Yawning gap between promise and performance

P. K. Balachandran

  Tuesday, 27 Nov 2012

On paper, the Peoples’ Republic of China (PRC) has an impressive policy on the ethnic and religious minorities, with all the rights expected from a modern state guaranteed. But performance falls far short of promises in crucial matters, particularly in the political sphere.

No wonder a delegation of the Ilankai Tamil Arasu Katchi (ITAK), which spent ten days in China earlier this month at the invitation of the Chinese Government, came back to Sri Lanka disappointed. 

“China will not help the Tamils secure justice and political autonomy. The Chinese believe that the solution for the problem of religious or ethnic minorities lies in economic development and the grant of economic opportunities, rather than political autonomy,” said the leader of the delegation and ITAK Propaganda Secretary, Nadesapillai Vithiatharan. 

China has five autonomous regions which enjoy a degree of self-governance. But clearly, Beijing’s accent is on economic development rather than on giving substantive political autonomy to these regions.

  

“The overall view was that the Tamil problem in Sri Lanka had been solved because guns had been silenced. There was no realization that the basic political issues over which the Tamils had struggled in various ways, still remained unsolved, and crying for attention,” Vithiatharan said.

However, a careful examination of the Chinese model shows that economic development is not sufficient to manage minorities and promote national integration. And if the model is applied in sincerely, inefficiently and insensitively, it could itself generate separatism and unrest. Despite economic development, the Autonomous Regions of China have seen a lot of unrest inviting adverse comment from an increasingly human rights-sensitive world.

Constitutional Guarantees

According to the Constitution of the PRC, all ethnic groups are equal. The State protects the lawful rights and interests of the ethnic minorities and upholds and develops a relationship of ‘equality, unity and mutual assistance’ among all ethnic groups. Discrimination against, and oppression of, any ethnic group, are prohibited. The Constitution guarantees all freedoms, including, freedom of speech and expression, freedom of the press and freedom of assembly to discuss and demonstrate.   

According to a government White Paper (china.org.cn) the representation of the minorities in the National People’s Congress (NPC) is more than their population would warrant. For example, in 1998, there were 428 ethnic minority deputies in a House of 2979 or 14.84% of the membership, which was five percentage points higher than their proportion in China’s population. The White Paper points out with justifiable pride that while the pre-communist regimes did not recognize the minorities, the PRC did. It conducted surveys and set up Autonomous Regions (ARs). There are now 55 recognized ethno-religious minorities and five ARs plus smaller autonomous districts. The Zhuang, who were not a self-conscious minority, were unilaterally accorded a separate identity by Premier Chou-En-Lai and assigned an autonomous region. The Guangxi-Zhuang Autonomous Region (GZAR) has registered significant economic progress and is today a show piece. The ITAK was taken to GZAR.

The five ARs are: Tibet Autonomous Region (TAR); Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region (INMAR); Guangxi-Zhuang Autonomous Region (GZAR), Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region (XUAR);and the Ningxia-Hui Autonomous Region (NHAR).It is laid down that the administrative head, and the deputy head of an autonomous area should be from a minority community.

Theory and Practice

China’s attitude to the minorities has tended to change from time to time. In the earlier years (the 1950s), the government was accommodative. But the Tibetan uprising of 1959, spearheaded by the Dalai Lama, led to Han Chinese domination. The Han Chinese are almost 92% of China’s population. According to China Review brought out by the London-based Minority Rights Group (MRG), the Cultural Revolution saw much hostility towards the minorities, their language, culture and rights. The rise of ethnic and religious consciousness the world over in later years, only added to the fears of the Han Chinese. The fact that TAR, XUAR and INMAR are on the borders, with potentially hostile countries across the border, has led to greater vigilance and control on the part of the State. The rise of aggressive Islam across the globe and the US-led ‘war on terror’ have together led to an enormous militarization of the ARs on the Western borders. China has settled millions of Han Chinese in XUAR, especially on the international border, in order to check foreign-inspired separatism.TAR is a major missile and air base.

