Thulawa Newspaper

Education reform with a vision - by Sumudu W. Watugala

(September 04, Colombo, Sri Lanka Guardian) As Sri Lankan society emerges from decades of violence and mismanaged government, our first priority must be in ensuring that the foundation we lay to rebuild the country is as strong as possible. With this in mind, our foremost focus should be on strengthening and reforming our education system because in the long-run, whatever strides we make in terms of sustainable development and true political stability will follow from policies set today in this regard. Our education system is based on the principle of creating equal opportunity for all Sri Lankans, regardless of socio-economic background. This is the cornerstone for progress and stability within an open, free and democratic society. To maintain this philosophy, we need to strive towards expanding access to the best possible education for all Sri Lankans, while maintaining high standards and meritocratic principles within our schools and universities.

With the government’s stated resolve of making Sri Lanka the knowledge hub of Asia, we all expect that it will bring farsighted reforms to our education system in the best manner possible. However, we still need to analyze closely some of the views expressed by the current administration and those who support its policy vision for the future. Any reform should not focus solely on the economic productivity of graduates, but also consider the need in a balanced society for clear-thinking individuals with intellectual depth. Urgent action is required to address the fact that currently less than 5% of school graduates can be accommodated in the public university system each year, and Sri Lanka experiences continual major shortages of qualified professionals in areas such as medicine. Most Sri Lankans who closely observe the education system understand that we are in a state of disequilibrium: many graduates are produced in certain disciplines who find it difficult to find suitable employment, while certain sectors of our economy experience severe shortages of graduate candidates with the right set of qualifications and skills.

The recent university trade union action put our academics in a difficult position. Perhaps the government was counting on a prolonged action serving to turn popular support against even their legitimate concerns. It certainly seemed that way as the government prevaricated and made no sincere concessions in order to resolve issues before the impasse could affect G.C.E. Advanced Level Examination marking. Many academics recognized an extended hiatus would only serve to further erode the already diminished confidence Sri Lankans have in our public education system as a viable means to prepare future generations to succeed.

Several university academics I have spoken to point out that the government appears to have ample funds for discretionary spending as displayed by the government’s extravagant bid for the Commonwealth Games, where if the bid were to succeed, billions more will have to be spent. There are numerous examples of such vanity projects and misplaced priorities when allocating our limited resources. This is doubly disappointing to see in this administration, which was elected with unprecedented popular support and high expectations in order to govern in an environment with more stability than we have experienced for generations. Is the current administration wasting the small window of opportunity we have to set the path Sri Lanka will travel for decades to come?

Importance of public education in Sri Lanka

Since independence, public education has served as the great social equalizer in Sri Lanka, and remains our main mechanism for social mobility. In a country whose socialist and closed economic policies have never been particularly pro-business, we don’t have many stories of self-made millionaires who rose from impoverished backgrounds and rose as leaders of business through sheer hard work and an entrepreneurial spirit. What we do have in abundance are stories of thousands of talented and hardworking Sri Lankans rising from abject poverty or harsh family environments to become pillars of our communities with the help of our public education. How many such teachers, doctors, engineers, scientists, lawyers, judges, academics, policy-makers, and other professionals do you know who overcame impoverished backgrounds, and possibly even ethnic and gender discrimination extant in other areas of our society? We know of so many such embodiments of the Sri Lankan Dream, who have reached a level of personal and professional excellence, together with financial independence that enabled them to support their extended families and contribute positively to Sri Lanka’s society as a whole. Hence anyone who, without differentiation, calls everyone produced by our education system "kaala-kanni" (as a cabinet minister did recently) is deluding himself.

We should not lose sight of how truly amazing it is that this system survived in a developing country that was mired in civil unrest for decades. Such universal access to education is not available in India, Pakistan, or even China. Our current system of drawing the "best" students through scholarships and competitive exams into "good" national schools is admirable in its conception, even if arguably still somewhat flawed in its execution. For instance, there are differing views on the validity of how the merit of students is determined and what benefits, if any, they end up receiving after leaving their local schools and gaining entry to the best national schools. These flaws are no reason to abandon free education. They could and should be resolved expeditiously, by introducing well-planned, intelligent reforms to the existing system.

