Dear SomeWhatDisgusted,

It is hard for me to give a rock solid answer to your question. However, think about this scenario (probably a hypothetical one) which will help you to think in the right direction.

Imagine for a while, the people haven’t moved out (willfully or forcibly) of their villages during this operation carried out by the army. The situation would have been worse then.

How can we win the confidence of the people with out trusting them? As I said before in my previous reply, LTTE cannot stand alone. We should not see them as born terrorists.

Veluppilai and my father-in-law have been working together in Anuradhapura kachcheri in late 50s. He (my father-in-law) used to tell about Veluppilai’s politeness and kindness. See how his son has turned out.

Therefore we cannot draw a conclusion and say that this is black and this is white. Some times a black could turn out to be a white and white could be a black. Some ones black is other ones white. It looks funny but it is bloody true.

Now if we come back to our question. Of course, we are in a cross road now and probably at a lowest point at the moment. For sure, we will bounce back. History repeats itself. This is the problem with the military path. No turning back.

We are talking about one nation but we are divided into ten nations. I have plenty to talk but it is not the right place to talk. We must respect others privacy too. As I said before, drop a message at my email address.

Thanks and Regards

Thank you for your reply. I too hope I have not been strident in my tone and I only wish to exchange ideas and come to a consensus. I completely agree with you about addressing the underlying issues, but I think we also need to realize that this is once again not a simple black & white issue with a single cause. A huge number of reasons have contributed to the mess we are in today, and trying to reduce it to a single root cause is in my humble opinion, not possible.

Things like colonial divide & conquer policies, power hungry politicians, identity loss in a post-colonial era, the all important economic factor and many other issues have had complex interplays in bringing us to where we see ourselves today. So when you say address the root cause, which one do you see as the root cause?

We also need to understand that the problem has mutated and evolved into an all new form as well. What may have originally been justified as a struggle for equality (something I’m more than ready to support although there are many complications here as well) has turned into a violent quest for a racial Eelam, with terrorism as the preferred means to achieve it. How can we address any root cause when people are being blown to bits all around us?

That’s why I think it’s important to restore some sense of normalcy and get people into a democratic mainstream first. This is an unimaginable mess, and we need to start unravelling it little by little. There is no question that each and every human being in Sri Lanka must have equality. The problem is how do we gradually evolve towards that state from where we are right now?

Can we open up the cities and let people roam freely when “terrorists” use that opportunity to infiltrate and plant bombs? First, let’s solve the major problem which is preventing any form of progress, “terrorism”. You may argue about state terrorism, but I would prefer a democratically elected terrorist govt. to a crypto-fascist terrorist group any day of the week. At least we can get rid of the govt. at the next round of elections can’t we?

Then we need to start addressing the remaining issues one by one. I’m not saying things will be solved overnight, but we have to all work together to achieve it, not pull in 10 different directions. One group can’t be asking for a “Tamil Eelam”, another for “Muslim autonomy” and Sinhalese can’t say this is “our country”. We must have a common goal for Sri Lanka, which in this 21st century, ought to be a plural society with a “Sri Lankan” identity. We must banish these primitive ethnic identities like Tamil and Sinhala to the 17th century where they belong, Otherwise, we will never see any progress.

Thank you for your reply.

The reason why I wrote the way I wrote was that even I don’t want to hurt others feelings. If my writings annoyed you I am sorry.

I come to your point directly. Look at what you have said.

“…You’ll be more than happy to quarantine an entire city if it had a deadly disease wouldn’t you? Why? So that the problem is localized and solved. Does that not impinge on the freedom of movement of the individuals in that city?…”

This analogy is totally unfit in this context. I use to adopt a philosophy “soft on people tough on problem”. I don’t want to talk on LTTE or “terrorist”. We should NOT spend our energy on them. Every thing stems from our minds. When some one is ready to blow him selves up, the small seed planted in his mind has grown up to the size of monster.

We have two options to avoid this situation.
1. Make sure that there is no seeds getting to his heart through his mind.

2. Even if the seeds get his heart there shouldn’t be any fertile ground in his heart to support the growth of this monster.

We need to have society with well educated people and proper governing system to over come this situation. Education and governing system should complement each other.

In 83 July, the good hearted Sinhalese have to put their lives on the line and saved their Tamil friends. The law and order has utterly failed there. I have been in that situation. Otherwise, I wouldn’t be here to talk to you. The other day, I was listening to one of the songs from the album of Gypsies “Kiyanne Gothala”. One of the sentence, it goes like this, “…Neethiya Ballata geeya mewage rattak atthula saamaya rajakarannenehe…”.