System Subverted

The Regional Ethnic Autonomy Law (REAL) enacted in 1984 after the Cultural Revolution, and revised in 2001, restored the rights of the minorities, at least formally. In 2006, President Hu Jintao announced a policy of building a ‘harmonious socialistic society’ promising ‘Rule of Law, Democracy, Unity and Vitality.’ But in actual practice, many of these ideals and laws are flouted to the favour of the Han Chinese.

For instance, while the administrative heads in the ARs are necessarily from the minority communities, the head of the regional Communist Party, the real repository of power, would be a Han Chinese. These Han officials are expected to ‘help and lead’ the minorities under their charge. The job of the Communist Party of China (CPC) is basically to promote ‘stability, national unity and the interests of the state.’ In addition, REAL enjoins the ARs to “place the interests of the state as a whole above anything else and make positive efforts to fulfill the tasks assigned by the state organs at higher levels.” In other words, they are expected to push the agenda of the Central Government.

According to the Minority Rights Group-Human Rights in China (MRG-HRIC) report of 2007, the ARs had not been able to pass any self governing regulations. This was because the mandatory approval from the NPC Standing Committee had not come. “This is in contrast to the process for ordinary provinces which are only required to report to the NPC,” the report pointed out.

Furthermore, most laws enacted by the ARs simply reflect the national law with minor alterations. This is because the minorities are not represented at the highest policy making levels, whether in the government or the CPC. No minority individual has ever been a member of the CPC’s Central Committee, which is the highest level of authority in the party.  The Hindu reported on 14 November, 2012, that in the 25-member Politburo, there was not a single person from China’s 55 recognized minority communities.

Implementation Triggers Discontent

Although the Central Government is of the view that economic development, educational advancement and economic integration, are a deterrent to separatism, and has implemented far reaching economic and educational programs in the ARs, faulty and motivated implementation has triggered ill-feeling, violent protests and separatism.

Except for GZAR, the others ARs are still backward as compared to Han Chinese provinces. According to the China Statistical Year Book of 2005, the ‘illiteracy rate’ was 10.3% for the country as a whole, but for Tibet (TAR) it was 44.63%.   Education is ‘compulsory’ in China, but is not free. As the minorities in the backward areas cannot afford the school fees, uniforms and books, many parents do not send their children to school.

All public hospitals in China expect an initial deposit for treatment. It is widely reported that the poor among the minorities fail to get medical attention because they cannot afford it. The problem is complicated by the increasing privatization of health. This is shown in the Under-5 mortality rates. While the overall national figure is 39.7 per 1000 births, it is 57.2 in TAR and 65.4 in XUAR. The maternal mortality ratio for the country as a whole in 2004 was 48.3 per 100,000 live births, but for TAR it was 310.4.

Despite huge investments in infrastructure and significant improvements in the living conditions since integration with China in the early 1950s, poverty is still widespread in the ARs. The PRC and CPC see the ARs as places with vital natural resources to be mined and transported to the Han Chinese growth centres in the East. TAR has oil, but its extraction brings no benefits to the Tibetans. Immigrant Han Chinese take up most of the well paid jobs in the developing sectors. They are better qualified and are also Mandarin proficient.

Language Displacement

Although, by law, the local language is an official language, Mandarin proficiency is insisted upon. Even Mandarin-proficient local youth complain that job givers prefer Han Chinese to them. Uyghurs have complained about notices saying: “Uyghurs need not apply”.

The emerging job market has resulted in Tibetans, Uyghurs and other linguistic minorities taking to Mandarin education. The mother tongue is used only at the very early stage of schooling. In a sense, they have no choice, as Tibetan and Uyghur language schools are being merged with Mandarin-medium schools. Mandarin is considered better suited to teach the sciences. Human rights workers say that these tendencies may result in the obliteration of indigenous languages, literatures and cultures. Indeed, an official study conducted in April 2005 found that nearly 40 minority languages were on the verge of extinction in China.