The access every Sri Lankan child has to a good education, potentially the best available in the island, is something that should be protected and further expanded; indeed, it is something that should be fought for vigorously. The ancient Kingdoms of Sri Lanka may have had 2500 years of wondrous and enigmatic history, but post-Independence, I do not exaggerate if I say our young Republic created one wonder we could consistently be proud of, all through the unspeakable violence and despair of the past decades. This one constant beacon of hope has remained the possibility that any young Sri Lankan, through his hard work and developed ability could change his circumstances. This is one way in which we surpassed even our ancient history. Admittedly, there have been severe disparities in the hardships faced by different Sri Lankans depending on socio-economic status and geographic location, and we should continually attempt to mitigate these. But at least for the most talented or the most focused and hardworking young Sri Lankans, there has always been a potential pathway to succeed.

Urgent need for intelligent reforms

For this pathway to remain viable there is urgent need for reform, and not just academic salary reform. We know that the quality of public education has declined so much that the current system is not comparable to how well-placed Sri Lankan education was in the 1950’s and 1960’s relative to the rest of the world. The reasons for this are varied and the blame lies in decades of shortsightedness by both politicians and academics in this country. Will we ever be able to look forward and plan for the best outcome decades in advance?

What we have seen is that the intransigence of successive Sri Lankan governments makes even the most straightforward reform a political, long drawn-out battle with uncertain and unwelcome outcomes. It is unclear when we shall have the will and vision to discuss and implement deep reforms without resorting to self-serving opportunism, hyperbole, and even violence.However, without waiting for the politicians to come around, there are many areas in which our academics themselves can take immediate steps to improve and modernize university education in Sri Lanka. It is great to fight for autonomy and independence, but will our academics use this autonomy to once again promote the dogmatic political agendas of certain elements, to the detriment of the entire country, or will they organize to fight for the freedom for honest intellectual endeavor? Academics already have the power to implement many essential changes to the current university system, without any political intervention. Indeed, it will be better in the long-run if there is no governmental influence in implementing most of these reforms. The more our academic institutions are decoupled from the vagaries of the prevailing political regime, the more likely our public universities will survive in the future as respected and stable institutions of learning.

Care needs to be taken to ensure that we do not sacrifice quality for quantity. There is urgent need for the creation of an apolitical consortium of academics and professionals who have the credibility to set national guidelines for academic standards and ethics, and assess the quality of degree programs, published works, and journals produced by Sri Lankan universities. Most of these are currently dependent entirely on the intellectual honesty and personal integrity of individual academics, and receive little or no independent oversight.

Students will benefit greatly if different departments and degree programs are ranked by the quality of its research and student placement in industry or graduate study, and if this information is publicly available (as is the case in other countries with successful higher education systems). Universities need to foster transparency and promote public understanding, something that could be easily accomplished in this age through a stronger online presence. As publicly-funded institutions, universities, faculties, departments, and degree programs need to maintain updated, professional websites with open access. Many of the best universities in the world make their course material available freely online, to contribute to the advancement of human knowledge.

More needs to be done to foster high-level academic publication in Sri Lanka, especially if we wish to become an international hub of learning. We urgently need an organization that will promote and set the standard for peer-reviewed academic publication in Sri Lanka. For this, our academics could organize to create an independent Sri Lanka University Press. We can look to respected organizations such as Harvard University Press, MIT Press, or Oxford/Cambridge University Press as models of how advanced academic publication should be supported. A major part of the work of such an institution would be to rapidly update academic literature available in national languages in Sri Lanka, and making translated works available to faculty and students at cost.

There is a clear need to modernize core curriculums. On this front, there needs to be emphasis on internships for students in research and industry, expanded access to computers to students of all faculties, and exposure to multidisciplinary research projects. Universities urgently need to do more to develop and offer students core courses in scientific writing and communication, which is a key factor in the development of a student’s analytical thinking and research success.

There is little basis for our academics to oppose the creation of private universities (the arguments related to the loss of foreign exchange and the loss of future graduates alone convince most people of this). Instead, our academics would better serve education in Sri Lanka by taking the initiative to assess and set the standards for all academic institutions in the country, both public and private. We need more intelligent debate on how public and private universities can co-exist to the benefit of all Sri Lankans.

None of these ideas are particularly controversial; nor can there be any political will that opposes academics organizing in this manner. What will require objectivity and foresight from our politicians are in the essential reforms urgently required to restructure current university administrative and funding structures.

In all this, we must understand Sri Lanka and the world are much altered since the decades immediately following Independence. The lines of inequality that need to be addressed by the government have changed dimensions, the options open to the average Sri Lankan have expanded, and what is required from our public education system is different. What we hope for and should work towards is the right balance between what is popular, what is ideal, and what is ultimately possible.

