Road Map to National Unity and Reconciliation in Sri Lanka
By Dr.Rajasingham Narendran
"He abused me, he struck me, he overpowered me, he robbed me. Those who harbour such thoughts do not still their hatred."
"Those who imagine evil where there is none, and do not see evil where it is- upholding false views, they go to states of woe." - (The Dhammapada)
The opportunity to re-orient Sri Lanka as a modern state, where every citizen has the same status and has equal rights and opportunities, has become possible with the end of the three decade old and brutal civil war. The war ended as brutally as both parties to the conflict had fought it. Although a major blight has been lift off the face of Sri Lanka, it has left in its wake almost 300,000 Tamils 'Internally Displaced'- euphemism for the most miserable and forlorn people on earth now. Misery of these innocent Tamils should touch the hearts and minds of every Sri Lankan, while evoking a sense of mass shame and guilt. Every Sri Lankan, dead or alive; Sinhalese, Tamil, Muslim, Malay and Burgher; politician and voter; rich and poor; academic and scribe; men and women; teachers and priests; farmers and workers; lawyers and judges; elite and proletariat, should bear responsibility for the series of events that unfolded since independence to culminate in the current human tragedy. None of us reacted, as we should have in the face of the unfolding and escalating evil. We are all guilty of complicity either by our silence or by our support!
While the Sinhala population is celebrating the hard-fought victory of the armed forces, the Tamil population is sullen and fearful. It is incumbent on the Sri Lankan government and the Sinhala people to allay Tamil fears and assure through their conduct and actions the Tamils too have very good reasons to be at least relieved, if not jubilant.
President Mahinda Rajapakse has rightly said in his recent speech (19/05/09) declaring victory in parliament,
"Protecting the Tamil speaking people of this country is my responsibility. That is my duty. All the people of this country should live in safety without fear and suspicion. All should live with equal rights. That is my aim. Let us all get together and build up this nation."
'It is necessary that we give these people the freedoms that are the right of people in all parts of our country. Similarly, it is necessary that political solutions they need should be brought closer to them faster than in any country or government in the world would bring."
The recently concluded war has affected their kind and their kin, to an extent, that was not foreseen by most Tamils. Their self -proclaimed messiah's have led them to hell. Tamils are also yet haunted by memories of the past, long before Tamil militancy loomed large on the Sri Lankan horizon and engulfed her. The Tamils are at their most vulnerable at present both psychologically, physically and socio-economically. They are a proud people who have been brought to their knees by forces beyond their control and for reasons they are not responsible. They are also victims of three decade long brain washing and, insidious and pernicious propaganda.
Sinhala celebrations should not turn jingoistic nor tolerate incidents that reinforce Tamil fears and fuel Tamil resentment. The suspicions of the Tamils vis-à-vis the hidden intentions of the government and sections of the Sinhala polity should be laid to rest by actions of the government starting now. Every word and action of the government and the Sinhala polity will be examined through the microscope by the aggrieved, sullen, fearful and suspicious Tamil polity. There are elements within the Tamil polity and within the Tamil Diaspora who will use these circumstances to invent and exaggerate incidents to fuel Tamil fears and suspicions. Tamils are now the most vulnerable to such dastardliness. Tamils are a people without leaders, but with many human-vultures circling above for a bite. They are a people who fear to hope.
Winning the war is going to prove relatively easy, compared to the efforts needed to win the hearts and minds of the Tamil population for the government of Sri Lanka. The coming months are bound to be the most critical, in the face of the enormity of the tragedy that has engulfed the Tamils and the nation. The government must not only act with bona-fide intentions but also appear to do so. Like Caesar's wife, the government must be above suspicion. The security of the Tamils should be foremost in the eyes of the government. There should be haste, determination and tangible outcomes in resolving the new problems that confront Tamils and those that have persisted since independence.
