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Military or civilian censorship, Chandika rules the media
By our Defence CorrespondentWhat’s the difference? Most journalists in this country heard on Friday night, or Saturday morning, that the president had appointed Ariya Rubasinghe, Director of the Government Information Department, as the censor, to enforce her emergency law that journalists should not write things about the war that she doesn’t want them to write.
Rubasinghe, a civilian, replaced a long line of senior army officers who have had the misfortune to wear the tag of censor.
Big deal
Chandrika Bandaranaike Kumaratunga forced the censorship down our throats in June of this year. Her own party supported her in this and later passed it in the parliamentary vote on the State of Emergency.Since then, all journalists have had to meekly submit their articles on the war to the censor. If he felt like chopping pieces off the article at random, or methodically, he did so.
Most of the time, there was no method. Junior army officers, many whose knowledge of languages were scarcely above that of GCE O-Level, were given the actual task of brutalizing the articles, since the censor himself couldn’t possibly read all the articles himself. The final butchered copy was stamped and signed by the censor himself.
Now, instead of having the army butcher our stories, we have civilian government bureaucrats doing it.
Why this cosmetic change?
The most pressing reason, was that the Commissioner of Elections, Dayananda Dissanayake, had set January 25, 1999 as the date for the Western Provincial Council election.
To vote for whom they think will run the country, or their province in the best way, voters need to know how those in office have been doing so far. That’s why they read newspapers, watch television, and listen to the radio.
When a censorship is on, the media can’t tell the people how the country is being run, and the people’s right to know is violated.
Without knowing what’s going on, how can a voter make a choice?
Having a censorship in a country is considered a big black mark internationally, in human rights and democracy.
Having an election after eight continuous months of censorship, eight months of fooling the people about what’s going on, is worse.
Having an election after eight months of censorship in which the army has been telling journalists what to right is worse still.
For a president who came to power championing human rights and media freedom, and who still dares to talk of the anti-democratic practices of the last regime, it’s a pretty gloomy situation.
For Chandrika, there are few choices.
She could postpone the election. But then, we may as well change the country’s name from ``Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka’’ to ``Chandrika’s Sri Lanka.’’
She could remove the censorship. But then, the people would learn the truth about the war, and the corruption within her government and the armed forces in arms deals. The voters might throw her party out of the Northwestern Province. So that’s no use to her as an option.
So finally, she did the only thing she could: try to show the world that the army isn’t interfering in democracy by stifling the people’s right to know. Instead, it’s government bureaucrats who are doing the job.
What does this mean to us journalists? Can we write today, what we couldn’t write last week? No. The Emergency Regulation remains the same. We can’t write about any operation which has been done, or will be done, or is being done, by any section of the armed forces or police.
We still can’t write about deployment of ships or aircraft, which means that we can’t tell you if the air force’s biggest plane crashed, killing 100 people on board, or if the navy’s biggest ship sank, or about any action by any member of the armed forces of police.
If a hundred soldiers went berserk and gangraped dozens of helpless women on the streets of Colombo, we can’t tell.
If the police bodyguard of a VIP drives the VIP’s Pajero through a red light at a junction near a school, and runs over twenty little schoolgirls, we can’t tell you, because it was driven by a policeman, who happens to be a person mentioned in the censorship regulation.
That’s what censorship means.
Forget about the LTTE. The Tigers are not what the censorship is about. They aren’t even mentioned in the law. Neither is the war.
What is mentioned, are the armed forces and the police. We can’t write about them, or anything they do.
You can dress it up in whatever form you like, but the bottom line is that freedom of speech goes into the dustbin.
The method in which Rubasinghe’s appointment was announced to the media also showed a total contempt towards the media on the part of the president. This is sad, considering that her resume proudly states that she herself was once a journalist. It’s not just Sri Lanka’s journalists that she looks down upon either. The foreign media in Colombo received the same treatment.
On Friday night, the Government Information Department sent a 2-page fax to all media institutions, including newspapers, and radio and TV stations.
All it contained was the text of a new Emergency Regulation ordered by President Chandrika Bandaranaike Kumaratunga on December 9, 1998.
At first glance it looked ominous, with the words `` PUBLIC SECURITY ORDINANCE’’ written in bold letters on top.
As many people in this country are aware, especially journalists, that means that the President has done something using the draconian powers which she gave herself by proclaiming a nationwide State of Emergency in August, and which her own People’s Alliance continues to extend to her every month at the end of the parliamentary debate on the State of Emergency.
There was no note accompanying it, and it took journalists a while to read and re-read through the legalistic jargon, and finally understand what it
THE PUBLIC SECURITY ORDINANCE (CHAPTER 40)
REGULATIONS made by the President under Section 5 of the Public Security Ordinance.
Chandrika Bandaranaike Kumaratunga, President.
Colombo.
Regulations1. These Regulations may be cited as the Emergency (Prohibition on Publication and Transmission of Sensitive Military Information) Regulations No. 1 of 1998.
2. No Editor or publisher of a newspaper or any person authorized by or under law, to establish and operate a Broadcasting Station or a Television Station shall, whether in or outside Sri Lanka, print, publish, distribute or transmit, whether by means of electronic devices or otherwise, or causes to be printed, published, distributed or transmitted whether by electronic means or otherwise, any material containing any matter which pertains to any operations carried out or proposed to be carried out, by the Armed Forces or the Police Force (including the Special Task Force), the deployment of troops or personnel, or the deployment or use of equipment, including aircraft and naval vessels, by any such forces, or any statement pertaining to the official conduct or the performance of the Head or any member of any of the Armed Forces or the Police Force.
