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Disproving Tamil claims of antiquity to territory

by Gamini Iriyagolle
President Kumaratunga is reported to have said in a televised interview given in September 1998 in South Africa that They (the Sri Lanka Tamils) are wanting a separate state - a minority community which is not the original people of this country..." This is said to have created 'a furore' amongst Tamil politial leaders who are reported to have complained that Kumaratunga's statement was as good (or as bad) as her having said 'They do not belong to this country" though they claim a separate state (the reports are not clear as to what she actually said - it is assumed that she did say that the Tamils are not the original people of this country).

Kumaratunga's statement is irrelevant to a governmental response to the Tamil claim or to its meeting the violence with which the political claim is sought to be enforced since 1972 (the violence commenced before the TULF was formally established in 1976).

It was best ignored unless the Tamils rest their claim to a separate state or even regional autonomy on an assertion that they were the original people or at least a very ancient people in a land with a documented history which goes back 2500 years; in which case it fails in limine as we shall see. The Sri Lanka or Ceylon Tamils of today are not ancient people by the standards of antiquity in a country with a history of 25 centuries.

Kumaratunga's statement cannot mean that (not being original people in the island) Sri Lanka Tamils do not belong to this country: this is typical Tamil misrepresentation. This is as much as saying that people of European descent do not belong in the Americas or that people of Norman descent do not belong in England ( the Queen herself is descended in the male line from a German and the last four kings to sit on the Sinhala throne were Telugus though they took Sinhala throne names and were staunch Buddhists). However, Foreign Minister Kadirgamar, coming to Kumaratunga's defence, throws her into the Tamil trap. He is reported verbatim as having said " If you look at the logic of it her whole political philosophy, her determination to settle the problem, is (sic.) based on the fact (!) that the Tamil people are an utterly ancient community who have lived in this country from time immemorial" (italics supplied). Kadirgamar, loyal Tamil though he has been, throws the Tamils also into a trap by this statement: its logic is that if the Tamils are not an ancient people and have not lived in this country from time immemorial, there can be no basis, on Kumaratunga's own terms, for her political philosophy which results in proposals, such as "the package" which divides the island into several independent regions and then federates them into a Union.

The Tamil obsession with antiquity is a phenomenon of the nineteenth and twentieth centuries. The claim of a right to an exclusive on "over one third" of the territory of the island) dates only from 1949 with the formation of the Ilankai Tamil Arasu Kadchi ("Lanka Tamil State Party" dishonestly miscalled "the Federal Party" by its founder S.J.V. Chelvanayakam, a Malayan Tamil by birth and a Christian by religious persuasion); the claim was invented to coincide with the departure of the British and with the formation, in south India, also in 1949, of the Tamil separatist Dravida Munnetra Kazagham under C. N. Annadurai.

Chelvanayakam and his associate E. M. V. Naganathan linked a territorial political claim to a claim of antiquity in the following terms:

"Inasmuch as it is the inalienable right of every nation to enjoy full political freedom without which its spiritual, cultural and moral stature must degenerate, and inasmuch as the Tamil speaking people in Ceylon constitute a nation distinct from that of the Sinhalese by every fundamental test of nationhood, firstly that of a separate historical past in the island at least as ancient and glorious as that of the Singhalese, secondly by the fact of their being a linguistic entity entirely different from that of the Sinhalese, with an unsurpassed classical heritage which makes Tamil fully adequate for all present day needs, and finally by reason of their territorial habitation of over one-third of this island, this first National Convention of the I.T.A.K. demands for the Tamil-Speaking Nation in Ceylon their inalienable right to political autonomy and calls for a plebiscite to determine the boundaries of the linguistic states in consonance with the fundamental principle of self- determination" (First part of Resolution No. l adopted at the Convention of the Federal Party held at Trincomalee on 13th, 14th and 15th April 1951 - italics supplied. The Party was formed on 18th December 1949 at the G.C.S.U. Hall in Colombo).

The following points must be noted before we examine the claim to antiquity and its place in the asserted statehood:

The notions of Tamil-speaking people and a Tamil-speaking state were adopted instead of a Ceylon Tamil people and a Ceylon Tamil State so as to include the Moors and the Indian Tamils, the latter of whom lived in the plantation areas in the hill country.

Accordingly, the territory of the Tamil linguistic state was said to be 'over one-third' the area of the island, not merely that of the Northern and Eastern Provinces (which are about 29% Of the island) demarcated by the British in the nineteenth century in order to dismember the Sinhala state ceded to them by the Kandyan Convention of 2nd March 1815. The organization called "International Alert" formed in 1985 specifically to sponsor Tamil political claims has published a map of the island in which approximately 50% of the territory of the island is depicted as "main Tamil areas". Archbishop Desmond Tutu of South Africa is a vice-president of this organization; he apparently promotes a form of apartheid and minority domination in Sri Lanka while opposing them in his own country. Despite settlement by a Sinhala king of Muslims exiled in 1626 from the south west by the Portuguese, and despite colonisation by Tamils and Muslims under Dutch and British rule, Tamil and Muslim occupation of the Eastern Province had not gone beyond 10 miles from the coast by the time the British left in 1948 Post-independence governments settled Tamils and Muslims well beyond this distance, in and after 1962, particularly in the Morawewa and Mahadiulwewa colonisation schemes, on Kandyan Sinhala lands; even British administrators had deplored Tamils buying lands of the helpless Sinhalese in this part of Trincomalee District (Administration Report for 1898 of the Assistant Government Agent Trincomalee District.

The precise boundaries of the Tamil speaking state were to be decided by Tamil speakers at a plebiscite. What we are confronted with not attempts to safeguard Tamil rights but aggressive Tamil expansionism.

A few years after the Trincomalee resolutions Muslims in the Federal Party objected to being regarded as part of a single nation or even a single community along with Tamils and to being in a "linguistic" state which was to be Tamil dominated. A formal demand was made at the 1956 sessions of the Federal Party that "if the Muslims were to find a place in the Federal Party and were to continue in the Federal Party, it should not only ask for a Tamil state but also for a Muslim state for the Muslim people if the Muslim people want it. Accordingly, the objectives of the Federal Party were amended in 1956 we are committed to ask for two states for the minorities, one for the Tamils and the other for the Muslims" (proceedings of the Constituent Assembly, March 16th 1971 , speech of V. Dharmalingam, spokesman for the Federal Party - emphasis mine). Thus disappeared the Linguistic nation.

When Bandaranaike agreed that the B-C Pact was without prejudice to the Federal Party continuing to pursue its objectives he was agreeing to continued agitation for a Tamil state and a Muslim state - no "solution" was even contemplated (B-C Pact, Part A, fourth paragraph and last paragraph ).

With the formation of the Tamil United Liberation Front there was a reversion to the Tamil State - The Tamil nation, however, now meant "the entirety of the people in this country (italics supplied) whose mother tongue is Tamil" (the first election manifesto of the TULF, 1977); this contradicted the claim four paragraphs later that there were two countries in the island.

The All- Ceylon Tamil Congress was formed in 1944 to claim the rights of the Tamils, complain about grievances and to put forward proposals for constitutional reform before the Soulbury Commission; and to conduct political activity thereafter on a communalist basis.

The leaders were G. G. Ponnambalam, S. J. V. Chelvanayagam and E.M.V. Naganathan. They submitted a memorandum to the Commission and gave oral evidence before it at a public sitting at the Colombo Town Hall on 16th February 1945 G. G. Ponnambalam had a private meeting as well with the Commissioners. Neither in the memorandum or in the oral submissions was any claim made that the Tamils were entitled to a particular territory in the island on a historical basis or otherwise (the name itself of the new Party was "All-Ceylon Tamil Congress" A Tamil-speaking nation was unknown to Chelvanayakam and Naganathan in 1945. They were so dissociated from the idea that the Tamils had a right of self determination that the main constitutional demand made by the trio orally and in writing was that the British continue to be the colonial masters of the entire country and that the powers of the Governor be increased beyond those vested in him by the Donoughmore Constitution of 1931. Combined with this were the demands that gained notoriety and made the Sinhalese completely distrustful of Tamil politics, i.e., that (1) there be a legislature of 100 seats of which 50 should be reserved for the minorities (25 to Tamils ) while the balance 50 should be general seats open to all communities, thus effectively disfranchising more than two thirds of the Sinhalese; (2) there be a Council of Ministers appointed by the Governor at his discretion (after consulting communalist interests) and presided over by him - i.e. the imperial governor should be head of Cabinet !: (3) less than half the members of the Council of Ministers should be chosen from any one community - in a Cabinet of ten not more than four could be Sinhalese.

These proposals of the Tamil Congress, articulated by Ponnambalam, Chelvanayakam and Naganathan were too much even for His Imperial Majesty's Commissioners; they were rejected on the ground that "any attempt by artificial means to convert into a minority is not only inequitable but doomed to failure". They could not have imagined that later in the century the Sinhalese would convert themselves effectively into a political minority.