The following is a an outline of a road map to national unity and reconciliation in Sri Lanka, with a time frame, I think is necessary from both the Tamil and national perspectives:
A. IMMEDIATE OR SHORT TERM (6-12 MONTHS)
1. Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs)
a. A database for all IDPs should be established with as much details as possible with regard to individuals, their families and original areas of habitation.
b. IDP camps should be brought under civilian administration as soon as possible.
c. Reduce over-crowding in camps
d. Improve conditions – Nutrition, Health, Sanitation, and Children & Youth-education and vocational training. Pre-schools for the war-traumatized children are very essentials
e. Surgical, medical and psychiatric care, and rehabilitation programs for the war maimed.
f. Re-unifying separated family units.
g. Gainful employment for those fit and idling in the IDP camps.
h. Reduce gradually the military presence and increase police presence and patrolling.
i. Permit visitor interactions – family and friends- in specially designated areas in camps.
j. Permit those who want to leave camps to live with relatives or friends to do so, after personal undertakings and the necessary security checks.
k. Prevent access of Tamil ex-militant groups to IDP camps.
2. Reconstruction and resettlement of IDPs.
a. De-mining of war affected areas in a planned manner, starting with areas previously with large populations, first.
b. Re-building /repair of destroyed and damaged housing units.
c. Re-establishment of infra-structure and public services-electricity, water supply; schools; primary , secondary and tertiary health facilities; repair of roads; restoring public transport; and facilitation of trading activities.
d. Open the A-9 highway to Jaffna for public use and movement of goods.
e. Security and safety- Police services of the highest standards be restored and overt military presence minimized.
3. Re-settlement of IDPs in their original towns and villages.
4. Assistance to re-settled families in need for at least one year.
5. Rehabilitation of LTTE cadres in government custody.
a. Humane treatment and sympathy
b. Psychological therapy
c. Programs to re-integrate into society
d. Vocational training
e. Gainful employment
f. Re-unification with their families and social integration.
6. Program for surrender of LTTE cadres yet in hiding or mingling with general population
a. Amnesty be announced
b. Humane treatment of those surrendering.
c. Torture and forced confessions to be banned.
d. Rehabilitation
e. Vocational training
f. Gainful employment
f. Re-unification with their families and social integration.
7. Permit fishing and agricultural activities in restricted zones.
8. Interim Provincial Council with nominated membership and an appointed Management Council.
a. Should enjoy the full powers granted to the Provincial Councils under the 13th amendment to the constitution.
b. Should consist of able administrators, technocrats and emerging community leaders.
c. The ex-militant Tamil groups, who yet have armed cadres, should not be accommodated in the ‘Interim Councils’, until they are disarmed.
The inclusion of individuals from groups with armed cadres will reinforce suspicions of most Tamils that a ‘Vichy –France-like' situation is being imposed. The elections in the east and the aftermath have been an unhealthy precedent. The sensitivities of a large number Tamils, who saw hope in the LTTE and see a void without it, should be respected, if our national wounds are to be healed.
The debt of gratitude the government and the anti-LTTE Tamils may owe to these groups should not be paid at the expense of the disaffected Tamil population.
These group should preferably contest free and fair elections once 'Normalcy' returns and be endorsed by the people free from fear and intimidation.
d. The ‘Interim Council system’ to function for three years, until conditions in terms of security, population and socio-economic conditions return to normalcy.
e. The National Government should provide the resources, funding and advisory services for the ‘Interim Councils’ to carry out tasks effectively and efficiently.
f. The National Government to work through the ‘Interim Councils’ in the re-settlement, rehabilitation and re-building activities.
9. Armed groups: All groups, other than the police and armed forces, bearing arms for what ever reason, should be disarmed immediately. Armed cadres of these groups should be absorbed into the armed forces after suitable training.
10. All Colonization schemes and changes to demographic patterns:
The government should assure the Tamils and Muslims, changes to pre-war demographic patterns through devices such as colonization schemes will not be made. Clear, nationally accepted policies should be formulated with reference to land use and colonization schemes in the north and east.
11. Funding mechanisms:
Funding mechanisms constituted as joint ventures between the government and Diaspora groups should be set up at the earliest to involve the Diaspora in IDP care, re-settlement, rehabilitation, re-building and development activities.
12. Encourage organized groups from the rest of Sri Lanka (the so-called South) to participate in IDP care, re-settlement, rehabilitation and re-building programs.
13. Establish programs to permit physical/direct participation of the Diaspora in IDP care, re-settlement, rehabilitation and re-building activities.