3. Where any person prints, publishes, distributes or transmits, or causes to be printed, published, distributed or transmitted, whether by electronic means or otherwise, any matter in contravention of the provisions of Regulation 2, the Competent Authority may, after issuing such directions as he considers necessary to effect compliance with the provisions of such regulation, make order that the press or equipment used for such printing, publication, distribution or transmission shall, for such period as is specified in that order not be used for the purpose of printing, publication, distribution or transmission of any matter referred to in Regulation 2 and the Competent Authority may by the same order authorize any person specified therein to take such steps as appears to the person so authorized to be necessary, for preventing the printing, publication, distribution or transmission of any such material.
4. The President may for the purpose of these regulations, appoint, by name or by office, any person or body of persons to be the Competent Authority.
5. Any person who prints, publishes, distributes or transmits, any material in contravention of the provisions of Regulation 2 shall be guilty of an offence.
THE PUBLIC SECURITY ORDINANCE (CHAPTER 40)
Emergency (Prohibition on Publication and Transmission of Sensitive Military Information) Regulations No. 1 of 1998.
BY virtue of the powers vested in me by Regulation 4 of the Emergency (Prohibition on Publication and Transmission of Sensitive Military Information) Regulations No. 1 of 1998, I, Chandrika Bandaranaike Kumaratunga, President, do by this Order appoint Mr. Ariya Rubasinghe, Director of Information as the Competent Authority w.e.f. 9th December, 1998 for the purposes of the said Regulation.
Colombo, 09th December, 1998.
(End of regulation)
Note the date on the regulation: December 09. That’s Wednesday. Yet, it was Friday night before the people were told. How dare the president do that?
In other words, she signed a secret law on Wednesday, and then kept it a secret for two days. During that time, the Sri Lanka Army, which has been censoring articles since June 5, continued to do so, although it now had no authority in law to do so.
In this day and age, when events in remote and unheard of countries in the darkest corners of Africa can be sent live into the living rooms of billions of people, can there be any excuse for the 2-day delay in telling the people of the president’s order?
But then, a president who has tied journalists’ hands behind their backs, isn’t going to bother about telling them the news quickly, is she?
Cat’s Eye
Pinochet’s black ChristmasWomen (and men) all over the world celebrate the House of Lords decision on the extradition of Pinochet — one of the world’s evil dictators and violators of human rights. The women of Chile and the brave mothers of the dead and disappeared, who courageously demonstrated in public during the height of the repression, are particularly over-joyed at the decision. And the human rights community around the world are in a celebratory mood.
Impunity
"No impunity!" It has become the battle cry of the human rights Defenders’ Summit in Paris Fired by the extradition proceedings against Chile’s former dictator Augusto Pinochet, and the adoption of a new international criminal court, human rights activists are daring to hope. They may be right. But they should also understand that the challenge of impunity is also changing. This will require a shift in strategy if they are to maintain the momentum. (Impunity is the failure of a government to prosecute violators of human rights and human rights violations flourish in situations of impunity). When governments are asked to call war criminals to account they reply that it will hinder the prospects for peace and reconciliation. This refrain has dominated international peace-making since the early 1990s. Take, for example, the October 23, 1991 Paris agreement on Cambodia, that made no reference to the appalling crimes of the Khmer Rouge for fear that they would abandon the peace process. The Dayton Agreement on Bosnia broke new grounds in agreeing that any Bosnians indicted for war crimes could not stand for elections, but NATO has been reluctant to make arrests, for fear of antagonizing the Bosnian Serbs. As a result, the two indicated Bosnian Serb leaders. Radovan Karadizic and Ratko Mladic remain at large.In both cases, the concessions were pointless, because neither the Khmer rouge nor the Bosnian Serbs had any real intention of working with the international community anyway. The Khmer Rouge were killing Cambodians again before the ink was dry on the Paris Agreement. Just recently the Bosnian Serbs elected an extremist to the presidency of the Bosnian Serb Republic.
Landmark Decision
Nonetheless, governments cling to the myth that justice is incompatible with peace. They will find new evidence in this in the controversy over Augusto Pinochet. After the landmark decision by Britain’s House of Lords ruling that Pinochet could be extradited to Spain. French human rights activists asked the Paris prosecutor to arrest Laurent Kabila, the president of Congo. Who was visiting Paris for the Franco-African summit. The charge would have been torture (which is subject to universal jurisdiction under French law). The request was turned down by the Paris prosecutor on the grounds that Kabila was a serving head of state, and as such entitled to immunity that Pinochet could not claim. (Just to make sure, Kabila had checked with the French government before leaving the Congo and received a guarantee of immunity against prosecution.)Valuable precedent
Nonetheless, many activists here in Paris feel that a valuable precedent has now been established. They are talking here about the need to prosecute anyone who deserves it. The Defenders Summit today called for the international human rights movement to track the travelling plans of past and present rulers, with a view to lodging a complaint for former abuses and seeking redress.It is easy to see why this will rattle governments. Why, they will say, the wheel of international diplomacy would come to a grinding halts! does’nt every country have some skeletons in the cupboard?
This is reasonable point, and human rights activists will need to address it head on. They will need to show that accountability advances, not obstructs, peace within and between nations. This should not be difficult. Relatives of disappeared persons and torture victims can attest to the damage that impunity does to the credibility of law — something that is absolutely crucial in a young democracy.
Effects of impunity
Moreover, the effects of impunity tend to linger, like a wasting disease. Witness Argentina, where the Mothers still don their scarves every Thursday. Look, too at Japan, which refuses even to apologize to its neighbours for the horrors wrought by its Imperial Army 50 years ago. This has angered the entire region and the Japanese had a nasty shock this August when a score of aging "comfort women" appeared in a Tokyo court and told how they had been used as sex slaves of Japanese soldiers in World War II. Germany, in contrast, helped its readmission to the community of nations after the last world war precisely because it accepted the evil wrought on its neighbours by Nazism.Human rights defenders need to build on these examples, and refine this line of reasoning. But they also need to elevate their campaign against impunity from an emotional cry from the heart to a sophisticated political debate capable of sustaining an international campaign. It remains to be seen how "Ta affaire Pinochet" will play out, but right now it shows that accountability is a friend of peace.
