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At a century's end
Closing remarks on the National QuestionBy Dayan Jayatilleka
The National Question, as I understand it, concerns and comprises of the relations within a state formation, between nations and the state, and therefore with each other.There is a faintly discernible parallel, which needs to be theoretically worked out, with the contradiction between the forces and the relations of production. Just as forces of production come into conflict with relations of production, nations seem to come into conflict with the existent framework of their relations with the State and therefore with each other. Therefore these relations are not permanent, and the National Question 'you always have with you'.
Endless as the war may seem, it is the Taml1 National Question in its modern sense that is the oldest political question in the country. It may be argued that it is one of the two oldest political features or phenomena in the island, the other being universal franchise.
The Tamil National Question is not only the oldest, but also the most fundamental or' deepest' political problem. The other major one, the Constitutional Question, that of the Executive Presidency versus the Westminster model, is not only of far more recent vintage, it is also to do with the form of Government rather than with the suructure of the state. The National Question is, however, bound up with the questions of the form, structure and 'extent' or reach of the State. These are:
(1) One state or two independent ones (secessionism)?
(2) One state but more political space at the periphery, different relations with the centre? (devolution/autonomy)?
(3) One state, but consisting of two or more states sub-units (federalism)? One state but consisting of two or more roughly equivalent states in a loose overarching relationship (confederalism)?
Now that the issue of the fundamental class nature of state power (the question of revolution), is no longer - and not yet - on the agenda, the Tamil National Question becomes the most fundamental problem in that it calls into question the basic shape of the state.
The debate on the Tamil National Question has so far been characterised by mirror images, by symmetrical claims of victim-hood, by historicist deviations. Both Tamil and Sinhala sides have resolutely remained prisoners of the past. What we need is to analyse the situation from a problem-solving perspective, one that is, finally, policy-prescriptive.
Quadraphenic Country
'Sinhalese are a majority with a minority complex' (Leslie Goonawardane) while 'Tamils are a minority with a majority complex' (K. M. de Silva as cited by Michael Roberts) . True, but in fact the reality is even more dialectical. The Sinhalese have both a majority and a minority consciousness ('we are 76%' and 'we Sinhalese have nowhere else to go') while the Tamils have both a minority and a majority consciousness ('we are an oppressed minority' and 'we have over 50 million brethren'). In short two national consciousnesses which are each dualistic. Each nation's identity is schizoid. Two schizoid nations add upto a picture of what the British rock band The Who, titled their famous 1970's album after: Quadrophenia (i.e. quadruple schizophrenia). The phenomenon of multiple personality disorder is well known in psychology.The Tamils will settle for nothing less than federalism (of a loose sort). The Sinhalese cannot afford to grant federalism. Indeed they can less afford to grant it than to suffer the consequences of its non-granting. The latter is less risky. A centralised state is needed for safeguarding an embattled sovereignty and for social interventions. Sinhala views have to be taken into account if any ethnic accord is not to be a settlement under siege; i.e. if it is to be durable.
The Sinhalese - and the island as a whole, or the Lankan state as a whole - cannot afford to grant more than a full blooded (augmented) provincial autonomy i.e. '13th Amendment plus' - which the Tamils will not accept.
Thus, there will be a permanent 'deficit'. This deficit can be sought to be reduced, but never eliminated. Reduced by means of a trade off: more powers for smaller (i.e. provincial) unit(s) or vice versa.
But the powers in a trade off will either be too few for the Tamils or too dangerous for the Sinhalese. Similarly the unit wil1 always be too small for the Tamils or too big for the Sinhalese. Thus the Tamil ethnic/ National question can never be resolved.
It can only be addressed and managed i.e. partly co-opted, partly accommodated, partly contained.
Much will have to be left to the vagaries of the electoral marketplace (i.e. what the Tamil voters/parties can extract from the Sinhala parties/candidates). Conjuncture is (almost) all.
