Archive for January, 2010

TIGER IN LION’S CLOTHING!

The moment the TNA announced its support for the opposition presidential candidate, General Sarath Fonseka, the ruling party and the forces that back President Mahinda Rajapakse have begun to smell an international conspiracy with the help of the LTTE to destabilize and divide Sri Lanka.  According to them the very man who was mainly responsible for eliminating the Tigers has today turned out to be a Tiger supporter! The ‘Ali-kotti’ agreement of 2005 has today turned out to be a secret ‘Fonseka-kotti’ agreement.  Do these forces –‘the remnants from the Dark Ages as far as the national question is concerned, as (Prof. .Kumar David calls them,) consider the voters of this country to be so dumb as to believe this canard? A daily newspaper of 8th January has as its main headline- ‘General Fonseka’s agreement renews threat’.  The President himself is reported to have said that the country is once again facing a threat as General Fonseka in an agreement…

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Voting for Fonseka for all the wrong reasons?

The Presidential election of 2010 has brought out some of the most glaring delusions and dilemmas which shape the political stance of the Opposition, and which confront the voter, in particular. The run up to the election of 26th January has largely shown how bankrupt the political elements opposing President Rajapaksa are, which indeed is a great political tragedy – for while President Rajapaksa’s track record concerning notions of good governance is somewhat dismal, the alternative that is offered to the voter in the form of Sarath Fonseka and his political allies, is abysmal. In supporting Fonseka, numerous problems are conveniently forgotten, and people seem to be imagining that a country under the leadership of Fonseka would be a very beautiful, splendid and different one – where corruption doesn’t exist, where ‘executives’ will not rule, and where human rights would be guaranteed to all. Fonseka promises ‘change’, but it lacks coherence, direction and is frighteningly unsustainable, in the long term….

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A message from a first-time voter

In 2005, I didn’t vote. Being 21, I was eligible to vote, but I didn’t – and if you asked me why, I would ashamedly admit I simply didn’t care. I was in University abroad, my mind preoccupied with the Arts, my arms wrapped around my glossy new textbooks, my life an adventure waiting to happen. Voting, politics and presidents didn’t register on my radar: the picture they represented was too big for me to fathom and it all seemed so removed from the microcosm of my life. In 2005, my parents were the presidents of my world and I the rebellious citizen, rioting for my right to certain freedoms. After my university career, I moved back home and joined a media institution – just in time to get a front row seat to some of the most significant events in Sri Lanka’s history. 2 years and the end of a war later, I find both myself and my country…

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FROM BATTLE AGAINST TERRORISM TO BATTLE FOR THE SPOILS OF WAR

1. Introduction The thirty-year battle against terrorism has turned into a vicious battle for the spoils-of-war in recent times. This post war phenomenon does not augur well for the people of Sri Lanka. In a strange quirk of history, what took place within the Tigers of the North since February 2004 is now taking place among the Lions of the South since May 2009. Cut-throat competition for the spoils-of-war between Mahinda Rajapaksa (MR) and Sarath Fonseka (SF) in the aftermath of the total defeat of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) in May 2009 is reminiscent of the cut-throat competition for the spoils-of-peace (ceasefire) between Veluppillai Pirapakaran (VP) and Vinayagamoorthy Muralitharan (VM alias Karuna Amman) of the LTTE since the indefinite ceasefire of February 2002 and desertion of the latter in February 2004. Karuna Amman, who was a “great hero” (Maveerar) due to his key role in major conventional military battles against the security forces especially in the over-running…

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  • 17 Jan, 2010
  • 20 Comments
  • Elections,
    Media and Communications

Clocktower Cutouts and Pelmadulla Propaganda: A photo narrative from the regions

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[Editors note: Higher resolution versions of the photos used in this story are available from the gallery at the bottom of this story.] ‘Colombo isn’t the country’, many election pundits say. It couldn’t be truer. Forget pundits, even cab drivers know it and in the past week several of them have given me useful insights into both the urban pulse, which they are well in tune with, but also the rural pulse, from their hometowns far far away. Gauging the Sri Lankan electorates’ temperature by the mood in the capital and other urban centres is a fallacy that many known to me are falling prey to. The election will be won or lost in the regions, in the rural hinterland. With just about 10 days to go before the 2010 Presidential Election – an event that will transform the country for better or for worse – this article captures some of the election fever far from the capital Colombo. Distracting…

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DO WE NEED A CHANGE?