14. Invite and facilitate private investments in agriculture, fisheries, education, health care, industry and infrastructure development.
15. Provide employment opportunities for the war-affected in rebuilding and development activities.
B. MEDIUM TERM (12-36 months)
1. Conclude the APRC process to achieve a Southern consensus and in consultation with the Tamil and Muslim polities the necessary constitutional changes should be made to,
a. Ensure equal citizenship and equal opportunities to minorities in all aspects of life
b. Greater devolution of power to ensure communities and provinces can manage their affairs to the greatest possible extent
c. Permit greater participation of the minorities at the level of the National
Government.
d. Implement constitutional provisions relating to the Tamil language to the fullest extent, as soon as possible.
2. Legislate to make words or deeds detrimental to the sensitivities and welfare of any community in Sri Lanka, a hate crime, severely punishable in law.
3. Re-settle the Muslims displaced from the Northern province and the Tamils and Muslims displaced from certain areas in the eastern province.
4. Progressively reduce the military presence among civil society, while increasing the police presence.
5. Reduce the extent and number of high security zones around military camps.
6. Restore property confiscated by the LTTE and the armed forces to their original owners.
7. Restore lands fraudulently possessed by those affiliated with the LTTE to their original owners.
8. Reinforce the principles of rule-of –law and due process in national life, to win the confidence of the disaffected, including the minorities.
9. National reconciliation and integration:
Organize activities and programs to bring about greater interaction between the different communities in Sri Lanka and educate the people at large about the need for reconciliation, mutual respect and mutual accommodation.
10. Recruitment into National Government services to be merit-based and dependent on tri-lingual capability.
11. Plan to make the tragedy that has destroyed much of the north and east, an opportunity to re- build with the needs of the 21st century and beyond in mind.
C. LONG TERM (3 years plus)
1. Elections to the Provincial Councils in the north and east to be held.
2. Military presence in the north and east to be the absolute minimum necessary to prevent the re-emergence of militancy and terrorism.
3. Tamil and Muslim youth be recruited into the armed and police services in larger numbers (at least in proportions to their populations).
4. Establish national super highways to permit rapid and comfortable travel between various points in the south to the north and east.
5. Enforce trilingual education at the elementary and secondary levels of education in every part of the island.
6. Automatic dual citizenship be granted to all Sri Lankans and their descendents who have obtained foreign citizenship
7. Create conditions for the Diaspora to return and/ or invest in Sri Lanka.
All the people in Sri Lanka should join hands with their government to build a new Sri Lanka, where the past if not forgotten is at least forgiven. The larger goals- national unity and the welfare of all people- should be borne in mind, in the face of problems and misunderstanding that are bound to arise over the coming years. The needs of the war-affected Tamils should be national priority and the efforts in this direction should be as focused as the war effort.
It is easy to find fault and destroy. It is easy to be angry and blind to consequences. It is much more difficult to be rational and objective in the face of provocations and propaganda. However, it is a crime to remain silent in the face of evil. It is a greater crime to consort with evil. Only true democracy can resolve these dilemmas. Democracy in Sri Lanka has to be genuine in every sense of the word if national unity and reconciliation are to be achieved. “Vox Populi, Vox Dei”- the voice of the people is the voice of God. If the voice of the larger population in our country is given an opportunity to be heard, justice and decency will assert themselves. We treat our people like village idiots, assuming they do not know, what is right. This has to come to an end. The system should tolerate criticism, debate, dissent and protest, within boundaries of law, and have mechanisms in place for the underlying messages to be heard and responded.
A swallow does not make a spring. Similarly, a few thugs, a few extremists and some eccentrics do not make our nation. They should not be permitted ever again to hold our nation to ransom! They are also not the voice of our people. We need to be patient and dogged to re-build our nation to become the beacon to the world. We need to be wise to pursue this lofty vision. We should evolve and support leaders who can take us towards this laudable goal. We can do it! We have to do it!
