You wrote “Anyone critiquing 13A and seeking to go backwards from it is as much or more of an extremist as those who are dissatisfied, reject it and renounce it as the baseline of negotiations”

The above statement implies that no provision within the 13A should be amended by the removal of powers already granted, not withstanding any injustices that such powers may cause to any party affected by it. Why should that be so? Do you believe that all that is embedded within the 13A is Just, Fair and Equitable by ALL communities within Lanka? Doesn’t that sound like Bush’s doctrine of “you are either with us or against us”?

The 13A appendix 2 referring to Inter-Provincial Irrigation and Land Development Projects, state that

2:5 The distribution of all allotments of such land in such projects will be on the basis of national ethnic ratio. In the distribution of allotments according to such ratios, priority will be given to persons who are displaced by the project, landless of the District in which the project is situated and thereafter the landless of the Province.

The National Ethnic Ratio is the cornerstone of the Ethnic Integration Policy of Singapore. It has been successfully operated for about 3 decades and is still being applied.

The current National Ethnic Ratios are

Sinhalese…………..74.88%
Sri Lanka Tamil……..11.21%
Indian Tamil…………4.16%
Sri Lanka Moor……….9.23%
Burgher……………..0.18%
Malay……………….0.18%
Other……………….0.15%

Though it is JUST, Fair and Equitable because as per clause 2.2, the financial burden of development is passed on to the whole country and hence get distributed according to the National Ethnic Ratio, would this not be seen later as Sinhalisation of the North and East by the very same Tamil politicians who now want the 13A implemented?

That is a question that Suren Ragavan could answer, given that he is a closer observer and a close friend of many TNA MPs. A workable democratic solution requires moving away from hardened viewpoints and the ability to compromise in the name of Justice an Equality.

The benefits of these development are prioritised to the residents of the province by clause 2.5 with the lowest priority ending with unaffected residents of that province. Though it can be argued that those outside the province is not specifically excluded, the inclusion is not specifically mentioned either. In order to leave out speculation later, should it not be specifically added to 13A?

2:7 The distribution of allotments in such projects on the basis of the aforesaid principles would be done as far as possible so as not to disturb very significantly the demographic pattern of the Province and in accordance with the principle of ensuring community cohesiveness in human settlements.

How on Earth could this be complied with, when 2.5 calls for Land allotment according to the National Ethnic Ratio?

2:4 The selection of allotees for such lands will be determined by the Government of Sri Lanka having regard to settler selection criteria including degree of landlessness, income level, size of family and agricultural background of the applicants. The actual application of these principles, selection of allottees and other incidental matters connected thereto will be within the powers of the Provincial Councils

The above clause confers the power of selection to the Provincial Council for a development that is paid and maintained (clause 2.2 and 2.8 read together) by the citizens of the whole country. The Provincial Council appears to be a free loader.
How do you justify it?

Where does an aggrieved party go to for redress?

Land within the control of a Provincial Council should relate to the population living within it. Such relationship should be universal if Equality is to be upheld. No provincial council should control excess land.

Northern Province
Population 1,058,762
Land Entitlement on per capita allocation 3433 sq km
Actual extent 8884 sq km
Excess Land 5451 sq km

North Central Province
Population 1,259,567
Land Entitlement on per capita allocation 4084 sq km
Actual extent 10472 sq km
Excess Land 6387 sq km

Eastern Province
Population 1,551,381
Land Entitlement on per capita allocation 5030 sq km
Actual extent 9996 sq km
Excess Land 4965 sq km

Western Province
Population 5,821,710
Land Entitlement on per capita allocation 18,878 sq km
Actual extent 3684 sq km
Shortfall of Land 15,194 sq km

The above are 4 examples of disproportionate land currently allocated to a province. This should be corrected and if there is an excess such land should be converted to Central Territories similar to the Union Territories (7 of them) found in India.

I support devolution fully but by what logic can one justify conferring Land Powers without correcting the injustices embedded within 13A?

