Building up the case for peace

[October 07, 2003 - 10.30 GMT]

A recent feature article ‘Building up the case for war’ in a pro LTTE website alleges that "there is a growing body of opinion among the Sinhalese that Colombo’s dealings with the Liberation Tigers amounts to nothing but a misguided policy of appeasement and plain treachery." The unnamed author continues  “the ranks of those who oppose the peace process swell with each passing week”.

The argument may not be entirely baseless, but to castigate all Sinhala people as hypocritical and anti Tamil is morally wrong. Political parties in a democratic country will and do voice fears and apprehensions on matters of national importance.

Sri Lanka however has a gloomy history of Sinhala politicians scuttling each other’s attempts to resolve the ethnic crisis for political convenience. Today if one were to look at the positives, the two major political parties are in agreement that a negotiated solution is the way out.

On the ground the people of Sri Lanka have not been polarized even after the politically motivated pogrom of July ‘83. It is common knowledge several Sinhala families protected Tamils during the holocaust at the risk of their lives. 

Sri Lanka has existed as one country and a single nation for most of its recorded history. Since 1832 all public institutions functioned as a united body, much longer than most sovereign states in the West. It is a historical fact that the ethnic issue has metamorphosed into what it is today because of the chauvinist attitudes of politicians on both sides of the divide.

There however have been Sinhala politicians who’ve fought for the rights of the minorities. The late N M Perera was one such, who stood steadfastly for parity of status for the Tamil language. In more recent years the late Vijaya Kumaratunga and his wife Chandrika Kumaratunga as founders of the Sri Lanka Mahajana Party, were unwavering in their quest for equality and ethnic reconciliation. Kumaratunga as President has been consistent with her policies on the resolution of the ethnic crisis. Chandrika was the first Sinhala leader to concede publicly that the Tamils of Sri Lanka had genuine grievances, which have to be addressed and a political solution and not war is the way to go. 

The unnamed author chooses to refer to the Sinhalese Liberals as ‘hypocritical for discussing autonomy for the Tamils while being aware that it is well nigh impossible to amend the Sri Lanka’s unitary constitution’. The constitution he talks of was promulgated in 1978 in the most autocratic manner. Mr J R Jayawardene used a massive majority his party obtained through a first past the post system of voting to bring in a new constitution; that very constitution introduced a complex PR system of voting, making it impossible for any party in the future to secure an absolute majority to amend the statute to resolve the ethnic crisis. In August 2000, the attempt to introduce a new constitution and with it a final solution to the conflict, was dumped, again political expediency triumphed. 

This nation needs to address the issues which made it necessary for the Tamil people to want a separate state, if those reasons are earnestly looked into we could live as a nation in peace may be not for ever but at least for a another three or four generations.          

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Last Updated Date: October 07, 2003  -10.30 GMT.