(the author was member of the Diaspora Group of 21 that visited Sri Lanka in late March ‘2009, at the invitation of the government. Inputs of a few other members of this group have been included in this document)
18 Comments
The road map you gave would be followed in a Western Country. Not so in Sri Lanka, where the Southern population suffers from a Mahavamsa mindset. Presently, they are engaged in venerating their new "King", Mahinda Rajapakse. Perhaps if Ban-Ki-Moon had seen the Buddhists bowing before effigies of Rajapakse, there would have been no need for him to bother with his half-hearted survey of monumentally expensive ($1 Million USD/day) detention camps. Instead, he would have been instantaneously convinced of the nationalist madness permeating the South, and drawn up a resolution for NATO to take some concrete action.
The veneration aspect is no joke. I am giving a link to that article here. One of the more pertinent facts I came across was that the South (Sinhalese) is ready to make Rajapakse a leader for life. I would not be surprised if that occured.
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/world/cult-of-personality-grows-around-sri-lankas-leader/article1152585/
I had to let a big 'peru-moochu' after reading that wish list (as if we have so many choices before us!). Hope the author(s) would keep the Diaspora informed on the 'progress'(in 6, 12, 18 months etc). The author seem to have focus on econoimic recovery. Allow me to add my political 'wish-list':
1. Tamil Diaspora should focus on strengthening TNA and getting it elected in all upcoming elections in the North and East and ensure that EPDP and Karuna etc loose heavily.
2. Tamil Diaspora all around the world should publicly announce this and mobilise its support.
3. When it comes to negotiations, the IC will look for the Tamil leadership from Srilanka not from the Diaspora (or for a ‘government in exile’)
4. TNA should work at grass route level and put up a policy that reflects the minds of the Tamils in Srilanka.
5. TNA should get a mandate from the people living in North and East (rather than relay on 1978 Vaddukottai resolution) and the Diaspora should support it.
6. TNA should announce a presidential candidate and split the Tamil votes in the next Presidential election.
7. TNA should win enough seats to become an opposition party (bet Mahinda will have 2/3 in the next Parliament election) as was in 80s with TULF
8. What ever form that Tamil Diaspora organises itself (world tamil congress etc etc) it is essential the Tamils back home have a genuine and powerful leadership.
Simple solution is to learn Sinhala and convert to Theravada Buddhism. GoSL should have some Sinhala courses at the welfare camps. They should also have some classes on Theravada Buddhism. And classes on how the Tigers were ruthless terrorists.
After proper rehabilitation they can be permitted to live in the island.
All O Level and A level exams should be in Sinhala only. Then everybody will be compelled to learn Sinhala. And there should be mandatory classes on Buddhism.
Sri Lanka is the protector of Theravada Buddhism.
Rajapakse is our King.
I am pleased to see you have quoted some Theravada texts in your article Narendra. You are keeping up with the times.
I wonder why "Tamil speaking people" are no burden to any other country that tamils have moved into. In those countries they have integrated into those respective societies by learning the majority language and contributing to the respective societies.
Only in Sri Lanka, they Want to be "Tamil speaking people" while everywhere else they speak the majority language. That was very visible with the media published photos during the recent protests for a Ceasefire.
Who or what has to change ? Is it tamil mentality or the Sinhala majority ?
Why diaspora won't allow Sri Lankan Tamils to live their life ? Instead you want to exploit them for your advantage to establish a homeland.
Is it because, Sri Lanka is a small country that YOU THINK can be bullied easily ?
A brilliantly articulated piece by Dr Narendran and his team. Certainly a tall order but definitely the way to go. In the immediate/short term category, point 8 (b) will be crucial.
this article to be published in the local newspapers with a translation in the vernacular press.
Re Dinesh' comments on the deifying of MR, This will not last, it is just the dizzy vapour in th present euphoria. I think the majority of Sri Lankans know this.
I would say setup federal structure immediately and let the North and East handle the IDP's. This can be archived within 60 days.
Where there is a will, there is a way.
I doubt that Sri Lankan government will do any meaning full devolution to the Provinces. They are recruiting 60'000 more to the Army. Why?
Provincial Councils doesn't go far enough in terms of devolution of power. A multi (like 9) STATE solution with states that have powers similar to the states in the USA or Canada will be the only safe solution that will give a lasting peace.
