Sri Lanka – deeper into the mire?

By Luxman Arvind

(February 16, Colombo, Sri Lanka Guardian) The January 26 Lankan Presidential Elections results, instead of bringing hope and peace to the blood-soaked island,appears to have only brought further trouble to President Rajapakse and his brothers – the virtual power-centre in the country. Nomenclature-wise the Island of nearly 20 million multi-racial and multi-religious land goes as a Democratic, Constitutional Republic since 1972. The country has seen several “independences” since peacefully released from the yoke of British colonialism in 1948. The 2nd was the Sinhala-Buddhist Independence of 1956 lead by the late SWRD Bandaranaike – that is widely accepted to have begun the process of disintegration of the plural nation along racial-religious lines. The once relatively resourceful and united country is since rocked by political, religious and economic disaster. When President JR Jayawardena was voted in with his 5/6th majority in 1977 – which some claim as a form of escapism from a State-controlled economy that ran the country down in the interim. Madame Sirima B’s rule of 7 years that began in 1970 resulted in a country – where many have 3 meals of rice daily – it was decreed punishable to cook rice within your own home on two specified days of the week – a point illustrating the chronic shortage at that time of rice in a country known for self-sufficiency in rice for millennia. When Chandrika Bandaranaike-Kumaratunga – daughter of the late SWRD and Madam Sirima defeated the UNP Govt in 1994 - it was considered a further watershed of immense politico-economic independence from a regime lead by President Premadasa. Many thousands of youth died or went missing during this period. The current President Rajapakse was in the vanguard of the movement for Human Rights during that period and claims he even risked his life to surreptitiously carry indicting documents in his person to HR Conferences in Geneva against the Premadasa period when Defence Minister Ranjan Wijeratne was a law unto himself. In the nature of the violent politics of that time both perished in the streets of Colombo – the capital city of the Island.

When incumbent President Rajapakse won as President in 2005 he pledged to free the country of nearly 70% Sinhalese from the terror of Velupillai Prabakaran’s dreaded separatist army of the LTTE – a pledge he was to redeem in May 2009 under his acclaimed political leadership and that of the “military genius “ of his then Army Commander General Sarath Fonseka. The country was told Fonseka is “the world’s most brilliant army commander” Even the name of the Indian Defence Advisor MK Narayanan is invoked in support. The Sinhala part of the country went wild with this “historic victory that saved the motherland” Both Rajapakse and Fonseka were promptly deitified by a singing, dancing and partying Buddhist Sinhala majority - who turned most of the main streets of the island of 25,000 sq. miles into a Party venue for weeks with giant hoardings littering the main cities of the little island. Predictably, Sinhala goons forced themselves into Tamil and Muslim homes in the Colombo and Kandy Districts - where these minorities live in numbers - and demanded money for the “celebrations.” Many had no option but to oblige - out of fear . Like peace, unity and even memory, nothing lasts for long in the troubled Island. Within a matter of 6 months Rajapakse and Fonseka – the darlings of the Sinhala Buddhist country (as Fonseka was to claim many a times to the horror of the Tamil and Muslim main minorities) were in daggers-drawn positions when the Presidential Election was announced. The two coming from two different castes - where this also plays a role in elections - were the main contenders poised against each other. There are many electorates in present Sri Lanka where people vote their castes in while the rest of the country cast their votes.

The rest is all too well known to be repeated here except the “victory” claimed by President Rajapakse by a huge margin of 17% is contested not merely by Candidate Fonseka and many parties in the opposition - but by many non-partisan voters as well. To quote the controversial Election Commissioner Dayananda Dissanayaka “I could not save even ballot Boxes” “my instructions to the Police on complaints of election violation are ignored” were but two of his many disappointments. But in the nature of the national amnesia the country is famous the contested election results are now obscured by the news of the alleged illegal arrest of Gen. Sarath Fonseka (Feb 8) in typical fascist style. The Presidential candidate was dragged away struggling by fully-armed commandos said to be over a hundred - lead by a Major General nursing a personal grouse against Fonseka. The drama took place while he was in conference with leaders of other political parties in his office. It is claimed he was insulted, threatened, assaulted and bundled into a waiting van – “like a dog” – to use the expression of Mano Ganesan – yet another Party leader he was in conference with at the time. The “ugly and illegal arrest” was the dominant news from February 08 to 12. Since then the focus has shifted to the powerful and influential Buddhist hierarchy – the Maha Sangha - who have called a historic extra-ordinary Conference of the 3 main Prelates of the different Buddhist Chapters – The Mahanayakes of Malwatta, Asgiriya and Siyam Nikaya for Februaryt 18 in Kandy to “consider the situation that has arisen in the country”…”to save democracy and good governance” The venerable Mahanayakas fear the current turmoil “will create a disastrous situation to the future of the country” In their words steps should be taken “to establish democracy and good governance.” Urgent notices have gone out to ALL Buddhist temples in the country to attend. It is expected over 30,000 buddhist monks will be in attendance in the largest single event where they will be called upon to deliberate on the “future of the country”