  

In XUAR, which has a Muslim majority, mosques are under government control. Children are not allowed to go for religious studies. They cannot even say their prayers or read the Quran. “Separatists always use religion to indulge in damaging activities,” said Wang Laquan, Head of the XUAR Communist Party. He made it clear that the government’s objective was not to protect Uyghur culture but to raise their living standards. “The bottom line is that cultural life is based on people having enough to eat. If people don’t eat enough nobody can sing or dance,” he said.

Clashes and Self Immolation

The minority policies of the PRC and CPC have led to widespread violence in TAR and XUAR. Katherine Palmer Kaup, author of Creating the Zhuang: Ethnic Politics in China (Reinner Pulications, Boulder, Colorado, 2000) says that between 1990 and 2000, there had been dozens of clashes in TAR and XUAR with about 500 being killed in each case. Self immolation has been common among Tibetans protesting against Chinese rule. According to the Economist Han-Uyghur riots in 2009 and 2010, had led to new regulations to combat the three enemies of the Chinese state, namely, ‘terrorism, separatism and religious extremism.’

I’m Still A Prisoner In Welikada – Fonseka

War Crimes in Sri Lanka-genocide

 

genocide-click here

President Used Tirans Negotiations To His Advantage, I’m Still A Prisoner In Welikada – Fonseka

Fonseka

By Colombo Telegraph -November 26, 2012

Former Army Chief and Common candidate at the 2010 Presidential election, Sarath Fonseka hit out at the negotiators of his release today, saying that he was yet to see a single document pertaining to his release, six months after he was freed from Welikada Prison.

“I still don’t know the details of my release. All I was told was to bring my bag of belongings and come outside. They didn’t tell me anything else. I think that in some ways I am still a prisoner in Welikada. The only difference is that I am outside those walls. Other than that I have not seen a single letter. In fact, when I was leaving Welikada Prison, I didn’t even sign a book saying I was leaving to go home,” the former General told the Sinhalese  Lankadeepa in an interview yesterday.

He told the newspaper that he had instructed DNA MP Tiran Alles to negotiate on the basis of four key points pertaining to his release – that he would be given full security afforded to him before his incarceration, that his civic rights would be restored, that everything he lost as a result of his incarceration would be reinstated and that he would be allowed to carry out his political activities without hindrance.

Striking out at the negotiator of his release who recently quit the General’s political movement, Fonseka said – “perhaps Tiran Alles  negotiated the best he could. But all I am saying is that I didn’t get the result I expected from these negotiations.”

Alles and DNA MP Arjuna Ranatunga recently quit the former General’s political movement, an unregistered political party called the Democratic Party. However, both Alles and Ranatunga remain members of the Democratic National Alliance, the opposition coalition forged under Fonseka’s leadership that includes the JVP and won seven seats in the 2010 parliamentary election. Alles is a National List MP of the alliance, appointed by Fonseka.

Referring to Alles and Ranatunga’s role in his release, Fonseka charged that Ranatunga had played no part in the negotiations for his release. He also said that while none of his conditions had been met, the President had made political mileage with his release. “The President used it to his advantage. He made it an opportunity to release me because at the time there was massive international pressure calling for my release. The Maha Sanga, the religious leaders in this country they were all calling for my release. The pressure from all these sections on the Government was intense. That is why they released me. So one person alone cannot claim the glory for that,” the former Army Chief said.

Fonseka added that neither Ranatunga nor Alles have a mandate from the people and only achieved their positions because of their proximity to him. “These are people who got a vote or two and then aspired to high ranking positions by being in my shadow. They became somebodies because they were close to me. People like that ultimately leave. There is nothing I can do about it. I didn’t go to them to become a somebody. The people of this country know that,” he told Lankadeepa.