How then can an unmodified 13A be accepted as a baseline?

These are just a few problems with the 13A that needs rectification.
Going backwards is hence inevitable if Justice is to be served.

A far more objective and credentialed source disagrees, and presents a balanced perspective:

“It is clear from the policies the Rajapaksa brothers have pursued since the defeat of the LTTE in May 2009 that their principal objective has been to prevent forever the emergence of a similar organisation. Now, the surest way to ensure that objective would be to take steps to erode, if not eliminate, separatist sentiment among the Tamil community. And the first measure in this direction would be to implement the 13th Amendment and the recommendations of the Lessons Learnt and Reconciliation Commission (LLRC) report, especially with regard to incidents of excessive or malicious use of force against civilians in the last few months of the anti-LTTE operations.

However, President Rajapaksa and Gotabhaya in particular, have always been critical of the 13th Amendment devolution process which created the provincial councils and gave the provinces meaningful powers including over land and the police. The legislation they wish to promote now would effectively take away these powers. They also desire that in future, constitutional changes regarding provincial powers could be accomplished by Colombo with a simple majority of provinces siding with it. This would lead to Colombo retaining in its hands the authority over subjects that are connected with the state security apparatus and, indirectly, demography.

President Rajapaksa would like to get these changes through before the Northern Council elections which he has announced would be held in September. It is pertinent that he wishes to hold the elections prior to the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting in November. For the time being, the proposed changes are being resisted by some ruling alliance partners.

Reconstruction

A recent visit to Colombo and Jaffna enabled this writer to hear a range of voices and also see the reconstruction activities that have been undertaken by the Sri Lankan authorities in the latter city and area. The resettlement work and the reconstruction of physical infrastructure in the four years that have passed since the LTTE’s defeat have been good. While there is a civilian administration in place, the Governor is a retired army officer and this is a ground for complaint. It is true that Colombo would have had little option but to rely on the army in the immediate aftermath of the conflict for resettlement and development work. However, popular sentiment would now be addressed by reducing the army’s salience. The acquisition of land for the expansion of defence facilities is a major ground for complaint…

There is no easy resolution of these two fundamentally contradictory visions. In the 21st century, terrorist violence is an issue but the security of plural and multi-ethnic states is best guaranteed in satisfactorily addressing the reasonable aspirations of ethnic and religious minorities including their quest for identity, justice, democracy and development. On their part, minorities must shun violent approaches and understand the concerns of the majority communities. Historical memory, ancient grievances and the dubious lessons of battles lost and won in centuries past cannot guide leaders, particularly those who control the destinies of peoples and countries in this digital age.

13th Amendment

The 13th Amendment is the cornerstone of the position of the overwhelming majority of the Tamil political class. It has already been diluted by the decision of the Court regarding the inadmissibility of the merger of the Northern and the Eastern provinces. Any further weakening of the Amendment is unacceptable to them. The Indian position too is to support the implementation of the Amendment. Recently, the Union Minister for External Affairs, Salman Khurshid, urged his Sri Lankan counterpart that elections for the Northern Provincial Council need to be held within the time frame announced by President Rajapaksa and under the present provisions of the Constitution…”

(Vivek Katju is a former Indian Ambassador to Afghanistan. This article appears in”The Hindu”)

as dayan says, the 13th amendment and the TNA run provincial council is in the best interests of Sri Lanka’s national interest (a Sinhala Buddhist unitary state that Dayan disguises under the rhetoric of devolution and the so called “political pluralism”). after all, there is nothing in the 13th amendment to be afraid of or to ‘dilute’ per say. even if TNA wins the northern provincial council, every important decision will be made through the military governor appointed by the sinhala government. the eastern province is a case in point. dayan knows this, the sinhalese know it, and the indians know it as well. so why then is all the fussing over the 13th amendment by the government as Dayan says? because the sinhalese see the 13th as an infringement of sri lanka’s soverignty. to sum it up, 13th is in the best interests of sinhala nationalists as they cant ignore india and as it is important to contain the “tamil problem” through delhi partnership and its proxy TNA. all this devolution and reconciliation rhetoric is there to distract the reader from the point .

