Archive for June, 2010

Moving away from democracy in Sri Lanka

The present Sri Lankan government has proved that though Sri Lanka is a small country, it has been able to achieve many things that other countries, specially in the West have not been able to. Nowhere in the world has terrorism been crushed and destroyed using only force. “Destroying terrorism is not a crime” the Defense Secretary told Stephen Sackur of the BBC. What was implied is that the means we used cannot be questioned. In other countries a military solution goes hand in hand with a political solution. In Sri Lanka the government believes that there is no political problem and therefore a political solution is not necessary. If that is so what made the LTTE take up arms? “There was no reason. They were born terrorists and the only solution was to exterminate them. We have done it. Now, don’t talk about the past, and put forward the demands of the terrorists like power sharing and devolution of…

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B is for balls (and bowls)

In the article “The bowl-or-ball dilemma of rubbishing English standards” (Sunday Observer, 6/6/2010), Dilshan Boange adds his voice to the growing clamour of protest at the idea of speaking English “our way”. He recounts the anecdote of a friend who called an Indian hotel and “had to face a lingual jumble of a marginally intelligible dialogue from the hotel staffer”, concluding that the problem was that the Indian was talking English “their way”. If only everyone learnt to speak English properly, such situations would never arise. He goes on to discuss the pronunciation of the various ‘o’ sounds in English, and asks: “What happens when you ask for a ‘ball’ and are given a ‘bowl’?” It is difficult to think of an actual situation where this might happen in reality: Murali asks for the ball and Kumar throws him a bowl? Unlikely. Language is full of such potential theoretical pitfalls, but context is everything, and such misunderstandings (though they do…

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‘I can’: The power of simple random acts

It’s February 14th, Valentines day and I am browsing the net, going from one link to the other, without a particular destination, enjoying tidbits from the cyber world. I happen to come across an interesting TED talk http://on.ted.com/88Xq. Its about a school in India (Riverside School) that starts a program called I Can, where children aged 8 – 14, in small groups are empowered and inspired to become change agents. It’s a simple concept. The children are asked to pick an issue that bothers them, that they want to change, and then they are given a week to make the change. The impact and results are amazing. From cleaning up garbage, to making cities child friendly, to stopping child marriages, to teaching their parents to read and write, no issue was too big or too small. Kiran Sethi, the lady spearheading this project sees the potential of the project and starts taking the idea to other schools in the state…

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Constitutional Reforms in Sri Lanka: What was asked for, What was promised and What is going to be offered?

Screen shot 2010-06-27 at 3.51.33 PM

In Sri Lankan politics, things oftentimes turn topsy-turvy. When people asked for lower prices for basic food items, government lowers prices of luxury cars with absolutely feeble argument that the latter would in turn benefit people. The same thing appears to be unfolding in the sphere of constitutional reforms. In the last Parliamentary Election, one of the key appeals that the United Peoples’ Freedom Alliance made was that the UPFA be given two third seats of the new Parliament so that it can amend the Second Republic Constitution changing the system highly criticized electoral system. People appeared to have accepted the necessity of changing the electoral system that have created intra-party conflict for preferential vote (manapa pore)with heavy campaign expenses on the one hand and the distanciation of elected members from the citizens on the other. As a necessary corollary of massive campaign expenses, the sponsors to election fund have naturally been placed before the people in the process of…

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Hand Washing

Murder cannot be hidden, bodies decompose but skeletons remain; certainly they can be washed from beach into sea and stripped clean by carnivorous fish yet the panel requires just a few examples, sufficient to flesh out a theory of mass slaughter; satellite shots will be investigated abroad and conversations conducted with survivors of precarious boats landing on Christmas Island or dragged into Jakarta. Scale of killing poses a serious problem for management of disaster; appointment of soft, suave diplomat to run damage control at foreign ministry did not succeed. Murder will be revealed. Macbeth is read also in Sri Lanka; it landed in the culture before the current lot of customs inspectors; am sure Saratchchandra contemplated translating the play if it did not circulate already in the island like monsoon wind or ethics which exist along with denial and chutzpah among its inhabitants; government can throw a temper tantrum but GSP will be linked to human rights and Ban Ki…

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  • 25 Jun, 2010
  • 2 Comments
  • Peace and Conflict

Why does humanitarianism often fail to achieve its goals?

