tw news-features

By Arthur Wamanan

The Jaffna University plans to begin its academic activities during the first week of January.

Registrar, Jaffna University, P. Kandasamy however said there was no final decision on the matter yet.

Speaking to The Sunday Leader on this issue, he said there were several requests by the students and parents to restart academic activities as soon as possible.

The campus has been closed to the students since August. However, Kandasamy said the administrative staff continued to attend to their work.

“We have plans to open the campus during the first week of January. But, it is not confirmed,” he said.

He added that the academic activities of the third and the final year students were planned to commence this month.

“We have planned to commence academic activities for the third year and the final year students. The rest will be planned later,” he said.

He however stated that issues such as lodging for outside students had to be looked into.

“There are many students who are from places like Vavuniya and Batticaloa. Some of the students have even gone to Colombo due to the unstable security situation. Those students should also be taken into consideration. They also should have proper lodgings if they are to come back,” he said.

Students who had come to Colombo said it was highly unlikely that they would return to Jaffna to continue their studies.

A final year student said he had no plans of going back to the peninsula.

“It is practically impossible to live there with all the food shortages and security problems. It would only increase if students start to go there. I have only six months to complete my degree, but who knows what will happen within that time?” he said.

Civilians in Jaffna lack essentials:

Civilians in the Jaffna peninsula are experiencing a shortage of sanitary items such as soap.

Parish Priest of the Church of Our Lady of Refuge (OLR) Rev. Fr. Niruban Nishananth said the prices of such items were also very high.

Speaking to The Sunday Leader he said prices of other commodities also remained high.

“The civilians in the peninsula are now experiencing shortage of soap and shampoo. The prices of these items in the market are way too high. The price of a cake of soap is Rs. 125. How can the people afford it?” he said. He also said that there was a severe shortage of baby soap.

He however stated the situation regarding essential items such as rice and sugar was improving.

“These items are given by the co-operative stores in the area. The people have to buy these items using the ration cards given by the government. These items are also expensive, but very much cheaper than the soap and shampoo,” he said.

Speaking further, Rev.Fr. Nishananth said queues were seen in almost all the shops.

“People are not happy, because of the situation. But, the new year is round the corner. Some of the people are buying stuff for the new year despite these difficulties,” he added.

Speaking on the distribution process, Rev. Fr.Nishananth said there were a few drawbacks in distribution in most of the main towns.

“This is mainly because these areas are highly populated. This is not the case in the remote villages. But, the situation is improving, except for the prices,” he added. [thesundayleader.lk]

By Rita Perera
[Kelaniya]

Despite the great rejoicing and wide approval, if not relief that attended the signing of the historic accord between the two main opposition parties who represent over 90% of the voting public in this country, it increasingly appears to be a damp squib. They both claimed amidst a great deal of fanfare that they would work together for the greater good of the country.

Alas that early euphoria is fast withering away. First there was the bickering and self-seeking within the ranks of the UNP which seems to have weakened its very structure and integrity. The government too with its top heavy cohorts of ministers, deputies and aides, who as usual are only concerned about increasing their pay, perks and pensions to excessive heights, is dragging its feet without devising a mechanism to make the MoU operative.

The welfare of the country and the majority of its citizens appear to have the lowest priority as they struggle against the ‘fearful odds’ that beset them daily to barely keep alive. Rampant bribery and corruption abounds with the Bribery Commission looking on helpless to tackle the culprits and bring them to book.

Wouldn’t the much vaunted accord have had some practical benefit to the country at large, if it gave priority to setting up a mechanism whereby UNP members in the opposition could have been appointed to sub-committees in each ministry depending on their experience and special expertise.

Their roles should be clearly defined, not just to be critical watchdogs but also to have a positive function in devising and suggesting ways to make the work of each ministry more effective.

This would be a positive step to meet the legitimate criticism of a two party democracy. With every change of government the country is losing the valuable expertise of the former government functionaries. If such UNP members of parliament need some remuneration for the services they are called upon to render they could be paid a stipend, but not a salary.

Our politicians are generally adept at pontificating on moral and religious values at the drop of a hat. However, shouldn’t they too, be imbued with even a wee bit of the love for the country that impelled countless patriots to make untold personal sacrifices with little or no financial recompense in the struggle for independence of which they are the chief beneficiaries? Why should they then hesitate to give paramount importance to finding ways and means to save this country from the morass it is in without trying to feather their own nests?

