Presidential aspirants must reveal where the beef is and how they would cook it
by Dr. Packiyasothy Saravanamuttu
Two thousand and nine will be a year to remember and with relief, regret, sadness, hope and joy or a mix thereof depending on one’s political sympathies and affiliations. It began with the smashing of the MTV studios and assassination of Lasantha Wickrematunga, its mid point was the defeat of the LTTE which brought relief to most after three decades of debilitating war and the incarceration of some three hundred thousand Tamil civilians in camps thereafter.
It ends with a presidential election campaign in which the two main contenders were key players in the defeat of the LTTE and closely identified with the culture of impunity in respect of human rights violations. Public discourse throughout the year was dominated by the war and the categorization of opinion into two camps – patriots and traitors – a categorization that endures into the presidential election campaign with accusations of betrayal following the disputed Sarath Fonseka interview with the Sunday Leader.
Two thousand and nine also ends with the hope and expectation in some quarters of change – to dynastic rule, corruption, nepotism, the erosion of respect for the Rule of Law and constitutionalism. In others, there is the fear of greater militarization of government and governance, international conspiracies determined to effect regime change.
It is a mixed bag no doubt and the interest generated by the presidential contest is underpinned by uncertainty as to its result, whoever wins. It will be followed by a general election and in all probability hiatus and uncertainty will only subside by the middle of the year, the earliest.
At the same time however, will the key challenges and issues confronting the country be addressed and the means of their resolution put into motion? Granted it is from one perspective, still early days of the campaign. The campaign will hot up in the New Year.
However, the way that it has proceeded so far does not inspire much confidence that the real issues and challenges will be confronted beyond the slogans and broad platitudes of change and a better future, abolition of the presidency, corruption and nepotism, betrayal and hidden agendas.
Where’s the beef? How will it be cooked?
The incumbent has yet to enlighten us as to what he will do once re-elected and assure us that it will not be more of the same. Will he change the constitution and in what direction? Will he complement military victory with a political settlement?
What does he intend to do with regard to the Rule of Law and his intentional violation of the constitution as exemplified by the fate of the Seventeenth Amendment? What about corruption and nepotism?
Will there be even an acknowledgement of the extent to which it continues to erode governance?
Human rights, the cost of living and the economy? Gratitude and appreciation for having defeated the LTTE alone may not be enough to win this election nor a mere promise of a better future. We need to know what this future looks like, if a future of any promise it is to be. Another edition of the Chinthanaya cannot be another edition of platitudes and homilies.
The opposition makes much of its commitment to change and it appears to be the case that this is what has the most resonance with voters. The change it proposes is in the form of a new constitution, the immediate implementation of the Seventeenth Amendment and an Anti- Corruption Commission.
Yet the direction of constitutional change has not been fleshed out and some have been disconcerted by remarks about the executive presidency being replaced by an executive prime minister. What will be the modalities of constitutional change?
Will the process prescribed in the current constitution be followed or will there be a resort to populism and arguments about mandates which have been advocated in the past?
Part of the opposition’s argument about change is that the end does not justify the means. It would be politic for it to assure the country that it will adhere to this when effecting change in the event it has the opportunity to do so. Furthermore, what will be the structure of governance – the powers of the president, the prime minister, executive, legislature and judiciary?
There is admittedly a minority of the electorate that is interested in these issues and in a tight election, which this one may turn out to be, their interests and anxieties cannot be dismissed out of hand.
Significantly, the opposition does have questions to clarify on the economic front, given the conflicting ideological orientations of its two key components – the UNP and the JVP. Is it the case that the Fonseka campaign is of the opinion that the economy should not feature prominently or at all in this campaign because the issues are of governance and corruption and that in any event their candidate is running to abolish the office he aspires to and therefore economic issues should be reserved for debate in the general election campaign?
From a more realpolitik perspective, if this is its view it may not have to be as much concerned with the minority of the electorate alluded to above, but with the rural masses to whom constitutionalism and corruption may well be of less concern and significance than the cost of living.
Human rights and the allegations of war crimes is one area in which there is more heat than light and little prospect of any action though action on this front is badly needed. The controversy over the Fonseka interview with the Sunday Leader and its fall-out is significant in revealing that every attempt is being made to deny that the LTTE leaders who came out carrying a white flag were killed in cold blood.
This is shoddy and it casts an aspersion on aspirants to leadership in a country that has just defeated terrorism and is urgently in need of reconciliation and unity. Will there be a commission of inquiry? The reputed journalist D.B.S Jeyaraj has written an article with details about this incident. Will action only be taken if it will be at all, internationally?
The irony of this election is that in order to create a contest, the issues that go to the heart of the future of this country are in real danger of being obscured. Two thousand and ten may well end up generating more excitement and hiatus than change.
11 Comments
Thanks Dr you know srilanka we dont cook beef, we kill tamils and cheat the world luckily world beleived us, drink their blood and make sure we fool our selves and we follow our brilliant buddhhaaaaa. god bless budhha you cried for blood but your followers of sinhalayo never beleive your path. We tamils suffering our mad pirabas mistakes. god bless you all and i am going to have a lovely sleeep. seee you all tommorrow.