Referring to Alles’ claim that he had forgotten to be grateful Fonseka said: “I didn’t go to jail for stealing or breaking into houses. I went to jail for carrying out a political campaign for my country and my people. I was imprisoned on false charges. Before that I fought to rid this country of terrorism. So even though I went to jail, the people of this country continued to be grateful. They grieved for me. They spoke for me. They cried for me. They held bodhi poojas for me. When I came out, none of them expected anything from me in return – and yet none of them say I am not grateful.”

Alles negotiated for months to get Fonseka out of prison but no details of the release were ever made public. The former Army Commander was released from Welikada on May 21, 2012.  Tiran Alles who has been a DNA MP representing Fonseka’s party for more than two years, was finally goaded into speaking after Opposition Leader Ranil Wickremesinghe took jibes at him during a parliamentary session recently. Reading a prepared speech, in his response, Alles charged that Wickremesinghe was not doing his job as leader of the opposition even though he was maintained at tax-payers expense. Wickremesinghe shot back in his reply that he was an elected member of parliament and had been for decades and added that he was even elected to the position of UNP Leader, unlike the national list DNA MP. The UNP Leader said that MPs were maintained by the people and could not get away with not speaking on the peoples’ behalf in the legislature.

Genocidal Sri Lanka forbids Kaarthikai festival as it falls on Heroes Day

The Kaarthikai flame, called Chokkap-panai in Eezham Tamil, lighted in front of the Nalloor temple in 2011. It is called Chokkap-panai because of the use of dried palmyra palm leaves in making the flame.
[TamilNet, Sunday, 25 November 2012, 22:41 GMT]
The Heroes Day observed by Eezham Tamils on 27 November to remember their fallen fighters, falls on a full moon day this year, coinciding with the Kaarthikai festival of lights observed by Tamils since ancient times. Sri Lanka that has made a practice of banning even routine religious observations in the temples of the occupied country of Eezham Tamils on the Heroes Day, dares this year to forbid the Kaarthikai festival observations too. Occupying Sri Lanka’s practice of banning temple rituals, including toll of bells on the Heroes Day, started first in Nov 2009, while New Delhi’s Foreign Minister S.M. Krishna was visiting Jaffna. New Zealand Tamils appeal to the UN on the continued cultural genocide of their kith and kin in the island.

Hero Stones inscribed in early Tamil writing testify hero worship as a part of ancient Tamil culture.

Appealing to the UNSG Mr. Ban-ki-Moon, with a copy to UNHCHR Ms. Navaneetham Pillay, Mr. A. Theva Rajan, Co-ordinator of the Tamil Action Front, New Zealand (TAFNZ), argues with evidence on Sri Lanka’s cultural genocide of Tamils being extended to new fronts in the post-war times.
Full text of the appeal by Mr. A. Theva Rajan to the UN:
23 November2012

His Excellency Ban-Ki-Moon,
Secretary-General,
UN Headquarters
New York.
Your Excellency,
Continuing Cultural Genocide in Sri Lanka

We would like to bring to Your Excellency’s notice the continuing cultural genocide being extended to two new fronts in post war Sri Lanka. Both are inter-related.

The Kooddaththaar Temple of I'lavaalai in Jaffna, found destroyed in the ‘High Security Zone’ occupied by the Sinhala Army in the last two decades. Kooddaththaar is a Tamil term for the guild of professional soldiers of the medieval times. The temple proves the existence of hero worship in the culture and religious traditions of Eezham Tamils. [Image courtesy

Honoring the martyrs is ingrained in the culture and history of the Tamils. It is recorded in the ancient 2000 years old Sangam literature of the Tamils and the ancient artefacts and epigraphs of the Tamils recorded in the 2000 year old Thamili script and Tamil language.

This tradition has been observed during the period when Tamils were under the kingdom of Jaffna (Eelam)

The martyrs in the war were honoured with tombs which were bulldozed by the army in post war times – a very insulting barbaric act on the part of the Government of Sri Lanka.

