Hybrid Judicial Mechanism; Should We Not Accept It?
RMB Senanayake
Is an international role necessary to strengthen government’s mechanism to address issues of the past?
The UN report on human rights in Sri Lanka has been published. A news report says that the release of UN Report on alleged war crimes and human rights violations in Sri Lanka’s war is an important step in the country’s transition to good governance and ethnic reconciliation.
The UN Report goes on to say that it will require the Sri Lankan government and people to give their attention to the unhealed wounds of the past that continue to fester in the body politic without any action being taken by any government for fear of displeasing the masses and losing their political support. But this is a total failure of political leadership. Instead, the liberal political elements that are in the present Government have sought to resolve the problem by stealth, by removing the obstacles and listening to the grievances of the Tamil political leadership without any publicity. This may be the politically prudent way in a country where racists are just below the surface. So the ethnic problem has dragged on for many years and no government has taken action to resolve the issue comprehensively. But it cannot be allowed to drag on indefinitely.
The present government too does not want to openly resolve the issue for fear of losing the votes of the Sinhalese. But that is a failure of moral and intellectual leadership on the part of our governing elite. It is necessary to remind these racists in our society, of the violations committed by us Sinhalese racists in the not too distant past as given in the UN Report. The UN Report highlights among others the atrocities that took place, the failures of governance and continuing suffering of victims. Could we honestly disagree with them?
The Tamil problem has not been addressed and is outstanding for a long time. It will not just go away and requires a resolution by an enlightened government in the South to enable a genuine reconciliation of the races – the Sinhalese and the Tamil s. A new problem has been added with regard to the Muslims who are now a displeased community too. The Christians feel it will be their turn next. So these problems cannot be ignored.
