tw news-features

Vikalpa is a citizen journalism initiative located in Sri Lanka. It aims to build on the success of citizen journalism pioneered by the Centre for Policy Alternatives by providing content in Sinhala and Tamil that explore oftentimes hidden facets of democracy and governance in Sri Lanka.

Following videos are from Vikalpa on the July 1983 anti-Tamil riots:

A Colombo University student:

Leader of the Western People’s Front, Mano Ganesan MP:

Tamil National Alliance (TNA) Parliamentarian R.Sampanthan MP:

Civil Society Activist Shanthi Sachchithanandan:

Parliamentarian T. Maheswaran and one of his bodyguards were killed and 12 people were injured when a gunman opened fire at the MP and other worshippers at the Ponnambalavaneswarar temple, a renowned shrine for Lord Shiva near the Colombo port.

The killing of a Tamil democratic leader T. Maheswaran comes amidst a world mourning the brutal killing of Benazir Bhutto, leader of Pakistan People’s Party and the best hope of restoring democracy and order in Pakistan. Military dictator Pervez Musharraf blamed others while there has been many news reports suspecting his role in the killing.

The government of President Mahinada Rajapakse posses a similar track record.

News agency Indo Asian News service (IANS) in a news report on Tuesday Jan 1st said, quoted an unnamed ‘leading military expert’ saying “the assassination had serious security implications because the temple was located outside the Colombo harbour, a high security area. If the Tamil Tigers have done it, it is cause of more worry because it shows they are prowling in the city in a high security zone,“ the expert told IANS.

[Her world crashed: heartbreaking picture of slain parliamentarian Thyagarajah Maheswaran’s distraught daughter Pavatharani (8), as she weeps for a father who will never return home]

The Sri Lankan Defence ministry quoted the police as saying that the gunman was injured when the MP’s guards fired back after coming under attack.

However its being suggested that Sri Lankan government authorities may coerce the suspect or the entire arrest may be a drama to pin blame on others.

The Government of Sri Lanka has not investigated the killings of other Tamil parliamentarians - Nadarjah Raviraj nor Joseph Pararajasingham. N. Raviraj was killed during daylight at a Colombo high security zone in Nov 2006 and Joseph Pararajasingham was killed during the Christmas mass in Batticaloa in 2005.

A Sri Lankan Deputy minister P Radhakrishnan told BBC Sandeshaya that the government should take the full responsibility as three Tamil MPs are killed since President Mahinda Rajapaksa took over since November 2005. “MP Joseph Pararajasingham’s killer is still at large in Batticaloa,” the Up Country Peoples Front (UPF) parliamentarian told BBC’s Elmo Fernando.

The slain MP is a legislator from the Colombo District belonging to the United National Party (UNP). The UNP said the slain legislator has planned to reveal the widespread human rights violations in Jaffna.

“He was planning to make a special statement at the parliament on abductions and killings in Jaffna on 08 January,” UNP General Secretary Tissa Attanayake said.

Work towards ending impunity

Meanwhile a Sri Lankan media rights group has urged the media to work towards ending impunity in Sri Lanka.

The Free Media Movement (FMM), a Colombo-based media rights group, in a press release issued Tuesday, strongly condemned the assassination of United National Party (UNP) MP T. Maheswaran, and said the murder adds to the “incredible number of political killings and the suppression of those who seek to bring to light gross human rights abuses,” in Sri Lanka, and FMM is “mindful that the Sri Lankan Police have been unable and unwilling to bring the killers of other high profile political figures.”

The statement called upon the media to investigate this killing and larger and disturbing erosion of democracy in Sri Lanka, with a view to upholding all human rights for all and end impunity.

Related: Martyrdom staring at Sri Lanka Human Rights defender Mano Ganesan

Fair comment and objectivity in Journalism:

by K. S. Sivakumaran

Let me talk about something we all Journalists know. But first I wish to reiterate certain principles. May I quote from some experienced journalists abroad.

Since I started working with The Island in the 1980s (I was there for about 10 years, I have had the opportunity of reading every editorial of the paper. The senior editors I worked with were Vijitha Yapa, Gamini Weerakoon, and Ajith Samaranayake. They were excellent editors and their editorials were objective although the stance they took at times might not have been to my liking. On a few occasions, during Vijitha Yapa’s editorship, yours truly, too, wrote a couple of editorials of the paper in the capacity of a senior journalist.