The rare image of the collective deity Kooddaththaar cut off and taken away in the HSZ occupied by Sri Lanka's military. Only the pedestal remains. [Image courtesy

November 27 as the date on which the first fighter died is observed as martyrs day. This almost coincides with the Karthikai Thirunal, a festival of lights observed again by the Tamils from very ancient times. The ancient Sangam classics of the Tamils refer to this festival of lights as being celebrated in every home with pomp and glory – the houses and entrances being illuminated with oil lamps mounted on banana tree trunks. According to the Sangam works it also was the day when husband s who went abroad for trade and wealth returned to join their families, a great day for family reunion.

Memorials of heroes, the continuity of culture and tradition as such seen in the image, were razed down by the occupying military of Sri Lanka.

It is a great function in Hindu temples and is a special day for worshippers of Lord Muruga or Karthigeya. It is called Karthiga Mangalaya among the Sinhalese and they too celebrate it with great enthusiasm. The Dalada Maligawa Temple authorities distribute oil and other necessities to smaller temples in the Kandyan region. It is a great festival in the Kandyan kingdom of yesteryears. Even the King went in the great night pageant and procession with decorated elephants. There is a solemn festival at the famous Muruga/Kartigeya temple of Kataragama/Kathirgamam.

The occupying army in the North and East in this post war time are preventing Tamils from celebrating this Festival of Lights because it coincides with the Martyrs day. Even temples are prevented from conducting poojas with bells tolling and other grandiose.

The Government of Sri Lanka is interfering with the cultural rights and traditions of the Tamils – a furtherance of the cultural genocide. Please prevail on the Government of Sri Lanka to desist from this barbaric behaviour.

Mr. A. Thevarajan

Yours Sincerely,

A.Theva Rajan, QSM
Co-ordinator, TAFNZ

Copy to: Her Excellency Ms. Navaneetham Pillay, UN High Commissioner for Human Rights.
* * * Mr Thevarajan has also sent photographic evidences to the UN on the continuity of the culture of hero worship among Tamils since ancient times. The images are presented above with captions added by TamilNet.
* * *

Kaarthikai flame lighted on top of the hill at Thiruva'n'naamalai in Tamil Nadu in 2007

Thiruva'n'naamalai temple on Kaarthikai festival day in 2011 [Photo courtesy: atinytoes.wordpress.com]

Lamps placed on road-side wall on Kaarthikai day [Photo courtesy: vilakkeedu.blogspot.com]

Tamils celebrating the festival of lights on the full moon day of the month of Kaarthikai finds reference since the times of earliest stratum of Tamil literature.

The festival is known in Tamil as Kaarthikai vi'lakkeedu meaning the offering of lamps on the Kaarthikai day. The month of Kaarthikai (November-December) gained its name because the full moon day of that month would fall when the moon joins the Kaarthikai constellation, which is a group of six stars (Pliedes).

What is celebrated as Theepaava'li today on the new moon day of the month Aippasi (October-November) doesn't have references of antiquity in Tamil literature.

Bridget and Raymond Allchin, British prehistorians who long researched South Asia, think that the Kaarthikai festival of lights originated from neolithic rites in South India. They associate the huge ash mounts found in the neolithic sites to ceremonial fires that continued into the ritual of the Kaarthikai festival of the later times.

Lighting the Kaarthikai flame is observed in all the Hindu temples in South India and in the island of Sri Lanka. The Kaarthikai festival in Thiruva'n'naamalai temple in Tamil Nadu, where a huge lamp is lighted on top of the hill, is famous among the Saivites.

Apart from the temples, lamps are lighted in the streets as well as in the houses.

Among Eezham Tamils, it is a common practice to erect banana stems in front houses and light the lamp in coconut halves placed on them. Besides, torches on Ki'luvai sticks are also placed at different places of the house premises. There is a belief that ancestors would visit the house on that day and they need light. Some even cook fish on that day and place it as offering to the ancestors.

The lamp lighted in temples of Eezham Tamils is called Chokkap-panai, because dried palmyra palm leaves are used to make the flame.
* * * The following lines from the Changkam Tamil literature Akanaanoo'ru refers to the way the Kaarthikai festival was celebrated among ancient Tamils.

