Archive for the ‘Post-War’

TNA’s withdrawal from talks and the emerging political paralysis

Sampanthan, leader of the political proxy of the Tamil Tigers, the Tamil National Alliance, addresses reporters during a media conference in Colombo

R Sampanthan is a Member of Parliament and leader of the Tamil National Alliance andIllankai Tamil Arasu Kachchi. The recently concluded Local Government (LG) elections provided evidence, if evidence was needed, of a divided polity. Amidst accusations of violence, intimidation, and killings, the Tamil people voted, the Tamil National Alliance (TNA) emerged triumphant, resilient, re-asserting its dominance in the North. The UPFA-led Government swept away the rest of the polls, as expected. Expected: lacks excitement, unexciting, stale news; given the absence of any serious opposition, given the resources at its command, given the power it wields. For those genuinely committed to democracy, the TNA’s victory is one which is most welcome, deserves celebration. For the Government, the outcome provides a wonderful argument: ‘there is multi-party democracy in post-war Sri Lanka.’ In a post-LTTE era, the electoral verdict in favour of the TNA especially in the North – once a proxy of the separatist-LTTE but one which has in recent times articulated the need for…

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No One, in the US or Sri Lanka, Should Be Above the Law

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Photo by Sudath Silva In a report released last month Human Rights Watch called on the US government to launch criminal investigations into allegations of detainee abuse authorized by senior Bush administration officials. The 107-page report, “Getting Away with Torture: The Bush Administration and Mistreatment of Detainees,” presents substantial information warranting criminal investigations of former President George W. Bush, Vice President Dick Cheney, Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld, and CIA Director George Tenet, for ordering practices such as “waterboarding,” the use of secret CIA prisons, and the transfer of detainees to countries where they were tortured. Such acts violated the Convention against Torture, the Geneva Conventions, and other international treaties binding on the United States. President Barack Obama took a number of important steps to promote human rights when he took office, including banning the use of torture. But while the Obama administration has disavowed the Bush administration for the use of torture, it has not taken the necessary next step: investigating…

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Chaos in Colombo: Mêlée over jobs indicates a serious economic problem in Sri Lanka?

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Anushka Wijesinha (who blogs here), a Research Economist at the Institute of Policy Studies, sent us these incredible photos and video of the chaos in Colombo today when thousands of Korean job seekers appeared for Korean exam applications at the Police Park down Havelock Road. Mainstream media reports a figure of 10,000, which going by the video and photos appear to be mostly young men. In a speech by Dr. Anura Ekanayake, outgoing CCC chairman and IPS Board member, he noted that of the 4.5% unemployment rate overall in Sri Lanka, 18.1% of youth (age 15-24) are unemployed and within this around 10.7% of those qualified with A/Ls are unemployed. Anushka observed that, Many were queuing from 5pm yesterday, which means they had spent the night on the pavements. By the time the centre closed at 11.15am (as was informed by the officials there to those gathered 3,500 applicants had been registered. There was at least 1,000 more in the…

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The Disillusionment of the Diaspora

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[Editors note: Also read Two years after war’s end in Sri Lanka: What can the Tamil and Sinhala diaspora do?] Indi’s post entitled “How Diaspora Can Overthrow The Government” set me off on a train of thought. Thought about the Sri Lankan diaspora, its role in Sri Lanka, both now and in the future. The first mental hurdle I encountered was that of the definition of the word “diaspora”. What exactly is the diaspora? I was once involved in a discussion here in London in which a Sri Lankan (as I saw her) lady objected to being classed as “diasporic”. Her reasoning was that the diaspora was actually people who had forcibly left their country, which was not her specific case, and she requested that the rest of us refer to her by some other label. Sadly I can’t remember what it was. But, up until that point, I’d considered the term diaspora to be a general reference to emigrants. Broad I know,…

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In the midst of the Adi Vel festival

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All photos by Iromi Perera 9.30am Saturday morning. I was walking on the pavement in Bambalapitiya when I found myself in the midst of the Adi Vel festival. I had passed it earlier near the Kovil in Kirullapone and had found myself feeling slightly unsettled after seeing men being hung on hooks and suspended from trucks in order to ask for help from a higher God. But I was there and seeing the hundreds of people involved in the Vel festival in different ways just made me stop and watch.  I wished I knew more about the festival to have appreciated it fully. I also wished I had my camera with me but at that moment, my mobile had to suffice. The decorated coaches pulled by men and women, people getting their children and themselves blessed by the priests, devotees with their offerings, the breaking of the coconuts, people fulfilling vows by rolling on the ground (the entire distance of the…

