Keeping hope of democratic responsiveness alive

by Jehan Perera

(August 10, Colombo, Sri Lanka Guardian) The government headed by President Mahinda Rajapaksa would easily be the most decisive one in the post independence Sri Lanka. What the government leadership decides is implemented forthwith. The military crushing of the LTTE that had eluded five successive governments is the most outstanding example. Nothing could stand in the way of the government’s decision, neither the fear of failure nor of foreign pressure. This attitude can also be seen in the massive development projects that are taking place one after another. In a few days the spectacular Hambantota Port project will be unveiled. Prior to the government’s decision to go ahead with this project there had been much debate about economic viability and costs, but this was not to deter the Rajapaksa government. An estimated half a million people have been thronging to see the giant inland port before it fills with sea water.

However, as in the case of sweet and sour dish, the sour must come along with the sweet. The decisiveness of the government can also lead to its members to take arbitrary decisions of their own. The manner in which houses of longstanding residents of central Colombo were demolished on the basis that they were unauthorized structures is an example. The house owners alleged that they were not given notice until the bulldozers and police were almost upon them. The incident last week when Minister Mervyn Silva, who is known to be a close associate of the President, got a government officer tied to a tree is another example. Ironically, the media and police were present on the occasion to give publicity to this blatant practice of impunity. The victim in this instance claimed that he had not attended a dengue fever prevention programme organized by the Minister as his two-year-old child was sick.

Anyone with human compassion would know that the illness of a close family member will take precedence over everything else. This is especially so in the case of young children who are dying of fevers that the health authorities, bereft of resources, are unable to adequately deal with. The hard heartedness demonstrated by the government minister may be reflective of government policy in general. There are media reports that the Minister in question had been chided by the government leadership but there is no open or transparent disciplinary action. The breakdown of institutions and norms of democratic conduct is a warning signal. Sustainable development requires a commitment to systems and to procedures and not the whim of individuals.

Civil Society

The sense of helplessness and disempowerment of society in the face of the governmental juggernaut, which does whatever it wants, is also impacting upon national politics. The opposition parties are in disarray and unable to take these issues to the general public in a manner that evokes resistance to the abuse of power and breakdown of institutions. The crossover to the government of two opposition MPs both representing Tamil constituencies in the south of the country highlights the malaise. The two of them who campaigned strongly for the votes of the general public alleging government insensitivity to the Tamil people and human rights abuses now appear to have thrown themselves at the mercy of the government. The reason they have given is that outside of the government they can do nothing for their voters.

It is not only the opposition that gives the appearance of lying supine before the government. It also seems that many in civil society in the southern part of the country where the big majority of people live are prepared to acquiesce in the governmentactions even if they are concerned by some aspects of it. This is only partly because of the fear of being punished outside of the law. There continues to be hope that the government will, by its decisive conduct in forcing everyone to go its way, will usher in an era of economic development followed by prosperity that will benefit the general populace. The fact that the government promised to defeat the LTTE and kept to its promise bears heavily on these positive calculations. The government has also made effective use of the media to show the people the economic development that is taking place, even though they may not presently be the direct beneficiaries.

The only part of the country in which the achievements of the government do not appear to be received favourably or at face value is that that of the Tamil constituency in the north. This became evident to me when I visited Jaffna last week and said what most people in the south are also saying, that the situation in the country is steadily improving after the war, though slower than would be desired by the victims of the war. There are no more night searches of our homes and the roads are not closed suddenly to permit VIP traffic. The reports of disappearances and white van abductions are also a thing of the past. Also there was an appearance of regular political life and its associated patronage. When I visited Minister Douglas Devananda’s office late in the evening, I was surprised to see a large number of Jaffna residents even at that late hour waiting to meet him to get a problem solved or a letter of recommendation for a job.

Different Reality

However, the Jaffna civil society members with whom I discussed these matters with were not impressed by what I had witnessed. Their opinion was that the situation was again worsening for them. They pointed to the increased checking of vehicles and people along the A9 Highway to Jaffna. The checking can be rigorous as befits an area that is governed on different terms than in travel to the rest of the country. The large military presence that continues to obtrude on life in the north is also indicative of a lack of normalcy in which military judgments take precedence over civilian rule. As the Sri Lankan military is yet to become a truly multi-ethnic one, this further alienates the Tamil people. The large number of military-run shops that cater to traffic along the highway is also hardly a testament of a return to normalcy. It is only in countries where the military plays a disproportionate role that the normal business of civilians would be taken over by the military.

The conditions of impunity that exist in the south of the country, where government ministers can take the law into their own hands and even tie up government officials to trees and get away scot-free would inevitably be magnified in a situation of military dominance over civil authority. Along the A9 Highway isolated settlements of people are to be seen, most of them living in temporary shacks. These are disempowered and very vulnerable people whose community life that once gave them strength and security is no more. Many of these shacks are inhabited by women-headed households, whose men have either died, fled or been detained. There are urgent protection issues to be addressed that the military cannot be expected to do on their own. There is a very compelling need for an independent system of monitoring that respects the security concerns of the government and also respects the personal rights and human rights of the people.

Further, the civil society members I met in Jaffna complained that the government, which said it did not have sufficient resources to resettle the war displaced persons with dignity and economic sustenance, was able to find resources to put up big new military bases. They were also concerned that the NGOs that might be able to access more economic and humanitarian resources to help in the resettlement process were being so tightly controlled by the government that they could hardly do their work. Even NGOs like the Sarvodaya Movement now need to get prior approval from the Presidential Task Force for the North and from the Ministry of Defence to do any projects in the north. They also need to get prior approval to even travel to the north to supervise their projects. The north of the country continues to be treated by the government as an area that needs special security measures. It was in these circumstances that the civil society members I met in Jaffna were not impressed by my hope that their future will be better than the past. For hope to come to them, the government needs to change its approach.