Dear Dr,
Sarath Fonseka has stated that Srilanka belongs Sinhales. So it is obvious that how he will treat minorities if he becomes President. Some gutless TNA MPs are negotiating with SF. What a shame on TNA. I wish Praba is still alive.
Unfortunately under the current dire conditions no one can cook the beef or even boil an egg for that matter. Politics has sunk to such an all time low due to the mercanary self seeking policies of our Politicians. Frogs would be a better word for them who break the trust of the people by accepting Ministerships and Perks in the name of Patriotism.
The President is in all time contravention of the Constitution and is using all his Evil Powers to undermine the Democratic rights of the people. His beef is with the JHU who are presently cooking it and will unveil in a couple of days. The Old Beef Chinthana cooked before has gone rotten and has been thrown into the Garbage Heap.
As pointed out the Opposition candidate has no specifics due to the composition of their constituent parties. Their main aim is to revive Democracy and Human Rights so that the General Election can be held under a Democratic Regime. The people will then have the opportunity of choosing the party with policies of their choice. Without this groundwork the holding of such an election under Rajapkse Dictatorship will not reflect the will of the people. Complicated it may seem but is the only feasible path open at the moment.
Excellent analysis and poser Dr.Sara. You are following the traditions of cricketers of then Ceylon and now SL.
Now will some of our Sinhalese brothers who are intellectuals will accept that SL do have many thinking Tamils ? or are they still going to hold on to their blieve that Tamils have to wear thinking hats they give and become Saravanamuthugamalage Pakiyasothitilake or wardana or nayake to have a new playable democratic wicket ( different from 1948 to date unitary one ) to be non dangerous unlike the New Delhi one managed by the Mallus for some time now.
Quote Kumar " Yes. By the actions of some TNA reps, one may say Tamils are a bunch of opportunists. Thats nothing new. Mano Ganeshan embraced SF and so did Yogarajah of CWC.
Tamils are a bunch of people, who want to eat the cake and have it at the same time.
Tamils are people who want to Hook or by Crook hang onto the advantage by the most crooked possible mean.
This is nothing new. When Velu held sway, they came to the Southern part of the Country. But never opened their mouths other than to eat. Which way it wind blew, they were to benefit.
Dr. Pakaya Sothy is no exception but use his credentials & the situation to cushion himself.
Whats the point of looking for the beef as it is with him along with the recepie.
Dr. Saravanamuttu (Dr. S) once again has exposed how idealistic our intellectulas are. If Editor allows I need to comment in detail what I think that we are sadly missing in Sri Lanka.
First of all how effective the work being done by Dr. S and other so called liberal intellectuals in Sri Lanka? Who are their audience and where are they based? How able or mature these audiences to understand what they are being preached?
Dr. S represents English educated and spoken Colombo upper class irrespective of his ethnicity. Most of these intellectuals, irrespective of their ethinicities, are belong to this social strata. They are speaking only to a limited mass who could speak and understand English and also get along with this social class. Have they been able to approach people, the poor, at grass roots level in remote areas. The answer is no. And unfortunately they will not be able to do that in the forseeable future as Dr. S and others do not have a programme to do so. This is the main reason that Sri Lanka is a country which has a very illiterate society in political sense. My view is that Bangladeshi civil society and even their judiciary are more adavance than those of Sri Lanka. They showed an immense matuarity during the recent political transitions of that country.
So, Dr. S and partners have been failed in their obligations of educating the nation. The ordinary people cannot understand what these thinkers say. Our society is not educated enough to understand those concepts. Thats why politicians have been able to castigate Dr. S and same types as traitors.
In a subtle way, Dr. S promotes SF and opposition campaign for change. What kind of change he is expecting? He should have clearly argued that none of these two have a programme to implement and also credibility and therefore both are going to be failures in the future. One would now ask then what options we have. Below, I will assert more idealistic option than Dr. S.
If Sri Lankan polity is really willing to engage in a nation building exercise, what we should have after this bloody presidential election, whoever wins, is a "caretaker government" until we formulate a programme of action for the future based on devolution of power and reconcilitation, constitutional changes, parliamentary and electoral reforms, re-establishment of rule of law in the country etc. After completing these only we should go for a general election. Elections should also be held for provinces of north and east. But can these be achieved under the utterly corrupt, uneducated, uncivilised political set up which prevail in Sri Lanka? The answer may be No but why don't we give this a try?.
Then what can individuals like Dr. S can do as the civil society? They have to educate the masses and they must penetrate the areas where they have never been in the country. Start at Universities where most of the students do not know anything about what is happening in the outside world. That is why JVP still thinks that there is "socialism" in Peoples Republic of China. Start at work places, trains, busses, railway stations etc. Teach people that time has come to change their blue, green, red and yellow glasses which they have been using to see. Thats why I am saying that you have been failed in your duty.Don't say that people are only interested in cost of living. Cost of living is the most important thing as we must first ensure that we live and then to engage other activities.