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Sri Lanka’s Tamil question: Justice, Lies and Videotape

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Sri Lanka’s thirty year war is now more of words than of guns, but it is no less bitter. RNW’s team in the country met with fierce resistance from the Sri Lankan government to the current calls for justice from the international community. But the problem is that the international community’s presence in the country is dwindling, a fact witnessed when travelling across the east of the island – where once there were distinctive white NGO vehicles on every corner, the sight is now rare. With the help of one remaining NGO which requested anonymity, RNW met nine freshly ‘reintegrated’ former Tamil Tiger guerillas who spoke of their desire for justice for all Sri Lankans. But people in the heavily militarized north and east live in fear of reprisal if they openly criticise the authorities – which is why a vociferous Tamil diaspora, the foreign media and a UN investigation have stepped in. The Sri Lankan government is now hitting…

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Programme to Develop Leadership Training and Positive Thinking: Perspective of a Participant

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Having participated in the “Leadership Training and Positive Skills Development Programme” I feel the need to give an account of my experience and views on the programme as there was much debate and disapproval among concerned parties regarding its necessity, its relevance and the manner of implementation of this programme. This is an attempt to give a first-hand account of what really took place during the three weeks of training, discuss if the course fulfilled its objective, and propose the way forward in conducting the programme for future batches of university students. Pre-Departure May 16 was chaotic. Rumor was that the Ministry of Education was sending out letters to local university entrants for the year 2011, asking them to report to one of some thirty army camps across the country, for a three week (military?) training course. “Naaah, they’ll never go through with it” was the general attitude we had at the beginning of May, following an announcement by the…

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Heroes and Heroism: Osama Bin Laden and Prabhakaran

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Photo: AP Osama Bin Laden. Dark avenging hero, Arabian knight, Arabic Lawrence of Arabia. Osama versus the USA: David versus Goliath, a hijacked airliner the stone from his slingshot. Not quite. David didn’t murder Goliath’s family in their tents, leaving Goliath only hobbling. Not every leader or dramatic figure is a hero, and not every force that takes on a much bigger foe is heroic. Not even when that foe has been guilty, as has the USA, of horrible crimes such as the sanctions which were responsible for the deaths of several hundred thousand Iraqi infants. This is not an argument for pacifism. Or moderation. Heroes are almost always extremists in one way or the other. They seem to seek out or get drawn into ‘extreme situations’ – in which they really come alive. They also ‘take it to the limit/one more time’. (The Eagles). They are not ‘one of ‘and do not comfortably ‘dwell among’. They are different from…

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Why Government Rhetoric and Propaganda Might Divide Sri Lanka

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In an interview Professor Rajiva Wijesinha gave The Sunday Leader concerning government responses to international pressure, he remarks that “people believe what they want to believe”. Wijesinha’s ironically astute observation sheds light on why government responses to war crimes allegations during the final stage of the Eelam War are not being rallied against locally. Leaving aside the lack of press freedom, the fear psychosis and the problem of discontent (over 16 Sri Lankans commit suicide daily), the desire to simply ‘move past’ a nerve-wracking 30 years of war is strong. At this point it is no surprise that internal criticism of the government response to war crimes allegations is yet weak. While the government strongly condemns what it deems the rhetoric, propaganda and bias of Western media, it is in turn a useful exercise to see what kind of political rhetoric is intrinsic to the official government response, and what kind of moral and political commitments are implicit in that…

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In conversation with Chandana Sirimalwatte

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Chandana Sirimalwatte is the Editor of the Lanka newspaper, and recipient of this year’s Sepala Gunasena Award for Defending Press Freedom in Sri Lanka, awarded by the Editors Guild. The interview was conducted a day before Gnanasundaram Kuhanathan, News Editor of Tamil Daily Uthayan was attacked with iron rods in Jaffna. Chandana’s been arrested, interrogated by the CID and has had his press sealed. In October 2009, he was arrested for ‘arousing the general public against the Government’. A day after the Presidential election in January 2010, he was again arrested because he and his newspaper backed Gen. Sarath Fonseka during the campaign. This was the basis for a question asked, whether media should be so overtly partisan. We talk about the freedom of expression, how Chandana started in journalism, what keeps him going and despite serious threats, in Sri Lanka, what he sees as the future of journalism including the publication of critical material online and how what role…

