Archive for October, 2007

Eroding Governance

The LTTE attack on the Saliyapura airforce base has reminded those who wanted to think otherwise, that a quick, cheap and/or certain military victory is by no means assured. The attempt to achieve one will take time and cost quite a lot more in human and other resources. In the meantime, the preoccupation with military victory is also underpinning the steady erosion of democracy. Take the last week for instance. The Wamanan case and the shutting down of the ABC network constituted further assaults on media freedom. The former is an example of crude and shoddy intimidation in response to the exposure of corruption and the latter, one of over reaction prompted by embedded hostility towards media freedom. On another fornt, the provisions of the Draft Appropriations Bill strike at the very foundation of parliamentary democracy – parliamentary sovereignty over finances. The whole procedure for supplementary estimates could be undermined by a proposed statutory provision allowing the secretary to the…

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The cost of liberation…

I do not have any words to express my agony and the untold hardship that I had faced in my village during the liberation of Seelavathrai, south of Mannar by the Sri lanka Army on 01.09.04. .Having woken up to the deafening sounds of the artillery, followed by gunfire, I peeped through the window. I saw total mayhem. People running helter-skelter dragging their children, not aware where they were heading. I thought I will die along with my family. My husband said that it would be best for all of us also to run away from the house as the firing was getting very much louder and closer. Along with our children we went out of the house to be greeted with very close range firing… it was too late. We hurried back home and cramped under the bed… praying. My husband was in shock and my children were shivering. I heard a youth groaning… I peeped out once again…

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Questioning the President

It is with revulsion that I turned off the television last Thursday in the middle of what was touted to be question time with the President. The powdered faces of those who took part and the supine questioning lent it a grotesque theatricality, which of course, what is essentially was. What was the idea of this media event? Was it really to answer the questions posed by the public? Or was it blatant propaganda, to further spread the “chintanaya” amongst a hapless population? I go on in my article to lament the demise of politicians (who have crossed over to the government) who at one time were vociferously articulate on issues such as federalism and human rights and yet are today the servile lap dogs of the President. I also lament the fate of media in Sri Lanka that is so docile that it not just grovels in front of the President but neglects its fundamental responsibility to the public…

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ON LIBERTY

When John Stuart Mill wrote his seminal essay of the same title as this column, he set out, elegantly and persuasively, the foundation for much of the political liberalism of the next two centuries all over the world. He was, however, the member of a society and citizen of a country that gave the world the Magna Carta and parliamentary government, and continues to extol, celebrate, and practice the ideal of human liberty as its central and inalienable value. Last week, the UK Prime Minister, Gordon Brown, decided to tackle his recent trough in the polls by making a major speech at the University of Westminster on the subject of liberty. In it, he promised a new Bill of Rights which would entrench and enhance the freedoms of expression, information and association, a review of laws and practices that hinder the full enjoyment of these rights, a new commitment to open government, judicial scrutiny and parliamentary oversight, and in an…

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A veteran internally displaced person (IDP)

I am a veteran internally displaced person (IDP), if that is a status that I could be given and everybody could be proud of. I am originally from Vavuniya and the conflict many years ago displaced the whole of my village and many adjoining villages. We, as so many others, fled for our lives forgetting all our valuables, given the assurance that we will return within days. I was young and with my parents, we moved to be temporarily located in Kala – Oya, Anuradhapura. It was a massive hall without any partitions and deprived all of us from privacy. Change of clothes was also done in the open or we had to wait till it was quite dark. We lost our modesty as the days passed by. The once conservative families we were took a sharp turn within a few days. We had no source of income and we were a forgotten entity no sooner the euphoria of the…

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Defeating MR: All but impossible

By Victor Ivan The forthcoming budget will be decisive to the United National Party (UNP) and the Janatha Vimukthi Peramuna (JVP). The 1978 Constitution gave absolute power to the president. Defeating an incumbent president is all but impossible. The only realistic possibility of throwing out the current President Mahinda Rajapaksa is to defeat him in the next presidential election of 2011. In spite of all the allegations — corruption, large scale human rights violations, unprecedented nepotism and rising cost of living — the President will remain in office until the end of his term. This pattern cannot be altered except by a crisis caused by a complete collapse of the political system, and certainly not by political manoeuvering by the opposition. At this time, when the political system is being driven towards yet another historic crisis, the opposition parties as well as the government party are compelled, yet again, to conduct themselves as a group of comedians in a circus….