There is nothing wrong with looking at the world and learning from what has worked well and what has failed for the best institutions of higher learning in history. We can learn from what happened in ancient Nalanda, as well as from the evolution of the best universities existing in the world today. There is simply no excuse for repeating the mistakes of the past

AWAITING BENEFITS OF LIFTING EMERGENCY--Jehan Perera

The State of Emergency that gave the government extraordinary powers to utilize the armed forces for maintaining public security and to restrict civil liberties has lapsed after six years. This follows President Mahinda Rajapaksa’s announcement in Parliament that from the time the war ended to now there has been no reports of terrorist type of activities.  He said he was “satisfied there is no longer a need for extending the Emergency Regulations for the administration of the country now.”  As a result, Parliament did not renew the State of Emergency when it lapsed this month.  The government received accolades from its supporters for this its democratic action and even its critics in the opposition welcomed the new development.  But one week after the lifting of the Emergency, little appears to have changed on the ground.

The legal basis for the absence of change in the practices of the State of Emergency has been the extraordinary power vested in the Presidency by the constitution.  The power to call out the armed forces to maintain public order is vested in the President.  It appears that the government prepared itself for the lifting of the Emergency.  Three weeks prior to the President’s surprise announcement in Parliament the President had issued an order on August 6 utilising his powers under the Public Security Ordinance.  This enabled him to “call out the members of the armed forces for the maintenance of public order” in all 25 districts of the country and its territorial waters.  Therefore the military has been empowered to continue to undertake their duties as they did under Emergency Regulations. 

The easy substitution of presidential power for the power of Parliament is another indicator of the further centralization of power in the country.  So long as a President is popular with the electorate the general population will be willing to trust his judgment and the decisions taken by the government he leads.  But a dangerous consequence of the over-centralisation of power in the Presidency is the loss of faith in the efficacy of other institutions by the people at large. This can lead more volatile sections of the population to take matters into their own hands. The phenomenon of alleged Grease Devils and vigilante action against them is a manifestation of the breakdown of law and order.  The strong military presence in the very areas in which the largest number of incidents has been reported demonstrates that military strength alone is not the answer.

LITMUS TEST

The most visible legacy of Sri Lanka’s war against terrorism was the scaling up of the size of the armed forces and their visibility in public places.  The security checkpoints remain in place even today just as they did during the period of Emergency. New regulations are said to be in force, including ones that continue to keep those detained under Emergency Regulations under arrest, and the high security zones intact.   Military personnel continue to stop vehicles on the roads and check on the identity of passengers.  In the former war zones of the north and east there is no visible change either.  The military presence is undiminished. According to news reports, all the main features of the Emergency Regulations appear to be continuing even though the Emergency has been lifted. This has given rise to the question as to what benefit has been brought to anyone by the lifting of the Emergency. 

When the emergency regulations were in place, the government could use the military machinery to address the issues that were civilian in nature.  As a result, humanitarian organizations and NGOs that sought to do development projects in the former war zones, found that the last word often lay with the area military commanders.  There was no consistency in their decisions, with some being more flexible than others.  This same variability was to be found in getting through military checkpoints and obtaining access to parts of those areas.  The existence of a weak civilian administration in the former war zones of the north and east, and the domination of the military in civilian affairs there, has been marked for special reference by the very sections of the international community who will be meeting soon at the UN Human Rights Council in Geneva.  

There is a belief that the State of Emergency was lifted as part of the government’s campaign to convince the international community that it was on track with the restoration of normalcy and reconciliation in the post-war context.  From the time the war ended over two years and three months ago, a powerful section of the international community that comprises some of the country’s main trading and aid partners, has been urging the restoration of normal law, justice to victims and reconciliation through a political solution.  The withdrawal of the state of emergency by itself would not be evidence enough that the Sri Lankan government is following such a process.  In particular the restoration of civil administration to the former war zones of the North and East will be a litmus test for the government. 

ERODING TRUST

It is significant that the worst reports of Grease Devils and of clashes between affected communities and the military have come mainly from areas in which the ethnic minorities predominate.  As the military is composed heavily of members from the ethnic majority, this alone is an indication of future ethnic conflict.   The root cause of the clashes has been lack of trust of the community in the assertions of the military that they are not involved in facilitating the activities of Grease Devils who are believed to attack women.  There is even suspicion among the affected communities that these activities are deliberately undertaken to create problems so that the need for the military to restore order becomes more apparent.  This breakdown of trust is also manifested in problems involving the security forces which have nothing to do with Grease Devils.