Mortal blow
Pinochet’s detention is a grievous blow to the pride of Chilean nationalists, but the majority of Chileans want rid of their former tormentor. They had no say in the amnesty that was imposed on them by Pinochet before he stepped aside in 1989. Most would probably agree that Chilean democracy would have been strengthened by reversing the amnesty and prosecuting the killers, from Pinochet downwards. Pinochet was the embodiment of power, in its rawest, most undemocratic form. But he could not have been budged by Chileans without antagonizing the Chilean army and inviting another coup.The dilemma has temporarily been taken out of their hands by two Spanish judges and some bewigged British lawlords. In many ways. Chile’s democrats could eventually enjoy the best of both worlds. They have protested to Britain and done what they could to salvage national pride. They may also rid themselves of the dinosaur. Even if Pinochet returns to Chile, his reputation will have suffered a mortal blow.
Boost to democracy
This is huge boost to democracy and peace, and it has profound implications for governments that are grappling with past abuses. The dilemma they face is real enough, but they cannot be expected to resolve it alone. Argentina tried it in the mid 1980s, and suffered through three attempted coups until President Carlos Menem called a "punto final". The best - indeed the only way - to resolve the dilemma is through a disinterested third party. And what better than an international criminal court, able to dispense justice impartially, without fear of compromising trading links or diplomatic relations? It is one more argument for the swift and early ratification of the ICC statue.
Perspective
The question of Silindu’s and Dutugemunu’s
By C. A. ChandrapremaI had an interesting outing last week; having been invited by the Movement Against Terrorism to attend a ‘discussion’ about separatism and the role of the press. Held at the ‘Omega Inn’ in Wellawatte, it turned out to be more than just a discussion - there was arrack and beer and a buffet dinner. That was one of the rare instances I had come across where a Sinhalla based organisation had actually implemented the Buddha’s word - it was the Buddha who instructed Ananada to feed those in need of food before preaching to them and the MAT was doing exactly that. The journalistic community is normally a thirsty lot and it is to the credit to the MAT organisers to have recognised the fact and even at the risk of violating the ‘surameraya majja pama dattana veramani’ injunction.
Anyway, I have always wondered what this ‘majja pama’ in the surameraya veramani meant. Majja pama in pali would mean ‘madhyama pramanayata’ in Sinhala. I have asked several pali scholars who had done pali for their first degree what this ‘majja pama’ actually meant but I have never got a straight answer. People give all sorts of evasive answers. I have been so frustrated by this lack of straight talk that I have placed learning Pali at the top of my aganda for the calendar year 1999. I have already bought the necessary textbooks and taken the measurements of the subject - doesnt seem very difficult - one year should be more than enough. Yes folks! I’ll be reading the tripitaka (at least the easy parts) in pali by Christmas next year! Anyway, I noted that one Japanese scholar has written that in Japan at least, the ‘majja pama’ is literally taken to mean ‘madhyama pramanayata’. In which case of course, the Movement Against Terrorism was not flouting any Buddhist precepts by giving us a few shots.
Anyway, I dont drink any kind of alcohol but my friend Rajpal who also happened to be attending did - and we had a good jaw with some of chic young ladies. The ladies! Oh boy you should have seen the LADIES! There were no ‘upasaka ammas’ at that meeting, the ladies looked as if they had just walked out of majestic City and into Omega Inn. As the author of ‘kolapata samajaya’ I tend to appreciate these things you know,... The face (and shape - O O La La!) of Sinhala Buddhism was changing,... Anyway, I thought the atmosphere just right to air some of my views about the Sinhalese. "The Sinhalese cant be led by bloody Silindu’s (the main character in Leonard Woolf’s novel ‘Village in the Jungle’) they have to be led by Dutugemunu’s." By which I meant that we cant be led by weak peasant types, who always whine and complain and perpetually bear the mein of ‘victims of fate’. We need strong, purposeful leadership, a Lee Kuan Yew or a Mahatir Mohomed or a Park Chung Hee - that type of chap. Not these ‘godaya’ buggers the weda’s the gura’s and the bloody kamkaruwas and other assorted tree climber types. Yuk! Thoo! Here we are on the treshold of the twenty first century - an era whcih will be dominated by technology, the tution classess all over the country are full of young people desprately learning English and computer applications as fast as they can. It would be no exaggeration to say that such tution classes today have larger student enrolment than any political party has members. So I thought the time was now ripe for some straight talk about the nature of the Sinhalese LEADERSHIP and ideology.
But I didnt get quite the favourable reaction that I expected...I saw some of the Sinhala Buddhist cuties frowning and glaring at me while I was holding forth. Probably they mistook me for one of those Colombo based quasi-burgherised ANTI-SINHALESE types who get some sort of satisfaction out of running down the Shinhalese. But once I had started I coundnt just change the topic,.. so I continued despite the hostile stares - anyway I thought a little shock treatment would be in order....I reminded the little audience that had gathered around me about the very important revelation made by A.J.Wilson in his biography of S.J.V.Chelvanayagam - to the effect that Chelvanayagam had always held that the Sinhalese were not fit to lead the Tamils. And I stated thatI wholly agree with that view. It is only the Sinhalese who actually have had ideologues who have openly condemned development and demanded that everybody lead an ‘alpeccha’ life. What horrible buggers! Imagine wanting US to lead an alpecca life when the Buddha himself had only asked BHIKKUS to lead an alpecca life! The wonder was not that some so called intellectuals preached such doctries - intellectuals all over the world preach various things, but theSinhalese in particular appear to lap up this kind of rubbish. Now who else other than the Sinhalese would want to live an alpecca life? Not the minorities definitely. It’s no wonder that the minorities want out.