Thus in 1945, according to the Tamil leaders themselves, there was no "Tamil-speaking nation" with "a separate historical past in this island at least as glorious as that of the Sinhalese", no ownership of "over one-third of the Island" and no "right of self-determination ". All these were invented between 1945 and 1949 by some of the very people who sought perpetuation of colonial rule (see the Report of the Commission on Constitutional Reform, 11th July 1945, paragraphs 254 - 264; proceedings of the Constituent Assembly, 26th July 1971).

Later in this paper we shall examine in more detail the actual evidence of Tamil antiquity or otherwise both here and in south India. We shall see, inter alia, that Tamils are indebted to the historical chronicles of the Sinhalese for the only mention of Tamils in the Island prior to the 10th century A.D. and for the dating of Tamil history in their homeland in south India. We shall also see that Tamils of modern Sri Lanka are of confused origins (the modern Sinhalese are themselves mixed but the first Sinhala immigration was indisputably in the 6th century B.C.) and in terms of antiquity are collectively later arrivals in the Island than even some of the Moor groups. Linking political claims to an invented history is dangerous for the claimants and linking such claims to antiquity leave the admittedly recent immigrants such as the Indian Tamils, politically marooned.

Ceylon was thus given a new Constitution by the British. This Constitution was contained in the Ceylon (Constitution and Independence) Orders in Council, 1946 and 1947; the Principal Order was the Ceylon (Constitution) Order in Council 1946, popularly called the Soulbury Constitution . On 10th December 1947 the UK Parliament enacted the Ceylon Independence Act which declared that as "from the appointed day His Majesty's Government in the United Kingdom shall have no responsibility for the government of Ceylon" (sec. 1(2) ). The day appointed was 4th February 1948.

When the Soulbury Constitution and the Ceylon Independence Act came into operation, the All-Ceylon Tamil Congress lost the very basis of its existence. This was, it will be recalled, three-fold:

(i) British imperialist rule to continue;

(ii) Executive power to be vested in an entirely communalist Cabinet headed by the imperial Governor with the Sinhalese in a permanent minority and the minorities in a permanent majority;

(iii) The legislature to have 100 seats of which only 50 were for the Sinhala majority ( 75% today) while 50 were to be reserved for the minorities (25% today) consisting then of Ceylon Tamils, Indian Tamils (so described by the Tamils, themselve, Moors, Malays, Burghers and Europeans - the European Association worked hand in glove with Ponnambalam to prevent the country being granted independence just as Ponnambalam Ramanathan did with Governor Manning in the nineteen twenties (see e.g. the secret memorandum discovered by the "Ceylon Daily News" and published on 16th August 1920 ).

G.G. Ponnambalam came to terms with the new situation. He abandoned his positions and, on 3rd September 1948, took office as a Minister in D.S. Senanayake's Cabinet.

S.J.V. Chelvanayakam refused to support his leader and went ahead with plans permanently to keep the Sinhalese and Tamils poltically divided. Late in 1947 he had portrayed independence from Bitain as a secession from the British Empire by the Sinhalese. He had said that if the Sinhalese could "secede" from the British Empire, the Tamils had the right themselves to secede and federate with south India. This position was taken up in the context of and obviously in collusion with the Justice Party of south India which had, under the leadership of P.V.Naicker, carried on a militant campaign for thirty years to establish a Dravidastan - its most violent agitation was against the Hindi language.

When the Republican Constitution of independent India was adopted in 1949, the Justice Party was replaced the same year by the new Dravida Munnetra Kazagam under Naicker's erstwhile deputy C.N. Annadurai. Chelvanayakam fell into line and formed the Ilankai Tamil Arasu Kadchi ( Lanka Tamil State/Government Party) in Decemberl949; this was committed in the first instance to the establishment of a "Tamilspeaking" state in over one-third the territory of the island, and seven years later to the establishment of two states, Tamil and Muslim. This so-called "Federal Party" was the main component of the Tamil United Liberation Front formed in 1976 as the response and in opposition to the first republicna Constitution of 1972. A comparison of the occasion of the conversion of the Justice Party into the DMK and that of the formation of the TULF is inescapable.

The TULF also based its case for a separate Tamil State on a claimed political history going back over 2,500 years and for the first 2,000 years of which the authorities cited and relied on were the Mahavansa and the Culavansa of the Sinhalese (the first election manifesto of the TULF; memorandum submitted by the LTTE to the Seventh Summit Meeting of Non-Aligned Nations in New Delhi, March 7-15 1983).

It will be observed that the Constitutional scheme presented by the Tamil Congress to the Soulbury Commission had as its objective minority rule over the whole island through a minority dominated central government functioning under continued British rule. A claim to a part of the territory of the island, on whatever basis historical or otherwise, would have been a direct obstruction to this grand plan and would also have necessitated a demand for the departure of the British. Theories of traditional Tamil homelands, a separate Tamils peaking nation (replacing the 1945 Tamil minority and the distinct Moor minority in a Sinhala majority country) and an allegation of a right of self-determination were untenable in 1945 from the political point of view of the Tamils themselves.

After the grant of independence in 1948 Chelvanayakam changed his plans and purposes and invented an exclusively Tamil historical homeland, more than half of which had been populated by the Sinhalese for centuries and had been under Sinhala rule till ceded by the Sinhalese to the imperialists ("independence to whom? "Is yet another question but a discussion in detail of the legal and political effect in 1948 of the Sinhala- British Treaty of 1815 is outside the scope of this paper). Minority rights ceased and "national" rights were born just 50 years ago.

Thus when British cooperation could not be enlisted for the imposition of minority rule over the whole country, Chelvanayakam and his associates principally E.M.V. Naganathan - it was a combination of the National Council of Churches and the Roman Catholic Church in disregard of their congregations) decided on fighting for Tamil rule over part, albeit a substantial part, of the Island. This required the claim of ancient settlement and a history of Tamil achievement. What they relied on and what the Tamil political elements now rely on are British imperialist boundaries proclaimed by Gazette notification of the 19th century specifically to dismember the territory of the Sinhala Kingdom ceded conditionally by the Sinhalese on 2nd March 1815 (the Report of the Colebrooke Commission, 24th December l831, sections entitled "Kandyan Provinces acquired" and " Proposed Incorporation of the Kandyan Provinces" with map; Marshall. Ceylon, General Description, Ceylon Government Gazettes of 1.10. 1833 and 6.9.1873; Ponnambalam Arunachalam, Kandyan Provinces,JRASCB 1910, pp. 103-119 ).

The claim that Tamils had been demographically and politically dominant in Sri Lanka from pre-historic times and that the Sinhalese are comparatively (6th century B.C. !) recent arrivals are made by the TULF and, following its lead, by the Tamil terrorist groups (some of whom might be called "retired terrorists").

The TULF introduces its claim to a separate Tamil State in the following words:

Though Ceylon is a single state now, yet by the facts of history, by the languages spoken by its inhabitants, by culture, tradition and by psychology it is the common home of two nations and consists of two countries.

The present republic of Sri lanka is in reality a union of "Sinhala Land" and "Tamil Eelam". The fact that the Tamil nation has been living in this country from prehistoric times enjoying its sovereign rights under a state of its own is recorded in no less an authority than the great work of Sinhalese history - Mahawansa.

Even before the Christian era, the entire island was ruled by Tamil Kings, Senan, Kuddikan and Elara (Ellalan) and thereafter for over thousand years as a result of struggle for supremacy between the Tamil Kings and Sinhalese Kings, the capital of the Sinhalese kings was gradually shifted southwards away from Tamil centres. These are facts of recorded history (!). It is also a fact that the entire island was under the sway of Tamil Kings at times and the Sinhalese Kings, at other times. From this background of alternating fortunes, emerged, at the beginning of the 13th century, a clear and stable political fact. At this time the territory stretching in the western sea-board from Chilaw through Puttalam to Mannar and hence to the northern regions and in the east Trincomalee and also the Batticaloa regions that extended southwards up to Kumana or to the northern banks of the river Kumbukkan Oya were flnuly established as the exclusive homeland of the Tamils. This is the territory of Tamil Eelam (all italics supplied...) " (the First manifesto of the TULF, 1977 ).

The manifesto goes on to state that the alleged separate state of Tamil Eelam was captured by the Portuguese, Dutch and the British in turn, and was ruled by each Power as a separate country until the the British amalgamated it with Sinhala Land in 1833. It should have been granted independence in 1948, it is asserted, but was not; instead it was handed over as a colony to the Sinhalese who have exploited the country and its people as imperialists would a colony. Therefore the Tamils are urged to exercise their right to liberation and restore their ancient state as a matter of right. This will be achieved "either by peaceful means or by direct action or struggle... Action will be taken to enlist international support to achieve the freedom of Tamil Eelam". And how!

The terrorist groups followed the lead of their sponsors: The Tamils of the island of Ceylon (now called Sri Lanka) constitute themselves as a nation of people forming into a coherent social entity with their own history, tradition, culture, language and economic life. The nation is popularly called Tamil Eelam. Tamils have been living in the island from pre-historic times before the arrival of the Sinhalese from northern India in the 6th century B.C....Historical chronicles document that the island was ruled by both Taml and Sinhalese kings. From the 13th century etc....... (Memorandum submitted by the LTTE to the Seventh Summit Meeting of the Non Aligned Movement, New Delhi, 7-15 March 1983).

