Culture of impunity takes many forms

by Jehan Perera

(August 03, Colombo, Sri Lanka Guardian ) The armed attack on the Siyatha radio and television station, which has latterly been supportive of the Opposition, has highlighted the absence of a return to normal democratic life. It reinforces the realization that the country is still in an early post-war stage. The government’s security measures remain in place and visibly so. It is difficult to travel a few hundred metres without seeing someone in the uniform of the security forces. But the plethora of security checkpoints in the city of Colombo failed to apprehend the attackers. The allegedly lethargic response of the police to the incident is a sign of the continuing impunity that dampen public life and protest in the country.

On the other hand, these highly visible breakdowns in law and order have become much less frequent in the aftermath of the war. This would serve to convince the majority of people that normalcy has indeed been restored to the country. There is an abiding sense of relief on the part of people of all communities that the bombings and other acts of terror that took place in markets, buses and trains in various parts of the country have come to an end. Any concern of the general public in the attack on Siyatha is likely to be overtaken in the next few days by something else that is news worthy, whatever it may be. As major acts of violence are few and far between such breakdowns will be unlikely to occupy a central part of public attention.

The appearance of a vibrant market place for news and an essentially free media will be the dominant impression in the minds of most people. The ordinary citizen has only to look at the wide variety of newspapers, magazines and electronic media to come to this conclusion. But the message conveyed to many journalists and to political activists by the attack on Siyatha radio will be different. This smaller group of opinion formers would know that the forces that use violence can pick them off at any time, and with impunity. Although a few dozen media personnel have been attacked or killed in recent years, there is hardly anyone who has been caught and punished for their crimes.

As a result of the uncertain environment those who express their views are careful when they do so. They may even prefer to praise the existing order, which further reduces the opportunities for the general public to understand the reality beneath the appearance. There is a tendency on the part of many opinion formers to engage in self-censorship in the cause of their own self-preservation. They have families to whom they are responsible. There are, of course, notable exceptions and a free and democratic society needs to honour and respect the courage of such opinion formers, and care for the widows and orphans that are sometimes left behind.

People’s Consent

The basis of democracy is the consent of the majority of the people to their government. The practice of impunity can cripple and debilitate the opposition to the government. But if the violence is targeted it does not affect the lives of the majority of people and so they can continue to support the existing order. While this may seem to be a winning formula for keeping majority support it is not necessarily a formula that can provide unity and cohesion within the country. In particular, if the country is polarized on an ethnic basis, obtaining majority support does not automatically translate into successful governance in which the country reaches its full potential. The present situation in the country is not at all positive in this respect.

The absence of normalcy in the lives of the majority of Tamil people particularly those living in the North and East means that the strategy of governance and social control that seems to be working well in the South of the country is unlikely to work in the North and East. While to most members of the Sinhalese majority the end of the war has meant the restoration of normalcy, to most Tamils it has not. Therefore they are much more likely to be disappointed by any actions of the government that fail to meet their needs.

Last week a group of thirty journalists from the North and East visited the South where they met with government officials as well as with a range of other political and civil society actors. Their interactions in the South, including both Colombo and Galle, were uniformly cordial and positive. They were not subjected to security checks even when meeting senior government officials and one journalist who had a problem in obtaining his media card was provided with one that same day. During their three day visit they encountered no problem at all, which showed them the positive potential there is for normalcy and reconciliation.

In the discussions that took place the impatience of the journalists from the North and East for quick change for the better in their lives was manifest time and again. One journalist said that he had been a youth when he was displaced from his home 23 years ago. The land on which his village was situated was taken over to become a high security zone. He said he wanted to be able to go back to his home at least now in his middle age. The response of the government officials was that the consequences of thirty years of war could not be undone in a year. They asked for more time, to complete the de-mining of the North and to rebuild the infrastructure necessary for normal community life to recommence.

Troubling Issues

Looking at conflicts and wars in other parts of the world it is the case that most of them take a long time to settle after the end of the war. Whether in Europe, Asia, Africa or the Americas the pattern is for countries and peoples to take decades to come to terms with the past and to admit the wrongs on their side and make reparation for them. Some countries, like Turkey in the case of Armenia, will deny their responsibility for a hundred years. Australia took over fifty years to admit its wrongs in forcing Aborigine children into state homes where many of them were torn away from their families. Sri Lanka is now only in its 15th month since the end of the war.

Displaced and war affected Tamil people may feel that even a year is too long a period to wait to receive justice and compensation for all that they lost. By the standards of the world and governments worldwide, a year may be a relatively short time. The government may find it difficult to solve all the problems of the past within a short time period. But if it is to win the hearts and minds of the majority of Tamil people, it has to find a way to address their needs as soon as possible. Just as the government has found ways to keep the majority of Sinhalese people with it, the government needs to find the way to obtain the support of the majority of Tamil people.

The complaints made by the journalists from the North and East who visited the South were not limited to their profession. Their complaints applied across the board to include the sentiments of the people living in the North and East. The most grievous of their complaints concerned the re-militarisation of the North and East after the war. The reasonable expectation of the people of that part of the country after the war was that there would be some measure of de-militarisation, even symbolically. Instead, the government has kept the military in control of the North and East and declared its intention to further increase the number of troops and even take over more land for military purposes.

The journalists also identified other issues that troubled them. They spoke of the government’s big road development projects where the contractors came from outside of the North and East and also brought with them labour from outside. They expressed the need for development that would benefit them instead, such as restoration of irrigation networks and fisheries harbours. The present lack of consultation with the people, or with their elected political representatives, in fostering the development process is another form of impunity that needs to be addressed. The government needs to be accountable to the people of every part of the country and end the culture of impunity if normalcy throughout the country is truly to be restored.