The present editor of The Island, Prabath Sahabandu though relatively young invariably writes fine editorials based on justice, righteousness, objectivity and logical reasoning. This is not my estimate alone, but the opinion of many readers who have expressed their views in print. As a freelancer now I continue to write to The Island, The Daily News, The Daily Mirror and The Nation, apart from writing to Thamil newspapers like the Thinakutal, Thinakaran, and Virakesari.

[A Newsstand in Minuwangoda, Sri Lanka, Picture by Dennis S. Hurd, New Westminster, BC, Canada]

***

In discussing the subject “Editor and the Law”, Bruce Westley in his book ‘News Editing’ presents a checklist of elements in the defence of a fair comment. Here they are for our interested readers:

01. Fair comment applies only where the subject of criticism is a matter of public interest or concern; it deals only with matters that invite public attention and tend to seek public approval.

02. The comment must be an intellectual appraisal or evaluation. Not for instance, the pretext for a personal attack.

03. It must be stated as Opinion

04. It must be the result of an honest opinion.

05. It must have a basis in fact.

06. It must be free from the imputation of corrupt or sordid motives.

07. It must be free of actual malice

What it all says is that “to be fair, it must not be malicious, must be an opinion stated as such, and it must have a basis of fact”

***

Let me now quote from E Frank Candlin. This what he says:

“Everyone including the journalist writing for a newspaper or magazine has the right to make fair comment on matters of public interest even though this comment may involve defamatory statements about individuals or groups provided the opinion is honestly held by the writer. By ‘matters of public interest’, it is meant all those activities which are carried on in public and which concern their interests or invite their attention…”

The same author also says that “infringement of copyright does not apply to any fair dealing with the work by way of review, criticism or newspaper summary”

***

Let me quote from another source - Harold Evans, a former editor of London Sunday Times:

“It is my basic submission that newspapers have effects at two reciprocal levels on ethnic tension. By the information they select and display and the opinions they present, they have effects at ground level on the creation of stereotypes and the stimulation to behaviour.

“Because of the volatility of the subject, they also have swift effect at government level on the creation of policy. The Press must first recognise that what it prints or broadcasts about ethnic groups can directly affect ethnic tension.

“Any organisation not in league with the devil, which makes this first positive recognition, must recognise the government which follows. It must have a positive policy to avoids unnecessary damage”

The Thamil Press

On the subject we are talking about, I thought it would be fitting to quote from a former editor of a Lankan Thamil newspaper–the Virakesari. The editor’s name is A Sivanesaselvan. I happened to be an associate editor of that paper in the 1990s for a short time. Due to my dissatisfaction with the editorial setup at that time, I discreetly resigned from the paper and was asked to take up the position of the pioneer editor in chief of a weekly paper called Navamani. I am no more there and the paper continues to be published.

I quote A Sivanesaselvan’s article purely to give information on the Thamil press in Lanka. Here are some gleanings:

“The first newspaper that was published in Sri Lanka in any language was the Morning Star (Udaya Tharakai) – a bilingual fortnightly” published in Yaalpaanam. The American Missionaries in Manipai founded the first printing press in 1834.

Simon Casie Chetty started Uthaya Aathithan in Colombo in 1841. Thirteen issues were published. The Catholic Church in 1864 published Ceylon Watchman and the Ceylon Patriot. The first Hindu paper was Ilankai Neasan published by H M Sinnathamby in 1877. There was another Hindu paper Rising Star in 1880. The first Muslim paper was supposed to be Puthinalangari published by Wapiccchi Marikar and Naina Marikar. Muslim Nation published from Mahanuwara or Senkadagala in 1882 was edited by Siddhi Lebbe. Some say that he was the first novelist in Thamil.

A S says “that there were several other publications in the last quarter of the 19tgh century and early 20th century”

The first editor of the Virakesari started in 1930 was Subramaniam Chettiar from Thamilnadu. N Ponniah Pillai started a paper called Eelakesari in Yalpanam. The Thinakaran began publication in 1931. In 1960 another regional paper called Eelanadu started publication in Yalpanam. Murasoli, Udhayan, Eelamurasu and Eelanatham were other regional publications from Yaalpaanam. Except for Udhayan, other papers have ceased publication.

A S has conveniently ignored publications in the East! I must thank A S however, for providing us with information on early Thamil press.