‘International responsibility for the alleviation of suffering is one of the most noble of human goals. Nobility of aim does not however confer immunity from sociological analysis or ethical critique’ (De Waal, 1997: 65) Broadly speaking, humanitarianism refers to an ethic of kindness and sympathy extended universally and impartially to all of humanity. Those who profess these values can arguably be termed humanitarian. In the academic literature, a more precise definition remains problematic as it can be interpreted as humanitarian assistance, humanitarian intervention or a conflation of the two. I will be focusing on humanitarian assistance, which refers to the ways in which helping others is done (Allen and Schomerus, 2008: 45). The fundamental principles espoused by most aid agencies under the name of humanitarianism focus on four key areas: universality, impartiality, neutrality and independence. These are arguably aspirations and powerful critiques have been made against aid agencies as to their ability to fulfil them. Furthermore, it has been argued…

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Human rights: Hackneyed or heightened in post-war Sri Lanka?

My conversation with Lakshan Dias, Programme Manager, Centre for Human Rights and Development, was pegged to the issue of human rights in post-war Sri Lanka. Lakshan was in the news recently when he appeared for Sarah Malanie Perera, an author taken in custody over bizarre circumstances. While we touched on this specific case, the interview also looked at broader legislation that undermined human rights in Sri Lanka post-war. I also got Lakshan’s take on the government’s repeated assertion that continued vigilance is vital to thwart any re-emergence of the LTTE, on account of which anti-terrorism legislation is justified even post-war. We talked about the awareness of human rights amongst the general public, and as Lakshan noted, the polarisation of the Sinhala and Tamil communities over human rights issues. Lakshan stressed the need for reconciliation, trust building and healing post-war, processes he noted that could not be addressed through a national security mindset. Lakshan warned that lack of public confidence –…

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WHERE EVERY PROSPECT DOES NOT PLEASE

Editor’s note: The article below is an eulogy to the life and work of the Sri Lankan journalist and Editor, Mervyn de Silva. An edited version of this article was published in the Daily News on the 22nd of June 2010. Image courtesy Transcurrents The eleventh anniversary of the death of Mervyn de Silva, the great Sri Lankan journalist and editor, falls on 22nd June. I once had an extraordinary encounter with Mervyn, although sadly as it turned out, at the very empennage of his life. In a wholly spontaneous chat that lasted less than two hours, we (mostly he) talked about the international use of force for humanitarian interventions and Robin Cook’s ‘ethical foreign policy’ in the then fashionable Blairite project (Mervyn wasn’t impressed), F.C. de Saram and M. Sathasivam (and the politico-sociological implications of their fractious dispute over the All Ceylon captaincy in 1947), billiards and snooker (I knew that the latter was invented in the Indian Army,…

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Hard Talk

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Many readers may have seen if not read about Defence Secretary Gothabhaya Rajapaksa’s interview with Stephen Sackur of the BBC HardTalk programme in which he calls Sarath Fonseka a liar and threatens to hang him for his position on a war crimes investigation. Local opinion, not surprisingly, given the current political context, has been divided on the propriety of Mr Rajapaksa’s outburst and the damage it could do to the image of the regime and of the country internationally.  There are the shocked and perturbed, albeit mostly in private, on the one hand and on the other, the hallelujah chorus of the apparatchiks. According to them, Mr Rajapaksa showed Sackur what’s what and saw off the smug arrogant, hostile Occidental propagandist with panache! My concern here is to inquire into what this interview and the response to it tells us about the state of governance in our country, post –war and once more on the verge of constitutional reform. Let…

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On Replacing the Sun-God

The Sun God disappeared from the scene in May, 2009 killed by advancing army units, not clear which brave soldier pulled the trigger, for some reason government has kept quiet about circumstances, but other magicians in splendid whites are raising arms to salute on Galle Face Green’s reviewing stand troubling peace-loving citizens. They stand before armoured carriers while fighter jets fly over the head of Old Parliament at the annual parade to celebrate the late rebirth of Dutugemunu into our democracy, a spirit who appeared to have achieved beatitude centuries ago, but has required one more round on his favourite hunting ground, a touch of three kingdoms-in-one panache, obeisance of tens of thousands marching past, and loyalty before judgment of the ruling family which will not brook any pesky, possibly traitorous questions, while poets must in turn choose subjects patriotically, no more kissing under umbrellas on the Green facing crashing sea, or relaying news of former residents of Menik Farm…

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Should we prosecute crimes against humanity?