[A Letter to the Editor, published in thesundayleader.lk]

By Rajeev Sreetharan

In Lanka, the problem isn’t Raviraj, but how soon we’ll forget him. It’s not the politicized humanitarian crisis, but GoSL’s nuanced stances towards A-9 and Mavilaru. It’s not Geneva II’s failure, but its success as a mechanism to mediate international engagement. It’s not Maveerar Naal’s message, but its resemblance to the Mahinda Chintanaya’s ethnic mirror image. It’s not the PTA per se, but also our security forces’ disciplinary history, and what justice shall come of AFC, IDP camps in Vammivedduvan, Palchenai. It’s not LTTE and Serunuwara exodus, but also that SLA strategy values destabilizing Trinco-Batti over repercussions in Kanthale, Koralaipattru. And it’s not the Co-Chairs’ verdict, but also our rising co-dependence upon militarized humanism pursuant of a quasi-Faustian quest for territorial sovereignty.

Of late, it appears we’re so obsessed with history, we’re unable to move forward; in fact, we’re in reverse, sliding from post-2006 to pre-2002. Since we’re regressing, let’s revert to basics:

In your opinion, 3 sentences or less, what actually is the “ethnic conflict”? Ask the person next to you.

Whether that person’s Rambukwella or a rambutan farmer, most will hesitate, then speak. Answers will vary, some leaning ethnically, others politically. All will conclude:

• “yuddaya nevey nam, lankava paradisiyak”
• “yuththam illavittal ilankai sorkammaha irrukkum”
• “if not for war, Lanka is a paradise”

Going forward, international image may emerge as everything. When casual Western news-consumers think Lanka, they think: tsunami, tea, suicide terrorism, cricket. From recent international coverage, appended are abductions, extrajudicial killings, child soldiers, Karuna, and for some, a bit of pop culture, like Jacqueline Fernandez, Miss Sri Lanka 2006, or London based Tamil ragga/hip-hop artist, M.I.A.

However, as some contemplate permutations of Panchayat, majority opinions of the Minority Report, on the ground, negative peace erodes, a battle for the East intensifies, civilian death tolls mount, and accountability is replaced by a script of accusation and counter-accusation, interpretation and counter-interpretation.

Prabakharan’s November message was clear: Lanka’s at a crossroads; the CFA’s defunct; from past regimes to present, the “dove of peace” flutters “from one cage to another”; trust can’t be built vis-a-vis militarized peacemaking; no other option remains but pursuing an independent state.

The reinstatement of the PTA and failed suicide assassination attempt on the Defense secretary, like the Heroes’ Day speech, reflect GoSL-LTTE axis polarization on diplomatic and military fronts. To derail Lanka from it’s current path, the list of obstacles is running: monsoon season; swelling Tamil-Muslim refugee populations in the East; A-9 closure, a central artery for aid distribution to the North; deteriorating security environ; frozen funds for relief; in concert, all fan a Malthusian crisis in Jaffna where half-a-million live on one meal-a-day.

At the moment, Rock, Alston, and Coomaraswamy are more threatening to Rajapakse than Prabakharan. Post-9/11, with the emerging anti-terror regime, democratization regime, and evolution of American hegemony slowly ceding to a new geometry including China, Russia, and India, it seems internationalizing civil conflict is like playing with fire, as we see in Darfur, Iraq: as rebel, you risk isolation-cum-intervention, as semi-failed state, scrutiny-cum-isolation.

This past summer, GoSL synched with the “war on terror”, advocating Canadian/EU bans of the LTTE. This move has temporarily placed the GoSL under a humanitarian microscope. Last month, the Co-Chairs met in Washington apropos the deteriorating war environ. US undersecretary Nicholas Burns captured the international community’s overarching stance: LTTE are terrorists, “faith in the government” but also concern of its “use of military power against civilians and against aid workers,” and condemnation of “the continued and systematic ceasefire violations by the Government of Sri Lanka as well as by the LTTE.”

Alongside, the U.N. and SLMM have criticized the GoSL and LTTE, amidst a failed Geneva II, escalating conflict, and eroding commitments to the CFA. Besides leveling charges against LTTE’s conduct, the criticisms allege government collusion in a laundry list of post-9/11 no-nos: human rights violations, extrajudicial killings, child soldier abduction/recruitment, recently highlighted by links to Karuna, and SLA involvement in the French NGO Action Contra la Faim massacre, killing 17 aid workers back in August. Human Rights Watch has also urged both parties for increased civilian protection, Amnesty International, for greater international engagement in investigations, “in light of decades of impunity for perpetrators of violations of international human rights and humanitarian law in Sri Lanka.”

