Living on that famous victory ...

by Shaini

"The woods are lovely, dark and deep, But I have promises to keep, And miles to go before I sleep, And miles to go before I sleep." - Robert Frost (1874-1963)


(March 05,Colombo, Sri Lanka Guardian) The poem ‘Stopping by the Woods on a Snowy Evening’ is one of Frost’s most quoted poems. It is said that the poem was one of Jawaharlal Nehru’s favourites which he had displayed in his office to remind him of the responsibilities that he carried. The woods are lovely, dark and deep. The woods lie on the edge of the city, on the edge of civilization. Though they may be beautiful, inviting and seductive, life’s journey does not permit us the luxury of staying still and savouring this idyllic setting for ever. Life has its responsibilities for us and we need to move on and attend to those tasks that lie ahead.

So it is in the real-time political world. Politicians who keep gloating over the great victory gained over the LTTE need to be reminded that the people of this country do not have the luxury of being able to live just on the remembrance of that famous victory. Every day life brings with it its own problems - coping with the escalating prices of essential food items, the problems with health and schooling (even if they nominally free), deteriorating security in our neighbourhoods, etc. Good governance demands that these be given urgent and remedial action. Regular military parades with constant reminders of the the defeat of the LTTE and warnings of an unseen threat from LTTE remnants lurking somewhere is not the remedial action for the economic and social woes that the people expect from a responsible government.

EIU’s country/city ratings

The government has taken umbrage at the Economist Intelligence Unit listing Colombo as the tenth worst liveable city in the world. Earlier, we prided ourselves over the same Economist Intelligence Unit placing Sri Lanka, for the second year running, within the top twenty of the fastest growing economies in the world, based on the GDP rates. Last year, Qatar was listed as the fastest growing economy in the world, this year Eritrea has replaced Qatar at the top. The EIU also publishes several other indices, among them the quality of life index and the most liveable city index. For these, they use a number of criteria based on data published by state and other recognised agencies. The quality of life index is based on material well-being (GDP rates), health (life expectancy at birth), political stability and security, family life (divorce rates), community life (trade union membership, attendance at religious gatherings), climate and geography (temperatures), job security (unemployment rates), political freedoms (political and civil liberties) and gender equality (male and female earnings).

For the most liveable city index, the factors used are stability, health care, culture and environment, education and infrastructure. Among the top ten countries, three are from Canada, four from Australia and two from Europe. London and New York figure way down the list ranking 53rd and 56th respectively. Harare, Zimbabwe finishes at the bottom of the 140 cities rated and Colombo is 10th from the bottom. We need to accept reality and the way independent analysts rate us. Tolerance is one of the sub-factors used and our reaction to this rating proves that at least in this area the rating has not been far off the mark. We obviously have a problem with acceptance of criticism and an inability to subject ourselves to outside examination or even self-examination.

We are happy to publicly deny that there has been any violation of humanitarian laws by the security forces and abuse the United Nations Secretary General for appointing a committee to inquire into human rights violations during the final months of the war. Yet, without any local publicity and indeed with denials from government ministers, the Attorney General and the Secretary, Ministry of External Affairs do indeed meet the UN Secretary General in New York. President Mahinda Rajapakse has repeatedly expressed his ‘strongest commitment to the promotion and protection of human rights in keeping with international human rights standards and Sri Lanka’s international obligations’. He even pledged to prosecute and punish perpetrators of such violations. Amnesty International in their submissions to the UN Human Rights Council has drawn attention to Sri Lanka’s failure to live up to this pledge.

Desecration and Petulence

It is nearly two years since the LTTE was defeated and Prabhakaran killed. His ailing mother died two weeks ago and was duly cremated after religious ceremonies. When the family members went to collect the ashes the next morning, they reportedly found the cremation site desecrated and they were unable to collect the ashes. Such insensitivity and downright disrespect to the dead speaks volumes for the complete lack of any moral code or ethics on the part of the perpetrators of this desecration. Such an outrage should have created an uproar but it is obviously a sign of the times that many are willing to believe that that no body, not even the family members, have a right to mourn the death of an innocent mother of a demented man who was responsibility for terrorism and murder. Surely this is not in our culture or have we got it wrong?

Recently, the President opened a causeway and bridge at Sangupiddy connects the Jaffna Peninsula to the mainland on the western coast. When the roads on either side of the bridge are done, this will considerably shorten the distance to travel by road from Jaffna to Mannar and even on to Puttalam. The costs of the bridge and causeway were a gift from the UK government. However, no representative of the UK government was present at the opening event nor was any reference made to the donors. Presumably this was so because this event came not long after the Oxford Union had cancelled a scheduled speech by President Rajapakse after he had already arrived in London to deliver it. Whether this was the reason or not, the non-invitation to the UK High Commission for the opening of the bridge which their government had financed was not merely an unpardonable error but a diplomatic blunder. This is not the way to conduct international relations and it is Sri Lanka that will suffer from such blunders.

Our inability to accept criticism or defeat is reflected in the comment made this week over a state television station following the narrow defeat suffered by Sri Lanka at the hands of Pakistan in the World Cup cricket match. This is the culture that we need to move away from. We need to be able to accept criticism and defeat in the right spirit; and this can come about only if our political, religious and civil society leaders give the right leadership.

In 1994, the Hong Kong based Asian Human Rights Commission published the stories of family members of some youth who disappeared during the second southern insurgency. Basil Fernando wrote an introduction to this book which was titled ‘An Exceptional Collapse of the Rule of Law.’ He concludes his introduction with the remark that these families continued to cry out in pain and would do so for the rest of their lives. At some stage, would the national conscience prove capable of responding to their pain?