Ruling over the vanquished

EDITORIAL | COLOMBO

(June 02, Colombo, Sri Lanka Guardian) By the joint effort of the UNP and SLFP led governments since 1978, the executive presidential system has managed to achieve the following: ;

Suppression of the workers movements;

Suppression of the middle class by the undermining of the judiciary and attacking the freedom of expression;

Suppression of the opposition in the South by suppressing the JVP; and

Vanquishing the minority through the war with LTTE

Now the time has come to rule over the vanquished and that is what Sri Lankans in all parts of the country now have to get used to.

No more do they have the luxury of running to courts in the hope of some benevolent intervention. The doors to that avenue have been closed by many means. Now the Defence Ministry acts with its fists and there nothing really left for courts to do. The people in Slave Island who were evicted demonstrate the way things are being done now. Yes, by all means complain to the courts if you like, after the event, while sitting in the road and wait; wait as long as you like.

To complete the job, there is the government media unit, which will explain how correct the use of force was used and how the wrong doers have been dealt with. Expert media personnel can make citizens disappear and anyone can be portrayed as a villain of peace. Once again, there is nothing that court can do.

How about going against the executive? You may try. But do not forget that the goon squards backed by the defense ministry are everywhere. And there is the sea. That where some people who are made to disappear ends up.

What does a vanquished people look like? Just go to the North and East and you can get to see a lot of them there. While all the right jargon about minority rights has been used, the minority is now being treated like the vanquished. Of course "the War" was against LTTE but the vanquished are the minority as a whole. The mentalities of a devastated people, many of whom have lost many of their loved ones, their homes and have been displaced many times, can now be exploited to create semi-slaves. To many of them what does 'citizenship' mean anymore when there is no way to defend any of their rights and anyway, there is no way to retrieve much of what they have lost. Their sense of loss, humiliation and poverty can now be exploited for the benefit of those who rule. With military camps all around them what are the limits to this exploitation?

However, there is nothing for the people in other parts of the land to celebrate, as these people too, are in conditions of the vanquished, as is being demonstrated by the way they are also being treated.