Geo-strategic continuum: The Longest Duree
The jury is still out - and one suspects will remain so for quite some time - on the continuity vs. change debate on Lanka's ethnic question (and ethnicity in general). Is the ongoing war sourced in the modern era i.e. is ethnonantionalism a quintessentially modern phenomenon or construct? Or do its roots run back through millennia? Or is it a combination of the two - and if so, what is that specific articulation of change and continuity?The continuity thesis has been propounded for the most part, by the Sinhala chauvinistic writers - and their historicist version has been justly faulted. However, a cooler geo-political view, in the best Western realistic tradition of international relations, would also yield a picture of a strong patterning in the tapestry of the island's history; a patterning in which the preponderant motif has been rise and retrenchment of marvellous developmental civilisations at the hands of military invasions from the Northern plain.( The indispensable text on the island's history is Prof K.M.de Silva's 'History of Sri Lanka' 1981)
These incursions have had several variants. They have been launched either from across the horizon i.e. by this or that Dravidian power centre, or by the descendants of the Tamil settlers in the North of the island. Sometimes there has been collusion between the two; sometimes contention. Sometimes the invasions from across the North have been by either of the Tamil players (indigenous or South Indian) autonomous of the other.
There is, significantly, another variant: the project or resultant of the military thrusts has, at times, shifted from incursion/invasion to the establishment of Northern domination over the island. (It is during one such effort that there were raids on Panadura!).
Thus, ethnicity apart, the geo-political pattern is clear:
1) A constant (or constantly recurrent) military threat to the South (or the Greater South, since we are speaking of the Anuradhapura period as well) emanating from the North (or the Greater North, encompassing South India).
2) The permanent potential and recurrent phenomenon of Northern invasion i.e. from a Southern vantage point, 'invasion from above' (and often 'from without'); from a Northern vantage point, a downward thrust.
3) The Southern developmental civilisations always had this Sword of Damocles over their heads.
It is this long persistent geo-political pattern that renders intelligible not only Prabhakaran but the strategic responses of Jayewardene and Premadasa: the former, deploying the Far North (IPKF) against the Near North (Tamil Eelamism/LTTE) and Premadasa, the reverse. Both were attempts to exploit the contradictions between the two Norths, breaking up/pre-empting a Northern bloc or compact. Both efforts succeeded at the highest cost - Rajiv Gandhi and Ranasinghe Premadasa. But was a greater historical cost averted, by these costs at the highest level?
This geo-strategic pattern was reactivated, not by Arunachalam, Ponnambalam, or Amirthalingam, as the primitivistic Sinhala chauvinistic ideologues claim - but specifically and precisely by Velupillai Prabhakaran. The reason is simple: the geo-political pattern is one of military invasion, of warfare. Not politics, Parliamentary arithmetical 'blackmail' (as the chauvinists put it), constitutional lobbying or ideology or even economic subversion. It is the enormous historic achievement of Prabhakaran that he reactivated that process and pattern. (A loosely analogous point has been made by 'Taraki', some years ago in the Lanka Guardian, referring to the traditions, largely Indian, of Dravidian militarism and contextualising Prabhakaran/LTTE against that backdrop. The point I seek to make is different and differently focused i.e. on this island's military history.)
The politics in the political economy of development
Development is not only uneven, it also tends to be unevenly perceived.Ernest Gellner and Tom Nairn have registered and amplified the point that the unevenness of capitalist development generates/regenerates ethnic identities and consciousness. While agreeing with this thesis, my own argument is slightly different, namely that even policies consciously aimed at 'evening up' development, even policies that materially do so, can be perceived as ethnically loaded. Furthermore such perceptions can generate responses which derail the development process.
Development policies must be fashioned in such a way that they anticipate and pre-empt conflicts which may undermine the development process and of course address and alleviate those conflicts that do so/threaten to do so. Such conflicts are not only socio-economic and spatial (class/caste/region), but also those of identity and identity driven consciousness. These include ethnic, religious, cultural identities; collective identities of a cross class/non class kind.
Development cannot be identity -blind, because in a multi-ethnic, multi-religious society with a majority community, the perception of development is not always identity blind. If development is likely to be perceived as identity-laden, then surely development policy planning must be identity- sensitive.
Of these identities the most important from a development point of view are those upon which collective mobilisation with a significant potential for organised violence can take place. (Gender is obviously is not one such).
Development policies must therefore be evaluated for such conflict potential before they are deemed sustainable. This is specially so in a society such as Sri Lanka in which the minorities - in contrast to the majority - draw on religious systems whose myths place a high premium on violent forms on self sacrifice and martyrdom.