This past weekend, there was a serious clash in Dickwella in the southernmost Matara district involving Sinhalese and Muslims.  The clashes are reported to have started in the aftermath of a friendly cricket game between Sinhalese and Muslim youth of the area.  The end result has been the burning of Muslim-owned shops, houses and a place of worship.  Several Sinhalese are reported to be hospitalized.  The inaction of the police during the clashes led the government to bring in the Special Task Force of the police to restore law and order.  Members of civil society groups in the area have reported that underlying the clashes are business and political rivalries which are perhaps unavoidable in any pluralistic society.  They have also reported that there is a loss of confidence in the willingness and ability of the security forces to act independently to uphold law and order.  This is a recipe for inducing people to take the law into their own hands.  The answer is not the re-imposition of a State of Emergency or for new laws that give the armed forces more powers.  What is needed is the restoration of the integrity of institutions and the diminution of over-centralised and personalized power.

The debilitation of the system of checks and balances in Sri Lanka preceded President Rajapaksa.  Both the constitutions of 1972 and 1978 sought to concentrate power in the executive branch of the government.  The hope was that powerful governments would be like powerful engines taking the country to heights of economic prosperity and social equity.  Both of these constitutions made the positions of the judiciary and law making branches subordinate to the executive branch of government.  The unanimous passage in Parliament in 2000 of the 17th Amendment to the constitution was a belated recognition of the need to ensure checks and balances to the power of the Executive.  Today this constitutional amendment has been superseded on the grounds that it is impractical and unworkable. Nevertheless the principle it stood for remains valid. An effective system of checks and balances is necessary to give full meaning to the lifting of the State of Emergency.

THE NEED FOR 19TH AMENDMENT FOR CONFIDENCE IN GOVERNANCE --Jehan Perera

  The non- Tamil and mainstream opposition appears to be taking a long term view of political change in the country.   This may be why the UNP invited civil society groups to join with it in opposing the 18th Amendment when its first year anniversary comes on September 8 this year.  The 18th Amendment to the Constitution has presented a roll back to the untrammeled power of the Executive Presidency, giving back to the incumbent the power to make unilateral appointments to all top positions in the government machinery, including the posts of Chief Justice, Election Commissioner, Bribery Commissioner and Inspector General of Police.  It took away checks and balances necessary for good governance and restraint on the abuse of power.  The government justified the constitutional change as being necessary for the political stability that will generate economic development.   In addition, the 18th Amendment further increased the power of the President even beyond that envisaged by the framers of 1978 Constitution. It abolished the two term limit on the Presidency and giving the President the right to contest elections without any limit on length of tenure.  As a result President Mahinda Rajapaksa would be the most powerful leader that Sri Lanka has ever had.  Modern technology would give him the ability to centralize rule in a manner the kings of the ancient past could never have.  But along with this centralization have come major problems of governance that put democracy into jeopardy.  At the present time, however, these problems do not seem a predominant concern for the majority of the national electorate, who continue to give the government thumping majorities at every election that is held.   At the same time the opposition is unable to take on the issues that have the government on the back foot internationally, and which it is handling in a manner that is creating more and more friction with a section of the international community. These are the issues of war crimes in the last phase of the war and the absence of any forward movement towards a political solution to the ethnic conflict in the immediate post-war period.  This is because on both these issues, the government is able to mobilize the forces of ethnic majority nationalism against what it claims are the impositions of the international community.  The mainstream and non Tamil opposition that requires ethnic majority support for political success does not dare take up the issues of either war crimes or a political solution for fear of being denounced as traitors.   

UNBELIEVABLE CONTRASTS  

With its phenomenal ability to win elections, there should have been consensus in the country that the government is successful at governance.  However, Sri Lanka today presents a picture of extremes.  There is also an appearance of optimism and dynamism that coexists with the deep rooted problems of governance which are less obvious.  At the present time the country is hosting a delegation from African Commonwealth countries.  They have come to assess a first hand Sri Lanka’s bid to host the Commonwealth Games in 2017.  The government has presented the remote and lightly populated southern district of Hambantota, the birthplace of the President as the suitable venue for the games.  Visiting foreign delegations are reportedly impressed by the models of the Commonwealth Games village that has been prepared by the Sri Lankan government, which is sparing no effort to win the bid.    The delegates from abroad will have little doubt that the government will be able to deliver on its promises.  This is a government that created world history by totally defeating a rebel army known as the world’s worst most deadly terrorist organization within four years of its election.  But there is another side to this picture.  The billions of rupees that the government is prepared to invest in Hambantota means there will be less for the rest of the country.  The government is investing very heavily in the Hambantota district which is the home base of the President.  But there are 24 other districts in the country.  Most of them are relatively poor and some even poorer, such as those in the north and east of the country where the three decade long internal war was fought.   Good governance is about the equitable distribution of resources so that all people in all districts benefit from government resources.  It is also about power sharing in which decisions by the central authorities are made in consultation with the local authorities.  Good governance is also about the rule of law where even government leaders are subject to the rule of law and no one is above the law.  The obvious problem with governance in Sri Lanka is the manner in which power is centralized in the Presidency and the constitutional provisions that put any incumbent President beyond the law.  If the President chooses to suppress reports of Presidential Commissions of Inquiry or reports provided to him by the heads of security agencies, there is nothing that can be done.  But this erodes the confidence of the general public in the institutions of state.   