In their appeal against inclusion in an American list of terrorist groups the LTTE claim that Tamils have been in Sri Lanka for over 3000 years.

It must be said straightaway that all the above assertions, every single one of them, made by the TULF and the LTTE (and repeated ad nauseam by them and by the other Tamil groups are false. The early history of the island is very well documented and it is impossible to falsify that history. There are the historical chronicles of the Sinhalese (the principal work being the Mahavamsa falsely cited by the TULF), other literary sources, hundreds of inscriptions from the 6th century BC onwards, a large number of irrigation works constructed by the Sinhalese (there is not a single Tamil work - whatever must those alternating Tamil kings have been doing in a land synonymous with large scale irrigation?), and hundreds of monuments and other archaeological sites.

The Mahavansa has no mention of any pre-historic Tamils let alone Tamil kings. The earliest reference in the chronicles to any Damila presence in the island is to Sena and Guttaka sons of a ship's captain "who brought horses hither ". They "conquered the (Sinhala) king Suratissa, at the head of a great army and reigned (both together) twenty-two years justly (dammena)" (Mahavansa Ch XXI, Verses 10-12). . The 22 years were from 237 to 215 B.C.

It is obvious from the chronicle that they ruled at Anuradhapura; but it is equally obvious that, as a Sinhala dynasty (of which Dutugemunu was a scion) founded by Devanampiyatissa's second brother was ruling over Ruhuna, Sena and Guttika could not have ruled over the entire island; and,they were foreigners. It was Dutugemunu's successful campaign against the usurper Elara which firmly settled, in 161 B.C., the constitutional principle of single sovereignty over the whole island (ekachattena).

The Tamil claim that Elara ruled over the whole island (the chronicles of the Sinhalese are the only source for the existence of Elara) may be guaged by the summary of the Mahavansa account presented by the leading historian of the Tamils:

"The relations between the Damilas and the natives of the island form one of the main strands in the narrative of this valuable chronicle i.e. the Mahavamsa ), and the synchronism furnished by it are among the more important sources of Tamil history and chronology...

Towards the middle of the second century B.C., a Damila of noble dessent, Elara by name, came to Ceylon from the Cola country..., overpowered Asela who was then ruling in the island, and himself reigned as king for fourty -four years 'with even justice towards friend and foe on occasions of disputes at law'...Though not a follower of the Buddha's creed, the king lived on friendly terms with the Budhist bhikkus of his realm... His rule was confined to the northernmost section of the istand and the Mahaganga, now the Mahawaeliganga was tts southern limit. Then began a war between Elara and Dutthagamani... The details of the campaign that followed are very clearly recorded in the Mahavamsa; success attended the arms of Dutthagamani and his conquered foe was pursued up to the vicinity of Anuradhapura, and Elara met his death in heroic combat beneath the walls of that city. Then Dutthagamini marched into the city, and when he had summoned the people from a yojana around he celebrated the funeral rites of king E1ara. On the spot where his body had fallen, he burnt it with the catafalque and there did he build a monument and ordain worship. And even in the days of Mahanaman, the

author of this part of the Mahavansa, in the sixth century A.D. the princes of Lanka, when they drew near to that place, were wont to silence their music because of this worship. Of these transactions that loom so large in the early history of Ceylon, there is no trace in Tamil literature" K.A. Nilakanta Sastri, Emeritus Professor of Indian History and Archaeology, University of Madras, The Colas, 2nd Edition, 1955, pp.24-25.

There is an extraordinary postcript to Dutugemu's chivalry. "Altough twenty centuries have elapsed since the death of Elala," writes Major Forbes " I do not believe that the injunction of his conqueror has ever been disregarded by a injunction native. In 1818, Pilima Talawa ( of the same name as the one executed by Sri Wickrama), the head of the oldest Kandian family, when attempting to escape, after the suppression of the rebellion in which he had been engaged, alighted from his litter (palanquin), although weary and almost incapable of exertion; and, not knowing the precise spot, walked on,until assured that he had passed far beyond the ancient memorial" (Major Forbes, Eleven Years in Ceylon,, Vol. I, p.233).

Nila Kanta Sastri makes it clear that even at the beginning of the 3rd century A.D., the end of the period covered by the first part of the Mahavansa,, Tamils were foreigners and the natives were the Sinhalese.

(To be continued)

The JRJ-Amir relationship

by A J Wilson
Amirthalingam became Leader of the Opposition in the 1977 Parliament. The office was prestigious and he performed his duties for the entire opposition with meticulous care. Unfortunately from the very beginning, he was the target of two groups. The Colombo Tamils were jealous of his ascendancy, of a native son from the soil of Jaffna having such a commanding position. The communal minded UNP MPs wanted a Sinhalese as Leader. They pressured JRJ so much so that the latter at one stage asked me whether Amir could be persuaded "to surrender" his office to "a Sinhalese SLFPer" to which, after consulting with Amir answered in the negative. This opposition reached its most ludicrous heights when the governing UNP passed a vote of no confidence on Amir, the Leader of the Opposition, an unprecedented event in the book of parliamentary government.

Neither JRJ nor Amir trusted the other. That was why I had to come form Canada to bridge the gap. Amir said JRJ was "deceitful". His parliamentary group went even farther, S. Kathiravetpillai, TULF MP for Kopay told me over and over again that ere long militant Tamil youth will overtake their movement. He was unhappy with the DDC scheme but said that "for party unity" he would vote for it. He added that JRJ was "unreliable". JRJ described the TULFers as "small minds small people". Amir and his TULFers felt that JRJ would entrap them. They were unwilling at first to consider his DDC scheme. Then they took it but only as an advance on the local government system, not as the answer to their demand for a separate state.

Amir told me that JRJ was governed by the receding planet Neptune another word for "Deceit". JRJ claimed he was under the influence of Jupiter which implied that he told never be defeated both seemed to be correct in their own way.

Amir and his fellow TULF MPs complained that JRJ did nothing to implement his assurances etc. the moment I left the island. While I was in Sri Lanka, I was able to get things moving. But it required a mountain of effort. The problem lay with JRJ's callow cabinet, some of them murderous Tamil baiters. JRJ himself tended to take things easy. He dismally failed to realise, despite frequent cautionings from me, that time was not on his side.

I brought the TULF's sense of urgency to JRJ's attention but he seemed anaesthetized. I also urged him to implement what he had agreed to because Mrs. Gandhi will resume power at the forthcoming general election and she would adopt a different position. All of this was in vain. JRJ thought that Mrs. G was politically finished and that Morarji Desai (so JRJ told me) would get a second term. India was therefore "safe" and will not interfere in Sri Lanka's domestic affairs.

My relationship with JRJ was one of equanimity. Our trust was mutual. The TULF MPs told me that they could never trust a man who had torpedoed the BC Pact (1957) of hallowed memory. To this JRJ requested me to tell the TULF that he sponsored, and was party, to the Dudley Senanayake-Chelvanayakam Pact of 1965. This Pact, among other things, agreed that the entirety of colonisation in the Northern and Eastern Provinces should be reserved for the Tamil speaking peoples, Ceylon Tamils and Muslims in these provinces, then Indian Tamil plantation workers and finally Tamils outside the two provinces.

Dudley Senanayake in effect, without saying so, confirmed Cleghorn's Minute and Governor Brownrigg's despatch of 1803 that these were Tamil speaking Provinces. Recent agreements such as the BC and DC Pacts, have as Dick Cheney, U.S. Secretary of Defence in the Bush Administration said of Saddam Hussein's pact with the Kurds, a binding force in international law, when it was pointed out to him that Saddam would never implement his undertakings. There was no question of how the boundaries were supposed to have been in the allegedly hoary mists of antiquity. This line of reasoning is what distinguishes political scientists and international relations specialists from others.

What JRJ could not understand was the tendency of Amir to have to necessarily run with the hare and hunt with the hounds. For one thing Amir had no faith in JRJ. For another he was more comfortable with "the Ammay" as he was wont to refer to Mrs. Bandaranaike. JRJ was not pleased with the warm reception that Mr. B received from the people of Jaffna. They had benefited from her closed economy when the farmers obtained good prices for their onions and chillies.

Under JRJ's open economy, prices collapsed. JRJ understood this dilemma. But to offset it, he was offering DDCs which he thought was a political bonanza (sic.) Why would the TULF therefore decry him not only in Sri Lanka but in Tamil Nadu as well? In a letter to me on 15 January 1981 there was evidence of a widening gap between the President and Amir. So did the President's letter to me of 16 February 1981.

JRJ applied one rule to himself and another to Amir and the TULF. He made virulently communal speeches during the 1981 DDC elections in Trincomalee. He failed to understand that Amir had a more difficult task. The latter had to placate the militants in his ranks and accept the "dubious" DDC exercise at one and the same time. JRJ's simplistic strategy was to separate Amir and the TULF from the Tamil militants. He failed because Amir saw through this transparent stratagem. On no account was Amir prepared to break ranks with the Tamil militants until he proved to them that the DDCs were one more mile post on the road to freedom.