Now, you need solution. Not only you every one need solution, for that matter. How many years can you live in this world? Probably, 40, 50 years!!! I don’t think that I can. However, that land should be there and will be there even after 50 years.

One of the main problems which I identified was that we don’t know what democracy means. We are still living in the medieval period. That is why Rajapaksa became king dutugemunu. I am reproducing my comments wrote under the article by Michael Roberts “Dilemma’s at war’s end”

“….SomeOne1 said,
March 4, 2009 @ 8:58 am

Wijayapala,…. the real “hard reality” is that there is no such thing called “offering political solution” within the frame work of democracy. Majority rules the country. It is simple as that. There shouldn’t be any one to give and any one to take. If we are really interested in finding a solution, we must come out of the square which is the current political frame work. There is no way around it.

It is not correct to perceive the LTTE as an entity or a group. It can’t stand alone and it is an illusive force. We may not see the LTTE today as it is in 25 years time. Because the world is evolving and changing, therefore, the nature of the conflict will also change with it. The only way to get rid of the LTTE is to get rid of the reason for the existence of LTTE….”

I believe that we are trying to deal with the “symptoms”. Rather, we should deal with the “root cause” so that the “symptoms” will take care of them selves.

Now days, collateral damage is accepted norm. It could be even lose of 1000s and 1000s of human life. It’s okay as long as we achieve our objectives.

Dear SomeWhat Disgusted., I value your advice and comments. Please write direct to me @ the following address.

[email protected] . If you are living locally, call me on 0409 249 059, alternatively, levee your contact details at this site.

I hope you noticed that I put the word “terrorists” within quotation marks. There’s a good reason for that. Although we wish to dehumanize people by calling them “terrorists”, at the end of the day, they too are human beings. The question is not how to find and kill them, but how to rehabilitate them into ordinary citizens who will not resort to violence as a means of solving problems.

If you’ve read my posts before this, you’ll come to realize that I’ve commented on that dimension several times. Most of these “terrorists” blow themselves up with the utter conviction that they are doing the right thing.

But sympathizing with the situation doesn’t solve the problem does it? As far as the govt. is concerned, many of these people have aided and abetted terrorism. You talk about their basic rights. Of course we should respect any human being’s basic rights but surely, you can’t be so naive as to hide behind a statement like “the terms ideal world, real world, practicalities, dilemma, etc, etc…cannot come in to the picture when we talk of “basic human rights””. I’d like to show you that things are not as black & white as you or I would like them to be.

There are reports of LTTE activity within the camps (read http://www.pjeganathan.org/south-paw/2009/5/27/access-to-and-control-of-idp-camps.html). So you suggest that they be let go. Guess what’ll happen? Regroup, rearm and trigger another war which will once again subject all these people to shelling and bombing?

Now don’t interpret my point as being that every human being in the Wanni is a “terrorist”. The problem is, you can’t tell and as has been pointed out by Michael Roberts and others, these people have been subjected to having violence as the norm for many years. I’m not placing the blame on them for that, merely observing the reality of it. How do you propose that they have a sense of normalcy restored to them without some rehabilitation program?

That’s why I said. It’s not merely a question of freedom of movement. It’s a question of quelling a serious danger that could once again unleash untold death and destruction. That’s why hiding behind some abstract ideal with no mention whatsoever of how to solve these problems, helps no one. You’ll be more than happy to quarantine an entire city if it had a deadly disease wouldn’t you? Why? So that the problem is localized and solved. Does that not impinge on the freedom of movement of the individuals in that city? Where are your “ideals” then? What about shop lifters or serial killers. You are happy to incarcerate them so that they can be rehabilitated aren’t you? Does that not violate the felon’s basic human rights?

Now once again, please do NOT interepret my point as being that all people in the Wanni are terrorists or felons. I merely want to highlight the fact that things are not as morally black & white as you portray them to be, so you cannot and should not hide behind some idealistic statement, ignoring or failing to address the practicalities of this situation.

So I ask once again, what are your suggestions for dealing with this situation realistically?

First of all, thank you for respecting my views.

I am a law abiding ordinary citizen. I don’t know about you. All what I am saying is that we, simply, cannot compromise on “basic human right”. The terms ideal world, real world, practicalities, dilemma, etc, etc…cannot come in to the picture when we talk of “basic human rights”.

We shouldn’t be in a place where we ask this regime to release this people, at the first place. Yes, here we are. What do we do next? We must understand that we are here not by an accident. We are here because of the carefully chosen method of system of governance by the regimes after the independence (or better put it, withdrawal of colonial powers).

