Whom to vote for President

By Carlo Fonseka

(December 27, Colombo, Sri Lanka Guardian) I compulsively read whatever my friend Kumar David, the brilliant engineering professor writes. Truth to tell, his is the first piece I read attentively in The Sunday Island. Most times I find myself in total agreement with his thinking. Even when I find myself disagreeing with him, as I occasionally do, I am never sure that he is entirely wrong. On two occasions during the past few weeks, however, I found myself greatly puzzled by his reasoning.

Empiricism

The first occasion was when in The Sunday Island of 11 October 2009, on the subject of what he called "bourgeois economics" he declared that "their economic science has declined to empiricism and their methods of prognosis mere statistical regression techniques". As I understand it, modern science is epistemologically "empirical" (rather than rational) and scientific truth is probabilistic (rather than deterministic) and therefore requiring statistical techniques of analysis. So when KD who professes engineering science implies that scientific knowledge is acquired primarily by the exercise of our reason rather than through our senses, I conclude that KD is more philosopher than scientist.

Science & Philosophy

Bertrand Russell was once asked during an interview what the difference was between science and philosophy. He said that science comprises definite knowledge such as it is, acquired by humankind. Philosophy, he said, consists in speculations about matters concerning which there is as yet no definite knowledge. When such knowledge becomes available, he continued, it becomes part of science. He cited Aristarchus’s speculation that the earth goes round the sun as one example of a philosophical speculation, which turned out to be true and then passed into science. The atomic theory proposed by Democritus long before scientific evidence more or less confirmed it was another example he cited. Thus, he said, science is what we know and philosophy is what we don’t yet know.

I am sure KD knows better than I do that Michael Faraday, the discoverer of electromagnetic induction made his discovery by experimenting rather than by theorizing. It is said that, "he thought with his hands". To be sure, his experiments were based on his belief that there was a connection between electricity and magnetism. But the fact of electromagnetic induction was an empirical discovery and not a rational deduction from the theory. It was much later that the mathematician James Clerk Maxwell formulated the relevant equations.

Thus, there is no gainsaying the fact that science is empirical.

UNP / JVP

The second occasion on which I was dismayed by KD was last Sunday when after reasoning cogently that Tamils should vote at the coming presidential election, he went on to recommend that they should vote for the General rather than the incumbent President seeking re-election. The crucial reason why he offered this advice to the Tamil people is that he is personally "more comfortable with the forces behind Fonseka than Rajapakse’s bandwagon". It looks as though KD has forgotten that the main force behind Fonseka consists of direct descendants of those who systematically harassed, beat up, looted and even burnt alive, Tamils in 1977, 1979, 1981 and 1983. The July 1983 massacre of Tamils condoned by the UNP regime of the time was surely our equivalent of a holocaust. The forces behind Fonseka also include members of the movement which killed 6,577 people and set fire to 613 CTB buses during the 1987 – 1989 period. How my friend KD manages to feel "comfortable" with such forces defies rational analysis, but must be accepted as an empirical truth. KD is on record as saying that, "the Tamil people will not settle accounts with the Tigers until they have first settled accounts with the Sinhala State".

Tamil Nation

I believe that in settling accounts with the Tamil people, we the Sinhalese must recognize the fact that our Tamil brethren have inhabited this country, particularly its northern parts for centuries. They have preserved a language, religion and culture of which they are justly proud. They have a right to a measure of self-governance which must be granted not only as the price of a lasting peace, but also as the fulfillment of a just demand based on a right embodied in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights.

I have a great deal of empathy for my many Tamil friends and former loving pupils. It so happens that the highest achiever among all my pupils of nearly four decades is Sir Sabaratnam Arulkumaran. He is currently the Professor of Obstetrics and Gynaecology at St. George’s University of London and the President of the Royal College of Obstetrics and Gynaecologists of the United Kingdom. He was knighted by HRH the Queen this year. Like many other former Tamil pupils of mine, he continues to be very grateful and loyal to me. So I feel obliged to tell them what I think would best serve their interests at this stage in our history.

War & Ethnic Strife

History shows that Homo sapiens, the species to which we all belong has been a very violent species. As Sir Winston Churchill once said, "the story of the human race is war". Given our evolutionary history of having lived a tribal existence for 99% of our time on earth, human beings feel coziest when relating to members of their own ethnic groups. Therefore it is unrealistic to expect a utopia of ethnic harmony anytime soon. The prudent thing to do right now is to try and maximize the advantages and concessions that can be secured.

At this point in the history of this country, I believe that the presidential candidate who has the desire, will, capacity and the public support essential to work out a constitutional arrangement for the maximum feasible sharing of power with our Tamil brethren is the incumbent President Mahinda Rajapakse. In support of my belief, I will cite two items of evidence.

Mr. Anandasangaree

1. In December 2006, the Alumni of the University of Peradeniya, Colombo Chapter felicitated Mr. V. Anandasangaree who was awarded the UNESCO – Madangeet Singh Prize on 16 November 2006 for his contributions to the cause of non-violence and tolerance. (The prize has been created in memory of Mahatma Gandhi). On that occasion, I gave the keynote address and Mr. Anandasangaree will remember the message I publicly conveyed to him from H.E. the President. The President congratulated Mr. Anandasangaree and told him that the substance of the formula for ethnic harmony Mr. Anandasangaree had proposed in an open letter to him was basically acceptable to him, but required a different terminology of formulation to accommodate it in the realm of the art of the possible.

Learning Tamil

2. The other manifestation of President Rajapakse’s goodwill is the energy and effort that he has recently expended on learning to speak to the Tamil people in the Tamil language. Learning to speak a new language when one is in one’s seventh decade is not easy. Some of my Tamil friends have told me that President Rajapakse’s endeavour attempt to speak in Tamil sets an admirable example, is fairly successful and is very commendable. A few months ago, I went to see the President at "Temple Trees" by appointment in connection with an official matter. I hadn’t been long with him when a gentleman arrived on the scene. As soon as the President saw him, he told me, "Please go away now because my Tamil teacher has come". I felt slightly hurt by being dismissed so summarily. But I could not suppress my deep admiration for the President’s commitment to learn Tamil.

So in spite of Kumar David’s advice, I should urge my Tamil friends and former pupils in their own best interests, to seriously consider voting for Mahinda Rajapakse.