At present we have four influential dailies published from Colombo. They are: Virakesari, Thinakutal, Thinakaran, Sudar Oli and Metro. These papers have their Sunday editions too. In Yalpanam there is Udhayan and Thinakutal - a Yaalpaanam oriented edition with a different staff. In Maddakkappu too there seems to be a few regional papers; but I haven’t seen them or read them.

My only regret is that the Colombo press in Sinhala and English pay little attention to the suffering of the people in the north and east and focus only on the battlefront. There is free comment but not much of facts as far as the Thamil-speaking people of the country are concerned.

The Sinhala and English press in this country can truly be productive in bringing ethnic harmony if only they could move a little away from the mono -ethnic stance.

Contact: sivakumaranks@yahoo.com

By Ilaya Seran Senguttuvan

The only way for Rajapakse Inc., to remain in power, after their lackluster
Performance nearing two years is to appease the larger electorate - the chauvinistic, Sinhala Buddhist Electorate. For this you also need a well-equipped Army. As we learn from the Press, the army is calling for a further 50,000 more men. Why do we need additional forces now that the Sri Lanka Govt propaganda units are daily claiming victories in all Fronts? Batticaloa they claim is taken. And so Trinco. So we will eventually have over 250,000 men going after a mere 8,000 LTTE cadres. Does not make too much military sense. We are already a Garrison-State and Colombo is shamefully a military city with ubiquitous soldiers clutching modern, sophisticated and costly rifles and flying in motor-bikes, Jeeps etc., Whatever happens to the Cost of Living and other so long as the Govt can tell Buddhist Sinhala ears they are “winning” the war everything will be forgotten and forgiven. But the raw truth must come out someday - and it will in all its fury and probably sooner than the ruling clique figures.

As to the Tamils, we have been losing since the days of old DS.

Gal Oya scheme put paid to Tamils living for generations in South Batticaloa. The Mahaweli there made it worst. Trincomalee’s ethnic balance continues to slide against Tamil interests. The Colombo eviction, I venture to suggest, is a “Dry run” for things to come in the future for the “Final Solution” of Lankan Tamils.

India and the Int’l Community can and must bring in the necessary sense and justice to our rapid slid into anarchy.

Today, as I write this note, even many Sinhalese, include hard-core Rajapakse supporters, are embarrassed at what their Govt is doing to the Tamils - and, they know justice will soon prevail. Mahinda Rajapakse’s threat last week to “dissolve” Parliament is the painful cry of a man on a hopeless trek - besieged from all sides. Unfortunately, the country’s economy and the well being of 20 million people are being taken along this perilous path.

I know I sound like a Prophet of Doom - but what do we have before us now?

By Dr Kan Chandradeva

The degradation of socio-economic and healthcare structure in the Northeast (NE) is devastating. At present thousands of our people in the NE are undergoing intolerable levels of hardship: no food, no drinking water, no healthcare, no basic sanitation, no shelter, no security, no economy, no transport, no education and our values and lives are brutalised everyday by the occupiers but our people are so scared to even make a complaint for the fear of reprisals.

During the last two years alone over 5000 thousand people have been killed. Our people have been rooted out from their ancestral lands by decree. There is an epidemic of severe malnutrition among children. About three years ago, the UN reported that 60% of children in the NE were severely malnourished (30% in the rest of the island). The incidence of severe malnutrition has rocketed recently to 85-95% in areas under siege in the NE according to the local healthcare workers. The devastation continues unabated.

In the light of these unprecedented events in our homeland, I have been thinking about an old man frequently nowadays for what he said to me two decades ago: let me share my feelings with you.

I visited Sri Lanka to see my family in April 1988. Just to recap the events around that time, you may know that the IPKF arrived in July 1987 and the IPKF-LTTE conflict started 2 months later in October. When I arrived, the South was in turmoil due to the JVP violence but the NE was in relative peace besides sporadic outbreak of violence between IPKF & LTTE.

One fine day I went to the Trincomalee bus stand to catch a CTB bus (state transport system) to Jaffna. I was flabbergasted to see a brand new bus at the stand. I asked the driver as to how they managed to get a brand new bus, because the GOSL had the habit of allocating only second-hand or used buses to the bus depots in the NE. The driver said to me proudly, ‘India has donated a number of brand new buses to Sri Lanka, on the condition that these buses should ply only in the NE and this is one of the buses donated by India’. I was delighted with his explanation and told myself that we would no longer be second-class citizens in our homeland.