Mazhaikaal neengkiya maaka visumpil
Ku'rumuyal ma'ru:ni'ram ki'lara, mathi:ni'rainthu,
A'rumeen chearum akal iru'l nadu:naa'l
Ma'rukuvi'lak ku'ruththu, maalai thookki,
Pazhavi'ral moothoorp palarudan thuvan'riya
Vizhavuudan ayara, varukathil amma! - (Akanaanoo'ru 141:6-11)

மழைகால் நீங்கிய மாக விசும்பில்
குறுமுயல் மறுநிறம் கிளர, மதிநிறைந்து,
அறுமீன் சேரும் அகல் இருள் நடுநாள்
மறுகுவிளக் குறுத்து, மாலை தூக்கி,
பழவிறல் மூதூர்ப் பலருடன் துவன்றிய
விழவுஉடன் அயர, வருகதில் அம்ம! - (Akanaanoo'ru 141:6-11)

In the broad sky free of rain clouds, prominent with the ‘little rabbit’ blot shade, the moon in full will join the six-star constellation (Kaarththikai/ Pliedes). On that midnight, lighting lamps on the streets, and raising garlands, the gathering of the old valorous village would celebrate. He will come for me to celebrate the festival together.
* * * The Kaarthikai festival and lighting the flame called Chokkap-panai in Eezham Tamil, celebrated at Nalloor Kanthasaami temple in the 2011 Kaarthikai festival:



The Kaarthikai festival celebrated in Thiruva'n'naamalai in Tamil Nadu:

WIKILEAKS: MERVIN SILAVA IS A DRUG KINGPIN PATRON CHIEF

Hewa Koparage Mervyn Silva’s Joy Of Riding Without A Helmet

Minister Hewa Koparage Mervyn Silva today rode a Motorcycle without a helmet.  In Sri Lanka it is illegal to ride without wearing a helmet.   Silva’s bike ride was about 4km around Kiribathgoda.

Law Breaker! What are you doing in Parliament? Go home and learn the basics of living without being a nuisance to others.

i still remember when president MR opened the southern expressway, he took the first drive to declare open and at that time i remember him not wearing the seatbelt…he was sitting next to the first lady and televisions showed the video..so law is only for the common man?

azhar - November 25, 2012
6:46 pm
Reply                        Read More                        

Oh my God! - November 25, 2012
5:57 pm
Reply

Sri Lankan president won’t be visiting M’sia

The Sri Lanka High Commission confirmed that President Mahinda Rajapaksa will not attend the World Islamic Economic Forum due to unavoidable circumstances, and not because of protests.

PETALING JAYA: With various Indian groups objecting to the visit of Sri Lankan President Mahinda Rajapaksa to Malaysia early next month for an international forum, it has now been confirmed that Rajapaksa will not be coming after all.

This has been confirmed by the Sri Lankan High Commission’s media affairs counsellor, Rizvi Hassen.

“President Rajapaksa will not be coming due to unavoidable circumstances,” Rizvi said in an e-mail correspondence to FMT.

Rajapaksa was invited to attend the World Islamic Economic Forum (WIEF) in Johor Baru from Dec 4 to 6.

The invitation, however, had sparked off protests from leaders of the Indian community here.

The Sri Lankan leader’s absence, however, is not due to the various protests by political and non-political entities, said Rizvi.

“It is not due to the protests. The decision [to not attend the WEIF] was decided before the protests took place,” he said.

On Friday, MIC Youth sent a protest memorandum to the Foreign Ministry objecting to the planned visit by Rajapaksa.

Separately a committee was also set up by Penang Deputy Chief Minister P Ramasamy to object to Rajapaksa’s presence here.

Yesterday, Sri Lanka War Victim Concerned Team (Api) protested in front of the Sri Lankan High Commission over the proposed visit. MIC Youth members also lodged a police report against Rajapaksa for alleged war crimes.

