Nero Playing the Lyre or Disregarding the Tamils

By Uvindu Kurukulasuriya

“Nero’s excesses were overtaken by disaster. Whether it was accidental or caused by the emperor’s criminal act is uncertain – both versions have their supporters. Now started the most terrible and destructive fire which Rome had ever experienced …The flames could not be prevented from overwhelming the whole of Palatine including (Nero’s) palace. Nevertheless, for the relief of the homeless, fugitive masses he threw open the Field of Mars… also constructed emergency accommodation…and the price of corn was cut. Yet these measures for all their popular character, earned no gratitude. For a rumour had spread that, while the city was burning, Nero had gone on his private stage and, comparing modern calamity with ancient, had sung of the destruction of Troy” ( Histories. Re quote from Arrogance of Power)

(December 29, Colombo, Sri Lanka Guardian) Today, we need not listen to rumours as we can see Rajapaksha for ourselves who has got on to his private stage at “Temple Trees” and is comparing the new calamities with the old. The only difference is that Nero lacked a tele-prompter which Rajapaksha has. It is too early to prophecy when, where or how this disaster will end. The number of people who believe that this disaster will end when Fonseka becomes President is ever increasing. With Fonseka becoming the President a sensitive person will get only a hollow satisfaction. This is because the causes of the disaster had been side-stepped and the Presidential elections have become an election campaign.

The late Dr. Newton Gunasinghe, who wrote an article on “New Trends in Party Politics” in the mid-eighties, came up with an important observation. He said that the future orientation of party politics would not be by class but would occur on whether or not there would be a solution to the ethnic problem. In other words, the ethnic problem would be over-determined by the class struggle. Although his observation held throughout the last twenty years, in the context of the post-Tamil armed struggle, whether resolving or not of the ethnic issue has been abandoned. This is the main sad fact in this Presidential campaign. Neither of the two main contestants seems to speak on this issue. Instead the polarization is on “Vote for the Motherland” with the usual dual slogan of opposition politics “Executive Presidency, Corruption, Terror and Nepotism.”

What is the message of these to the Tamils, especially to the Tamil youth and the Tamil diaspora? In retrospect, it is difficult not to conclude that the isolation brought about by the Tamil armed politics and the feeling of being completely victimized were unhealthy and, at the end, tragic for the Tamils. Nevertheless, it enabled to bring about the fact that Tamils have to share political power with the central government. By evading the discussion on the sharing of power with the Tamils, do what both political currents represented by Rajapaksha and Fonseka are telling the entire Tamil population mean “Until you re-arm yourself and fight we will not consider your problems as the main issues”?

At the end of the 30-year civil war, in the hustings for the position of the Head of the State, at least, how reconciliation can be forged between the Sinhala and Tamil ethnicities and others is not included in the manifestoes of this presidential election campaign. Instead, what prevail are charges, countercharges and refuting allegations on the war crimes between the two Sinhala heroes and spurious figures of speech on the betrayal or otherwise of the Motherland. Once the Sinhalese actively take responsibility for what was done in their name, they can expect the same from the Tamils. Subsequently, an honest discussion and a genuine rapport can be expected. The prevailing situation is that there is no one to account for what they said and did. Those who abused power and those who wallowed in satisfaction in genocide do not take responsibility for their actions. This an exercise by design to cover up where each race expects the other to forget what it has done. This is happening in a situation where responsibility for questioning the armed forces in the North and East as to their actions has been shirked. This is unfair to both civilians and the armed forces.

It is in this context that the necessity and importance arise to appoint a Truth Commission (or truth and reconciliation commission) for reconciliation. This is the second most important issue missing in the manifestoes of the Presidential elections. A truth commission or truth and reconciliation commission is a commission tasked with discovering and revealing past wrongdoing by a government (or, depending on the circumstances, non-state actors also), in the hope of resolving conflicts left over from the past. They are, under various names, occasionally set up by states emerging from periods of internal unrest, civil war, or dictatorship. South Africa’s Truth and Reconciliation Commission, established by President Nelson Mandela after apartheid, is popularly considered a model of a Truth Commission.

Truth commissions are sometimes criticized for allowing crimes to go unpunished and creating impunity for serious human rights abusers. Their roles and abilities in this respect depend on their mandates, which vary widely.

A difficult issue that has arisen over the role of truth commissions in transitional societies has centered on what should be the relationship between truth commissions and criminal prosecutions. Although egregious criticisms were leveled against these commissions for not punishing those who violated human rights such a commission helps reconcile differences (to find Truth and Reconciliation and further detailsvisit www.truthcommission). On the other hand, the dedication shown during the elections to establish a truth commission would help both Rajapaksha and Fonseka to get some reprieve to some extent from the international accusation levelled at them for war crimes. A genuine effort to establish such a commission will help not only to find facts but to heal the festering wounds of the people.

Writer’s email address: uvinduk@gmail.com