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| During that elongated period of gestation, the Rajapaksas are likely to act like the proverbial crab in slowly-boiling pot of water, blinded by reckless overconfidence, stupefied by the belief in their own infallibility. As Vellupillai Pirapaharan did….until he faced the long-delayed moment of truth, on the shores of the Nandikadal lagoon. |
by Tisaranee Gunasekara
“Whoever says he’s 100% right is a fanatic, a thug, and the worst kind of rascal.”
Czeslaw Milosz (The Captive Mind)
(July 03, Colombo, Sri Lanka Guardian) Last week, in a question-and-answer session with five editors, Indian PM Manmohan Singh stated that the ‘legitimate grievances’ of Lankan Tamils did not disappear with the LTTE. He went on to underscore the need for a ‘new system of institutional reforms’ which will make Tamils feel “they are equal citizens of Sri Lanka’ and enable them to “lead a life of dignity and self-respect”.
Last week, the US State Department Spokesperson indicated that if Sri Lanka is ‘unable or unwilling’ to investigate alleged human rights violations, international community may be compelled to examine other (‘international accountability’) options.
The Indian and American statements are important because they refer to two key Rajapaksa failures: the absence of a political solution to the ethnic problem and the blanket-denial of any human rights violations by Lankan Forces. During the war the regime promised to implement devolution and investigate rights-violations, as the Wikileaks cables reveal. Both undertakings were forgotten once the Tigers were defeated. The hardening stance evident in the two statements stems from these broken-promises and indicates the dangers inherent in a winner’s peace characterised by the absence of devolution, accountability or reconciliation.
True, neither India nor the US will follow up the unusually stringent words with comparable deeds; not for many years. But inaction in the short/medium term will not mean that the failures are forgotten. On the contrary; these twin-failures, augmented by other Rajapaksa crimes and errors, will fester, out of public-sight, until the grim hour of eruption dawns.
During that elongated period of gestation, the Rajapaksas are likely to act like the proverbial crab in slowly-boiling pot of water, blinded by reckless overconfidence, stupefied by the belief in their own infallibility. As Vellupillai Pirapaharan did….until he faced the long-delayed moment of truth, on the shores of the Nandikadal lagoon.
For almost three decades, Mr. Pirapaharan lived cocooned in a mirage of impunity. Each time he got away with a crime, the belief in his infallibility and his invincibility grew. He – and his followers – failed to realise that the absence of instant retribution did not mean the non-existence of retribution. Like a man building a house of cards, he piled up crime on misdeed, infamy on outrage, with increasing sanguinity, until the moment of collapse took him unawares and unprepared.
The Rajapaksa Siblings defeated the Tiger, partly by thinking and acting like the Tiger. That habit has stayed with them, post-war. Like Vellupillai Pirapaharan, they too are committing excess after excess, without even the ‘excuse’ of a war. Their crimes and errors too will accumulate, unseen, until, some day, the tipping-point is reached.
The emperor is the last one to realise his own nudity.
Miasmic Patriotism
Vellupillai Pirapaharan wanted not just a Tamil Eelam or even a Tiger Eelam, but an Eelam under his total and exclusive control. For Mr. Pirapaharan, Tamil nationalism and even the LTTE were mere means to that ultimate-end – his very own state.
To facilitate his object, Mr. Pirapaharan created a nationalist-narrative premised on two axioms: the equation of Tamil interests with Tiger interests and the equation of Tiger interests with the Leader’s interests. These equations did no harm to the Eelam cause when the interests of Tamils, the LTTE and Vellupillai Pirapaharan coincided, as happened not infrequently. But when those interests diverged, Mr. Pirapaharan ruthlessly subjugated Tamil interests to Tiger interests and both to his own needs.
It was not in Tamil interests to kill non-Tiger Tamil activists or drive-out Muslims; but LTTE’s sole-representative mania demanded these crimes. Child conscription hurt Tamil society but the Tigers needed it. In these (and other) cases, Tiger interests prevailed, at enormous cost to Tamil interests.
Just as Tamil interests were sacrificed to Tiger interests, Tiger interests were subordinated to Mr. Pirapaharan’s wants/needs. It was not in the LTTE’s interests to murder Gopalswami Mahendraraja (Mahattaya) or to turn its guns on Col. Karuna. But Mr. Pirapaharan’s need for absolute control demanded these sacrifices, even at the cost of weakening the LTTE.
The wages of sacrificing Tamil interests to Tiger interests and Tiger interests to Mr. Pirapaharan’s megalomania did not become apparent for a long time. Tiger crimes/excesses. However underneath the surface, the crimes and errors committed in the name of Eelam corroded the Tamil cause and debilitated the LTTE, paving the way for the ultimate defeat of both (and the ignominious-end of the Tiger Supremo).
A similar process of slow internal unravelling is underway in the South. The Rajapaksas are Lankan patriots in the same way Vellupillai Pirapaharan was a Tamil nationalist. For the Rajapaksas, patriotism is a means to an end - Familial Rule and Dynastic Succession. Consequently, when national interests and Rajapaksas interests diverge, it is Rajapaksa interests which prevail, behind a façade of patriotism, irrespective of the cost to Sri Lanka and her people.
There are moments when this contradiction becomes visible. Such as the persecution of Gen. Fonseka, or the killing of FTZ worker Roshain Chanaka, defeating the Freedom of Information Bill or suppressing the Thilakawardana Report. It is evident in the Rajapaksa proclivity to stage lavish spectacles at an enormous cost to the economy and in the Rajapaksa policy of selling land to foreigners to finance wasteful practices.
Take, for instance, the facetious Presidential explanation about the impossibility of granting a salary-hike to university dons: “Do you want me to print money to pay their increased salaries?” (The Island – 28.6.2011). This from a leader who is planning to spend more than Rs.400 billion to hold the 2018 Commonwealth Games in his hometown! A leader who is willing to bankrupt the country to slake his thirst for vainglory is not a genuine patriot.
Vellupillai Pirapaharan thought he was eternally right and all his deeds were cost-free. The Rajapaksas too seem believe in their own infallibility and impunity. This is obvious in the way the Siblings are responding to Indian concerns about devolution by talking about another APC and promising to hold elections to Northern provincial council. This is evident in the ham-fisted and contradictory manner in which the various Rajapaksa acolytes are responding to war crime allegations. Most significantly, this is evident in the way the Rajapaksas are pushing the country into a debt-cum-financial crisis. For instance, the much vaunted Chinese patronage is exacerbating rather than ameliorating our financial woes; the Chinese loan to build the Magampura Mahinda Rajapaksa Port is costing Sri Lanka Rs.11.1 billion in interest payments alone! (By comparison, the IMF seems almost benign).
When the Tigers were (or seemed to be) on the ascendance, most Tamils opted not to question but to confirm and go along. That path ended on the shores of the Nadikadal lagoon and in the huge internment camps. Sinhalese are in a comparable state currently. Intoxicated by the memory of the victorious Eelam war, beguiled by the regime’s patriotic-hype, we fail to see the potential-costs of Tamil/minority alienation, Indian disappointment and Western antipathy; or the dangers inherent in financial mismanagement of gargantuan proportions. Such unforgivable inanity, execrable amorality and wanton irresponsibility will cleave a path to our own politico-economic Nandikadal moment.
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