Implications Of The Emerging Political Synergy Between The North And The South
Athula Samarakoon
“And you can’t get tough with them either, since you still need them; because however strong your armies, you’ll always need local support to occupy a new territory” – The Prince, Niccolò Machiavelli
Understandably, the establishment of the Northern Provincial Council would end neither the ethnic polarization nor the political tussle of power-sharing between the South and the North in Sri Lanka. Perhaps, it could provide a fresh start for these issues. Democratic mechanism ensures the elite in the Northern region the political authority back in their hands; and to the Southern government, it is a great relief to have some men whose manners are known to it and who would say ‘no’ to arms. The context has now led the nationalist politicians of the two regions to develop a synergistic relationship between them, proving a major reality of the centralised unitary governance, with nominal power sharing under the 13th Amendment. And such relationship could be defined in terms of political coexistence or whatever, but it is a structural necessity of the function of political power in the two regions. More or less, this likely political synergy between the two sides is also expected by India which is responsible for the existing mechanism of power-sharing and its full implementation.
Moreover, the comprehensive electoral victory of the Tamil National Alliance (TNA) over the ruling UPFA and other political parties of Sinhalese in the North is proof for the strength of the Tamil ethno-nationalist politics, and its strategy of countering the Southern counterpart, Sinhalese ethno-religious and nationalist politics. For the Southern government, the lesson in the post-war elections in the North was a big one. It reminds us something that the father of modern Political Philosophy, Niccolò Machiavelli told in The Prince – to keep the occupied territories the ruler ‘always needs local support’. ‘However strong the armies’ they would not guarantee territorial occupation unless the people in the region are won by him. Read More
| CTSU demands compensation to student |
By Aisha Nazim-Tuesday, 08 Oct 2013
 The Ceylon Teachers’ Service Union (CTSU) today insisted that the government grant concession to a student from Galle who failed by a mere two points in her grade five scholarship examination, alleging that the exam invigilators were responsible for her failure.
CTSU General Secretary Mahinda Jayasinghe today said that the girl, who had already answered about 20 questions on her exam paper, had her paper taken away from her and replaced by another student’s paper by the hall invigilator as there had been a mix-up with both the papers.
Though the Education Ministry conducted investigations into the matter and claimed nothing was amiss, the student received only 158 marks from the required 160 as she was unable to re-write the paper correctly due to time restraints, Jayasinghe said.
“Why can’t special concession be granted for this one child, especially as the fault is that of the education authorities? None of this would have happened if the invigilators performed their tasks properly- but they are also unable to do so as the invigilators were appointed on political affiliations and not suitable for exam duties,” he further alleged. (Ceylon Today Online)
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