Who would want to live bound forever to a bunch of loosers like these ‘alpecca Sinhalese?’ I openly announced that the only thig which has held me back from converting to some other religion and renouncing my Sinhalese identity is the fact that there are so many Sinhalese who lead a non-alpecca life; ie those who live normally, who eat drink and enjoy themselves and dont waste away from jealosy of the minorities. Sinhala society is full of Silindu’s no doubt but we have had our Dutugemunu’s as well - the go getters I mean (WHEN I REFER TO DUTUGEMUNU I AM NOT REFERING TO THE SHINHALA CHAVINISTS.) Take my own community for instance - The Southern Sinhalese - We are made of different stuff! Yes Sirrr! There are very few loosers down South. At least they dont THINK like loosers...
THINKING like loosers is the biggest hazard. And that was what I was trying to convince our Sinhala Buddhist cuties about. The Sinhalese generally speaking, dont have the ‘balls’ to lead anybody. We have to ‘graft’ the balls on to this community. If the Sinhalese actually had balls, how come a minority of less than five percent is whacking the rear ends of eighty percent of the population? Eh? does anybody have an answer to that? The first thing to do to find a solution to a problem is to first acknowledge that there IS a problem. The reluctance to acknowledge something like this is because most people feel this would be to INSULT the Sinhalese. Haw Haw! I can laugh my backside off. What blood insult? How can the Sinhalese be insulted any more than they have been upto now? I think the biggest insult to the Sinhalese are the Sinhalese THEMSELVES and nobody else. Yes folks! Its time for the "DO THE SINHALESE HAVE BALLS?" debate. When the problem is acknowleged and discussed, a solution will automatically emerge.
TULF, budget and the original people
By Nalin de SilvaThe Tamil United Liberation Front has decided to vote against the budget. This has nothing to do with my good friend Dr. G. L. Peiris or with his budget proposals. In fact they are not concerned with the budget. They have not even analysed how the budget is going to affect the Tamils in Jaffna or outside Jaffna.
The TULF is going to vote against the budget not because of the money allocated for the so-called "war". If that was the case then they should have voted against the previous budgets of Dr. Peiris. But they did not do so.
The reasons behind the decision of the TULF are political and not economical. It is very clear that the TULF is thinking of withdrawing gradually, its support to the government and they may be already looking towards the UNP and Mr. Ranil Wickremasinghe.
This government though voted in by the people was manoeuvred into power by the non-national lobby. They had only one objective. That was to devolve more and more power to the Eastern and Northern provinces and pave way for the Eelam through a federal state. The Marxist parties continued to support the government even with an ‘open economy’ policy. They were and are more interested in devolution of power than in economics. The Tamil racist parties rallied around Ms. Kumaratunga, as they believed that she was genuinely interested in devolving more power to the Tamils.
In fact Ms. Kumaratunga was and is interested in devolving power. She is convinced that the Tamils have grievances and that is exactly why she was made the leader of the PA by the non-national forces. Having come to power she immediately commenced negotiations with the LTTE.
The G.L.-Neelan political package was introduced and a huge campaign was launched to promote it. The Sudu Nelums, Thavalams and Yathras were seen on the roads in addition to peace merchants trying to sell peace to the captive audiences in schools and in meetings organised by the MPs. The government media worked overtime to take the package to the people. The NGOs thought their dreams were coming true and they started day dreaming.
However it did not last long. Even without the SLFP, the party that traditionally championed the Sinhala Buddhist cause, which was hijacked by Ms. Kumaratunga and her SLMP type politics, the Sinhala people were able to campaign against the package at all odds. The LTTE was never interested in the package and the so-called war was resumed to ‘liberate the Eelam from the Sinhala imperialists’. The UNP first wanted to test the public opinion and then feeling the pulse of the electorate decided not to support the package.
The NGO bandwagon, especially the free media people, were the first to realise that the package was not on. Then the others gradually came to the same conclusion and now the peace merchants have to satisfy themselves with dubious opinion polls. However not all are seeking the comfort of opinion polls. For example we have amongst us Mr. Fatchett, the British under secretary for Foreign and Commonwealth affairs, having come all the way from London, to get the UNP and the PA to come to some kind of agreement on talks with the LTTE. The big business community is seen to be giving him a big helping hand.
If Mr. Fatchett and the big business community fail in their attempt then the Tamil racists and their sponsors will again turn to their traditional supporter the UNP. The TULF is already on their way towards the UNP. As a first step they have decided to vote against the budget.
The TULF in the meantime has expressed shock over a statement made by Ms. Kumaratunga in South Africa to the effect that the minority community in Sri Lanka was not the original people of the country. Mr. Lakshman Kadirgamar, who has denied that Ms. Kumaratunga made such a statement, has been criticised by the TULF. Dr. G. L. Peiris can rest assured that the decision by the TULF to vote against the budget has nothing to do with his economic management.
This incident shows how the Tamil racists try to bully the Sinhala people with their false propaganda. All the Tamil racists have join hands in criticising the statement made by Ms. Kumaratunga as if it was a deliberate lie. These are the tactics of Tamil racism. They fear the truth. They do not want to accept the history of the country. They want the whole world to believe their false propaganda, according to which the Tamils have lived in this country from time immemorial.
Ms. Kumaratunga should not give into their false propaganda. She has spoken the truth except for the use of the term minority. The majority and minority communities are concepts coined by the ancestors of Mr. Fatchett and we should try to avoid using these terms. Let the TULF vote against the budget. Nothing will happen to the government.
The Tamil racists base their false propaganda on work by people like Gnanapragasar, who claimed that Sri Lanka was originally a land of the Dravidians. For the benefit of those who have not read the Ph. D. thesis of Dr. Karthigesu Indrapalan who later became the first Professor of History at the University of Jaffna, I quote below extensively from chapter 2 of that unpublished thesis.