The Indians in Malaysians who are largely made up of ethnic Tamil have been expressing their displeasure due to Rajapaksa’s role in quashing the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam in 2009 after a 26-year civil war.

It was reported that some 100,000 civilians including 40,000 Tamils were killed while more than 300,000 people were displaced during the long-standing conflict.

Najib’s role?
In an immediate reaction, MIC Youth chief T Mohan thanked Prime Minister Najib Tun Razak for the latest development.

“I must thank the prime minister for being the middleman between the Indian community and the WIEF organisers,” he said

He added that the opposition to Mahinda’s visit was raised by MIC president (and Minister in Prime Minister’s Department) G Palanivel and deputy president (and Human Resources Minister) Dr S Subramaniam during the cabinet meeting on Friday.

“I was told that even Minister in Prime Minister’s Department Nazri Aziz and Home Minister Hishammuddin Hussein supported the motion against the arrival of Mahinda,” he said.

However Najib’s purported role in ensuring Mahinda did not come to Malaysia was not shared by two other groups who also opposed the Sri Lankan leader’s visit to Malaysia.

Penang Deputy Chief Minister P Ramasamy had no sweet words for Najib.

“Najib should be criticised for inviting Rajapaksa in the first place. He is afraid of losing the Indian vote bank. He was forced to cancel (Mahinda) Rajapaksa’s trip,” said Ramasamy who is also DAP’s national deputy secretary general.

Api representative S Barathidasan also echoed similar sentiments and claimed that the whole episode as being Najib’s drama.

“It is Najib’s game. He invited Mahinda and is now trying to create a positive image to woo the Indian vote bank. It is a drama,” he said.

He also added that a protest at the Parliament would proceed as planned. “We want Malaysia to cut its diplomatic ties with Sri Lanka. Malaysia must not recognise that country,” said Barathidasan.

Also read:
NGOs protest against Sri Lanka president’s arrival

Mahindrapuram And Reintegrating People In Northern Development

By Jehan Perera -November 26, 2012

Jehan Perera

The landscape in the more densely populated parts of the once war ravaged North is a rapidly changing one.  The government’s focus on investing in physical infrastructure such as public buildings and roads is showing visible results. Suddenly the skeletal structures of buildings get filled out and transform the appearance of an entire area.  When we passed the town of Kilinochchi, the onetime administrative capital of the LTTE, it was lighted up even though the hour was late in the night.  It looked like a model town.  The challenge for the government will be to make this external change an internal one as well, in which the people who meant to be the beneficiaries also rejoice in the transformation and feel that justice is being done to them.

The entry into the city of Jaffna is also impressive.  Just before coming to Jaffna, we passed the town of Chavakachcheri which was almost completely razed to the ground during an earlier phase of the war.   Today the town has modern buildings, including a hospital, school and other administrative offices.  But it is Jaffna city that is the main site for the government’s effort at transforming the face of the North.  There is large scale construction of public buildings, including a mega-market, police station and roads that promise to regain Jaffna the leading place it had as one of the country’s provincial capital cities. This development effort can be interpreted as a part of reparation for the destruction of the war, if it is projected in a suitable manner and context.

Despite the substantial financial outlay by the government on rebuilding the North the electoral reward has been low.  The results of successive elections that have taken place in the North do not suggest that the majority of the electorate see the development that is taking place as the way forward to reconciliation. This is a cause for concern to any government that would wish to have the country united in heart and spirit, as well as geography.  The only occasion on which the government notched up a success in northern elections was in 2009 when it won the prize municipality of Jaffna.  This election was held shortly after the end of the war, and was boycotted by the TNA on the grounds that the elections would be neither free nor fair.  As a result Jaffna has provided the government with a unique opportunity to prove itself at the local level.