The States should be able to run the whole government other than foreign policy and armed forces. They should be able negotiate trade deals with other nations, run a state security force, have state tax laws, courts, and state assembly. This will not only satisfy the Tamils, it will be good for the whole country with healthy competition etc. People should be able to live where ever they want, and there should be free movement between states.
The more decentralized there will be less chances for future talk of separation.
From the point of view of a "genuine" IDP and by this I mean a subsistence farmer or fisher family, the camp would be at least secure (no threat to life) and a place where they would not starve. This compared to the horrors of facing daily attacks and starvation should at least in the short term be acceptable, to say the least.
Of course the wealthy LTTE supporters who have also been compelled to seek refuge in these camps, life must be hell. There are consequences for "backing the wrong horse" and no doubt these hardships are temporary.
As for the new KING, indeed it is rather disconcerting to those who had designs at royal status !
Government should now take the initiative in launching the campaign to unite this country. First stage of that process is complete with the destruction of LTTE. The next phase, the most difficult phase should begin & the road map provided by Dr.Narendran is a good reference document. The time frames suggested may be bit optimistic considering the extent of division that was there between the communities and availability of resources. However there is no argument that process should begin immediately focusing mainly on solving the immediate problems faced by IDPs.
Masses in the rest of the country has intiated the process by arrainging a massive humanitarian effort to satisfy the basic needs of the IDPs.This effort of ordinary people was over shadowed by the death of Prabhakaran.People not only celebrated the victory but they were very sympathatic towards IDPs.
Dr.Narendran has answered people like Dinesh, who loves blow things out of proportion siting some act of an individual or some article and equating it to entire Sri Lanka. Some person would have bow his head in fornt of an effigy and that doesn't mean that all sinhala buddhists worship the president. Buddhism unlike Hinduism doesn't venerate any god, its only a philosphy. I've heard some lunatics in daispora venerate prabhakaran as sun god (Failed god/devil would be a better name). Somebody should start educating people like Dinesh about Sri Lanka when for years they have been fed with stories to instill a tribal/cannibal attitude towards sinhalese. Probably senior members of the tamil daispora who have lived togetaher with Sinhalese for years should start sharing experiences with the youth who have born during the war.
I'm sure very few sinhalese would have atleast bothered to read mahavamsa. You seldom hear parents or any elders explain about mahavamsa to any sinhalese child. Even at school during history lessons hardly anything that suggest that tamils were either aliens or do not belong to this country is taught. Therefore there is no mahavams mentality as such among sinhala maseses. There is a minority exteremist group that quote mahavamsa (I doubt whether they have read it themselves) to insult tamil people. Very few in the sinhala mases lend their ear to these extremists, but as always they are very vocal and secure space in media. Tiger propaganda would instantly quote these people in their publications, so that they could further their tribal cause among tamils. It could safely say the extermists group within the Sinhala community enjoys a far lesser support among sinhalese than what tamil extermists enjoyed among tamils.
Therefore tamils have the right to blame sinhalese, governments, India or international community for their woes. They should also turn the search light inwards at the same time and blame themsleves for most of the problems they face now.
Things look very good in this article. E.g. All Colonization schemes and changes to demographic patterns:
"The government should assure the Tamils and Muslims, changes to pre-war demographic patterns through devices such as colonization schemes will not be made. Clear, nationally accepted policies should be formulated with reference to land use and colonization schemes in the north and east".
When you visited Sri Lanka in March ‘2009, I was told that someone questioned ‘why Development in the East was not given to the local authorities’, you were told that they do not have the skills. Why is there a local govt. elected by people without those skilled people? Why not local govt. call for people with that expertise instead of the central govt.
To me it looks like an excuse and Sri Lanka may continue the same way as was before 1983.
Some left call our president progressive. May be true.
What kind of confidence building the government does to alley the fears of Tamils?
This is a good article.
Some of the things mentioned re the IDP and developement is already happening or is in the card.
I think this is achievable if, we ALL start thinking as Sri Lankans and not as tamils, Sinhalese or muslims etc; But alas, Dinesh Gopalapillai has pulled the rug under the feet, even before anybody could do any thing. He is not ready to think as a Sri Lankan. I assume that he is a member of the Canadian Tamil Diaspora and probable is not have any intention of going back to Sri Lanka as he is quite well off in Canada and his children, if he has any, are growing up as Canadians. He will only continue where the armed LTTE left off. And the childrenwill follow suit.