"It has been claimed by certain writers on the history of Jaffna that the people of northern Ceylon at the time of the earliest Indo-Aryan settlements, called Nagas in the chronicles, were Tamils. ( S. Gnanapragasar, Ceylon originally a land of Dravidians) Some others have claimed that these Nagas were Tamil in culture and language, although ethnically they were not Dravidian.( S. Rasanayagam, Ancient Jaffna) These conclusions, as we shall see presently, are based on the legendary accounts of the Nagas in the Pali chronicles and the Tamil Buddhist epic Manimekalai as well as on the erroneous identification of some of the place-names mentioned in early Tamil literature. Gnanapragasar, a leading proponent of the theory that the Nagas of the Pali chronicles were Tamils, has put forward four main arguments in support of it." Dr. Indrapalan then goes on to demolish these arguments.
"In the first place , he has argued that the island of Ceylon as well as the language spoken there were known in ancient times as Ilam and that the name of the language was later corrupted to Elu. These factors, in his opinion , "should lead one to conclude prima facie that , at the earliest times, Ilam was occupied , at least in the main, by a Tamil speaking people. This argument is far from logical. Presumably it rests on the fact Ilam is now used only in Tamil as a name for Ceylon. But the origin of this name , far from indicating that the island was occupied by Tamil speaking people in ancient times, shows that the people from whose name Ilam is derived were Sinhalese. The earliest occurrence of this name is in the Brahmi inscription of South India. In these inscriptions, from Tirupparankunram and Sittannavasal, occurs the Prakrit form of this name, namely Ila. Evidently it is from this Prakrit form that the Tamil Ilam is derived. It could be shown that Ila is derived from Sinhala through the Pali Sihala, or more probably through another Prakrit form Sihila.......... Thus, Ilam could be derived from the name Sihala and would therefore, mean the land of the Sinhalese rather than indicate that Ceylon was originally settled by the Tamils. Gnanapragasar’s arguments, on this score, will become groundless. The derivation of Ilam from Sinhala is accepted by leading Tamil scholars. ( S. Vaiyapuri Pillai, Madras Tamil Lexicon p 382 & S. Krishnaswamy Aiyangar in the Preface to S. Rasanayagam’s Ancient Jaffna)"
"Secondly, Gnanapragasar has argued that the original inhabitants of Ceylon came from South India and that these pre-Aryan aborigines were Dravidians who seem to have spoken a Tamil dialect. He base this on the assumption that the pre Aryan inhabitants of India represent an earlier wave of immigrants from the Mediterranean area and that no trace of any language other than Tamil is found in India till the arrival of the Indo-Aryans. Although the pre-historic relations between India and Ceylon are undeniable, the rest of his arguments are based on mere assumptions. It is not true to say that all the non-Aryan inhabitants of India were necessarily Dravidian. There were others as well, chief among whom were the Munda speaking people. The chronology of the Dravidian migration to India is itself an unsettled question."
"His third argument is that ‘hundreds of Tamil place-names in Ceylon are pre-Sinhalese. He has given a few examples of elements of present-day Sinhalese place-names and what have been considered by him to be their Tamil origins. It is clear that this argument is based on superficial similarities and not on any historical study of the development or evolution of these names. This could be seen in the two sets of elements as well as from their phonological development. He has claimed, for instance, that the Sinhalese element dena, meaning ‘low-lying land or valley’, is derived from Tamil tinai, meanung corn. But dena and its more common variant deniya are derived from Sanskrit droni (valley), through the Pali doni and medieval Sinhalese dona and deni.
The fourth argument that Sinhalese is based on Tamil and that, therefore, ‘the original inhabitants of Ceylon’ spoke Tamil is unconvincing. Gnanapragasar arrives at this conclusion by adopting unscientific methods in his linguistic research. One can only quote the views of Wilhelm Geiger on this matter:- ‘Gnanapragasar’s methods are not at all Indian; they are simply a relapse into the old practice of comparing two or more words of the most distant languages merely on the basis of similar sounds without any consideration for chronology, for phonological principles, or for the historical development of words and forms.’ ".
So much for Gnanapragasar. Dr. Indrapalan then goes on to deal with Rasanayagam. The problem of Tamil racism is a problem of history and the history of the problem reveals that the Tamil racists are not prepared to accept the history of the country. Ms. Kumaratunga’s statement in South Africa is probably the only correct statement by her on the problem. Perhaps Ms. Kumaratunga should request her minister for cultural affairs to take steps to see that
Dr. Indrapalan’s thesis is printed and made available to the general reader.
Leaders discredit themselves with old debates
By Jehan PereraOn November 26, the LTTE leader V Pirapaharan issued a challenge to the Sri Lankan government to enter into peace talks with the LTTE with third party mediation. He also made a blanket criticism of the Sinhalese people as chauvinist and desiring the war to continue.
"From politicians to monks, from intellectuals to journalists, everyone calls for an intensification of the war," he said in his widely publicised Heroes’ Day speech. Even while the Sri Lankan government struggles to come up with a coherent response to the LTTE leader’s the peace movement gave its own.
Barely two weeks later, on December 10, International Human Rights Day, more than 5000 people braved the torrential rains that have came unexpectedly in the wake of El Nino. They staged a two hour long march for peace in the heart of Colombo, around the Colombo Municipal Council.
The event, which was organised by several civic organisations led by the Movement for Inter Racial Justice and Equality (MIRJE) was yet another manifestation of the steady build up of public opinion against the protracted war in the country. Those who marched for peace were mostly Sinhalese from the rural parts of the country, many being from the districts bordering the north-east.
