Suntzu, you think Pigs can’t fly? Read Funny Boy by Shyam Selvadurai. He thinks pigs can fly and I think the day there’s peace in Sri Lanka is not so long and people like Punitham, people like you and people like me can contribute to it. Nobody has to keep their fingers crossed and hope to God.
Miracles are rare! Besides God is busy.

Punitham, don’t be so pessimistic and live in the present world without being so idealistic. Sure the president has supreme powers. But do you think the civil society is inferior?
And you think other coallition parties would just obey MR and his brother?
What about most seeked Democracy? Don’t just talk about Democracy and worship it, work for it. No pain no gain!

It was not my intension to say that one should not worry over the long time taken to present these ridiculous proposals or the harm such proposals would do to the Tamils, Muslims and Sinhalese [all those who are affected by the war] and to the hard work by various people in order to come to a general consensus over power sharing …
Of course the content of these proposals presented by the SLFP is worrying and jeopardize the entire work done so far.
I didn’t mention a thing about the proposals of the SLFP.
I said, it’s not fair to put the LTTE in to the account of Sinhalese chauvinism when its roots are scattered all over the world. How many other parties have fed it and is feeding it at the moment?
And you haven’t got the equation correct. The SLFP is not a synonym for the GoSL. Therefore these proposals are 100% subject to change; hopefully to the positive side [We have a democratic system?].
Have faith on Democracy!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

This is why people like Nimal Siripala Silva have pacified the proposals by saying, they are not the final position of the government, etc.

i think its highly disillusion to think of so called ‘left’ forces been seen as having any say in contemporary politics, belonging to parties who’s membership find it difficult to fill in a small three-wheeler.

i am quite skeptical (although i’d like to remain hopeful) as to the outcome and the impact of the APRC itself.

It is important here to take note of the LTTE’s spokesman, Rasaiah Ilanthirayan’s, , recent statement to the Hindustani Times. He claimed that its newly established “Tamil Eelam Airforce”, will help the organization gain international recognition as running a full fledged state. His claim that “We have territory, administration, judicial and law enforcement systems; an army, navy and now an airforce. Let’s call a spade a spade, we are a state” , may be just bombast, intended for an international audience –nevertheless it is a bold assertion. The subsequent air attack on the oil installations 2 days later, only further underlined this assertion. Now juxtapose the SLFP proposals against this backdrop and one realizes that the SLFP leadership has lost all sense of political reality.

But where does this leave the country? Jehan Perera in his weekly article to the Daily Mirror yesterday, asserts that the burden of hope now falls on the UNP, who given their consistent stand for a politically negotiated, federal solution, based on the OSLO declaration, is the only alternative left. This would however require them acquring power through a voter determined southern consensus. Only time, of which there is very little left, will tell if this is feasible.

Does Sri Lankan politics proffer the chance of an alternative third force emerging along the lines of the ADQ in Quebec. (Refer D.B.S Jeyeraj’s excellent analyis of the March 26 Quebec elections in the Sunday Leader of 29th April). But then this would require a charismatic leader of the calibre of Mario Dumont, which is hard to find in Sri Lanka.

It is at a historical juncture such as this that one realizes the enormity of the betrayal of the progressive forces of this county by the traditional left parties. Their foray into coalition politics over 40 years, has not only left them decimated and derelict, but has resulted in their conceding this political space to pretenders, who garbed in red and claiming to be Marxists ,spew nothing but a politics of hate and intolerance.

Nevertheless, I still see a glimmer of hope, if the left partners in the coalition were to take a firm stand for the need for meaningful devolution of power. Tissa Vitharna, who played a big role in bringing to the table the RSCA report and subsequently, his own synthesized report, could together with Dew Gunaskera, give leadership to this effort. There will be many progressive forces in the country and many in the international community who will back them. Remember, many people were prepared to clutch at the straw put out by the National Anti-war front, when it came onto a platform denouncing the war and calling for political negotiations to resolve the conflict.

Am I being naïve to even suggest this? Are they ready to make the sacrifices required? To-date there has not been a protest made by these left parties in government to the appalling statement made by Champika Ranaweera concerning civil society organizations.

We are at a political crossroad today, and it is an opportunity for somebody to act in the interest of the well being of the country. I still have hope.

A Postscript:

While I find Sumanasiri Liyanage’s concluding reference to Sambandan’s remark about the LTTE being a baby of Sinhala chauvinism, quaint, I am not sure if the LTTE can any longer be referred to as a baby. Having been conceived and born in the early 80s, it has over the past 25 years, aggressively nurtured by Sinhala chauvinism, become a fully grown, mature adult. Energised by its successes (and perhaps, failures), it no longer needs the nurturing of Sinhala chauvinism, as it goes about its task of nation building, even if it is fascistic in form and terroristic (some would say “counter-terroristic”) in its application. The task of Sinhala Chauvinism, after nearly 60 years of toil, is now complete. Any residual chauvinistic barking is, proverbially speaking, at the moon!