It must be acknowledged that international law, both customary and humanitarian, is undergoing significant changes with regard to crimes committed during armed conflicts.  Thus it is difficult to assert that international legal measures for dealing with crimes against humanity should be assessed primarily in terms of successful prosecutions given that there is a paucity of empirical evidence to substantiate claims about how well criminal trials actually achieve the goals ascribed to them (Souare, 2009:377-381). More research needs to be done on the subject but I would suggest that decisions to prosecute should be tailored to the specific context and that in some cases an adherence to international legal fundamentalism may be counterproductive. Successful prosecutions may in some cases not be the best method for dealing with crimes against humanity. An investigation of the International Criminal Court shall be the focus of this essay. The decision to create a permanent international criminal tribunal or court dates back to the late 1940s…

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Mass Marriage, Vavuniya

What a large and dramatic idea occurred to the brigadier in charge of rehabilitation , to organize a mass wedding to spur former Tiger troops into formation under a different philosophy and yet appeal to their strengths to cohere as a group not any longer in waging war against the State but to reveal their common humanity to agree to a public celebration of private bonds, to ensure their co-habiting led to proper inheritance for children, access to social welfare payments when necessary, all to the good for these members of a herd, now in white vershtis and magenta sarees eating cake and chatting with relatives witnessed by the Bollywood actor Vivek Oberoi, no less, before returning to detention camps, now two by two, respectable members of the new unitary ark, where domestic animals gather obediently while the brigadier sheds a tear; he told the press, he was nervous, even more so than before his own wedding, which did not…

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  • 18 Jun, 2010
  • 50 Comments
  • Colombo,
    Jaffna,
    Peace and Conflict,
    Politics and Governance,
    Post-War,
    Reconciliation

Celebrating war victory and banning commemoration of dead civilians: this is “home grown & indigenous” reconciliation and freedom in Sri Lanka?

Today, 18th June 2010, has been declared a public holiday by the government. Many Sri Lankans, especially Sinhalese from the South are expected to respond enthusiastically to the government’s elaborate plans to celebrating the war victory over the LTTE. For several days, citizens in Colombo had to put up with closed roads in preparation. How much of our – citizens – tax payer’s money will be spent for this celebration is something I don’t know and dare not think. Some media had highlighted on the fact that the General who led the war victory is likely to be in detention and not invited to celebrate the victory he led. What seems to be forgotten, and what I do know for sure is that tens or hundreds of thousands of Tamils, particularly in the North, will not be celebrating this victory. Many of them infact, will be grieving and mourning for family members and friends killed, injured, missing and detained in…

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Superstitions in the 21st century: Of black pottu, politicians and punools

In the black and white photographs of my childhood, my sisters and I look pretty smart, standing to attention under the spreading mango tree which Rajaratnam Uncle took every year to record our development for future reference. But there was one major flaw. We all had hideous black pottus the size of an Orange Barley bottle top on our foreheads. The pottu is to ward off evil-eyes  which could ruin our beauty. But then none of us were Ajantha frescoes but parents being parents obviously thought we were. Then my father was cleaning the cobwebs in our rather ancient house with two kokkathadis ( two large poles tied together) to reach the ceiling-less roof on a Friday when our neighbour, Mr Jacob, walked in. He said it was thudakku (not done according to Hindu customs) to clean the house on Friday. Mr Jacob was a staunch Catholic whereas my family is a hotchpotch of  Hindu, Protestant and Catholics. Father fell…

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Sacred Cows and Orbital Dreams in Sri Lanka

Arthur C Clarke - he started a revolution

It happened 20 years ago, but I still remember the incident. In early 1990, as a young science journalist working for the Asia Technology magazine of Hong Kong, I was being shown around the Pakistani space agency SUPARCO premises in Karachi. At the time, they were readying the country’s first digital communications satellite, Badr 1 (Urdu for ‘New Moon-1’). There was great excitement about its impending launch (which took place a few weeks later on a Chinese Long March 2 rocket). Being younger, eager and more idealistic, I asked the Pakistani space chiefs if the ‘New Moon’ would also usher in a new era of information disclosure for the hitherto secretive space programme. Pakistan had recently returned to civilian rule after many years of dictatorship, and Benazir Bhutto was Prime Minister (in her first term). The political mood was generally upbeat. My question only elicited enigmatic smiles. I later found out — from Pakistani journalists and independent scientists — that…

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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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