Nevertheless despite pressure from his TULF, Amir decided not to come forward as a presidential candidate at the 1982 presidential election. JRJ and Premadasa appealed to him and persuaded him to stand down. Amir hoped that JRJ would then, if elected deliver on the DDCs, only to be disillusioned. JRJ for his part hoped that with the "attenuated" DDCs that had been legislated upon (DDCs hardly bore resemblance to the original scheme, as the Cabinet had severely maimed and truncated them), his UNP could capture a few seats in the Tamil areas in the elections scheduled for 1981. He was warned by Thondaman not to intrude into the explosive situation in the north and east. His was a case of ignorance being bliss. Egged on by Tamil sycophants, the UNP presence only served to fuel the flames. Yet even after the DDCs were in place, there was still a chance of damning the flood of Tamil anger and frustration. The President and his Minister of Finance (Ronnie de Mel) failed to provide the much needed finances despite the pleas of Esmond Wickremasinghe. The result was the tragedy of July 1983.

1983 produced paralysis at the heart of the presidential system. JRJ was out of control of the situation. A Head of State (JRJ) cautioned Amir not to come to Colombo from his home in Jaffna because he could "not guarantee his safety". Then came the Sixth Amendment, yet a third blunder (the first two being failure to implement and to finance). This forced Amir and the TULF MPs to self imposed exile in Tamil Nadu. Mrs. Gandhi now had the much needed excuse to intervene, an opportunity which she seized.

Again Parthasarathy's Annexure 'C' was allowed to die in the APC conference convened perhaps to render it nugatory. Another opportunity was missed. There followed Rajiv Gandhi's Accord of July 1987. JRJ vainly expected the Tamil militants to lay down arms or be coerced to do so by the IPKF. Yet another fatal miscalculation.

What Amir and his TULF parliamentarians expected happened, that in the end JRJ would destroy them. But the result was a two headed Frankenstein's monster. The Liberation Tigers took command. And second there happened what was beyond the realms of the remotest predictability since independence. Powerful Ceylon Tamil expatriate communities, those who fled to Western Europe and North America from the vicious Kristalnacht pogrom of July 1983, constituted themselves into influential lobbies in the capitals of aid giving states.

JRJ confessed that these expatriates constituted "the world's most powerful minority". All these monumental follies could have been avoided had JRJ acted in time. Who knows, we would have had Premadasa, Athulathmudali, Gamini Dissanayake, Amirthalingam and his fellow TULF MPs alive but for JRJ dragging his feet. I have to admit that I spent five valuable years, 1978-83, on what now seemed a futile exercise.

There are three facts that became clear in those vile times. Firstly, there was the ridiculous spectacle of the Head of State engaging himself in petty party pettifogging when he should have maintained a dignified distance, leaving the task to his Prime Minister. An Executive President should have confined himself to the headlines of the party conflict as was the style from Presidents de Gauile to Mitterand. How else could a Head of State be relied upon to discharge his responsibilities impartially? Secondly in a multi-ethnic policy such as Sri Lanka, the Head of State cannot afford to make communal speeches as President Jayewardene did. Lastly, an Executive President, unlike a Prime Minister, must be able to direct and if necessary command his Cabinet. President Jayewardene was weak and let the Cabinet make the decisions, with of course his own input. President Premadasa went to the other extreme of disregarding his Cabinet. The behaviour of both Presidents provide enough proof of the need to return to cabinet and parliamentary government.

APEC - a disappointing Summit

by Dr. Stanley Kalpage
The summit of the Asia-Pacific Economic Co-operation (APEC) forum was held in Kuala Lumpur on 17 November. The focus of the Summit held at the hectare Cyberview Lodge located in the Multimedia Super Corridor was rudely diverted on the first day of its meeting from economic and trade issues to the explosive realm of politics. US vice president AI Gore, substituting for president Clinton, who was busy responding to Saddam Hussein, plunged headlong into sharp controversy when he spoke sympathetically about former deputy prime minister Anwar Ibrahim held in custody for alleged offences of sexual misconduct and corruption.

Gore linked economic recovery in Asia to advancement in democracy and government transparency He said. "Among countries suffering economic crisis, we continue to hear calls for democracy in many languages, 'people power,' 'doi moi,' 'reformasi',...We hear them today - right here, right now - among the brave people of Malaysia." Having sparked a controversy, Gore left the room immediately after his speech without staying for dinner.

Host prime minister Mahathir Mohamad was not amused. He sat impassively through Al Gore's intrusive remarks and was heard to comment: "I've never heard anything so rude." His trade minister Rafidah Aziz told reporters that Gore's comments were "the most disgusting speech I've ever heard and accused the vice-president of "unabashed intervention in our country."

Support for Gore came only from the new president of the Philippines Joseph Estrada, who has been a staunch supporter of Anwar Ibrahim and made it a point to pay a call on Anwar's wife while he was in Kuala Lumpur. The general view was that Gore "covered up the good message" of the value of democracy by interfering too much in internal Malaysian politics.

Some thought that it might hinder rather than help Anwar's cause.

What is APEC?
The Asia-Pacific Economic Co-operation (APEC) forum was established in 1989 in response to the growing interdependence among Asia-Pacific economies. Begun as an informal dialogue group, APEC has since become the prime regional vehicle for promoting open trade and practical economic co-operation.

APEC is composed of Australia, Brunei, Canada, Chile, China, Hong Kong, Indonesia, Japan, South Korea, Malaysia, Mexico, New Zealand, Papua New Guinea, the Philippines, Singapore, Taiwan, Thailand and the United States Russia, Peru and Vietnam also joined at the Kuala Lumpur summit.

APEC's objectives
APEC's goal is to advance Asia-Pacific economic dynamism and sense of community. Despite the financial instability of 1997-98, the Asia Pacific area remains one of the fastest growing regions in the world. It is a major contributor to global prosperity and stability. Today, APEC includes all the major economies of the region and the most dynamic, fastest growing economies in the world APEC's 18-member economies of the region and the most dynamic, fastest growing economies in the world APEC's 18 member economies had a combined Gross Domestic Product of over US$ 16 trillion in 1995 and 44 percent of global trade.

The member economies represent the rich diversity of the region as well as differing levels of economic growth. Despite such differences there is a growing sense of common purpose and co-operation aimed at sustained regional and world growth.

APEC's progress
APEC has come a long way since 1989. It has built steadily on the efforts of the past and looks forward to further positive progress. The initial years of APEC were focused largely on exchanges of views and project-based initiatives. The concerns were simply to advance the process of Asia-Pacific economic co-operation and to promote a positive conclusion to the then Uruguay Round of GATT negotiations. As the needs of the member economies evolved APEC developed into a forum of greater substance and higher purpose; to build the Asia-Pacific community by achieving economic growth and equitable development through trade and economic co-operation.

In November 1993, at Blake Island near Seattle, Washington, when the economic leaders met for the first time for informal discussions, they envisioned a community of Asia-Pacific economies based on the spirit of openness and partnership, of co-operative efforts to solve the challenges of change, of free exchange of goods, services and investment, of broadly based economic growth, of higher living and educational standards and of sustainable growth that respects the natural environment.

In subsequent annual meetings, APEC ministers and leaders further refined the vision and launched mechanisms to translate it into action. In 1994 in Bogor, Indonesia they translated the vision of an open trading system into the very ambitious goal of free and open trade and investment in the Asia-Pacific region by 2010 for developed member economies, and 2020 for developing ones.

In Osaka in 1994, APEC leaders adopted the Osaka Action Agenda, which firmly established the three pillars of APEC activities trade and investment liberalisation, business facilitation and economic-technical co-operation.

The Manila Action Plan for APEC (MAPA), adopted by the APEC economic leaders in November 1996, includes the Individual and Collective Action plans and progress reports on joint activities of all APEC economies to achieve the objectives outlined in Bogor. APEC Leaders also instructed that high attention be given to the following six areas of economic and technical co-operation developing human capital; fostering safe and efficient capital markets; strengthening economic infrastructure; harnessing technologies of the future; promoting environmentally sustainable growth; and encouraging the growth of small and medium-sized enterprises.

Issues at the KL Summit
At the Kuala Lumpur Summit, Mahathir blamed currency speculators for wrecking his country's once-thriving economy by dumping its currency, and there was speculation that he would try to use the leaders' meeting to defend or promote the controversial controls he has slapped on capital flows in and out of Malaysia.

The United States, Australia and Canada pushed the APEC summit meeting to finalise a pact to lift tariffs in nine diverse sectors expected to cover $ 1.5 trillion in global trade by 2020. The industries were chemicals, forest products, medical equipment, energy, telecommunications equipment, environmental goods and services, gems and jewellery, fisheries and toys.

Japan, staunchly refused to lower tariffs in two of the sectors - wood and fish products - for fear of offending powerful Japanese rural constituencies. Japan was criticised for opposing a proposed free-trade agreement supported by the United States. Tokyo said it could not accept a fixed schedule for opening its foresty and fishing sectors, two industries that Japan's governing party appears determined to protect.