In a polity in which the state is not perceived as neutral as between the communities and is seen to have inscribed within it, the dominance of any one community (ethnic, religious or a combination), then the development programmes of the state run the risk of being viewed with circumspection if not suspicion by the non-hegemonic communities. The private sector is the mirror image of this. Thus in a multi ethnic society, all economics is - or risks being perceived as - ethnoeconomics.
Development strategy has therefore to be definitely a matter of political economy. And the 'political' in political economy in any multi-ethnic society is fundamentally the management of the national/nationalities question(s). It is a question of a 'development contract' or 'compact' which entails, in the first instance, a negotiation with the primary 'identity blocs' (i.e. communities with conflict potential) - which means negotiations with the given, organically evolved dominant factions (readerships) of those blocs. In short a 'united front from above'. At a latter stage, when the development process and consciousness have matured and when the former has provided a material basis for such differentiation, a policy of a united front from below may be adopted, reaching out to people as poor, have-nots etc. The first stage cannot be skipped over and development cannot proceed unmediated to an undifferentiated people - because such a people exit only in the abstract, while the Ð
'premises from which we begin are not arbitrary ones, not dogmas, but real premises from which abstraction can be made only in the imagination. They are the real individuals, their activity and their material conditions of life, including those which they find already in existence and those produced by their activity'.
(The German Ideology - Marx and Engels)
Chief Sanganayaka Venerable Bodagama Chandima Thero and the Dharmachakra Lama Padanama
by Pushpadeva Pathirage
Vice Presdient Old anandians'
Buddhist AssociationChief Sanganayaka Venerable Bodagama Chandima Thero is an eminent individual who acts with great dedication and determination with the motive of introducing Theravada Buddhism in the present era to the new world. He is also an erudite scholar who is well-versed in the Dhamma. Ven. Chandima thero who has dedicated his life to Sri Lanka has volunteered his services as a young monk towards the Sasana in an international sense is indeed someone to be proud of, and a great honour for all of us.
This Ven. Thero who is a portrayal of efficiency, creativity and ethical behaviour and humility has been successful enough to develop relationships with the Buddhist community, clergy and the State with both North and South Taiwan in a unified way. As a result of this, he had been successful in achieving the post of Patron of organisations of 'Taiwan's Unified Group Educational Foundation' and 'Sunsan Buddhist Educational Institute' which are the two foremost establishments that render the largest service in a religious, social and educational sense in Taiwan.
Bringing into recall that 'of all alms that is given, dharmadanaya is the noblest,' he was able to print a large number of books of topical interest written in Sinhala, Chinese and English by various pundits, and distributed them in many countries around the world for purposes of dharmadana. This service helped in infusing the mind and intelligence of a large section of the masses. It is also very encouraging to mention that numerous programmes, filmed video tapes, recordings of various dhamma sermons and pirith sermons were distributed free of charge in most countries around the world.
The 'Piruvana Pothwahanse' is a dhamma book subjected to the reverence of Buddhists. The fact that Ven Chandima Thero had this book printed so elegantly in bold characters and donated them to viharas and Buddhists clearly goes to prove the attitude that he entertained towards his motherland, the noble feelings, the dedication towards the traditional code of ethics operating in the land and their long-term maintenance.
Ven. Chandima Thero, with the motive of creating a society enveloped in righteousness and Buddhist ethics in Sri Lanka, printed most elegantly the series of Dhamma school examination at the cost of seventy lakhs rupees and donated them to the Buddha Sasana Ministry, and thereby committed himself to a most valuable cause.
At a time such as this when science is reaching the apex of developing the cause of 'man for man himself', Ven. Bodagama Thero having understood well as to how the doctrine of the Buddha should be utilised, has assumed the role of displaying to the world how it should be achieved. In this context, the Ven. Thero has begun meditation training programme at a number of Buddhist institutes in Taiwan in order to familiarise the Buddha Dhamma to folk-life in a practical sense. The fact that many a member of the clergy and laity in Taiwan has voluntarily partaken in these meditation programmes confirms the capacity this Thero possesses in conveying such a deep dhamma into the masses.