First, we must understand that this problem has a very deep root deeper than 2500 years. After I read your reply between lines, I see that you don’t even scratch the surface. (Probably, you don’t want to go deeper in to it). What I gather from your reply was that the way you perceive wanni and wanni people are totally wrong.

Your words “…..And there in lies the moral dilemma. The only way out is mass-rehabilitation, for a people who have lived, breathed and come to accept having “terrorists” in their midst as the norm for 30 years. …” clearly show your ignorance. These people (wanni) are patriots and exactly same as the “sinhala budhist” people of this land. These wanni people have deeper root in this land than that of sinhala budhist. Because tamil is older than sinhala and Hindusium is older than budhism.

In a way, it is not relevant to this discussion. How ever, if you understand that they (wanni people) are not simply terrorist and they have equal footing in this land that is all I want you to know.

I wish to cut long story short. The change should come from inside out. i.e, the change in our heart will come to our outlook. The outlook of the current regime is not good. It is correctly said when some one say “it is a war with out witness”. There is no transparency before, during, and even after the war. See who the allies of this current regime are. That tells the whole story.

I don’t want to clutter this web site. Therefore, if you want to discuss further get my email address from the editor and drop me a message please. Talk to you soon. Have a good day.

You may be right, but whether Michael Roberts heard it first hand or heard it ten times removed, doesn’t really invalidate the points he makes. I’m more interested in knowing how to address the practicalities of this situation. Just saying “let them go” is very nice in theory. What are your suggestions for dealing with the realities?

“…Please read Michael Roberts’ “Dilemma at War’s End” article published on ground views a few months back….”

You go and read the comments which I have written on 4th of March on the same article “Dilemma at War’s End” by Michael Roberts which you have mentioned.

Michael Roberts’s writings are based on 2nd and 3rd hand information he received. On top of that, these people’s (Michael Roberts) system of values and thinking pattern are different from that of ours.

End of the day, it is we who should decide our destiny.

First, now is a good time to move away from espousing inquiries in to the activities of the dark forces among the INGOs who acted against the overall interests of the people of Sri Lanka. While the threat of inquiry and exposure may well act as a deterrent to some in the INGO community calling for our blood, let us emphasise the need to move forward. The misdeeds of the INGOs must be exposed but I am sure they have bad records elsewhere and let us try and encourage others to do this exposing on behalf of victims everywhere. I have no doubt there is a worthwhile story here that will eventually be picked up and run by an investigative journalist from the west. Let our local energies be directed to the imperatives of the moment and skip all inquiries for now (at least the next 20 years).

The more important issue concern your comments on the need for devolution of powers.
You say :
“…the implementation of the 13th amendment … is the minimum cost of accommodation between the Sinhalese who are the majority on the island and the Tamils who dwarf the Sinhalese outside it.”

I absolutely agree with the need for devolution of powers because any other path would be inconceivable on many fronts. If nothing else the Sinhalese would be blamed by the Tamils and the IC evermore for all the poor economic circumstances faced by Tamils – which may in practice be no different to the economic disadvantages of many Sinhalese. But the “political science” analysis you give in support of it bring forth powerful negative feelings in many Sinhalese and will turn them against the notion and feed the fires of discontent. Also the Tamil community (including the diaspora) seems to have a lot of issues to sort out among themselves and they can best do that in a “devolved environment” without holding the other communities responsible for their long standing internal issues as well.

So why not explore what everyone may gain from the concept of devolution so long as statutory discrimination based on ethnicity is proscribed throughout the country.

Having lived outside SL for over 30 years I appreciate I am out of touch with the ground realities. But for example why are the so called “Sinhala chauvinists” not excited by the very significant potential for regional autonomy to be a force to uplift the Sinhalese in the south of the country ?

After all Sinhala Buddhist values will be more defendable and therefore more likely to endure and be considered as worthwhile by all when the community that most celebrate those values is better educated, better employed and more prosperous overall.

Perhaps the country should be governed as 3 provinces. One in the north and the east, one in the south with HQ in Galle and the rest. Every Sri Lankan should then find a place best suited to them. We may well end up with a system of provincial governance where the competitive instincts of the Sri Lankan people (including the Tamil diaspora and often underestimated Sinhala diaspora) can play out for the benefit of all.

When the Sri Lanka community is better educated and more prosperous there is a much greater likelihood people will be nicer to each other and invest in upholding civil and political institutions in the country as the failure to do so will adversely affect their achievements.