On the role of JVP we must understand that they a frustrated lot now. They do not understand the dynamics of world politics. They have failed miserably to understand that post cold war political dynamics are not governed by traditional friendships or power blocks but mainly by trade, money and security.
I had the privilege of listening to Dr. S several times in London where I am a refugee. His eloquence, spell binding narration of events must be congratulated and as Sri Lankans we must be proud of. But in the end what I thought was that such lectures did not do any good for Sri Lanka as a whole. Take the example of Zimbabwe. The regime prevails and the poor continue to suffer. Mugabe's henchmen are living and investing profusely in London, may be because the Brits are considered as guardian deities of democracy!And not to forget the LTTE businesses, propagandists, Sinhalese buisinessmen and other rogues who plundered national wealth and peoples money.
Dr. S talks about reconciliation which we must have. But we spent half of our independence experiencing a conflict which had no limits. People are still suspecting each other. Our polity, media, education and language policy are responsible for this suspicion. My thinking is that we need not established, or institutionalised programme for reconciliation. Let people interact with each other. Let people travel, get to know, create relationships - may be marriages, ask people to work in different areas (make compulsory time period)and give some breathing space for this. Then I hope we would be able to see something happening.
Of course we must have a commission of inquiry (something like what South Africa had) to investigate what really happened during the last stages of fighting but not to punish anybody. We are a country which is not matured enough to establish a court of law to investigate this as possible results would have sparks to ignite another conflict. Though South Africans have towering figures such as Mandela, Archbishop Tutu or De Clerk we do not have such slefless leaders or statesmen to guide us through such a process.
Therefore, I may be more idealistic than Dr. S or even than UTHR (J) but still we can do something and we have to something.This is why I say that Dr. S and co. must change their tactics.
You bloody tamils can not co-exit with any community. try to learn to co-exist. we sinhales tolerate all the none sence of Tamils. Tamil natiolaism total failure. we will not allow to resurrect again. again resurrect we will kill those bastard. buddha is better than tamil barbarian pirabakaran.
Well predicted Nostradamus. So what is the alternative and solution. A well-orchestrated international campaign by our intellectuals and thinktanks to continue to put pressure on the government to answer for its war crimes and the ensuing corruption which has reached stupendous levels is not a bad idea.
The end of the war did not bring any benefit to the average Sri Lankan.
There is impunity in extra-judicial killings, abductions for ransom and as punishment for supporting opponents of presidential candidates, the emerging contract killings which is the latest profitasble industry for army deserters and the perks the politicians in the government enjoy much to the detriment and revulsion of the ordinary sri Lankan struggling to meet the spiralling cost of living.
The national debt has erupted through the ceiling and would leave future generations in debt for many decades while the government is partying as if there is no tomorrow.
The lunar eclipse is a very bad omen for Sri Lanka. Although I tend to disregard astrology I have this foreboding Sri Lanka is being dragged down the mire into hell.
Hi, PS
I usually do not read your articles for you use terminology common people cannot understand, thus becoming a voice in the wild.
Nevertheless I took more than a little reading time to go through your article, and interestingly I find that you are up to the point.
I have no particular party affiliations, but I find that the misuse of govt. property, corruption, nepotism etc had taken unprecedented levels.
I have a feeling that MR who had euphoric visions of becoming a modern Sinhalese king after the so called conclusion of the war, has postponed it to be reactivated in the event of of winning the current race after the PC elections in the south realizing that his "war" popularity is dwindling.
If anything he will lose this election and will be desperately looking for an exit from the country or if he wins by a small margin he is certain to lose the general election by a large majority and face the consequences. Both candidates are afraid to comment on the root of the problem, which is reasonable autonomy for Tamil speaking community for fear of earning the wrath of the clergy and the dwindling Sinhalese fundamentalist vote base.
Perhaps Dr.Wickrambahu is the right candidate? But then who will bet on a losing horse? Look at what is happening! Arrests and detentions!! Miraculous transformation from being patriots into traitors! We are a nation of confused and incorrigible!
Reading between the lines. I feel that you also have fears what a cock up it would be if Fonseka comes to power.
Being the intellectual you are, surely you know what is realistic and what is not in a country like Srilanka,which still functions as a democracy, despite all the doom and gloom paraded by locals as well as foreigners who have nothing but hatred and desire for revenge against the Rajapaksas.
I hope sanity prevails among the poor masses whether they are Tamil. Sinhala or Muslim.If Fonseka is allowed in , the three parties JVP,UNP and Fonseka party will tear the country apart.The ultimate loosers will be the poor masses.
Hello Dr.Saravanamuttu,
Yet again an excellent article.How ever we do have a choice. Sarath is no Nelson Mandela, Ranil W. is a serious human rights violator and Sarath Silva should have been disbarred many years ago.
Having said this, if we are serious about putting the assassins of hundreds of Sinhala policemen, Sivaram, Raviraj, Maheswaran, Prof.Rabindranath and Lasantha behind the bars, we have no choice what so ever other than to vote for Sarath Fonseka.
Cheers,
Siva