The Dhammachakra Lama Padanama which was established in 1993 under the pioneering efforts of Ven. Bodagama Chandima Thero has by now received the approval and registration as an institute of charity. Among the distinguished objectives in establishing this institute, the following stand out prominently:-
1. The bestowal of aid and support to abandoned children, irrespective of nationality, religion or caste.
2. The economic, social and educational upliftment of the young, the old, the clergy and the laity.
3. Steps being taken to create a set of productive citizens.
For this purpose, the Dharmachakra Lama Padanama has bought a land of about thirteen acres in Veedagama, Bandaragama and has erected a housing complex there. A shrine-room with a marble statue bought from Burma, an administrative unit, sports and literary facilities plus a dormitory inclusive of health facilities for a hundred of these innocent children and a complete auditorium are to be found in this housing complex. Apart from this, there is also a children's home at this place meant for these unsupported children.
The necessary facilities have been provided by the Dharmachakra Lama Padanama for students who come there. Their school education; facilities for higher education according to their capabilities, and for the rest of the others a vocational training centre, plus a language and creative skill development unit has been designed for their future.
The building complex of the Dharmachakra Lama Padanama which provides such invaluable and virtuous services will be declared open by Her Excellency the President on November 28, 1998 with much celebration. On this day, a stock of hospital equipment to the value of over one million rupees would be given as a donation. There would also be an almsgiving ceremony to over hundred monks on this occasion.
It has been possible to provide such a host of services as a result of the unstinted courage and honourable feelings of the Hon. Ven. Bodagama Chandima Thero. Therefore, we wish that he be invoked with the blessings of the Triple Gem to continue further similar virtuous activities both in this birth and the one beyond.
Book Review
Pahatha Rata Netum (Low Country Dance Forms)Author:- Mr. Chandrasena Daluwatte.
Attorney-at-Law (Nattya Kala Sahitya Suri).
Publishers - New Daluwatte Printers.
I, as a southerner and a man from Matara very much appreciate low country dancing alias Ruhunu Dancing more than Kandyan and Sabaragamuwa dancing systems.
According to my study, I take the view that Ruhunu Dancing system is the oldest. This system of dancing is full of dramatic value and the dancing forms are vivid and varied. Our local dancing systems are a part of our living culture which is highly commended by educated foreigners. Local dancing is our national heritage. It depicts our national identity. I take pleasure in writing this review regarding the 4th book on low country dancing by our senior lawyer Mr. Chandrasena Daluwatte. He is the author of several other books on Ruhunu Dancing.
There are 10 chapters in this book contained in 152 pages. The book contains descriptive material to both the student and the teacher.
The book incorporates elegant pictures of WADIGA PATUNA, SUDDHA MATHRA of the author himself and HENDE SAMAYAMA of the professional beautiful dancer of Matara Parawahera Somatillake. The steps in Ruhunu Dancing are put in tabular forms which makes it easy for the student to learn and the instructor to teach. Knowing the author very well who is from Tangalle, he has inherited the ability in Ruhunu Dancing as his family heritage from the maternal side.
This book has a chapter which describes the birth of dancing, its history and its revival. This book is written to commemorate his late Kalaguru, an uncle Mr. S. H. Sawris Silva who is well known as a father of low country dancing. Mr. Daluwatte's contribution as a leading lawyer and able writer and a dancer in this field enriches our art and culture. And therefore we must commend his activity in this field an addition to his legal field.
E. A. Liyanagama,
Attorney-at-Law.
by D. B. Kappagoda
A ceremony to mark the 50-year career of journalist D. F. Kariyakarawana will be held at John de Silva Memorial Theatre on December 1 at 4 p.m.
D. F. Kariyakarawana'Dasaka Sathaka Mathaka' authored by D. F. Kariyakarawana covers a period of seven decades. The book contains witty and sharp observations of people belonging to all walks of life. It is also a record of events which can be considered as literature on media.
He has recorded about personalities here and abroad giving the inside stories of these well known figures. It is an attempt to record present day events seen by Kariyakarawana.
He has worked as a journalist attached to Lankadipa during its pioneer days. Later, he joined Lake House and worked as the Chief Sub Editor of Dinamina, Silumina and Janatha. He was the Editor in Chief of Yovun Janatha, a publication of Lake House.