Results of the Kuala Lumpur Summit
The APEC forum was overshadowed by the diplomatic furore set off by US Vice President Al Gore, and by a disagreement between the United States and Japan which forced the group to delay a landmark free trade agreement.

A US-Japan initiative was proposed to help crisis-stricken Asian countries revive their moribund banking systems and ease their corporate debt burdens. The plan would make use of $ 5 billion from Japan, the World Bank and the Asian Development Bank. The United States would provide mostly technical support, although Washington promised to increase its lending to finance exports and guarantees to back foreign investment in the region.

The question of who would provide what portion of the $ 5 billion was to be negotiated at a meeting in Tokyo next month. But the money would be used to partially guarantee bonds that a country could issue for purposes of recaptalizing its banks. If the plan works well, it may be beefed up with more funds.

After four days of negotiations, Pacific Rim nations failed to overcome Japanese objections to a landmark agreement designed to further open world markets in the midst of Asia's worst economic crisis in 50 years.

Japan's refusal to cut tariffs in two sensitive areas of its economy, fishing and forestry, led to the collapse of the talks, placing Tokyo at odds with the United States, the key advocate of the proposed free trade agreement.

The Kuala Lumpur Declaration
Pacific Rim nations approved a modest set of proposals to battle the region's worst economic crisis in decades, following a disappointing summit overshadowed by conflicts about human rights and free trade.

The final statement of the Asia-Pacific Economic Co-operation forum pledged relief for debt-laden corporations and banks, and stressed the need for growth by encouraging investment and capital flows.

In their report, the leaders appeared to adhere closely to a free-market, pro-International Monetary Fund handling of the financial crisis, which began in July 1997 in Thailand.

The Kuala Lumpur Declaration reported some improvements in Asia's financial crisis. It welcomed efforts to strengthen the world's financial system, and said developing countries should play an active role. It called for more international aid to generate jobs and alleviate the impact of the crisis on the poor.

The Declaration commanded Indonesia, South Korea, Philippines and Thailand for progress in implementing reforms. It urged "new approaches" to encourage reinvestment in Asia, praised China for keeping its exchange rate steady and Japan for announcing a new stimulus package and pursuing financial reforms. In offering Mahathir a consolation prize, the statement also called for a review of international private agencies that rate countries' credit-worthiness.

L E G A L W A T C H
Amnesty report slams U.S. justice system

by Nayana
Imagine this scenario: Prisons have been privatized. Ruthless cost-cutting by private management has made prison life a misery for the inmates but helped to generate large profits for the corporations concerned. As a result, incarceration has become one of the fastest growing businesses.

In the anti-crime frenzy that has gripped society, legislators and even government officials compete for office on the basis of the number of prisoners they have helped send to death row.

Meanwhile a new breed of policeman stalks the streets, armed with high-tech weapons such as "tasers" which immobilize their human targets by firing darts connected to wires through which an electric shock is administered.

A surreal tale of the future?

On the contrary, all these things have already happened in the United States of America circa 1990s, according to a report by Amnesty International titled "Rights for All".

For a nation that lectures the rest of the world on human rights, this latest AI report on the criminal justice system in America is revealing.

Amnesty has found that America's prison population has trebled over the last 16 years, while the contracting out of prison management to private corporations has resulted in a drastic deterioration in prison conditions to the point where they have fallen below internationally acceptable standards.

Prison cells have been reduced in size, some have no windows to the outside, and prisoners confined in such places thus get little or no fresh air or natural light.

Privatized prisons
This policy of privatizing the prisons has saved money for state governments, increased the profits of the corporations involved and, according to the details which have emerged from the Amnesty report, spelt misery and degradation for the country's prison population which numbers over 1.5 million.

Racial inequities, always pervasive in American society, have become acute in the criminal justice system. According to statistics contained in the report, although blacks make up only 12 per cent of the population, they account for half of all prisoners in U.S. jails.

Although the victims of crime tend to be fairly evenly divided between black and white, over 82 per cent of those executed for murder have been black. In the states which impose capital punishment, over 90 per cent of the officials involved in the decision whether to seek the death penalty for any given crime are white.

While the global trend has been to do away with the death penalty, in America its use has increased. According to AI, its use goes beyond internationally accepted standards. For instance, in over 20 states persons can be executed for crimes committed when they were children, while the U.S. Supreme Court has held that it is not unconstitutional to execute mentally retarded offenders.

America's obsession with the death penalty was exemplified by the District Attorney in a south-western state who campaigned for re-election on the basis that he had sent 44 "murderers" to death row. Campaigners who oppose this trend run the risk of being branded as "soft" on crime.

The AI report has also found "a pattern of needless and officially sanctioned brutality" in the treatment of prisoners. Sexual abuse of both male and female prisoners is said to be widespread. Last year the Federal Government stepped in to file action against two State Governments for failing to protect women prisoners from abuse including "prurient viewing during dressing, showering and use of toilet facilities".

Damages
Nor are federal institutions immune from similar charges. Amnesty documents a case earlier this year in which the Federal Prisons Bureau agreed to pay substantial damages to three women who filed a lawsuit claiming that they had been beaten, raped and sold for sex by prison guards at a federal correctional centre in California.

Prison brutality is matched by police brutality. The 1991 assault on black motorist Rodney King by four white officers of the Los Angeles Police Department, which made world headlines because it had been captured on film, might be described as one of the less perverted forms of attack.

The use of "tasers" as mentioned above has been known to cause death but these are among several types of electric shock weapons which are widely used by police forces. Cruder forms of physical violence documented by AI range from "hog-tying" (ankles tied to wrists behind back) to pushing the handle of a toilet plunger into a prisoner's rectum.

It is also interesting to note that in a nation quick to criticize chemical weapons on the international stage, there is widespread use of chemical weapons by its police against its own citizens. According to the AI report, there are 3000 local police departments which authorize the use of "Oleoresin Capsicum" spray (OC) despite the fact that over 60 deaths have been attributed to its use.

Two distinct strands of public opinion appear to have helped create the present disturbing situation in the American justice system. One is the economic theory that the State should divest itself of all functions that can be carried out by private enterprise. While there may be some merit in this theory as regards commercial enterprises, the U.S. experience has demonstrated how the theory can be stretched to convert previously non-commercial exercises such as the maintenance of prisons into commercial ventures, thus negating the social purposes that such institutions are supposed to serve.

Results
It is evident from the facts contained in the AI report that incarceration in the type of prisons under review is hardly likely to make the inmates better or more stable characters when they come out of prison.

The second factor is the general anti-crime (and anti-criminal) sentiment among the more affluent majority of society which has been crudely exploited by politicians and indeed all who have to campaign for office (which includes District Attorneys). This tends to encourage the public to turn a blind eye to abuse of suspects as long as the authorities appear to be "strong" on crime.

The AI report should thus serve not only as an eye-opener to those who still tend to imagine America as the home of the brave and the land of the free, but also as an early warning to third world societies about the excesses of privatization and short-hand theories of crime prevention.

The other lesson, of course, is the comparative lack of publicity given to the AI report by a western-dominated media trained to focus its human rights gaze eastwards rather than inwards.

The Week That Was
Moves to sort out UNP's differences with Sirisena Cooray?

by Shan Wijetunga
Last week's disclosure in this column that a leading UNPer had talks with Mr. Sirisena Cooray on neutral territory triggered a game of Whodunnit with the greens trying to find out whom Cooray had met.

We are now able to reveal that these talks had taken place between the former UNP general secretary (that is Sirisena Cooray) and the present incumbent in that position, Gamini Athukorale.

Party leader Ranil Wickremesinghe had apparently given the nod to these contacts but said that his name must not be dragged into the business. Those who are in a position to know exactly how the papadam is crumbling remain tight-lipped. But there are hints from insiders that an effort to iron out differences and bring Cooray back into the fold are afoot.

UNP delegates
lt took a month for the government to nominate its representatives to participate in the businessmen's initiative to find a way out of the country's most daunting national problem. But the UNP has not yet named its delegates. The word in political circles was that Ranil Wickremesinghe has been talking to his party people who participated in the UNP dialogue with the business leaders. He is likely to name the UNP team once these consultations are concluded. That could be any time now.

President Chandrika Kumaratunga's team named on Tuesday comprises Prof. G. L. Peiris, SLMC leader M. H. M. Ashraff, Southern Province Governor Neville Kanakaratne and Western Province Governor K. Wignarajah.

Political circles wonder what ground was covered at a meeting between Wickremesinghe and Prof. Peiris at the former's office. The only word out was that they had talked about matters of interest." Some sources said that it was likely that the subjects would have included the businessmen's peace initiative, the minister's Indian visit and the package.

The business leaders have been meeting regularly but without the political party delegates not nominated, little progress could be made. The original group has been enlarged and some new faces are included in the conclave which is now awaiting the UNP nominations. The businessmen whose initial presentation included several matters of special interest to themselves like too many holidays inhibiting productivity, the need for more flexible labour laws etc. have now come round to the view that one problem overshadows everything else. So the sole focus will be on ways of ending the war and giving the country a real chance of attaining its true potential.