If international attention persists, prospects of the GoSL realizing post-EU ban polarities, a fully isolated LTTE and fully democratization-regime-aligned GoSL, may give way to post-AFC polarities, a fully isolated LTTE with increased international empathy, and a GoSL whose democratization-regime alignment is jostled by international perception. If sustained, this could catalyze power balance, the conflict cycle, and peace negotiations to gradually shift focus from GoSL-LTTE politico-military parity, to an emerging symmetry of international isolation: for the LTTE, terrorism, the GoSL, human rights.
In mainstream discourse, some issues should be addressed. Firstly, the SLFP-UNP MoU is a consolidation of the southern consensus, which granted, would create clearer lines of bipolarity on the GoSL-LTTE axis. However, SLFP-UNP détente or escalation at the moment, has negligible impact on the militarized North-South tension and humanitarian crisis, which dominate the conflict cycle, define platforms of international engagement. Secondly, from India in the short, beyond recent reportage of Gandhi and Singh apropos privation and the de-merger, expect little more than Aishwarya Rai/Vedivel on your cinema screens. India has recapitulated “diplomatic distance” for months, justifiably preoccupied with its greater stake in a changing world order and the challenge of meeting surging domestic energy demands. As long as Dehli can pump capital to its periphery, stabilizing its domestic economy, the pull of Rajiv Gandhi’s ghost on Manmohan will counterbalance Karunanidhi. Thirdly, the desired LTTE ban, is less about GoSL’s position towards the LTTE, more about it’s position towards the negative peace dividend and how it foresees the option of peace talks as a means for realizing its ends vis-à-vis management of domestic/international actors.

From Vijaya-Ellalan to Rajapakse-Prabakharan, the ethnic conflict is a narrative of neglect. And from neglect, asymmetry. From asymmetry, grievance. From grievance, identity. From identity, ethnolinguism. From ethnolinguism, politics. From politics, militancy. And from bloodletting, the necessary illusion of military necessity.

If Iraq’s the new Vietnam, Lanka’s a trailer for Cambodia on time lapse, a tit-for-tat slow-motion genocide, with echoes of self-determination in East Timor, Palestine, Kosovo, state failure in Sudan, Iraq, Congo. If there’s Democracy in Lanka, it’s like Iraq’s – a “democratic Monet”: democracy from afar, atomistic ethno-democracy up close, in Lanka’s case, hued with ethno-populist brushstrokes.

What’s ahead? Arguably more violence. The polarized GoSL-LTTE axis illuminates a darker side to the conflict cycle, a shadow peace process’s de omnibus dubitandum, a shadow state’s casus belli. Given the predisposition to pursue political compromise on the battlefield, in the coming weeks as war escalates, we may see certain political epithets morph to political oxymorons: “military solution,” “national security,” “public order,” “united Lanka.” Building peace will become messier, semi-axiomatic of evolving international images of the parties, agendas less humanitarian, more Hobbesian, a warpath less Clausewitz, more Gueverra, and a conflict cycle less Kriesberg, more M.C. Escher given the cyclical and labyrinthine soul of constructive conflict de-escalation in Lanka.

As the international community idles, peace talks fall apart; the center holds; quasi-anarchy is loosed upon civil society. In light of the Maveerar Naal manifesto and Rajapakse Administration’s gahuwoth gahanawa policy, the parties momentarily in unison chant si vis pacem, para bellum.

Not everyone can see war, but its winds have arguably settled in the ethos like chicken koniya in our mosquitoes. In places like Kolpitya the writing’s on the wall. In other places like Vakarai, it’s on their skulls. It seems the CFA, was less conflict transformation, more the war holding its breath.

We must remember peace is not the absence of war; it is a virtue; a state of mind; a disposition for benevolence; confidence; and justice. What we feel today, coastal villages have felt for months, Lanka’s children for years, the diaspora for decades in their memories. It’s that seeming certainty of uncertainty, insecurity of human security. It’s Machiavelli whistling Mozart on a Monet.

Despite present dispositions, the peace process isn’t a peacenik’s pipedream, and returning to the negotiating table is still in the cards.