  ILL GOVERNANCE

  A fortnight ago there was a murderous assault on a senior journalist in Jaffna. The assault took place near a military sentry point in a town that is saturated with the military.  There is a doubt as to how anyone who did the assault could have got away without being apprehended.  Following local and international protests the government ordered an investigation into this assault.  However, it is reported that the police report lies with the President.  It is like the report of the Presidential Commission to report into serious human rights violations in 2007 which suffered a similar fate.  The truth lies suppressed.   It is no cause for surprise, and every cause for sadness, that a senior academic Prof. Ratnajeevan Hoole with a social mission has felt impelled to flee Jaffna rather than place his faith in the law enforcement and justice mechanisms available in that part of the country.

  A glance at the media headlines would indicate signs of deep discontent in society that are not reflected in the election results.  A few weeks ago there was the scandal about the import of substandard petrol that ruined thousands of cars.  Now where is another report of the import of substandard cement that could cause buildings to collapse in the future. There are also stories of people taking the law into their own hands on the grounds that the police will not act or will protect the wrongdoers.  The opposition presidential candidate for whom over 40 percent of the national electorate voted continues to languish in prison on controversial charges that were ratified by military courts. 

The problem with the suppression of the truth of what happened is that it erodes confidence in the institutions of governance.  This is what leads people to take the law into their own hands.  The latest crisis is the breakdown of respect for the law in with regard to the rumour of “grease devils” who attack women and children.   According to witnesses and police there are men who wear balaclavas that cover their heads and leave only the eyes exposed and who grease their bodies and move about at night to commit criminal acts.  Some alleged suspects have been caught and killed by vigilante groups.  They may be innocent persons.  Some were said to be traveling salespersons.  A justification given by the vigilantes is that the police do not take action when these suspects are apprehended because they are connected to the government machinery.  It is clear that there is a breakdown of confidence in the integrity of national institutions.  

The progressive debilitation of the system of checks and balances in Sri Lanka’s democracy preceded President Rajapaksa.  The promulgation of the so-called autochthonous or “home grown” constitution of 1972 was a turning point.  That constitution put the executive branch of government firmly in the saddle and made the positions of the judiciary and public service subordinate to it.  The unanimous passage in Parliament in 2000 of the 17th Amendment to the constitution was a belated recognition of the need to ensure checks and balances to the power of the Executive, which had got increasingly concentrated in the hands of the President.  The opportunity for enforcing good governance was finally dealt a death blow by the 18th Amendment, which is why a 19th Amendment is necessary for good governance to be restored.

Free Media Movement and civic activists took part in a public protest rally

Members of the Free Media Movement and civic activists took part in a public protest rally in Jaffna on Tuesday August 16.  They protested against government inaction following the brutal attack on senior journalist G Kuganathan of the Jaffna-based Uthayan newspaper.  He was beaten on the head with iron poles and was warded in the intensive care section of the Jaffna General Hospital.  His assailants escaped despite the attack taking place within fifty metres of a military sentry point in the heart of the town, which is under heavy military control.  A report submitted by the police to the President remains a confidential document.

Four members of NPC took part in the protest. They consisted of two Governing Council members and two staff members.  NPC also provided financial support for the transport of journalists from Colombo who travelled to Jaffna to provide solidarity with their colleagues in Jaffna. Earlier NPC issued a media release condemning the attack on Mr Kuganathan and the impunity with which attacks on media freedom had taken place in the past.  In its statement, NPC said "A code of silence, a facade of investigations and a failure to prosecute suspects are the main characteristics of this impunity. None of the killings or attacks on media institutions have been solved. This has led to a climate of fear and self-censorship within journalists and also the larger society. This is not democracy where fundamental freedoms guaranteed by the Constitution are protected by the Government of the day."

NO MEETING POINT OF THE TWO WAR NARRATIVES? --Jehan Perera

There are two narratives of the end phase of the war that are battling for dominance.  The first is that of the Sri Lankan government that emphasizes the victory over the LTTE and terrorism and the securing of the country’s unity and sovereignty.  It also asserts that the war was conducted according to international law with a policy of minimising civilian casualties. The other is the account of the expert panel appointed by the UN Secretary General which is a severe indictment of the Sri Lankan government’s lack of adherence to international norms in the conduct of the war.  This report has drawn on the information available within the UN system and also the reports of human rights organizations.