The journey was comfortable and gave a sense of security as there were numerous IPKF check-points along the route. As you know on this very route Tamils had been burnt alive in their vehicles on a number of occasions by the Sinhala mobs when there was ethnic conflict and tension in the island.

Having arrived in Jaffna safely, a few days later I went to Nallur to meet some friends. There was pandemonium and I saw people fleeing from a burning bus. I tried to find out what was going on. An elderly man, who was shaky and visibly angry, approached me and whispered in my ears in English.

‘Thamby, Ingratitude is not our culture… this was one of the buses donated to us by India. The boys have set fire to this simply because this bus was donated by India. Thamby, our future generation will have to pay a big price for these boys’ stupid and ungrateful behaviour’. I wanted to continue the conversation but he nodded his head to say bye and moved away quietly. I think he must have realised that he had violated the curfew on his freedom of speech for a moment.

Is this the price we are paying at present in the NE as he predicted two decades ago?

By Dr. A.R.M. Imtiyaz

Sri Lanka (known as Ceylon till 1972) has a long and rich history. The island of three main communities – Sinhala, Tamil and Muslim – however, has attracted global attention in recent years, particularly for its deadly ethnic civil war. Sri Lanka, once hoped by the West as a model of democracy, requires political solutions to ease ethnic tensions and to restore the trust of the marginalised minorities. Hence, I suggest the following – what I call “The Ten Commandments to Restore Peace” – to build the trust both of the minorities and of the system.

Political elites and politicians shall seek a non-ethnic platform to win and hold power. In other words, Sri Lanka cannot afford any longer to have politicians who still strive for emotional symbolic policies that have power to trigger war rather than peace. Civil society institutions and intellectuals shall jointly work among the masses to promote non-racist politicians and leaders who have the ability and willingness to think beyond ethnic and religious lines.

There shall be tangible efforts by the global community to push the conflicting parties towards attending and address the issues concerning human right violations and abuses. The modern state of affairs requires respect for human values and freedom. The ethnic crisis in the island of Sri Lanka is unlikely to win peace as long as parties to the conflict disrespect the rights of the common man and take inhuman measures such as the forceful ethnic expulsions that occurred on June 7, in an effort to weed out what Colombo calls Tamil terrorists.

There shall be pressure to halt the current war against the Tamils of the North and East and to seek a meaningful political solution. War is only capable of stimulating hatred and engendering destruction. Sri Lanka has already shed enough blood; hence it urgently deserves peace.

Global forces, particularly India, the US and Norway shall call for peace talks in non-Sri Lanka territory, preferably in Scandinavian territory. Both global and local institutions shall exert pressure on the ruling political elites to reform the state structure and its institutions to allow all communities to make economic progress in a peaceful environment without the ravages of war, and to meet the aspirations of the minorities and to manage the challenges posed by modernization. Such reforms shall strongly encourage adoption of, in tactical political science language, a power-sharing formula both at central and regional levels (i.e., ethnic autonomy).

If the state and politicians in Colombo seriously agree to seek a political solution, there shall be concrete measures by the global forces on the Tamil Tigers to ease its deadly ethnic resistance. Tamil nationalists shall recognise the right to self-determination of the Muslims of the North and East and their desire to be identified as a separate if not distinct group.

The Muslim political establishment shall freeze its anti-Tamil nationalist approaches. Nothing herein shall preclude their continued cooperation with or giving critical support to the Sinhalese ruling class in Colombo, as they have been successfully doing since independence in the name of the Muslim masses.

Politicians and leaders shall sincerely understand the need for harmony among the different ethnic groups and peace in Sri Lanka. The earlier they understand the better for Sri Lanka’s future. Sri Lanka desperately needs peace. Peace would strengthen embattled democracy in Sri Lanka. War only fortifies ethnic identity and sooner or later creates space for genocide and ethnic cleansing. Then again, resistance to peace can create more ethnic warriors. In brief, failures to engage peace eventually could lead a society into a state of affairs where people of Sri Lanka find nothing but ethnic hatred, bodies, and suicide bombers. In other words, peace would aid Sri Lanka in realising its dream to become the Singapore of South Asia. [Courtesy of: The Sunday Times - Sri Lanka]

[The writer is a visiting scholar at Department of Political Science, Temple University, USA. His primary research interest is in the study of ethno-political conflict, both in Sri Lanka and in other countries.]