In addition there were a fair number of Colombo-based peace activists, again mostly Sinhalese. As they marched they shouted slogans, which were also displayed on banners, such as "So many have died, their numbers are unknown," "War does not win peace," and "Don’t wage the war on the people’s behalf."
Following the march the crowd gathered under umbrellas in the open air amphitheatre of the nearby Vihara Maha Devi Park to listen to several speeches and exhortations by leading monks such as the Ven. Buddiyagame Chandraratne, intellectuals such as S.G. Punchihewa and journalists such as Sunanda Deshapriya. Said one slogan, "However justified a war may seem, never forget that war is evil." Those involved in fighting a war would surely feel uncomfortable with such a message.
As the peace march took place during the late afternoon, and on a main road, the peace marchers had to compete at times with the traffic. But there seemed to be a general spirit of goodwill. Many drivers slowed down their vehicles to get a better view of the banners.
There was some concern among the organisers that an attempt might be made to disrupt the event as had occurred a few weeks earlier at the inaugural meeting of the National Alliance for Peace.
But those who had gathered in the cause of peace were too large a number for a few agitators to intimidate them by any threat of violence. No one opposed or questioned the peace marchers who included a large number of women and youth.
WAR’S LOGIC
In the context of the steady build up of the peace movement in the country, the LTTE leader’s dismissal of the anti-war sentiment among the Sinhalese in his speech was disappointing, but not surprising.He may have had his reasons for saying what he did. Perhaps he felt that the anti-war movement was so weak that it was like nothing to the long suffering Tamil people. Leaders who are engaged in "do or die" (literally and figuratively) battles with each other tend to get only a very narrow view of reality. Emotion squeezes out rationality as they become desperate to prove their point. They begin to see only their own world as they have constructed it.
Soon it becomes impossible for them to negotiate in a reasonable manner to achieve a better solution for both sides, which is what negotiations are about. This is also why mediators are essential to help resolve protracted conflicts. While there is a difference between saying something unwarranted in a prepared speech as Mr Pirapaharan did and in an off the cuff remark, nevertheless President Kumaratunga’s recent remark in South Africa would also indicate the psychology of a person trapped in the logic of war.
In South Africa, the President hurt the sentiments of Tamils everywhere when she described them as "not the original inhabitants" and a mere "minority trying to carve out a separate state."
Apologists for the President have pointed out that she was only trying to draw a distinction between the black liberation struggle against the white minority in South Africa and the problem in Sri Lanka. She had only a minute to make her point and she made it very badly. She got trapped into making her point at any cost to the other side.
Her intention may have been to delegitimise the LTTE, but what she did hurt the Tamil people. The message that came out was that she considered the Tamil people to be akin to latecomers who had less of a stake in the country they were seeking to divide than the Sinhalese.
NO CHANGE
The tragedy in Sri Lanka is that at a certain level of intellectual consciousness little has changed over the past century. At the close of the 20th century what is being debated is what was debated earlier as well. In the early part of the century there was Anagarika Dharmapala and his hostile utterances against the Muslims, Christians and Tamils. In 1939 there was G.G. Ponnambalam who, addressing a public meeting to secure Indian Tamil and Muslim support for his 50:50 power sharing demand, claimed that "the greatest Sinhalese kings were Tamils.The Tamils had an unparalleled history." Ponnambalam added that, by way of contrast, the Sinhalese "were a nation of hybrids without a history." S.W.R.D. Bandaranaike refuted Ponnambalam by saying this was "an attempt to prove that the Tamils had the chief claim" to the country, and promptly established a branch of his Sinhala Maha Sabha in Nawalapitiya town where Ponnambalam had delivered his provocative speech.
Now Bandaranaike’s daughter, who is President, apperas to have rekindled the old debate. Her opponent is Pirapaharan, who has staked the Tamil’s chief claim to the north-east of the country. It is necessary to find a way out of this old debate, which has led the country to such a protracted war. This is why third party mediation can be helpful. The mediator is able to point out the other side of things, and therefore the larger picture.
The periodic return to the old debate and the still futile effort to finding a political solution based on it, is also the reason why Sri Lanka needs a powerful civil society movement. It is an enlightened citizenry, who are not committed to the cause of either side in the old debate, who must pave the way. Those who are locked in conflict cannot find the way. Perhaps it is not the LTTE or the government that will create the new language and vocabulary that can reconcile, but enlightened citizens who are able to transcend the conflict even as, in some measure, they face the force of its savagery.
The Undeclared ‘Success’ of Operation Jayasikurui
By D. B. S. JeyarajThe defence ministry announced on Dec. 4th that all three stages of "Operation Jayasikurui" namely the capture and consolidation of Omanthai, Puliyankulam and Mankulam have been concluded successfully. All three places were key townships on the stretch of road between Vavuniya and Kilinochchi along the Jaffna — Kandy road or A-9 highway. The announcement came in the wake of the army seizing Oddusuddan on the Mankulam — Mullaitheevu road on Dec. 3rd. The official announcement said that a new operation condenamed "Rivibala" had resulted in the capture of Oddusuddan.
Although "Operation Jayasikurui" began on May 13th last year amidst great fanfare and trumpeting it seems to have been suspended without much ado.
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Some sections of the media have described it as an abandoning of Jayasikurui. Prominent members of the defence establishment however have stated the opposite. Another said that the objectives of Jayasikurui have not been abandoned.When the merits of these pontifications by important members of the defence establishment the recent press releases by the government and the LTTE do not have any details about any sort of fighting on the northern front in and around Mankulam. The distance between Mankulam and Kilinochchi is about twenty one miles. Yet there is no indication that the army intends moving forward in an upward thrust along that axis.