The UN panel report, also known as the Darusman report in deference to its chairman, is over 200 pages in length.  It was issued to the public in March this year.  Although well written, not many would wish to labour many hours to read it unless especially motivated as students of the Sri Lankan conflict or as advocates of a position.  This is not the case with the UK Channel 4 video titled “Sri Lanka’s Killing Fields† that made its appearance in June this year.  It is of one hour’s duration and provides a graphic account of what is presented as the last days of the war.  It is readily accessible on the internet to those who wish to see it, if they are prepared to brave its warning that it contains scenes that could be very disturbing.

The Sri Lankan government’s response to the UN expert panel report and to the UK Channel 4 video has, from its inception, taken the form of denials and denunciations.  The material in them is described as fabricated, biased and ill motivated by a desire for revenge at the defeat of the LTTE.  The sources of information are also accused of being tainted, being either NGOs or Tamil Diaspora. As a result, the notion of an international conspiracy has a wide acceptance within Sri Lanka.


In such a situation of opposing versions of the same event, the solution would seem to be a third report of an in independent group.  The government has, however, sidestepped the increasingly vociferous international demand for an independent international investigation into the alleged human rights violations and war crimes by referring to the Lessons Learnt and Reconciliation Commission it has appointed.


BOOK LAUNCH

The Sri Lankan government has presented the LLRC as a legitimate and viable mechanism that precludes the need for an international investigation at this time, and even in the future.  This is on the basis that international remedies are only necessary when national ones have failed.  The LLRC has already issued an interim report and its final report is expected in November this year.  The US government has given importance to the LLRC by officially informing the Sri Lankan government through a diplomatic note that it expects the LLRC’s final report to be presented for discussion next year at the UN’s Human Rights Council meeting in Geneva.

However, with the LLRC’s final report yet to be published, the government has taken additional action to counter the UN expert panel report and the UK Channel 4 video at the international level.  Last week’s government launch of a book titled “Humanitarian Operation—A Factual Analysis† and a video titled “Lies Agreeed Upon† was the government’s reply to the UN expert panel report and the UK Channel 4 video.  They were both launched at a large gathering in which high ranking members of the Sri Lankan security forces were present in large numbers.

In addition, a sizeable number of foreign diplomats and media were also present.  There were also a few NGOs also present who had previously been excluded from government events that had anything to do with national security and counter terrorism.  Their presence could be taken as evidence of a greater willingness on the part of the government to positively engage with other perspectives in a more accommodative spirit.

The government’s report and video provide an opposite perspective to that found in the UN expert panel report and the Channel 4 video.  They focus on the LTTE and on its brutal methods.  The government narrative goes back in time to cover the period in which the LTTE first engaged in acts of terrorism.  It does not start where the international narrative starts from, which is the last phase of the war.  As a result the government narrative provides a context in which the ferocity of the war in its last phase can be better understood from the nature of the LTTE which held a population of over 300,000 hostage during that period. It is worth noting that the government’s willingness to concede that civilian deaths were unavoidable and did occur during the last phase of the war has come along with the release of this report and video.


LOCALLY DOMINANT

There is no doubt that the government narrative will be the one that dominates and prevails within Sri Lanka.  It will prevail regardless of the content and quality of the government report and video.  This is because most people within the country experienced at first hand the fear of the LTTE’s brutal terrorism even if they did not suffer directly at its hands.  The government report and video will further strengthen the feeling of people within the country that the international community is biased and anti-Sri Lanka in its targeting of the government.  This will lead to a further hardening of anti-Western sentiment as it is generally perceived that the West that is seeking to punish the government for ridding the country of the LTTE.


On the other hand, that section of the international community that is urging an independent international mechanism to investigate the last phase of Sri Lanka’s war is not likely to change its position either.  The government report focuses on the LTTE, its methods and actions over the years.  There is no mention at all of the excesses of the government’s counter terrorism strategy of which there were so many, and also of the impunity, elements of which continue to the present time  The politically partisan nature of the government report can also be seen by its failure to even mention the break up of the LTTE by the defection of its eastern commander during the period of the much maligned Ceasefire Agreement which was signed by the present Leader of the Opposition and was brokered by the Norwegian government.