(1) http://www.dailymirror.lk/opinion/172-opinion/31414-powerless-pcs-like-guns-without-bullets.html

Not quite. Anyone critiquing 13A and seeking to go backwards from it is as much or more of an extremist as those who are dissatisfied, reject it and renounce it as the baseline of negotiations. Thus Gammanpila and Guruparan are two sides of the same coin, even twins.

Hi Suren, thanks, I appreciate it.

I’m not sure ‘Sinhala state hegemony’ is accurate, and it may be more correct to merely say ‘ state hegemony’, but if it is Sinhala state hegemony, one must note the Gramscian distinction between ‘hegemony’ and ‘domination’.

If I am accused of recommendations that would cause a shift to the former from the latter, I could not, in clear conscience, plead not guilty.

As for power and powerlessness, the fact that I have never been tempted to enter mainstream electoral politics (and parliament) would be evidence that my aspirations (and ambitions?) lie elsewhere.

As for the target audience of actual or potential power wielders, my answer is twofold: firstly, from Plato (the ‘philosopher-ruler’)through Machiavelli (the Prince) to Gramsci ( the ‘Modern Prince’), that has been the target audience of political thinkers. It is inherent in the tradition that I have been formally trained in and is my vocation. Secondly, as Rousseau, Gramsci and Althusser said of the much maligned Machiavelli, though he was formally addressing the Prince, he was, in reality addressing the consciousness of the public; the people.

The highlight of your article is lack of opposition from the south which leaves the TNA in a far better shape. You need a sensible and working opposition lead by a good leader that stands up and questions the Government. In SL, more often that seems to done by Sampanthan-Sumathiran duo than by Ranil.

The other thing that you got right was TNA negotiating seriously and arriving at consensus. The problem in our part of the world (South Asia) is, we make too much noise and hardly ever reach conclusions in a mutually agreeable manner or good faith. In the case of Sri Lanka, that is true at the moment. But in a post-LTTE world with no war, that should be fairly easy. And a lot would depend on the tone of the disagreements.

On a slighly-related note, I am always surprised why a country like Sri Lanka with a high literacy rate and greater achievements (as compared to most countries in Asia) is not able to set an example by solving the problems in the last 4 years or so. After LTTE was defeated, one would have thought things would settle down quickly. But not quite! 🙁

Excellent analysis. A rare moderate reflection.

This is why, despite my deep disagreements with your often-camouflaged Sinhala State hegemony in the form of the hatred for LTTE- I respect you. Because you are – at least in your writing- a promoter of workable solution of democracy
You are one southerner standing for a shared democracy and who could articulate that far better than JHU/JNS/BBS/SR/Rawana Sena/ and all such ethnic centric madness put together. Surely, your argument is modern and displays that Gota’s logic of Sinhala security based on his MBRL is only a Mahavamsic mirage.

Honestly I think you should not get any state positions but be dismissed by all power circles that you often think will transform by your analysis. Because you are far effective/logical/moderate and democratic when you are just a thinker

Finally, as a closer observer and a close frined of many TNA MPs, let me assure you that notwithstanding the cry of the external/extreme element- who says that the TNA is walking over the dead bodies of the Mahaveeras , they are trying level best to reach out to the Sinhala South. This is not just in Sumanthiran addressing Matara and Kandy people in Sinhala. ( I wish Thanthai Chelva and Amithalingam did this decades ago) But far deeper conviction within for a southern partnership for democracy.

But how does the regime response? It appoints a political thug to lead the negotiations. Therefore Dayan, your plead should be with the Rajapakse regime not with Rajavarothiam Sampanthan

Please get this published in Tamil and Sinhala as well

Best