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Are we winning hearts and minds?

“The guerilla fights the war of the flea, and his military enemy suffers the dog’s disadvantages: too much to defend; too small, ubiquitous, and agile an enemy to come to grips with,” said Robert Taber, who was the only American among Fidel Castro’s defending forces at Playa Giron. It is a well-known fact that unconventional forces thrive on the support of the local populace. If a wedge could be drawn between these two factions, the task and the chances of conventional forces achieving success are rendered much easier. Of course, this is well known to all operational commanders, but, unfortunately owing to a lack of supervision or control, instead of winning the ‘hearts and minds,’ the average Tamil population is being very blithely made to understand that they have no place in Sri Lanka. My statement seems astounding and may be contested by some who refuse to see reality. This is not a phenomenon of recent origin. In fact it…

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Consensus building for peace

On a first reading of the poll results, what emerges is the gap between what people perceive as the hard realities of the conflict and what they desire as the ideal outcome. What is striking is that in the midst of the contradictions in the responses, the overarching commitment to the fundamental principles of peace is almost universal By Godfrey Gunatilleke What are the fundamental principles that should govern a process that seeks to achieve a lasting peace? How does the public view the present military strategy of weakening the LTTE and what are their expectations of the LTTE? What are the constitutional reforms that are likely to be most acceptable to the Sinhala majority and the Muslim minority? How can peace and normalcy be restored to the north and east? Around these four issues, the Marga Institute framed four sets of questions and conducted a public opinion survey covering a national sample of 1,800 respondents randomly selected from 18…

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  • 22 Oct, 2007
  • 0 Comment
  • Districts,
    Politics and Governance

Views of the Periphery – A presidential candidate with a transitional programme

By Sumanasiri Liyanage Somewhere in 2003 when the issue of interim administration for Northern and Eastern Provinces was raised, some, including myself, argued that the country should adopt an interim or transitional constitution including power-sharing arrangement for the war-ravaged provinces. The idea behind this suggestion was that other important constitutional issues such as all powerful executive presidency with almost no checks and balances and politicization of the bureaucracy may also be addressed in such an interim constitution. However, there was no serious debate on this subject partly due to the political changes that took place in the late 2003 and early 2004. Moreover, it was made clear that no significant change can be initiated without the consent of the executive president. Things have been more solidified since the presidential election in November 2005. Nonetheless, Sri Lanka needs a substantial restructuring of its political system, especially the state. The country cannot go forward with the current Constitution enacted in 1978. It…

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The fear of Jaffna

By Shanthi Sachithanandam “Last night was full moon Oh you Sinhala Buddhist For whom breaking even an egg on a full moon day is Adharma How come lives of Tamil people became More trivial than mere eggs? Oh Venerable Monks Walking with shaven heads within yellow robes discoloured, splashed with blood and sprinkled with ash Don’t open your scriptures but your hearts Tell me, is this your Dharma? Is it just, To deem the lives of Tamil people more trivial than mere eggs?” – V.I.S Jeyapalan It was 1997 and the Sri Lanka Army (SLA) had captured most parts of Jaffna peninsula as a result of the ‘Riviresa’ operations. The aid organisation I was working for decided to start its work in Jaffna. As were and are the regulations, we had to seek military permission to travel to, and work, in Jaffna. I was asked to contact the Secretary of the Defence Ministry. “What is the work that you do?”…

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The JVP in Sri Lanka – Where to now?