When Jayasikurui was launched the government was quite confident of success within a short timeframe. Hence the name Jayasikurui meaning certain victory or victory assured. Anuruddha Ratwatte raised expectations further by his sporadic announcements of deadlines that were never fulfilled. Even the worst detractors of the LTTE had to admit that contrary to expectations the tigers displayed amazing resilience
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In spite of a censorship there was much national media criticism of the manner in which the war was being conducted on the Wanni. This criticism was not aimed at the soldiers but at their political masters. But after(Censored)
"Jayasikurui" there has not been much reference to it(Censored)
This is quite understandable as the media in Sri Lanka does not want to embarrass the armed forces in any way. In the case of Jayasikurui the stated goal of the manouevre was the capture and consolidation of the roadway between Vavuniya and Kilinochchi on the A-9 highway. This has not been achieved. So the national media which is second to none in patriotism does not want to harp on the issue though it does have reservations on how it was conducted by the government sections responsible for war.This state of affairs predictably is most welcome to those propagandists of the LTTE abroad. Much has been made of the so called abandoning of Jayasikurui. It is being projected as the greatest defeat inflicted on "Sinhala forces" after the times of Chola Kings. The comments made by the UNP particularly opposition leader Ranil Wickremasinghe help bolster tiger propaganda on this account. The seizure of Oddusuddan on the Mankulam — Mullaitheevu road however has dampened this enthusiasm a little. There is some anxiety that the armed forces may be able to reach Mullaitheevu town
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The LTTE has set up in recent times the nucleus of a parallel administration in these areas.The capture of Oddusuddan opens up a number of military options for the armed forces in the future. If the "stubborn" determination on the part of some in the defence hierarchy to take the A-9 highway is curbed for the moment and other options pursued the armed forces may be able to register a number of minor successes that ultimately will pave the way for the major success desired. This column refrains from discussing these possibilities further for falling foul of the censor. After all who wants to be accused of passing information to the "enemy" through newspaper articles?
The focus so far has naturally been on the avowed goal of Jayasikurui namely the establishment of a land route between Vavuniya and Jaffna via Omanthai, Puliyankulam, Mankulam and Kilinochchi.
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There is a sense of disappointment that the LTTE has been able to thwart those plans. In the same vein LTTE sections feel elated that the tigers have been able to stave off determined army advances for so long. These mixed feelings are only on the basis that the objective of Jayasikurui was to open a land route to Jaffna and nothing more.(Censored)
Those Sinhala sections feeling dejected over the progress of Jayasikurui do not realise that the groundwork for effectively negating the demand for Eelam in the long run and a North-East merger in the short run has been laid as a result of Jayasikurui. Likewise the vociferous LTTE lobby crowing about how the advance of the army has been checked by tiger valour are yet to realise how far their cause has been set aback by Jayasikurui. A scheme conceived and put into operation by Lalith Athulathmudali and Gamini Dissanayake during the Jayewardene regime has now been successfully culminated by Anuruddha Ratwatte under the Kumaratunga administration.It was in 1984 that the then UNP government formulated the Weli-Oya scheme and began implementing it. Weli-Oya is the Sinhala name of the river known as Manal Aaru or "sandy river" in Tamil. The river became the pivotal point of a clearly demarcated region known simply by the name Weli-Oya. This region was basically pentagonal with the five main points being Nedunkerny, Maamaduwa, Kokkilai, Thennamaravaadi and Padaviya. These fell under the districts of Vavuniya, Mullaitheevu, Trincomalee and Anuradhapura respectively. The purpose was to incorporate certain Sinhala areas along with the larger extent of Tamil areas into a new, single entity named Weli-Oya.
This new region of Weli-Oya effectively interdicted the territorial contiguity of the Northern and Eastern Provinces. Strategically located on the North-Eastern sector the region would become a clean wedge between the Tamil dominated north and the Tamil majority east. The region was to be de-populated of Tamils and settled with Sinhala persons, farmers and fishermen. Even ex-convicts were brought there. Most settlers were armed as auxiliaries and homeguards. It was also to be saturated with a network of military installations. Once a strong Sinhala region with attendant military back up was established the dream of a "Thamil Eelam" comprising the north and east would be undermined. With territorial contiguity gone the entire concept was weakened. Even the demand for a north-east merger or linkage within a united Sri Lanka would have become meaningless.
Having state power the government of the day set about its task with a "legitimate" approach. Tamil owned lands and farms in nearly fifty-five hamlets and villages were acquired by gazette notification. Security forces of the state forcibly ejected and evicted Tamils at very short notice. Whole villages were razed to the ground. This was a clear case of ethnic cleansing but the phrase had not come into vogue then. It was seen more as being similar to the Israeli annexation of West Bank areas. Also Israelis were advising the military effort then.
The attempts by the state in de-populating the Weli-Oya region of Tamil inhabitants and re-populating it with Sinhala settlers brought about a bitter and bloody chapter in ethnic conflict. The LTTE embarked upon a savage campaign of killing in cold blood Sinhala civilians both new and old in the region. The state responded by massacring Tamils and burning down villages. The violence however poured cold water on the UNP government’s plans to create the Weli-Oya region in full strength. Sinhala settlers started fleeing the area and new persons were just not willing to Delhi contributed to a general cooling off in the attempt to create Weli-Oya.
The lower parts on the proposed Weli-Oya region soon became void of large concentrations of population. The mainly forest oriented territory became no man’s land. Enclaves of Sinhala settlers existed under the protection of military camps. The upper parts of the envisaged Weli-Oya region all of it Tamils remained as before. Since the Weli-Oya scheme was not being implemented with vigour these Tamil villages remained safe and intact.
Though "colonisation" of the area did not take place the process of militarisation went on. A whole new military complex was established along the axis of Weli-Oya resulting in a clear line dividing north-east contiguity. One feature of this process was the renaming of former Tamil villages into Sinhala and setting up military camps. Thus Kurunthumalai became Gajabapura. Mankindimalai was renamed as Janakapura. This incidently was after the army officer General Janaka Perera.
