Waiting for Godot?

By Sankajaya Nanayakkara

(December 18, Colombo, Sri Lanka Guardian) President Rajapakse’s historic declaration of victory over the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) on May 19, 2009, marked the end of the armed Tamil secessionist campaign that started in the early 1970s. The cost of war has been enormous. It devoured close to 100,000 young lives and left many wailing widows, orphans, disfigured, and traumatised from all quarters of the Lankan society. The war denied the long-term economic prosperity for the island. Moreover, it brutalized us socially and culturally.

Having eliminated the LTTE, one of the major obstacles for any long-term peace in Sri Lanka, the Colombo government should now address the root causes of Tamil secessionism. Development programs alone such as, “Uthuru Vasanthaya” and “Nagenahira Udanaya” are not sufficient. There seems to be a school of thought in Colombo that believes material benefits alone would wean Tamil youth from nationalist politics. This sort of thinking, at the highest policy making levels in Colombo, prevailed at the time of the Cease Fire Agreement (CFA) in 2002. Former Defence Secretary Austin Fernando’s memoir, “My Belly is White: Reminiscences of a Peacetime Secretary of Defence” sheds light on this aspect. At its crudest, some sections of the Sinhala society believed Tamils could be weaned from the LTTE through entertainment packages, including pornography. It is not without reason that some Tamils came to consider the CFA as a “peace trap.” If not for the sake of the Tamils, for self-preservation, it is imperative that Colombo addresses the political dimension of the northern insurgency. This is the only way to consolidate the military victory over the LTTE in the long-term.

The presidential election is around the corner, and it is the season of political populism. Evading the question of ethnic minorities would be the best case scenario to be expected in this election campaign. Whipping up Sinhala supremacism and majoritarian insecurities would be the worse outcome as has happened on numerous occasions in the past at unbelievable costs to future generations of Sri Lanka. Inevitably, the recent war victories would be the major political theme. The rational of holding early presidential election and General Fonseka emerging as the common candidate of a number of opposition parties is to politically reap the benefits of the recent military victory over the LTTE. At least, the moderate Sinhala forces in both major camps and their minority allies should check the rabble- rousing rhetoric of the Sinhala nationalist allies of their respective camps. This is crucial as the biggest political challenge in the post-election period would be ethnic reconciliation through political reforms to the constitution to reflect a more inclusive state. The tone that is set in the election campaign will to a large extent determine the post-election political direction of the country. Unfortunately, the Jathika Bhikku Peramuna, a front organization of the Janatha Vimukthi Peramuna (JVP) has already started the chauvinist cacophony – Mahinda Rajapakse handing over Eelam on a platter to Douglas Devananda and D. Siddharthan. Let’s hope that self-appointed champions of the Sinhala nation such as, Champika Ranawaka and Wimal Weerawansa would not follow suit and whip up hysteria over General Fonseka’s statement of his willingness to go beyond the 13 Amendment to address the Tamil national question. In marketing the war victory in this election campaign, which is unfortunately inevitable, both camps should at least take pains to distinguish Tamils from Tigers and not humiliate the Tamil Sri Lankans further as it happened soon after the victory over the LTTE in May.

The political representatives of the minority communities in Sri Lanka have been unable to emerge united in the post-war period to push a common agenda. The Zurich summit of the political representatives of the Tamil-speaking people reflects the fissured nature of Sri Lankan minority politics. The forthcoming presidential election has ruptured the hitherto united Tamil National Alliance (TNA) into many factions. Hence, there will not be a minority bloc vote as such determining the outcome of the presidential election. Basically, all political forces in the country are aligning themselves with the two main contenders for power. There are no clear-cut differences between the two main camps as both include Sinhalese of all shades (i.e. Liberals, Marxists, Nationalists, etc) and political forces of the minorities.

Whoever comes to power will have to address the question of the ethnic minorities, the biggest challenge to overcome for stability and prosperity of Sri Lanka. Basically, it is about making a more inclusive state where all Sri Lankans, irrespective of their differences, would feel they are part of and not second-class citizens. The current Sri Lankan state emblem with the dharma chakra and the lion, which symbolically excludes all non-Sinhala Buddhist Sri Lankans, is symbolic of the challenge at hand.

Equality, security and some measure of autonomy should be the basic principles of any political reforms package. Until the much abused good professor Vitharana comes up with a package of reforms to the constitution, the 13 Amendment should be fully implemented. As Dayan Jayatilleka says, this is the minimum cost of accommodation. Hopefully, the president-elect would choose an undivided Sri Lanka through ethnic accommodation and reconciliation over ethnic hegemony.

The secessionist challenge has been militarily overcome. Now it is time to win the hearts and minds of the Tamils and other minorities through measures that will guarantee dignity and security of all citizens in an undivided Sri Lanka.

-Sri Lanka Guardian