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Picking up the Tamil Tigers’ scent

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A former female Tamil Tiger rebel dressed in bridal attire looks on as others dress up another bride during a mass wedding ceremony at a government rehabilitation camp near Vavuniya in northern Sri Lanka in June. Eranga Jayawardena/AP. From Christian Science Monitor. “The people have used ballots instead of bullets, that’s a great victory for us”, said Sri Lankan Health Minister Maithripala Sirisena last Sunday, even though the ruling party he represents suffered a heavy defeat at the polls in the war-torn north and east of the island-nation. By RNW’s International Justice Desk in Sri Lanka The Tamil National Alliance (TNA), formerly controlled by the LTTE (Tamil Tigers), won control of three quarters of the councils in the Tamil majority region. Premature The government’s optimism may be premature though. RNW recently visited Sri Lanka to interview former Tamil Tigers fighters. They still sound determined, even though the Tamil war has ended. “Yes, if life doesn’t improve here then I would fight again”, said one…

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The Power of Graciousness: Treading the middle-path in post-war Sri Lanka

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Photo courtesy The Economist, Truth and consequences I am not only a pacifist but a militant pacifist. I am willing to fight for peace. Nothing will end war unless the people themselves refuse to go to war. Einstein This government inherited a very complex challenge with the LTTE so focused on the mission of creating Eelam using any means possible, with terror as its central strategy. At the same time, I do not stand in judgment on Prabhakran for starting this movement as he probably had just cause at the time and I even do not judge the use of force and violence to make a point, like Mandela did to get the attention of the Apartheid government in South Africa of their unjust policies.   I do, however, abhor what Prabhakaran did as a ruthless leader who did not value any life in his quest to achieve his goal. LTTE had clearly showed that they were not interested in talking…

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There is an urgent need for psychological assistance in the North

Apputhurai Arumainathan

Jaffna: Two years ago, Sri Lanka’s three decade long war ended in May 2009. But, those who witnessed the brutality of the war are still suffering and struggling to forget the traumatic past. Apputhurai Arumainathan (53) is one among many. He lost his wife Gunaambaal Arumainathan (50) in the last phase of the war in Vanni. “My wife was killed in a shell attack, when she went to the shop on 28th of April 2009 in Mullivaaikkaal. She got injured in her waist, and died on the spot” says Apputhurai Arumainathan with pain in his heart. Like many others Apputhurai Arumainathan too got displaced many times, and spent time in the internally displaced camp in Vavuniya. Finally, he managed to physically relocate himself in Jaffna peninsula with his other relatives. But he still struggles to forget his traumatic memories. Roman Catholic priest and a trained psychologist Father Damian Soosaipillai is helping the war affected children and widows in Jaffna. The…

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In conversation with Capt. Elmo Jayawardena

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Capt. Elmo Jayawardena took to the skies when Sri Lanka’s commercial aviation was, to coin a phrase, just taking off. He is today known for his writing published in mainstream media, often anchored to his work with Candle Aid Lanka. Elmo went through an impoverished childhood, and his success today as a philanthropist was achieved through singular dedication and hard work. We talk about his first job, how he got into the airline industry and the hardships he had to endure when growing up. Remarkably, Elmo is also an award winning writer. His book Sam’s Story won the Graetian Prize in 2001 and is one of the successful books Vijitha Yapa has ever published. We talk at length about the characters and leitmotifs in Sam’s Story, and what compelled Elmo to write it. Candle Aid’s work is clearly Elmo’s chief interest in Sri Lanka, and we talk about what made him begin, its nature and what he expects is the…

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I Am NOT Sri Lankan

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Groundviews and the Sri Lankan blogosphere in general are full of interesting posts, comments and rhetoric about identity, Sri Lankanness specifically. Where it began, who started it, no one knows, but it’s all around us and I feel a need to add my two cents’ worth, identity being one of the things we’re all interested in. This post on Groundvews by Guru caught my eye yesterday. My first impression was that it looked interesting, if only I could understand the bloody thing. This is an issue I have with these academic sorts; their use of huge words, some with as many as three syllables, makes it hard for regular people like me to immediately relate to and understand the content. And it’s not only the number of syllables in their words, it’s often the words themselves. In the very early stages Guru casually throws out my first unknown word; “praxis”. I looked it up and, well, let’s just say 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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