So, to answer - what is the ethnic conflict - we must first answer, how are we governed where we live? Does Lanka want peace or war? Does Lanka want sons to bury their fathers, or fathers to bury their sons?

By Tommy Wanigasinghe
[Kurunegala]

Labour is an essential element in running our plantations. Without them our plantations cannot function as witnessed during the recent strike. The present day plantation worker is the progeny of the cheap Indian labour brought to the island during the time of the British. They have been with us for four or five generations, all the while contributing their toil for the betterment of our country for a pittance.

They do not seem to receive a realistic wage compared to what a manual worker who works outside the plantation gets. Hence whatever the argument of plantation companies may be it is nothing but fair they are paid realistic wages.

Unfortunately for us, with the passage of time the children of this labour force have studied, passed exams and gone in search of greener pastures. Many of these younger people are not in the estate sector anymore and the estates have had to recruit local labour from the nearby villages to replace the labour that has been lost.

It is a known fact that even now some of the male labour force go to work in the adjoining towns during their free time to earn additional money. Youngsters come to Colombo or go to major towns to work in shops while a good number of young girls seek employment as domestics in Colombo or even securing better employment in communication centres and business establishments.

To stem this tide it is important that the government or the plantation companies take meaningful steps to provide these people avenues to earn money in addition to what is paid to them by the estate. It could be collective farming or even cottage industries.

The initial expenditure for the setting up of such enterprises — raw materials, equipment, animals, seed and plants etc. could be supplied by the estate and the cost recovered from them in installments. The produce generated by these enterprises could in turn be bought by the estates encouraging the workers to carry on with these enterprises with dedication.

Such steps would certainly contribute towards a contended labour force that would strive to work for the betterment of the plantations they work for.

A contended labour force means less disruption of work by trade union action and increase in productivity contributing to the flourishing of the plantation sector and the tea industry.

[A Letter to the Editor, Published in thesundayleader.lk]

By Ranjan Gooneratne

As I saw Rama’s life ebb away on that fateful night of December 6, I realised that my friendship which spanned a period of nearly 50 years was coming to an end.

I have known him when he was a young man. I have known him in the vigour of his manhood. I have known him in his middle age. I have known him when the mellow light of years began to close down on him. It was at ‘London House’ (hostel for Commonwealth students) that I first met Rama.

London House then was run on the lines of a gentlemen’s club. Though London clubs are reputed to be ‘havens of disinterested friendliness’ it was at London House that Rama made friendships that lasted to the end of his days He worked with a steady and proficient ease which did not always bring him the result he expected. The setbacks he faced while reading for the Bar, he met with equanimity.

As a student he did not show any evidence as an advocate at a time when H.V. Perera was at the summit of his illustrious career and men of the highest integrity adorned both the Bench and the Bar.

Rama never claimed to be an erudite lawyer. However in Ranasinghe v Wijendra, reported in 74 New Law Reports, Justice Weeramantry, after an exhaustive review of the relevant case law, accepted Rama’s submissions. This case still stands as one of the leading authorities on criminal misappropriation.

After a few years practice at the bar, he joined he Attorney-General’s Department. As a prosecutor he was called upon to prosecute the assassins of Alfred Duraiappa, when more senior Crown Counsel refused to do so. From the Attorney-General’s Department he moved on to the High Court. When serving as a High Court judge, President Jayewardene offered him the prestigious post of secretary, Ministry of Justice. A lesser man would have accepted this offer without any hesitation. Rama however, politely turned it down.

With the effluxion of time, he was appointed a judge of the Court of Appeal. It was while being sworn in as a judge of the Court of Appeal, that President Jayewardene asked him “What happened to the other Ramanathans?”

Wittily he replied “Ruined by wine, women and song.”

His work in the Supreme Court will long be remembered for the two dissenting judgments he gave in Sirimavo Bandaranaike vs Times of Ceylon and Tilak Karunaratne’s expulsion cases.

These two judgments alone displayed his sound common sense, his understanding of human nature and above all his sturdy independence. He was made a Bencher of Gray’s Inn when he was a judge of the Supreme Court.

Happily in retirement he did not disappear from ublic life. He was appointed governor of the Western Province, chancellor of the University of Ruhuna, and finally, chairman of the Human Rights Commission. To crown it all he was conferred a Deshamanya.

Rama married Mano late in life. They were perfectly suited to each other. Their marriage forged a strong and lasting bond of companionship which contributed much to his success and well being.