So what remains are two narratives, one that dominates internationally and the other that is dominant within the country.  These two narratives are at loggerheads with each other and appear to have no meeting place.  Neither of these narratives is going to be a vehicle for reconciliation in the future, as each will be fiercely resisted and debunked by the other.  Therefore it is unlikely that there will be peace building and reconciliation by going down the road of trying to prove whether or not war crimes took place.

In this context of polarization, the healthiest option is peace building and reconciliation through a political solution in which Sinhalese, Tamils, Muslims and others of smaller ethnic and religious communities, such as the Burghers, Malays and Borahs decide together what to do about the past and what the country’s shared future should be.  This is what the government together with the opposition political parties ought to be working hard at achieving.

FREE AND FAIR ELECTION WILL BE CORNESTONE OF POLITICAL SOLUTION

The forthcoming local authority elections to be held on July 23 are taking place mainly in towns and urban areas around the country.  However, the main focus of political interest has been on Jaffna in the north of the country where a large number of government ministers and senior politicians of opposition parties are presently campaigning.  The northern elections, while local in scope, are of national importance because of the unresolved grievances of the Tamil people.

The National Peace Council calls for the Tamil people to be provided with the right and opportunity to elect their representatives through a free and fair election. Any conclusions regarding the state of mind of the Tamil people and their attitude to the government can be judged only if a free and fair electon is held.  Otherwise neither the Tamil people themselves nor the International Community will accept any flawed victory as indicating  that the government has won the hearts and minds of the Tamil people.

We are concerned that the election monitoring organization PAFFREL of which the National Peace Council is a partner has stated that "It is being reported that promises are made to people about probable employment and other forms of gratifications if they vote for one party. So far eight cases of election violence have also been reported, namely damage to property, threats to life and indirect actions which would frighten voters by creating a threatening situation. There are also reports of intimidation of candidates."

One of the principles of democracy is to serve the people irrespective of their political affiliations, But if the availability of state resources in the future is  contingent on the government securing victory, then it is not a democracy that prevails but a distortion.  In addition the opposition should have the freedom to carry out their campaign without hindrance.  Otherwise it is not a free or fair election. Unfortunately, reports from other election monitoring organizations as well point to serious deficiencies on both counts.

The folly of interfering with elections depriving them of their free and fair character was shown up in the District Development Council elections in 1981.  These elections in Jaffna were delegitimised in the eyes of the northern people by the use of the security forces to favour the then government.  Any repeat of the same will be meaningless. The National Peace Council believes that only an election that is free and fair will ensure that genuine representatives of the people will be elected and who can help to usher in democracy to the people of the north. That alone will show the way to work out a sustainable political solution to the ethnic conflict.

THE DANGER OF MOVING BACK FROM DEVOLUTION --Jehan Perera

Last week South Sudan became the world’s 193^rd independent country and entitled to a seat at the United Nations.  The break up of Sudan came about 55 years after the country became independent of colonial rule.  During the colonial period, the north of the country was ruled by Egypt and the south by the British.  The fissure between the Arab-majority north and the non-Arab south was one that time did not heal.  Soon after Sudan became independent, power to rule the country became vested in the Arab majority north, where more than 75 percent of the country’s population lived.  An armed separatist movement began in the south, with the slogans of self rule and independence.  South Sudan emerged from long civil war after the signing of a comprehensive peace agreement (CPA) in Nairobi in January 2005 between the Government of Sudan and the Sudan People’s Liberation Movement. This eventually led to a referendum in January this year, at which 98.3% of the population of Southern Sudan voted in favour of secession.     

Although most Sri Lankans would have an aversion to separatist wars, the country’s government sent senior minister Prof Tissa Vitarana as its representative to attend the Independence day celebrations in Juba the capital of the new country.  It is significant that Prof Vitarana presided over the longest internal Sri Lankan process aimed at achieving a political consensus regarding a political solution to the country’s ethnic conflict.  He headed the All Parties Representative Committee that had been established by President Mahinda Rajapaksa to obtain a consensual political solution in 2006.  This body met over a hundred times and came up with an elaborate scheme of power sharing and devolution of power that could have satisfied majority and minority ethnic communities.  But with the end of the war in May 2009, this report has been off the national radar and perhaps in one of the President’s cupboards.

Unlike the Sudan government, the Sri Lankan government prevailed militarily over its separatist opponent. This has given it the space and time in which to recover, develop economically, achieve reconciliation and put the past behind it.  It has also given it the illusion that a political solution that is acceptable to the ethnic minorities as much as to the ethnic majority can be avoided.  South Sudan has mass poverty, only 15 percent literacy and its basic infrastructure is in shambles or non-existent.  The country it broke away from, Sudan, is also in poor shape with inflation soaring, as food prices rise, and it will have lost about three fourths of its oil income through the loss of South Sudan.  By way of contrast, Sri Lanka has a relatively high growth rate of 8 percent, has reached the level of a middle income country, and is trying to boost economic growth still further with ambitious infrastructure development projects.  However, the issue of a political solution to the ethnic conflict is no longer being emphasized.