This is exactly what the write is saying that they should not do. We need the other types of Tamil Diaspora, Sri Lankan minded, to help in materializing this thought.
Dr, don't waste your time to draft the road map. it won't work out in SL. I can challenge you. wait and see.
I DISAGREE WITH Dinesh Gopalapillai.
IF RANIL WICKRAMASINHE CAN DEMONSTRATE THAT HE CAN MASSACRE EVEN MORE TAMILS THEN RW WILL BE MADE KING FOR LIFE BY THE SINHALESE.
CAN YOU REMEMBER? IN MID 80S, JR SAID TO A FOREIGN JOURNALIST THAT HE WOULD GET MORE VOTES FROM SINHALESE IF HE STARVED THE TAMILS.
INDEPENDENT EELAM IS IMPOSSIBLE; POWER SHARING WILL NEVER MATERIALISE IN SRI LANKA. THE ONLY VIABLE SOLUTION (OR DREAM) IS FEDERATING NE TO THE INDIAN UNION.
"It is a greater crime to consort with evil."
Apply that dictum to yourself and stay away from consorting with the evil Rajapaksa regime. There are a couple of justifications for dealing with this regime--a) the IDPs and the war-wounded need our help. b) Not engagig may allow EPDP and Karuna gangs to occupy the full political space and terrorize the people even more.
Both issues may require judicious engagement. If that is what you have in mind, then you may find some support. But if you deny that the current regime is the epitome of evil, even privately among the Tamil people, you will lose all credibility and won't have any support.
Many of the writers are happy that the LTTE is very much destroyed. They seems to be not bothering too much about the lives the tamils in the Vanni conflict area had to live through, because afterall these people were "held hostages by the LTTE".
I really don't thing majority of the Tamils will like to live under Sri Lanka anymore. They may pretend to live peacefully for a while as there may be no choice for a while but the burning feeling of alienation will be there in our hearts that we will wait for the right time to start another struggle.
In that struggle we the Tamils will also follow the idea of "the end justifies the means" more vigoursly.
Majority of the Tamils have spine!
Why are you all wasting your time and energy. If Mahinda cared for Tamils' opinion, he could have invited TNA's input for the all party suggestion. He was playing for time, by just convening tha all party conference, and in the meantime went to China, Pakistan, Russia and other countries and begged their support to annihilate the Tamils. He has done what he wanted to do. The Tamils will languish in the "concentration camps". able bodied young tamils both male and females will be killed in the name of suspected Tigers. Remaining will die naturally by gradual starvation, mental agony etc. etc. By then Rajapakse and his clan will be swimming in the ill gotten wealth. They will live happily ever after for generations in the blood and sweat of the Tamils. He will pretend that he is a pious Budhist!!
To Anonymous
I wonder why "Tamil speaking people" are no burden to any other country:
Tamils are not a burden to Sri Lanka. It is the Buddhists Sinhala Govt. a burden to Tamils depriving their rights. In other countries they are not a Tamil nation. In Sri Lanka Tamils want to live as Tamils with equal rights and their right to self determination guaranteed.
What has to change?
Both communities have to change the attitude towards the other community.
Majority community have to respect all the minority communities to feel they are a Sri Lankan nation and they are looked after like them for their own betterment and others. At the same time minority communities shall learn to live amicably and go forward as a Nation in a pluralistic society.
Homeland.
Most in the present diaspora came into existence after a Tamil Homeland was demanded in Sri Lanka. Hence it is a demand of majority Tamils in Sri Lanka and abroad. Further Eelam cry started as they felt the oppression on the minority communities by the majority community and not because Sri Lanka is a small country.
Sri Lankan literacy rate is much higher than many other countries. Therefore it is very much easier to educate all Sri Lankans how to live peacefully. The politicians have to realise that and not just look for their own existence.
Ratnam Ganesh
If GoSL is sincere, they should prepare & post their school history books on-line so we diaspora can see what "version" of events they are indoctrinating the next generation.