At a time when so many urgent tasks are pending – not least that of rebuilding the war-ravaged areas of the country and resettling lakhs of IDPs in proper homes with proper facilities – colossal expenditure on a premature election could be seen as criminally irresponsible. Why, then, was it undertaken? Clearly, the incumbent president sought to reinstate himself and his family in power while post-war euphoria was still high, and before the inevitable disenchantment with his regime gripped the majority of the population. However, given that we are encumbered with this election, it certainly becomes more interesting with the prospect of a real challenge. It is true there are several candidates, but only two can realistically be expected to win: Mahinda Rajapaksa and Sarath Fonseka. Do they offer us any choice at all? When we remember that not so long ago Fonseka declared that Sri Lanka belongs to the Sinhalese, and that he played a major role not only…

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Citizens held hostage in the name of ‘Nationalism’

Desperation for my Paradise Isle had turned to appreciation this time around when the plane landed in Katunayake. I quietly celebrated that sense of relief and relaxation that spreads through my whole body when in the motherland. Even after over 10 hours of flying in a cramped, fart filled plane my heart overflowed. By reason of other travel elsewhere this time around was the longest I had been away from my Paradise Isle, 18 months too long. I was still caught by surprise when all the Paradisians who were on the plane pushed and jostled past me in a hurry to deplane. Still in a buoyant mood I generally got out of everyone’s way, spent a minute thanking the stewardess Marize for always smilingly obliging me whenever I went to the flight kitchen and asked her for innumerable cups of tea and the unprompted sandwiches. A lengthy wait in line for immigration still did not spoil my mood. The two…

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Breaking the Piper’s charm

“Of all the pleasant sights they see, which the Piper also promised me. For he led us, he said, to a joyous land, joining the town and just at hand, where waters gushed and fruit-trees grew, and flowers put forth a fairer hue, and everything was strange and new.” – The Pied Piper by Robert Browning Political commentators seem to have run out of superlatives when attempting to describe the leadership of President Mahinda Rajapakse. Academics have joined the fray, falling over themselves to award him honorary degrees while Business Schools have attempted to analyse the crucial elements of his leadership style. All are in agreement that his leadership is unprecedented in history and has no parallel elsewhere. Even for keen observers of history it is difficult to identify a suitable mould from which, it may be assumed, the President may have been cast. It is only if we delve into the realm of fable that we find a parallel – that…

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Visualising Mahinda Chintanaya 2010: The President’s election manifesto

Mahinda Rajapaksa Manifesto

Groundviews was the first website in Sri Lanka to visualise key statements by a Presidential candidate in the public domain. We followed up with a visualisation of Sarath Fonseka’s manifesto. The incumbent Executive’s manifesto was released in English on 14 January. On the website, it is called Mahinda Chinthana – Vision of Future. The cover page it says A Brighter Future and Mahinda Chintana: Vision for the Future. For the purpose of this article, we will call it Mahinda Chintanaya 2010. Whatever one calls this document, the emphasis very clearly is on the future of Sri Lanka, as envisioned by the incumbent. As with Sarath Fonseka’s manifesto, to avoid allegations of the partial or selective use of content, click here for a raw text dump of the English PDF version of Mahinda Chintanaya 2010. For easy visual comparison, we reproduce below the visualisation of Sarath Fonseka’s manifesto, which has been analysed in greater detail on Groundviews here. There is a significant and…

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The Fonseka Effect?

Cartoon by Dharshana Karunathilake

Cartoon by Dharshana Karunathilake, published in Irida Lakbima, 3 Jan 2010. Translation: General Fonseka (on left): “I promise to give you….” President Rajapaksa, interrupting: “Whatever he promises, I promise to give you all those!” ~ “Civilization is an interlude between ice ages,” said the noted historian Will Durant. We might adapt that to characterise the current presidential election in Sri Lanka as a brief period of liberty and relief in between long spells state oppression, neglect and impunity. What else can we make of the government’s new found keenness to simultaneously ease up on a number of fronts where it has been completely unrelenting and uncompromising until now? Just consider these few illustrative examples. The militarization of the North remained firmly in place for seven months after the civil war ended in May 2009. Now, the same government is scrambling to dismantle the High Security Zones, resettle the displaced people, and remove restrictions on the A9 road. Yesterday’s suspects have…

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Reflections on the Underlying Issues that Determine the Outcome of the Election: Who has got the Edge?