The LTTE was extremely concerned with this development and launched a series of attacks on these camps and patrols in the region. The major attacks were codenamed "Ithayabhoomi" meaning heartland. This indicated the geopolitical importance of the region. If Weli-Oya became a permanent feature the entire Eelam concept was going to be split in the middle. The LTTE conducted a lot of attacks in the region. The LTTE was not able to dislodge the armed forces. At the same time it was able to contain the army within a specific area. Thus the overall Tamil characteristic of the region remained without much change.
That India and the LTTE were concerned with the Weli-Oya situation became visible during the time of the Indo-Lanka accord. One of the development projects envisaged then was the construction of a railway cum roadway from Jaffna to Kalmunai along the north-eastern coast. Apart from opening up new territory such a set up would have consolidated the territorial contiguity of the north and east. The pan Tamil nature of the region would have been enhanced and the ulterior motives of the Weli-Oya project defeated. India was willing to provide the finances and expertise for this project. Once war broke out everything was negated.
Thereafter Weli-Oya has remained a seat of controversy and conflict. There were occasional freudian slips by those in power that threw light on their hidden intentions. Once Ranjan Wijeratne spoke of Weli-Oya as a separate district in Parliament. When Amirthalingam challenged him Wijeratne apologised for his "Mistake". The fact of the matter is that Weli-Oya has been administered as a separate entity. It is overseen by the Anuradhapura Kachcheri and not Vavuniya or Mullaitheevu Kachcheries. Although Colombo governments may have really wanted to make Weli-Oya a de jure and de facto district ground conditions prevented them. The armed forces had not established full control of the envisaged region, the LTTE was active, the Sinhala settlers were afraid and Tamil inhabitants remained in their lands.
But now with Jayasikurui all that is over. The first stage of Jayasikurui saw the armed forces capturing Omanthai and Nedunkerni. Nedunkerni along the Puliyankulam — Mullaitheevu road is the interface of the Vavuniya and Mullaitheevu districts. It is also the northernmost town of the proposed Weli-Oya region. With the first stage of Jayasikurui being completed last year itself the Tamils in this area started fleeing. In one move the borders of Weli-Oya got enlarged. Weli-Oya region became totally in the hands of the armed forces.
Once again this raised the Weli-Oya spectre again. This column highlighted the changed politico-military situation in the region and drew attention to the "Problem" at hand. A TULF delegation raised the issue with President Kumaratunga and came away satisfied with her assurances on the status quo of the region. Whatever the assurances given by Kumaratunga much water has flown down Weli-Oya since then.
There have been several reports and articles in the State owned and controlled media about the progress made in Weli-Oya.
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Other aspects are being overseen by a special administrative unit attached to the Anuradhapura secretariat. The Weli-Oya region itself has seen many new roads being opened up. Very effective linkages have been established within the region. Even a proposal to extend the railway to the region is very much in the air.One consequence of the changed situation has been the return of Sinhala settlers to the areas. This is in stark contrast to Tamils vacating their traditional homelands en masse as displaced persons.
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This process will only exacerbate with the capture of Oddusuddan. More than 14,000 have fled the area.(Censored)
The borders of the proposed Weli-Oya region will be enhanced. The return of Sinhala settlers to Weli-Oya as a result of Jayasikurui has been commented upon by Ratwatte on an earlier occasion. But the significance of it has not been realised by the nation at large.The creation of a separate district or Province of Weli-Oya seems to be on the hidden agenda of the PA as well. It may be recalled that when details of contemplated referendae concerning the future of the Eastern Province were released there was one about merging with the north. The Batticaloa and Trincomalee districts were asked to decide whether they would like to merge with the districts of Jaffna, Kilinochchi, Mannar, Mullaitheevu and Vavuniya. The question was not about merging with the Northern Province but with the individual districts comprising the Province. But the question posed to the electoral division of Amparai was different. There the query was whether they wanted to merge with the Province of Uva and not the districts of Moneragala and Badulla. Why is this discrepancy? Is it a mere oversight or proof of a more sinister design? Were the districts of the north mentioned specially without the Province being named as in the case of Uva because of a hidden agenda? Is that hidden agenda the creation of a separate entity of Weli-Oya that would interdict north eastern territorial contiguity?
These are problematic questions for which satisfactory answers will have to be found quickly. The decision to create Weli-Oya is fraught with potential to worsen ethnic relations to very much a point of no return. Even as some scholars are looking at the Irish imbroglio to gather lessons to resolve our conflict, efforts are on to follow the older example of "Ulsterisation" here. Such a decision if effected can only increase the bloodshed and strife.
The LTTE and its supporters are on cloud nine right now because of the perceived failure of Jayasikurui. These sections are taking the Tamil people on the path to ruin and disaster in the long run although they seem doughty champions of Tamil interests in the short run. It is left to other Tamil parties notably the TULF to take appropriate steps and prevent the creation of Weli-Oya. After Jayasikurui the Weli-Oya phenomenon has become a virtual reality. The TULF leadership consisting mainly of lawyers would surely know that possession in nine tenths of ownership in law.
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As a result of the changed scenario caused by Jayasikurui the government is now in a position to promulgate the Weli-Oya as a distinct territory. It is a region that has been ethnically cleansed and is perhaps the only 99% Sinhala region in the country. Moreover it is fortified by a complex of military installations. Just as the PA government has been able to score a point over the UNP by being able to capture Jaffna, it is now in a position to make Weli-Oya the original brainchild of the UNP a de facto and de jure reality today. The PA can go down in history as the government which effectively ripped north-eastern territorial contiguity apart and drove the wedge of Weli-Oya in between thus negating the concept of Eelam or even a north-east province for ever. On the other hand it can also mean a prolonging of the conflict indefinitely.
