similarly, our education system (especially at tertiary level) need more than the quick-fixes of three-month English teaching courses. It requires a phase by phase action plan that can deal with the local demand to learn English and IT skills and match it with the needs of the job markets that include professional, vocational and soft skills.

Gender Concerns

At a time of electoral contests, women’s groups have always expressed their concerns and have urged candidates to put forward their policies on gender issues. Women today are more than half the electorate and much canvassing goes on to draw women voters to the polls. We therefore urge the candidates to spell out their policies—not with platitudes about family and motherhood—but about the political concerns of women. Some of these are:

* The low participation of women in local and national government. Sri Lanka has the worst statistics in South Asia on political participation. In the Indian village-level panchayats, the percentage of women is 33%. In Sri Lanka it is less than 2% in pradeshiya sabhas.

* Changes in archaic discriminatory provisions affecting women in customary law. Under Thesawalamai law a married woman cannot sell, rent or lease her immovable property without her husband’s consent. Under Muslim law (in spite of reforms in the general law in 1995) a girl of 12 can marry, and her consent is not necessary.

Every vote is valuable at election time, both for the candidates as well as for the voters. It is often said that we the voters get the representatives we deserve. We women want a just and sustainable peace and we want a democratic government. To elect you, we want to know what your commitment to democracy, justice and peace is and we want to know what your commitment to enhance women’s rights would be.

Will you work towards increasing the representation of women at decision making levels, particularly at the level of local, provincial and national government – not through negligent promises but through legally enforceable affirmative action? Will you make sure that legal provisions discriminatory to women are eliminated from the statute books? What measures will take to ensure that the laws and policies with regard to decreasing violence against women are actually implemented effectively?

What percentage of government budgets will you allocate to address women’s concerns and needs? How will you strengthen state institutions established to enhance women’s rights? When will you translate the Women’s Charter into enforceable policy? When will you implement the 17th amendment to the Constitution and establish an independent National Commission on Women? Finally, we reiterate that you ensure free and fair elections free of violence, abuse of electoral laws and corruption.

We await the common candidates statements on gender before we decide who is the "fairest and loveliest" of them all!

-Sri Lanka Guardian