Cream of talent for Kings Lager motor races
By Jatila Karawita
Kings Lager motor races and Grand Prix organised by the Upcountry Motor Sports Club will be held on December 20 at the Katukurunda Race course. Upcountry Motor Sports Club, which scored a first in the racing scene by initiating and negotiating with an Indian club to send a mini racing team to India, will add two more feathers in its cap. The club will get down the Subaru Formula team from Japan and the 'Maruti Fissme Formula' racing team from India. This was disclosed to the media by Gamini Dasanayake, President of the Up-Country Motor Sports Club when he addressed a press briefing in this regard in Colombo recently.He said, 'This is the first time racing fans here will get the opportunity to see these cars on a Sri Lankan race track. The Maruti Fissme 800cc Formula Car is an ideal low cost racing machine to use on our tracks and the driver gets a feed back on how a proper racing car feels. Our club is spearheading a campaign to popularize this low cost racing car in this country. According to the organisers riders and drivers from Britain, Japan, and India have been invited to test their skills with the local expertise and qualify for the Singer Akai Anuradhapura Road Race to be held in February 1999.
The Sri Lanka Air Force has been involved in the preparation of the Katukurunda race track and the organisers intend conducting the meet maintaining the highest standerds, it was announced. The winner of the Grand Prix event for reaching motor cycles would be eligible to take home a brand new Gilera 125 cc Motor Cycle and the holder of the lucky entrance ticket would win a brand new Vespa Scooter presented by Goldwing Motors, Narahenpita. Besides, Sri Lanka Air Force, Sri Lanka Racing Riders Association and the Anuradhapura Motor Sports Club has joined hands with the Upcountry Motor Sports Club to make this year's King Lager Motor Race Meet and Grand Prix at Katukurunda a success. Priya Munasinghe, Chairman Organising Committee, addressing the media said that among the events to be worked off on this day would be for motor cycles novices up to 50cc and upto 125cc. standared Modified Motor Cycles upto 100cc, 125cc, and 250cc. Racing Motor Cycles would be for upto 125cc, over 125 cc and upto 250cc, unlimited and Grand Prix for racing motor cycles and standard modified over 125cc.
There will be 9 events for standard cars in order to make the race more competitive and if the organisers get less than 5 entries for a particular event, it will be run concurrently with another event. The classes for modified cars will be as follows: Upto 1040cc, 1350cc, 1665 cc and over 1665 cc. For Turbo cars upto 1000cc and 1000-1500 cc. For single seater formula cars, Ford Formula Standard upto 1600cc, Ford Formula modified and any formula upto 1600cc for the 25 lap grand prix, for the ladies there will be events upto 1000cc and non-Turbo upto 1600cc.
In the foreign competitors category from India, a team of 8 Maruti 800cc formula cars arranged by Madras (Chennai) Motor Sports Club will take part. Ifran Sheriff, son of well-known Indian rider, Dian-Sheriff will also be taking to the Katukurunda track on this day in a Honda Rs. 125cc. From Japan, champion rider K. Koshiama will ride a Honda 250cc. Among the local competitors leading formula drivers of the calibre of Rohan de Silva, Romaini de Silva, Ajantha De Soyza, Sheran Cook, Aravinda Premadasa and Dilantha Malegamuwa will vie for supremacy against their foreign counterparts.
Use of mobile phones while driving
By Dr. Kolita Weerasekera,
(Senior Lecturer -
Open University of Sri Lanka)At the rate the communication technology is developing the time may be not far that the majority of the drivers (including passenger carrying vehicle and heavy vehicle drivers) start communicating through mobile phones while driving (not only the pompous looking drivers of the present day). New technologies are always welcome but the necessary legislation should closely follow these developments to curb the harmful effects that sometimes come with them.
It is the appropriate time the Ministry of Transport starts formulating legislation to make it an offence in the country to use mobile phones while driving and take steps to enforce this law. The public should be educated on the correct use of mobile phones and make them aware that use of mobile phones while driving is not only an offence but a crime on society.