“Now people eagerly await for the 2004 government to fall. It is easily done. This is the weakest government in post independence. It survives on charitable crumbs and has not a leg to stand on. If this is toppled, and it should be done and done fast, the next government should have the courage to create a new economic order.” Anura Kumara Dissanayaka, JVP MP, speaking at a party conference in Gampaha, reported in The Sunday Leader, 17th October 2007 I associate the JVP with darkness. I remember how my mother stitched thick, black blinds to cover all our windows at night during the height of the Bheeshana Ugaya in the late-80’s. I didn’t then understand what the acronym JVP stood for, but was acutely aware of its significance through the increased tension at home whenever we heard the ominous purr of trail bikes snaking their way down our lane. The lights have remained turned off within the JVP for…

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  • 17 Oct, 2007
  • 3 Comments
  • Peace and Conflict

Too tired to say ‘human rights’

I got a glimpse of Louise Arbour last Thursday, late in the afternoon. She had just completed her meeting with Mano Ganeshan and some family members of the disappeared. Arbour peered out of the small entrance door to the UN compound. Photographers and video men crammed the entrance. Behind the media scrum were about a 100 or so members of families of the disappeared – all holding up large scale prints of their loved ones for the Human Rights Chief to see. I doubt Louise Arbour really got to see past the hungry media – but either way, it was a nice gesture by her. She gave some more hope to those who are fighting for the human rights of their loved ones. Arbour’s visit was essentially, about rubber-stamping the report on Sri Lanka’s human rights situation. Local and international non-government organisations, want a field-based presence of the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights, to presumably, monitor and…

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Post Arbour

UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, Louise Arbour has concluded her visit to Sri Lanka. At the conclusion of her visit she released a press statement, the highlights of which are worth reiterating since they profile the continuing problem of human rights protection in Sri Lanka today. The relevant sections of the statement are: Quoting Arbour ‘….. in the context of the armed conflict and of the emergency measures against terrorism, the weakness of the rule of law and prevalence of impunity is alarming.’ ‘…………While the government pointed to several initiatives it has taken to address these issues, there has yet to be an adequate and credible public accounting for the vast majority of these incidents. In the absence of more vigorous investigations, prosecutions and convictions, it is hard to see how this will come to an end.’ On the national Human Rights Commission, ‘………the failure to resolve the controversy over the appointment of commissioners has created a crisis of…

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Louise Arbour and Mahinda Rajapakse

The UN High Commissioner for Human Rights is finally in the island, due, in no small measure, to the campaign of local civil society and international human rights organisations to get the government to invite her to Sri Lanka. This has happened despite the threat and invective directed against local civil society ranging from the perennial accusation of rubbishing the country abroad for pecuniary gain at home, to the more dangerous incitement to hatred — the vilification of local human rights defenders as traitors. . Louise Arbour is in Sri Lanka because there is a serious enough human rights problem in this country that warrants her presence. Over the years, her office has received information about the full gamut of violations perpetrated by the LTTE, other paramilitaries and sections of the security forces. Consequently, her visit is not a fact finding mission. The fact of grave human rights crisis has been established. Her visit is about doing something about this…

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Disappearance

As a family we lived amidst many challenges in the past few years never wanting to leave the peninsula which will always be our home. Even though we witnessed very many battles in the Peninsula, we always felt safe living as a family. Who will want to harm anyone of us. My husband’s and my solace were the five children we have and to provide the best we could. My husband was a social worker and a very close accomplice of Fr Jim Brown. When I use to complain of the hardship we are facing to my husband, he would always say that you should be happy atleast I am around to take care of you and the children since there are so many who are being shot and disappearing without a trace in the recent past. He always mentioned that he felt very safe being with Fr Jim Brown. On the fateful day of Auf 08 2006, my husband…

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About Groundviews

Located at the Centre for Policy Alternatives in Colombo, Sri Lanka, Groundviews is a citizen journalism website that uses a range of genres and media to highlight critical perspectives on governance, reconciliation, human rights, the arts and literature, democracy and other issues. The site has won two international awards, including the prestigious Manthan Award South Asia in 2009. The grand jury's evaluation of the site noted, "What no media dares to report, Groundviews publicly exposes. It's a new age media for a new Sri Lanka... Free media at it's very best!"

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