OVERCOMING PROBLEMS

During our visit to Jaffna, we went to the villages of Vasanthapuram and Mahindrapuram in the Gurunagar area.  As their names suggest they are new villages, one village named after the government’s “Northern Spring” development programme and the other honouring President Mahinda Rajapaksa’s name.  In Vasanthapuram, land has been allocated to the people who were displaced from that part of Jaffna as far back as 1995 and who have now returned and been resettled.  They live in tin roofed temporary housing.  But they appeared to be positive about the government’s efforts to resettle them.  One of the women was proud to say that she knew the Jaffna Mayor, Yogeswari Pathkunaraja, who visited this resettlement site frequently.  The neighbouring village of Mahindrapuram is further advanced in terms of the rebuilding process, as it has a neat array of houses provided by the Indian government under its 50,000 house project.

The government’s political representative in the North is the EPDP which is headed by Minister Douglas Devananda.  The EPDP was one of the militant groups that at one time waged war against the Sri Lankan state.  However, it renounced armed struggle and entered the political mainstream in 1987 as part of the Indo Lanka Peace Agreement.  But the continuing role of the military in governing the North and the continuing presence of large numbers of military personnel have complicated the situation as the EPDP is seen as part of the government’s military administration. The EPDP has generally sought to work in partnership with successive governments.  In terms of its willingness to work with successive governments the EPDP has more in common with the Muslim and Hill country Tamil parties than with the Sri Lankan Tamil parties which have generally followed a more confrontational line.

In its bid to win the electoral support of the people, the EPDP has two big challenges to overcome.  One is its association with a government that is generally perceived by the Tamil community as unsympathetic to their political rights.  It can be expected that the ethnic Sinhalese nationalism that the government exploits on a regular basis will result in a corresponding ethnic Tamil (and Muslim) nationalism.  The difficulty faced by the EPDP is that the electoral benefit of Tamil nationalism accrues to the TNA almost automatically for the reason that it stands in political opposition to the government.  This generates a vicious cycle of competing ethnic nationalisms that breeds disunity and mistrust. The recent assertions of governmental leaders that they plan to scrap the devolution of powers found in the 13th Amendment works to the advantage of the TNA and to the detriment of those associated with the government.

LOCAL GOVERNMENT

A further problem that the EPDP administration in the Jaffna municipality faces is the lack of resources to support the return of normal life to the displaced and war-affected people.  As a result it has focused its attention on specific localities, such as the sea coast areas of Gurunagar and the islands off Jaffna which are its strongholds. There is no doubt that this development work is appreciated by those who are its beneficiaries.  However it also generates resentment from people who are equally needy but live in other parts of Jaffna who feel that their own individual needs are neglected and they are denied the benefits of governmental patronage.  It is in this context that an experimental programme currently being undertaken by the municipality promises a way forward.

Mayor Pathkunaraja explained that the Jaffna municipality was now encouraging people’s participation in the planning and budgetary process. This is with the support of the Asia Foundation, an international NGO.  She said that the 47 Grama Sevaka divisions had set up 87 citizens committees comprising 470 members.  There were reports published for each of these village divisions that showed the work that had been done in water, sanitation, health and building of infrastructure and roads, among others.  People are guarded but eager to move on and embrace whatever change is within their means.  They are beginning to accept the inevitability of engagement as they realize that resources are very much within the ambit of government structures. The Asia Foundation-facilitated participatory planning initiative under its Local Economic Governance Project is providing a safe space for public engagement with the Jaffna municipality.

Effective local government is especially relevant to the people of the North as a focal point for people-engaged government in the absence of an elected Northern Provincial Council and possible dilution of the13^th Amendment. There is a revived interest by the central government in local government as a means of people-engaged administration and not necessarily governance.  Local government with its real capacity for engagement with the people can provide space for people-driven change even in a limited way.  The local authority structure can feed into and respond to lacunae in the current development process which is centrally determined and driven with priorities that may not be the people’s own.  Structured processes like participatory planning and budgeting, enable people at the lowest level to influence policy and thinking within the local government tier.  They are also re-energised by this engagement, which in the longer term will embolden them to make further demands.