With the development of modern day communication technology it is a common sight to see many city drivers proudly driving their vehicles while talking through mobile phones. You may see some happily sharing their achievements, proudly giving orders to the subordinates at distant offices, having friendly chats, talking of grievances, checking the grocery lists and even trying to resolve family problems with sullen faces, by talking through mobile phones. The tragedy is that most of them are quite unaware that they are seriously violating traffic rules and perpetrating crime on society. The days will not be very far when public/private bus/truck drivers too start following this practice and start driving buses and large trucks while talking into their mobile phones to their loved ones, employers or friends. New technologies are always welcome but the necessary legislation should closely follow these developments to curb the harmful effects that sometimes come with them.
The number of mobile phones in operation in the country has increased at a staggering, rate over the recent years. The mobile phone companies operating in the country might be able to help me in getting the real numbers. It is the appropriate time the Ministry of Transport starts formulating legislation to make it an offence in the country to use mobile phones, while driving.
1. Make it an offence to answer or use of a hand phone while driving a motor vehicle.
2. Make it an offence to attempt to answer or attempt to use a hand phone while driving a motor vehicle.
Once these laws can be formulated it is the responsibility of the drivers to stick to them and police to deal with the violators.
Dangers associated with use of mobile phones while driving
Although our concern is minimal regarding the use of mobile phones while driving, some countries have carried out research quite extensively in this area. There is important information regarding road safety that could be abstracted from these research studies. Overseas research suggests that, in terms of road safety, the most important issue for mobile phone user, while driving, is the complexity or intensity of the user's conversation. The complexity and intensity of a driver's conversation is important because it engages the information processing capabilities of the driver. This means, the more concentration that a car phone conversation requires, the more likely it is that the driver will overlook significant events in the road environment and the longer the driver will take to react to significant events. Research done in developed countries also shows that the dangers associated with talking on a mobile phone are just as important when the driving task is easy. Research also has shown that when drivers performed an easy driving task, their use of a mobile phone has negative effects on their reaction time.Talking through a mobile phone is different to talking to a passenger in the vehicle
Studies in developed countries have shown that talking to someone on a mobile phone is not the same as talking to a passenger. Unlike a passenger a person talking to you at the other end of a telephone is not aware of the development of complex or hazardous traffic situations, and may therefore, inappropriately, continue to converse in a way which demands the drivers attention. This reduces the driver's concentration on the road and may increase the reaction time and body control.Operating the controls of a mobile phone can also increase a driver's risk of an accident. In particular, operating the controls of a mobile phone is likely to reduce a driver's ability to control his position within lanes and also may increase the reaction time. Based on the observations obtained from overseas research it would appear that there are a number of limitations in drivers' ability to use a mobile phone safely while driving. Co-operation of local drivers to recognise these limitations and to take appropriate precautions will, no doubt, have implications for the future involvement of mobile phone use.
In the above overseas research studies can be directed to investigate what percentage of accidents, whether minor, serious or fatal have taken place during the recent years with involvement of mobile phones. Police should start collecting vehicle accident data by including the use of mobile phones at the time of accident. These statistics will indicate whether the number of accidents has increased in proportion to the number of mobile phones or not. The public should be educated on the correct use of mobile phones and make them aware that use of mobile phones while driving is not only an offence but a crime on the society.
It should be taken seriously that although the involvement of mobile phones in road trauma, based on current data may sometimes seem to be low this does not guarantee that the current level of involvement will remain in the future too. At the rate the communication technology is developing the time may be not far that the majority of the drivers (including passenger carrying vehicle and heavy vehicle drivers) start communicating through mobile phones while driving (not only the pompous looking drivers of the present day).
Many countries have very strict rules regarding the use of mobile phones while driving. Severe penalties are imposed on the drivers using mobile phones while driving and enforcement is conducted very effectively. In a country where the traffic laws are hard to enforce, it may be the appropriate time to start a public awareness campaign on the adverse effects of using mobile phones when driving. These campaigns can be coupled with the very same advertisements that promote the mobile phones. This can be started by adding a sentence in all the mobile phone advertisements that 'the use of mobile phones while driving is against the law - penalty is Rs. 1000... :..'. It is always better to get the good and discard the bad without consuming everything.
It is of utmost importance to take measures to put a stop to this improper usage of mobile phones at an early stage before the problem becomes worse. The day of 'hand-free' mobile phones may not be far - but the effect on drivers concentration and intensity of talk is open for further research.
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