In the meantime the business community held their meetings regularly without a break and their membership was enlarged to include several new faces. All of them came to the conclusion that they must await the UNP reply before naming their representatives.

Ministers at loggerheads
For several years, there has been an on going battle between Ministers D. M. Jayaratne and Kingsley Wickramaratne over the question of importing essential food items such as rice, onions and potatoes. The crux of the problem is that the Minister of Agriculture, believes that these imports badly hurt thousands of local farmers while Wickramaratne is convinced that without such imports millions of consumers would be badly hit. There have seen hot words between them at many cabinet meetings. This time the exchange was in the parliamentary lobby.

It happened while D. M. J. was discussing the problem with several government M.Ps and Minister Kingsley Wickramaratne happened to pass by DMJ pointed his finger at him and said. "He is the man responsibile for this". This sparked off a row which turned in no time into a slanging match. When it looked as though the exchange could get worse, Jeyaraj Fernandopulle managed to separate the two, Wickramaratne into the chamber and Fernandopulle who followed talked to him. The MPs who were with D.M.J. tried to pacify him. After some time Wickramaratne walked up to DMJ, and everybody expected a repetition. Instead the Trade Minister extended his hand to his colleague and apologised for what happened and requested him to forget it. Jayaratne followed suit and peace prevailed.

A similar battle between Ministers Ratnasiri Wickramanayake and S. Thondaman arose over an estate in Ingiriya where Wickramanayake is planning to settle Sinhala villagers. Thondaman opposed this and the duel of words ended in a threat by the CWC to vote against M. Wickramanayake's ministry votes in the budget committee. A lot of media publicity resulted and Wickramanayake challenged the CWC to go ahead. He declared that if his votes were defeated he would resign. The government took this seriously and requested all its MPs to be in Parliament at voting time. However, the threat did not materialise possibly because the CWC got cold feet at government's preparations and abandoned the plan at the last moment.

There was a possibility that the government ministers and MPs participating at the funeral of Venerable Kamburupitiye Wanarathana not being able to participate in the budget vote. Since there could be a tricky situation if the UNP decided to vote against the government along with the CWC, arrangements were made to fly those attending the funeral to Colombo by helicopter.

Accordingly they left the cremation grounds as soon as the ceremony was over and reached the helipad near parliament at about 6 p.m. and the government MPs who rushed to Parliament were amazed to see the two UNP MPs Karunasena Kodituwakku and Gamini Athukorale about to leave the house.

"Why are you in such a hurry"? Kodituwakku asked the visitors." "Isn't there a vote" came the response. On learning that there was no vote there was the part humourous, part accusing remark" "Because of you, we had to abandon the funeral ceremony and come to vote.It was a battle between life and death".

What really happened was that the UNP had decided not to take part in the debate and instructed its members to leave parliament. The government MPs rushed to the chamber. Although everybody had come prepared for a vote, nothing dramatic happened. Minister Thondaman was there but he did not call for a vote and the votes were passed without a division. Narrow Shave for Senanayake.Although Minister Wickramanayake escaped unscathed, Minister Dharmasiri Senanayke had to face a different problem.

The leader of the Opposition had been thinking of moving an amendement to the votes of Minister Senanayake's ministry over the Airbus issue. The procedural feasibility of this step had been checked and the task of implementing the step was entrusted to John Amaratunga.

As soon as the last UNP speaker finished his speech Amaratunga got on his feet before the minister could reply and moved his amendment. However, the Speaker did not allow it. This led to a long debate between the government and the UNP members. The Speaker did not budge. At this stage, Wickremesinghe got up to say that if that is the case, they need a debate. Minister Dharmasiri Senanayake opposed this on the ground that it will eat into the time allocated to him.

The UNP found that at that time the government was outnumbered in the chamber. Accordingly, John Amaratunga declared that if a debate is not allowed they would have to ask for a vote. The government got excited because there were only 20 government MPs against the Opposition's 42. However, nothing came out of a pontentially dramatic situation because it was adjourment time.

Later Ranil had a private chat with Minister Wickramanayake. He insisted that they did not wish to put the minister in trouble as he is one of the very good ones on the government. And Minister Wickramanayake promised to ensure a debate on the relevant ministry vote.

Cabinet meeting decisions
The battle between Ministers Wickramanayake and Thondaman came to the attention for the cabinet meeting and the President appointed a committee comprising the two senior Ministers Lakshman Jayakody and D M. Jayaratne to look into the matter and make recommendations.

A proposal by Indika Gunawardana to bypass tender procedures in cases where departmental approval can be given to a project did not find favour with the president. When the minister attempted to explain the president retorted'' How do you know? Your classmate is a big rogue. I know about it.'' Everyone wanted to know who this person was. Somebody suggested that it could be a classmate of C. V. Gunaratne but C.V, said,'' Not mine. And pointed at Indika making everybody laughing.

Minister Mangala Samaraweera informed the meeting that the Chairman of the Board of Investment is planning to take legal action about news report carried on the front page of Sunday Divaina and commented that this type of news is published to harass the government. Another minister referred to a similar news item in Lankadipa and wanted to know the feasibility of legal action. The president referred it to Minister G. L. Peiris who promised to look into it.

Remembering Lalith
Last Thursday the Naga Vihara in Kotte became the venue for a pinkama held in memory of the late Mr. Lalith Athulathmudali. It was organised by Ravi Karunanayake the very first public event organised by him after getting into active politics. Over a thousand persons took part in the pinkama and it took a different turn to the commemorative meeting held earlier in the day near the Athulathmudali memorial.

There was a representative cross section of both government and opposition political personalities, and the religious ceremonies were conducted by Venerable Madoluwawe Sobhita. Before the five precepts were administered the two ministers present Mahinda Rajapakse and Fowzie left the premises, but the Leader of the Opposition and several including the Deputy Ministers remained.

A little while later, Ravi Karunayake and Rajitha Senaratne joined the Leader of the Opposition who was engrossed in a conversation with Venerable Sobhita and Venerable Murattettuwe Ananda. They first talked about the package and Wickremasinghe said that they were prepared to give not merely 16 votes but the entire 89 if the government can bring up a workable solution. The theras reiterated their opposition to the package.

The topic centred on the area of health when Senaratne asked Venerable Ananda to give some points about health to be taken up at the parliament during the debate on the health ministry votes. When Rajitha pointing at Venerable Ananda the nurses union boss said "We launched the trade union agitation together" Ranil replied '' In that case, both of you would have got tear gas during the time of our government''. Both agreed.

Subsequently, both Senaratne and Kodituwakku went to the home of Elmon Peiris for dinner where a meeting of the opposition members of the Maharagama Urban Council was in progress.

Mulberry Group
Members of the Mulberry group had some free time on their hands pending the arrival of the president for a planned meeting and they indulged in a bit of fun and song. The president arrived while they were laughing at a joke and she wanted to know what it was all about. Their reply was that they were listening to a bana preaching by Ediris.

The proceedings went on smoothly as there was prior agreement on most of the subjects. On a suggestion made by Bennet Cooray, it was agreed to give the chairmanship of district committees to MPs as against the present practice of having deputy ministers. Similar consent was given to increasing the allocation given to MPs from the centralised budget. The president promised to take action after discussions with the Treasury.

Nandasena Herath spoke about the collapse of agriculture for which he blamed irrigation officials. He also said that the battle between the Minister of Agriculture and Trade is not good for anyone. It would only gave ammunition to the UNP. "This should stop'' he remarked approved by all. He also complained about the lack of an agricultural policy.

The President pointed out that although an agricultural policy is in place, its implementation is very poor. Herath also complained about the situation that had arisen as a result of entrusting the security of a particular village in Medirigiriya to the PLOTE. The president contacted the army chief over the phone and requested him to take suitable action.

Felix Perera went on to criticise officials, who had given wrong figures and complained that no amount of information given by them had any effect and that there are officials who had committed serious offences in agencies such as the Paddy Marketing Board and the CWE. The President did not accept that and said she was surprised.

She did not agree with Perera when he said that people are not satisfied with her government. Wrongs of 17 years cannot be corrected in four, was her comment. She also said that sufficient publicity is not given to the good work done by the government and nepotism in the appointment of publicity officers in certain ministries was one reason for this, she said.

Dalleas Alahapperuma spoke about the graduate employment problem. He said that no information is made available on vacancies, and only 28 vacancies had been filled at the Central Bank which has about 150. In her reply, the president remarked that the graduates preferred us to work in the private sector and that mentality should be corrected first.

The myth of PA's achievements

by S. J. Anthony Fernando
We have heard of many claims being made by the Peoples Alliance about its achievements during the four years it had held reins of Government. The most striking claim is that the P.A. had during the past four years achieved much more than what the U.N.P. achieved during its entire seventeen years of rule - or put in the hackneyed P.A. slogan of "Seventeen Years of Dooshanaya and Bheeshanaya". And quite recently the President has gone even further by stating (as reported in the Daily News) that the U.N.P. Would not be able to achieve in 50 years what P.A. had done in last four years.