He was senior member of the Orient Club, a pillar of the establishment in a bygone age.

Rama loved parties. On the last few social gatherings he gave impromptu speeches. The last was at my birthday party. Little did we then realise that he was in fact bidding farewell to his friends.

He was never flattered by authority and never sought to flatter it. As a man, he combined simplicity with a basic humility. There was serenity in his spirit which seems to those who knew him like a gift of grace. He has meant much to his friends and they have meant much to him

In later years he developed that philosophic detachment which preserved his sense of essential values in an increasingly troubled world. He seems to have discovered some hidden secret which has eluded so may others — the secret of finding the time as well as the inclination to remain a respected citizen of this country and an entertaining companion.

Rama had the disciplined intellectual virtues of heart and mind, the proud shyness and sensitive dignity that come from exceedingly good breeding. Rama has now reached the Elysian fields untroubled and unharmed by the ghosts of dissatisfied testators who wait on the banks of the river Styx to deal with judges who have misconstrued their wills.

The following lines from Milton’s Paradise Lost would perhaps serve as a fitting epitaph to his life and work.

“Unmoved, unshaken, unseduced, unterrified
His loyalty he kept, his love, his zeal;
Nor number, nor example with him wrought
To swerve from truth, or change his constant mind.”

[Courtesy: thesundayleader.lk]

By A. Paul Raj
[Colombo 3]

This refers to the article written by Mr.K.Godage and published on December 14 on the above subject, in the Daily Mirror.

KG stated that the expert panel groups A&B do not have any sensitivity on the issue regarding the merger of North & East for a period of ten years and wants to have a referendum now. This panel he stated has not felt the pulse of the people of Eastern Province and the feeling of 90% of the people of this country.

It appears that KG wants to have a referendum now so that he could achieve his aim of the de merger as a large number of Tamils have left the area and are living in South India as refugees and still others within and without Eastern Province as internally displaced people.

Therefore any one will agree that no referendum can be held now when there is intense fighting going on in the East. Even if a referendum is to be held after normalcy is restored, the issue should not be decided by East alone but by the North & East together. For example if the parents want to get their daughter or son married both the bride and the bridegroom must agree for the union. Similarly North &East must awe the merger.

The feeling of 90% of the people down South of course may be against the wishes of the Tamils for the merger. But the majority Sinhalese must understand it was this kind of policy that brought this country into pieces and remains as a poor state due to the ‘Sinhala Only’ policy adopted by the majority of the (almost 95%) Sinhalese in 1956. What is wanted is justice and fair play and not always depend on numbers.

Though Muslims belong to a different ethnic group they all speak Tamil and are Tamil speaking Muslims. Just because Tamils call N&E as their homeland, it does not mean that it is not the homeland of the Muslims. TNA leader and M.P. Mr.Sampanthan has addressed an SLMC meeting recently and stated that East is the homeland of the Muslims too.

It does not matter if the Tamils call N&E as their homeland as no harm will be done to any other communities. Look at Tamil Nadu in South India. Earlier in the 1 950s Annathurai of DMK fought for a separate state but finally accepted a federal state and named it as Tamil Nadu (Tamil Nation) where there are millions of Muslims also. The Central Govt. of India never objected to naming it as Tamil Nadu nor did they say that it will lead to division of the country. Now TN Govt. is a close ally of the Central Govt. of India.

KG then brings a new story quoting one Percival and says that Indian Tamils were brought in from S.India as labourers for tobacco cultivation in Jaffna and later on sent out to Eastern Province and Vanni when tobacco boom ended. I have worked in Batticaloa district for about 5 years and have known them very well. They are not of Indian origin as seen from the way they speak Tamil and are unlike Indian Tamils in the Central Province, are well educated and very large number of Jaffna Tamils are married to Batticaloa Tamils.

KG states that there is no justification for the merger of N&E. The need arises since the Tamils are a minority community and therefore do not want them to be further divided into small enclaves. Further Tamils and Muslims living in the N&E speak the same language - Tamil .Therefore the administration of N&E could be conducted in Tamil.

Finally KG states that all communities should be able to live as equal citizens with dignity and in security wherever they live. But did the Govts. in the past as well as the present treat all communities equally? If it was so there would not have been a Prabahkaran today. Former President Chandrika Kumaratunga has said many times that Tamils have grievances and even the US representative Richard Boucher made similar comments recently.

[A Letter to the Editor, published in the dailymirror.lk]