Strangely, Gautama the Buddha preached against man-made divisions and notably casteism that was a scourge when the Indian sage was alive over 2,500 years ago in the Himalayan region of the Indian Sub-Continent. In Sri Lanka the Buddhist hierarchy is split along the 3 main different castes. The chiefs of these were the signatories calling for the Conference. President Rajapakse, until recently the favourite of these monks and “the savior of this Buddhist-dominated land” - cannot consider this meeting as one that enhances his popularity with the majority Buddhists in the country. Rajapakse’s woes deepen considering this Conclave of Maha Nayakes have never met on common ground in recent memory. It is believed their caste differences are so sharp they do not even engage in periodical friendly banter leave alone make courtesy calls on each other. One can only hazard a guess why they chose to enter this danger-fraught minefield at this time when the war against the dreaded LTTE is long over. Opposition political parties are coming out into the streets all over the land rejecting the January 26 fraudulent election and protesting the illegal arrest of Candidate Sarath Fonseka. The answer appears to be the nationally heard complaint it is now time for the Buddhist eccelesiastical leadership to come forward and save the nation. It is clearly an indictment on Rajapakse’s widely condemned style of ruling in the past 5 years. His kind of governance is characterised by a form of oligarchy with large doses of nepotism, corruption, intimidation of opponents.



Dissenting members of the media are marked and live in uncertainty and constant fear. Prageeth Eknaliyagoda, well-known Sinhala Journalist and Secretary of the Sri Lanka Working Journalists Assocation was abducted on January 24 – 2 days before the Presidential elections and is still missing. His crime appears to be he wrote in favour of the candidature of General Sarath Fonseka. Many journalists have been killed, abducted, gone missing while many have fled overseas. Although Ekneliyagoda’s matter is front page news in the country since he disappeared, the appeals of his wife Sandya since then to restore her husband to the family – have gone unanswered by the Police. The Police are merely a further extention of the power influence of politicians and have long lost the vital impartiality expected of them. People have entirely lost their faith in the Police.

While the usual number of Cabinet Ministers is only about 20 in a Parliament of 205 members, Rajapakse, purely with intent to control power by enticing corrupt and unprincipled MPs, runs the show with a Cabinet of over a 100 – said to be a dubious world record. This could well be the only country where nearly half the MPs in Parliament is a minister of one form or other enjoying enormous perks.All major government decisions, however, are generally taken between the 3 brothers Rajapakse. More so, those involving large Contracts involving foreign suppliers. The government’s iron heel over the media is clear if one listens to the incoherent ranting, rambling and crude threats of the President’s brother Gothabya – the powerful Secretary of Defence. The army, the police, the navy and the air-force are controlled by him. Many of the video Interviews in halting English given by the Defence Secretary features are beamed over the global media – the BBC, CNN, Al Jazeera. The unfortunate events in Sri Lanka where HR violations are rife and where democracy is in peril has jolted the UN and many respected global organizations calling for corrective and transparent action by the Rajapakse government. These are simply either side-stepped or ridiculed as “LTTE-inspired” or “action calculated against the government by Western powers.” Even the privately-owned media - clearly under threat now sounds more like what the State media is derogatorily called - “the kept Press”

The opposition in Sri Lanka has been lobbying the many diplomatic missions in Colombo and world bodies complaining of the danger to democracy and the collapse of governance in the country. Tamil interests both within, in India and elsewhere – where there has emerged a vocal diaspora – have demonstrated in the UK, Western Europe, the USA, Canda, Australia and elsewhere against the illegal incarceration of nearly a third of their people in camps described as similar to those “Jewish Concentration camps” under the Nazis in WW2. These gained wide publicity and sympathy to the Tamils in Sri Lanka in all these countries. In the USA, Canda, the UK and the EU the Sri Lankan crisis is placed in their priority political agendas. The electronic media covered the events – the demonstrations, night vigils – poignantly. Last week many Sinhalese in Canada also demonstrated opposite the Sri Lankan High Commission in Ottawa demanding the release of General Fonseka and calling for clean governance. On January 14-15 “The Peoples Tribunal on the War in Sri Lanka and its aftermath” met in the University of Dublin where detailed presentations were made by scholars from many parts of the world. The Organisers of this body - inspired by British Philosopher, Thinker and Human Rights activist Earl Bertrand Russell – are reported to have duly invited the Sri Lankan government to be present and participate in the deliberations. It is understand this has been refused. The distinguished panel of international scholars have made several strictures on the Sri Lankan government and its armed forces. Charges of War Crimes and serious Human rights violations bordering on genocide are among these. The Tribunal has sent its findings to President Rajapakse requesting him to permit the UN to conduct free and unfettered investigations on the findings. If one is to go by the experience of GoSL and its current main actors in recent times, this report could well be ignored disregarding potential implications. It is hoped wise sense will prevail and President Rajapakse’s government will engage the world community in a manner expected of responsible democratic governments.