Now would any rational minded person be moved by such rhetoric to be convinced that the P.A. Government has during the past four years achieved anything of the magnitude of the Mahaweli Development Programme which provided irrigation facilities to vast acres of land, boosting agricultural production, creating many new human settlements and adding an enormous quantity of electricity to the national grid, or the massive housing development programmes resulting in urban and rural re-awakening in the country, the rural electrification schemes, water supply schemes, urban development projects, taking industries to the villages, opening of Free Trade Zones, development of sacred areas or the large numbers of direct and indirect employment opportunities generated?

Were there any projects yet to match the magnitude of the development of Sri Jayawardenepura Kotte as the country's administrative capital and Colombo as the commercial centre( some parts of which incidentally now resemble a city under seige) or the extent of road development undertaken during UNP's seventeen years as compared to P.A.'s four years. The development of the Port of Colombo to be one among the top harbours in Asia, development of Katunayake International Airport, the vast extents of foreign investment brought into the country and development of tourism and hotels, the development of export oriented industries surely cannot even on a logical basis be compared to what had been achieved during P.A.'s four years

Impossible
Admittedly it is well-nigh physically impossible to perform during four years what would have been done during 17 years. The P.A. propagandists have attempted to defy the law of averages. The manner in which they have set about taking credit for performances of the previous regimes, including ushering the open economy and basking in the glory of others' performances, gives one the impression that they would like the people to live in a world of make believe. With a string of broken promises and no significant additions being made after August 1994 to the social economic and physical landscape of the country that could be felt and seen with the naked eye (if at all it is now in a run down state) it remains to be seen how long the P.A. could go on testing the intelligence of the people hiding behind the facade of "Dooshanaya and Bheeshanaya"

Discourses
Sifting through much of the verbose discourses and claims made by P.A. spokesmen from the President downwards at various times it would appear that what had been seen during the four years of P.A. rule is a continuation of the same U.N.P. Policies and programmes with the claim that they are implemented for the first time when in fact many such programmes and projects" had been existent even earlier. Even many projects like high rise buildings, bridges, and public utility projects opened with great fanfare under the P.A. Government were in fact found to be those started during the previous UNP regime. Even some propeoples programmes like Samurdhi, Presidential Mobile Services, Housing programmes, are mere "copy cats" of the past. What we hear still now after four years of P.A. are a plethora of Plans and Programmes, Task forces and Committees appointed to attend to problems, foundation stone laying ceremonies etc.

Though projects started and opened by P.A. are few and far between what is being seen, as predicted by some UNP spokesmen, is tinkering of the open economy initiated by President J. R. Jayawardene in 1977 and nurtured and developed during its 17 year rule.The irony of it all is that P.A. found itself having to fall back on the same entrepreneurs, whom they branded as UNP cronies, and the corporate sector to carry forward the open economic policies though in a much less effective and result oriented manner. The poor performance in the economic sphere together with unbearable burdens heaped on the people were very much felt in all strata of society.

The performance is indeed a far cry from what was promised to the people at the elections in 1994. The majority was convinced that P.A. led by President Chandrika Bandaranaike Kumaratunga presented a "Bold and Beautiful" image with the peace dove hovering over the captivating smile of the President beamed from colourful posters.

Masses
And the famous promises no doubt swayed the masses. Promises like bringing down the cost of living and implementation of various welfare measures like bread at Rs. 3.50 a loaf, reduction in prices of diesel and petrol, grant of a dole of Rs. 2000/- to all low income families and a further dole of Rs. 1500/- to all school leavers over 18, grant of Rs. 25,000/- lying to the credit of Janasaviya recipients no doubt would have sent shivers up the spine of World Bank experts.

These and other such pledges as abolition of the Executive Presidency by July 1995, provision of one million jobs during the first two years and creation of 300,000 self employment opportunities in the first year, the number of Ministers to be reduced to 20 (now there are 62 Ministers - both Cabinet and Deputy Ministers) abolition of PAYE tax, M.P.s and Ministers no longer driven round in BMWs and Benz cars, non-privatisation of state enterprises that are making profits, redressing anomalies of pensioners and grant of employment to children of pensioners, elimination of bribery and corruption and cult of violence, introduction of a Workers Charter were among the other promises not fulfilled.

Promises
Now one can lightly put these promises away saying that promises are meant to be broken and all parties had gone back on the promises they had given at election time. But P.A. promised to break this trend and vowed their promises were not to be broken. One could remember that the P.A. promises had that stamp of authority and assurance of several so called intellectuals, professionals and experts who jumped the P.A. bandwagon and now occupy high positions in the P.A. Government. With high funding required to implement these almost unbelievable promises several media personnel and others repeatedly asked the P.A. leadership whether they seriously thought that these promises could be implemented. All P.A. spokesmen from the President downwards repeatedly and vehemently maintained that these promises were practical and implementable because they were all worked out by a team of P.A. professionals, intellectuals and financial experts after a great deal of research and study of the then current situation of the country.

For the P.A. to say now that they did not foresee while in opposition the problems they had to face while in Government would indeed be a sad reflection on the same professionals, experts and intellectuals who were the authors of the P.A. manifesto. Leave alone not honouring the promises given, the P.A. Government has been guilty of pursuing diametrically opposite views and policies it proclaimed at elections.

Election
Apart from going back on almost all election pledges there had been numerous instances where the P.A. had gone back on statements and assurances given even after coming to power without so much as an apology. Many forthright assurances were given setting deadlines to end the North East War but the deadlines kept changing indefinitely. The Workers Charter was promised on all four May Days under P.A. rule without the charter seeing light of day. The promised investments from firms of Fortune 500 and also from Malaysia, South Korea are yet to come, the Southern Development Authority created with much fanfare and promise is yet to make even a dent in unemployment in the South. (As a scapegoat the top officials of S.D.A. have been sacked by the President) The Galle Port Development seems to have dropped anchor. Pensioners were promised the sun and the moon but only to face the threat of abolition of pensions. These are just a few.

Instances
Apart from this there had been instances when P.A. had gone right in the opposite direction to the pledges given during election. Privatisation which the P.A. vehemently opposed during the UNP regime is now pursued in a vigorous manner.One example being the privatisation of Telecommunication Sector. When UNP commenced with the launching of Sri Lanka Telecom, the P.A. opposed it vehemently. The Kandalama Hotel, which P.A. made a political issue, the Voice of America facility at Iranawila, the Air Lanka Airbus Deal, the Hilton Hotel affair all of which P.A. agitated against as instances of lack of transparency, became good when in government and implemented.

The about turn of P.A. policies were such that the left Constituent partners have openly criticised the P.A. on the matter coining the pun : "The P.A. signalled to turn left at elections but turned right."

However despite the lacklustre overall performance by P.A. it was for the good of the country that the P.A. Government is at least continuing with the Open economic policies. If it had wholly dismantled it, as some feared, it would have brought more disastrous consequences to the country today.

During elections the U.N.P. Had predicted that if the P.A. came to power they would only be doing a tinkering job to the open economic policies of the UNP. And it seems that is just what is happening with the "Engine of Growth" (the phrase used by UNP Presidents and Ministers now used by P.A. Ministers) not moving as fast as it should have due to wrong signals given by various factions within government.

Credit
If at all P.A. could be given credit is that it was judicious enough to realise the situation and go ahead with the open economic policies despite the vehement opposition to those policies by certain constituent parties in P.A.

The gravamen of the charge against the P.A. is the manner it was trying to take the credit for what had been achieved under the open economic policies during the UNP regime or rather 17 years of Dooshanaya and Bheeshanaya when in fact every arm of the private sector had been nurtured by the U.N.P. In fact instead of criticising what would be appropriate for the PA would be to erect a monument to the Late President J. R. Jayawardene for the bold and courageous step he took to charter an open economic policy for the country in 1977 and carried through during his period and later by President Ranasinghe Premadasa in a more vigorous manner from 1989 to 1993 and later by President D. B. Wijetunge till 1994.

It is undoubtedly due to this strong foundation laid that the country survived during the periods of the communal upheavals in 1983, the JVP terrorism of 1989-90, the on going North East war and now the East Asian financial crisis. P.A. boast that it is due to its sound economic management that Sri Lanka is holding forth in the face of the Asian crisis would not have materialised if the foundation for the open economy was not laid in 1977 and which policy PA parties had been opposing all along until coming to power in 1994.

Whatever drawbacks the present constitution may have been the P.A. should also be thankful to President J. R. Jayewardene for presenting a constitution which ensured stability and ensuring continuity with party discipline taking pride of place in the legislature. Imagine the P.A. having to face a situation if the M.P.s were allowed the right to cross over breaking party discipline resulting in by elections being held every time an M.P. resigns or dies.

And the Presidential system seems to have been fancied by the P.A. now with a Presidential poll being talked about.

Leaving these arguments aside if an objective assessment is to be made on a political party basis and a comparison made to judge under which Government the people had a better standard of living (despite the rise in cost of living) one had to assess the situation prevalent during 1970-77 period of SLFP led United Front Government and the period of rule under UNP from mid 1977 to late 1994.