The Presidential election battle is gathering momentum with incredible speed. Defections and pledges of support to Sarath Fonseka (SF) have injected some nervousness for the Mahinda Rajapaksa (MR) campaign.  The challenge could either induce panic and disarray or revitalize the campaign. Crucial to success will be understanding the electoral pulse of the people, learning the lessons of the campaign trail and addressing people’s fears.  Humility and openness are greater assets in democratic politics than rigid attitudes or political arrogance. The main thrust of this article is to make some reflections on the underlying forces that support the two camps and the issues they bring into the bitter battle that is being fought throughout the country. Partisan loyalties Throughout the long and destructive war with the LTTE the Sinhalese polity demonstrated an unprecedented unity, patience and sacrifice by burying their partisan loyalties. The government used this in fighting the war and benefited greatly from the political stability which was instrumental in…

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From Politics of Fear to Politics of Hope

“The passion to be reckoned upon is fear.” Thomas Hobbes “The very act of voting is a joyful statement that we are not under a tyrant. And there may be happy victories. But the best government we get is a foreshadowing. Peace and justice are approximated now.” John Piper I admit to being a political junkie. I get my news from multiple papers, news sites and web blogs. I react to reports on our nation’s politics with hope or rage, despondence or encouragement, based on media reports. The “package of promises” presented by our two Presidential candidates continues to expand at lightning speed, and has come to include the settlement or relocation of IDPs, bail for journalist Tissaiyanagam, reopening A-9, International air port in Jaffna, equality between men and women, exposure of the killers of journalists, abolition of the executive presidency, speedy implementation of parity between languages, freedom for 700 child soldiers, and so on. At the same time both…

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We can believe in NO candidate in 2010. What’s new though, right?

The big day is fast approaching, and every water-cooler, tea/cigarette break, meeting intermission is a hive of discussion on the latest thoughts on the election. But the whole run up to the election seems familiar, ridiculous and sad. For Sri Lanka there will never be change we can truly believe in. It will always be politics as usual. Sarath Fonseka (SF) has said he will abolish the executive presidency, but is now flip-flopping on that too, and said the country may need it for a while longer, and may decide to hold some key powers if he wins, including keeping some key ministries for himself. After the war ended it was SF who said we need to keep the IDPs locked up in camps longer without release. During the war it was SF who said that this country belongs to the Sinhalese. Minorities should learn to deal with it, and not make undue demands. Now he is positioning himself as…

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Standing the world on its head!

I can’t understand this, so will someone explain it –please. It is being reported in the local press and local electronic media that the Rajapakses have gained popularity among Sinhala voters in recent days because the UN Special Reporter Philip Alston, the UN Secretary General, and the Western press, have reinforced their accusations of human rights violations and war crimes against the Rajapakse regime. UN and other agencies and officials, and the press, in many countries, now say that the Channel-4 execution video is authentic, and that it conforms to a larger pattern of violations. The accusers are not LTTE extremists and only the mentally retarded will suggest that these parties and persons are in the pay of the LTTE, or that they are motivated and impelled by the Tamil diaspora. I just don’t get it! The world seems to be standing on its head! How do you become more popular when criminal accusations against you are reinforced? Shouldn’t it…

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  • 12 Jan, 2010
  • 11 Comments
  • Human Rights,
    Human Security

Reflections on Human Rights (Part I): The Promises of Universalism and Tyrannies of Relativism?

[Authors note: I invite the readers of my article to suggest creative and strategic ways to reconcile the universal and culturally relative rights in Sri Lankan context.] “Men do not differ much about what things they will call evils; but they differ enormously about what evils they will call excusable.” — G. K. Chesterton Though Sri Lankans have not been passive victims, our progress toward equal rights is being frustrated by ceaseless international allegations of human rights abuses. The state is preoccupied with defending itself against these charges, and vilifies its accusers as traitors. The two Presidential candidates attribute abuses to each other, and their claims are remarkably similar to the charges of abuses levied against the state.  These controversies over human rights in Sri Lanka have brought the legitimacy of all stakeholders, governmental and non-governmental, into question, and result from the normative, interpretive, and practical limits of the idea of universal human rights: stakeholders have failed to successfully negotiate…

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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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