ELECTORAL TEST

The forthcoming local government elections that will be held in 18 local authorities in the north will provide an indication to the government of its success in winning popular support from the northern Tamil electorate, and one that will negate the need for a political solution.  So far the government has failed to obtain this support.  At both the Presidential and General elections held after the war victory of May 2009, the government was not successful in obtaining the support of the majority of northern Tamil voters.  It failed again at those local authority elections that were held earlier this year in March as well.  At a time when the government has come under international scrutiny due to accusations of violations of international law committed in the north in the course of the war, it will be very useful to the government if it is able to show that there is popular support for it from amongst the people in the north.

The importance of the northern electoral verdict explains why the government is giving so much of importance to the elections there in contrast to the other parts of the country where the balance 47 local authority elections are taking place.  Several powerful government ministers have been campaigning in the north for days, and the President has also campaigned there.  Speaking on the campaign trail, Economics minister Basil Rajapaksa said that the government is spending billions of rupees to develop infrastructure in the north and on clearing land that had been taken over by the military as High Security Zones, but which are now being returned to the people.  According to the government media, President Mahinda Rajapaksa himself distributed a large number of water pumps, spray guns, sewing machines, school uniforms, educational material, squatting pans and agricultural equipment to resettled people as immediate livelihood assistance.

At the same time opposition parties campaigning in the north have complained that the government is utilizing the security forces to intimidate their supporters.  There was a very bad incident at the very beginning of the election campaign when army personnel in uniforms broke up a meeting of TNA parliamentarians and beat up their government-provided security guards.  The JVP has also been complaining that its members have been arrested without legitimate reason by the army and subsequently released due to intervention by the police.  The government needs to be concerned that interfering with elections in such a manner can deprive them of their free and fair character, as occurred most infamously at the District Development Council elections of 1981.  While electoral victory at any cost might seem a pragmatic calculation to those in power, and an endorsement of the policy of centralization rather than devolution, the past experience of the country should warn against it.  

CONTINUING IMPORTANCE

South Sudan is an example of the problem posed by an ethnic minority which will not go away through the centralization of power.  During the period 1972 to 1983, there was a regional autonomy agreement that granted a measure of self-rule to the south.  But this was abrogated by the central government which centralized power.  It was this act of withdrawing regional autonomy that led to the formation of the Sudan People’s Liberation Movement army, which was gradually able to wrest military control over the south.   A similar sequence of events can be seen in the case of Eritrea, which separated from Ethiopia in 1993 following long years of war.  There too, the autonomy arrangements were unilaterally revoked by the central government.  The lesson is that the withdrawal of autonomy that is given to regional and ethnic minorities invariably leads to a strengthening of the separatist impulse.

Thus, even if the government does succeed in winning the elections in the north, it would be dangerous and counter productive to assume that this gives it the license to abolish or reduce the autonomy already provided to the provinces through the 13^th Amendment and the provincial council system.  In the context of the international pressures that are relentlessly mounting on the government in regard to human rights violations and war crimes, it would be unwise for the government to seek to undermine the 13^th Amendment in any way rather than to strengthen the autonomy arrangements within its mandate.  In addition to the long expressed desires of the Tamil people to enjoy greater rights of self-determination in their political lives, it must not be forgotten that the 13^th Amendment and provincial council system is an Indian legacy.  Today’s Indian government is led by the widow and son of former Indian Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi who pushed for the implementation of the provincial council system in Sri Lanka.  India is a key ally of Sri Lanka in facing up to any imposition by the international community.

The visit of Prof Tissa Vitarana to South Sudan takes on significance because he was the chief architect of the final report of the All Parties Representative Committee.  When the government searches for a viable political solution to the ethnic conflict that promotes rather than reverses the devolution of power, this is the document that could form its basis.  President Mahinda Rajapaksa has been talking about setting up a Parliamentary Select Committee to work out a political solution, but this idea has been criticized as a likely time buying exercise in futility. It has been pointed out that this could lead to another several years of protracted discussion without consensus.  If the government is truly interested in coming out with a mutually acceptable solution to the ethnic conflict, it could request the Parliamentary Select Committee it convenes to consider the APRC report as its base and give it a short time frame of three or four months in which to come out with its political solution.