Economy
The seven years of SLFP led-United Front rule up to 1977 was a period where the country's commanding heights of the economy were centrally controlled by the state resulting in state monopolies, issue of goods on quota and ration system, resulting in shortages and queues with average people experiencing hardships in getting even the basic essentials for living. People came to be better clothed after 1977 whereas earlier even textiles had to be rationed. The resultant corruption in state ventures were legion. Unemployment too was rife with limited scope for people even to engage in self-employment ventures. The period 1970-77 was also a period which saw the manifestation of certain trail blazing bad precedents that were to take root in the political sphere later on. It saw the most severe post election violence when shops, houses and property of opponents were attacked with mobs storming into Lake House after the 1970 General Election, saw the rise and fall of the first JVP insurrection (1971), resulting in thousands of youth losing their lives, the term of Parliament being extended by two years without obtaining the peoples consent through a referendum or other means.

We also saw politics entering trade unions for the first time is a big way with trade unions affiliated to the party in power gaining strength at the expense of independent unions and also formation of splinter unions to destabilise established unions. We saw also the traditionalist LSSP and CP unions too being split on ideological lines dividing the workers into various camps.

Then we saw the media freedom being assailed for the first time with the take over of the Lake House Group of newspapers, the sealing of the Dawasa/Sun Group of newspapers and the effective taming of the other only independent group, Times of Ceylon through surreptitious means to toe the Government line.

It was in this background of hardships, controls, and monopolies curtailment of freedoms that the United National Party under the leadership of J. R. Jayewardene was swept to power ushering in a new era in history of the country with the liberalisation of the economy. It marked an important watershed.The open market policies saw the growth of many enterprises and industries, flow of foreign investment and development of trade, infusion of new and modern systems and technologies and availability of a host of goods and services without restrictions. Though the prices of goods also increased the income levels also increased, though not on par with the rise in costs in certain instances.

Villages
This development rapidly spread to the villages and rural townships with goods and services earlier restricted to Colombo and certain urban centres reaching the rural hinterland. Soon the humble village boutique, often made of planks or thatched roof became brick and mortar buildings, some going up to two or three floors and assuming the role of virtual supermarkets selling all the essential goods needed in the village. The open economy also saw the advent of the television which was then decried by the Opposition as a privilege of the rich class. The liberal import of cars, lorries, buses, vans , motor cycles, bicycles as well as acquisition of modern electrical appliances and gadgetary for comfortable living by middle and lower middle classes which were mere dreams for them before 1977 became a reality.

Even the print and electronic media developed with acquisition of modern technology which saw the proliferation of many private newspapers, tabloids, media centres advertising agencies and private radio and T.V. stations. Many tabloids and newspapers came into being most of which were hostile towards the then UNP Governments.

What if the closed economy continued and J. R. Jayewardene had not taken the bold step of making the big change in 1977. Can this achievement be hidden behind the facade of "Dooshanaya and Bheeshanaya" ? How long can the PA sustain such brainwashing considering the "Dooshanaya and Bheeshanaya" prevalent now outside North and East even in the absence of a JVP terror situation in the South as prevalent in 1989?

If at all judging by various economic indicators, country's gains in the development sphere is now in a run down state, with low foreign investments and the growth rate not anywhere near the 7 per cent achieved by 1992,1993,1994, specially after the sound policies followed by President Premadasa which performances were commended in World Bank reports. The stock market kept on sliding since P.A. took office with the indices hitting a new low in September 98 , falling well below 500 to be at 450. In the early 1990s it was well into four figures. But now state media boasts a big achievement when the indices is around 600 or 700. The state media does not report when indices go down but makes a hue and cry when it picks up a litte.

Is it not a fact that the country survives today on incomes from exports as a result of the export-led industrial development ushered in during the past one and a half decades. Thanks to President Premadasa's 200 Garment Factory Programme apparel exports are yet netting in the highest foreign exchange to the country beating tea and foreign exchange remittances from expatriate Sri Lankans.

One could remember that no sooner the P.A. assumed office several P.A. spokesmen from the President downwards speaking at various international investment promotion fora advertised nothing but the excellent open economic policies pursued and the conducive climate created by the previous UNP regimes as safe guarantees for foreign investment. Ironically while advertising the open market policies of the past years to attract foreign investments for local consumption the P.A. leaders condemned the period as a period which ruined the country.

Rotten
However now things have changed. All what had been done during 17 years of U.N.P. rule was bad and rotten. Even many P.A. politicians and supporters who never had it so good under U.N.P. rule and had developed themselves by 1994 to be people of some means are crying loud of lost freedoms under UNP rule while making maximum use of the opportunities afforded under the free economy to develop their standing in life. If they had been denied their human rights, or lived in constant fear of their lives as they now proclaim, would many of them have put up good houses, owned vehicles, developed their businesses or enterprises, obtained gainful employment or set up in a self employment projects by the time P.A. assumed office in 1994?

They tend to forget that these were acquired by them during the period which they termed as "17 Years of Dooshanaya and Bheeshanaya". The policy announced by the U.N.P. regime then was (as the P.A. would proclaim now) that under the open economic policies , free of controls, opportunities have been provided to every citizen irrespective of race, caste, religious or political persuasions of coming up in life through their own effort using their talents and capabilities and hardwork either in business or any other field which were restricted under the closed economy before 1977.

In the absence of anything concrete to show on the ground as a spectacular achievement during the four years, the P.A. had been harping on the theme that it had freed the country and the people from the state of fear that gripped the country during the entirety of 17 years of UNP rule, and that it was only after P.A. took office after 1994 that people can sleep in peace in their homes. These hollow statements no doubt is to underestimate the intelligence of the people. If all the people had been living in such horrible conditions how come during those years people could go about their jobs doing their daily chores, in fact enjoying a better life than prevalent before 1977?

Whether such arguments would hold now with the people lauded as they are with unbearable hardships fearing for the future to keep hunger at bay and also the wave of violence perpetrated against those who hold the opposite view with failure to bring offenders to book is anyone's guess.

Period
It is evident that the period the P.A. had been trying to project as the time people were subject to terror is the period from 1988 to 1990 when the J.V.P.- led terror campaign caused havoc and destruction heaping unbearable hardships on the people. Undoubtedly the ordinary people underwent a period of terror at the hands of JVP and what had been termed as state terror is the manner in which the Police and Armed Services acted to quell JVP terror. But after the JVP terror was effectively eliminated. By 1990 there were peaceful years in 1991,1992,1993 and 1994.

Of course even during the subsequent peaceful years there were sporadic incidents of political violence as do happen even now , with greater intensity when P.A. supporters indulge in violence against political opponents. But on the whole peace prevailed and country recorded a rare economic progress during those years under President Premadasa. Generalising that short period of JVP led terror and to paint a picture that during the entire period of President Premadasa's regime (or as some tried to say the entirety of 17 year period) was a period of terror is to say the least a gross exaggeration and testing the intelligence of the people.

Does the P.A. expect the people to be so gullible as to believe that they were harassed and terrorised by the state and they did not sleep peacefully at night because of state terror during those years? Was it not a fact that after JVP terror was effectively eliminated by 1990 there had not only been relative peace in the country but also there had not been any instance of communal backlashes in the South even though a hundred troops die in battle in the North. It is this peaceful situation the P.A. inherited and enjoys even now though much more greater numbers of our soldiers have died in battle.

It would appear that the P.A. depended heavily on its trump card of negotiating a peaceful settlement with LTTE and Prabhakaran to end the North East War, putting all its eggs in one basket so to say. A healthy relationship was developed with the LTTE before and after Presidential elections, even to the extent of dismantling the security precautions in place up to 1994 August.

This is evident with people like Mr. Vasantha Raja, one of LTTE's propaganda men being put in charge of Rupavahini. State Media was prohibited using the word terrorist to describe LTTE or Prabhakaran. Though many lessons could have been learnt from the failure of the Premadasa- LTTE talks with the LTTE breaking the ceasefire unilaterally and launching Eelam War II, despite generous assistance and accommodation given to LTTE during the talks , it was not to be. With the Peace Dove occupying a prominent place in posters at elections the P.A. counted heavily on talks to succeed and did not bargain for the out break of Eelam War III. Thus history came to be repeated under P.A. just like the manner of the failure of Premadasa-LTTE talks with the out break of Eelam War III, but with greater loss of human lives and military equipment.

One factor which the P.A. is deliberately trying to make the people forget is the manner in which Premadasa prosecuted the war against the LTTE after breakdown of talks by harping on the theme of Premadasa assisting LTTE when talks were held. Though it was a strategy which brought only little result, Premadasa waged a relentless battle against the LTTE liberating the Eastern Province and Vavuniya travelling to these areas himself in restoring civil liberties to the Tamil people and thus winning the hearts and minds of the Tamil people over the LTTE. It was this strategy which led the LTTE to eliminate Premadasa. But the P.A. thought it could do better than Premadasa in resuming negotiations with LTTE which failed with much disastrous results.

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