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The Government is stuck on every front - Ranil
This is the full text of the interview The Front Line had with Opposition and UNP Leader Ranil Wickremasinghe.
Forty-nine-year-old Ranil Wickremasinghe is the active, experienced and hardworking leader of Sri Lanka's chief Opposition party, the United National Party (UNP), which is often described as the largest party in the political system. He has held different ministerial portfolios during the prolonged phase of UNP rule lasting for a decade-and-a-half from 1977. He was also, briefly during a transitional period, Prime Minister of Sri Lanka.
He is expected to be President Chandrika Kumaratunga's main rival in the next presidential election, which is due in the year 2000, and is also getting ready to wage an aggressive campaign in the proximate parliamentary election. During the past many months, he has been busy organising and re-energising his party. N. Ram interviewed Ranil Wickremasinghe at his Colombo office on December 7 to gain an idea of the UNP's perspective on the political situation, the military conflict in the North, dealing with the LTTE, and bilateral relations with India:
N. Ram (NR): Mr. Wickremasinghe, could you give us an assessment of the overall situation? First, the military situation relating to the ethnic question, and then your reading of the political initiative that is aimed at finding a solution.
Ranil Wickremasinghe (RW): The overall verdict would be that the Government is stuck on every front. They launched this military campaign called (Operation) Jayasikurui to defeat the LTTE. It has not worked. It has failed. The objective was to capture Killinochchi - Killinochchi is now in the hands of the LTTE. It's been one of the costliest campaigns in military history and certainly the longest ongoing military campaign from the Second World War, after the siege of Leningrad. But what has finally happened is that there has been setback after setback.
With the Army being stretched, the Government really cannot make any progress. Neither can they give up any of the areas that have been captured but not consolidated elsewhere. Politically, it will be a setback for the Government.
A failed strategy
The whole strategy was based on defeating the LTTE militarily and then marginalising them politically through the package. As a result, the package cannot be brought forward. The LTTE is quite active. The package has also run into a lot of opposition in the South. With a majority against the present set of proposals, the Government has no way out.We believe that (the strategy of) concentrating all the economic resources and winning the war in one year has also failed. The economy is coming apart. We are feeling pressure from three sources. We have had problems in three areas. Firstly, the Government has not been able to manage the economy and has lost investor confidence. Secondly, the fact that resources have been drained off for the war has limited the ability of the private sector to expand. It has also come increasingly under pressure. Thirdly, we are not prepared for the Asian crisis that is affecting our exports.
This has really brought the Government to a grinding halt. They have got to decide where they go from here.
Reading Prabakaran's Heroes' Day speech NR: The LTTE leader Prabakaran's recent address on Heroes' Day received wide publicity. What do you think it reflects?
RW: It is significant in the sense that it is different from the earlier speeches. It seems to have been addressed more to a Southern audience than to a Northern audience. It talks of finding a solution within Sri Lanka as one single country. It also holds out the threat that 'if you all fail to do so, then the LTTE cannot be blamed for pushing the agenda for an independent Tamil state.'
For the first time, Prabakaran has recognised, stated that Sri Lanka is a Buddhist country. It is sending a signal that they want to have talks, they are looking for a political solution. In a way, he has also taken the political initiative away from the Government. From May last year, when the Government initiated the bipartisan exchange of letters to enable the Government to talk to the LTTE, until now, the initiative would have been with the Government. But Prabakaran has taken the political initiative away from the Government - as much as he has taken the military initiative away. It is a position from which, if the Government does not respond, it will affect them adversely, both internally and internationally.
Learning from the 1994-95 experience
NR: Thus far Prabakaran has not shown any willingness to talk about substance. Basically, he talks about what needs to be done before meaningful negotiations can be held. You think that could change?RW: Well, when you go for talks, all that depends on the ability of the Government to set an agenda which could lead to some fruitful results. Otherwise, the talks become inconclusive. On the last occasion, they sent a very inexperienced team to talk with the LTTE. The LTTE team at least had experience: some of the members of the LTTE team were those who had discussions with the Sri Lanka Government and the Indian Government earlier. But on the Sri Lanka Government side, most of them had no experience in any type of negotiations. This, I think, was a fundamental flaw.
Secondly, Prabakaran gave notice of the fact that he was withdrawing from the talks. President Kumaratunga did not follow up on that. Neither were the armed forces informed of the fact that the talks might break down, in which case they would have been prepared. In fact, it was handled very amateurishly on the last occasion. It depends on whether they have the ability to learn from their past mistakes. So far President Kumaratunga has shown she will not learn from past mistakes.
'The LTTE is stronger'
NR: Since the talks collapsed in '95, we have had a sustained period of military operations. Would you say the LTTE is weaker or stronger than it was at that point, or more or less in the same position strategically?RW: I would say the LTTE is stronger. They have now developed the ability to fight a conventional war, at a divisional level. They did not have that earlier. They were indulging in guerilla warfare. Even the attack on Pooneryn was not successful, because they could not deploy their units at battalion formation. It is not so now. Their victories at Mullaithivu and Killinochchi are major victories by any standard. Because this enabled the LTTE to be recognised as the most powerful guerilla force in the world. This is due to the fact that we overstretched ourselves and we allowed the LTTE to concentrate their resources in a smaller area. Where we turned the military strategy the other way around!
In the last phase of the UNP, we had the LTTE in three areas. They had to administer Jaffna Peninsula. They had to defend the jungles in the Wanni. And they also had to carry on their activities in the Eastern Province. While the Government focused on the Eastern Province. Now it's the other way around. We are stretched into all parts of Sri Lanka and the main LTTE force is in Mullaithivu.
Costly political interference
NR Has there been political direction for the military operations? Or would you say political interference? How do you see the role of political leadership in this?RW: There has been political interference in the military operations. Anuruddha Ratwatte (Deputy Defence Minister and Power and Energy Minister) has taken over the conduct of military operations. The professional officers who spoke out their minds have been sent out of the Army or transferred. These are the officers who produced results earlier. The policy of sacrificing soldiers to make territorial gains has not worked. It has been having a backlash within the armed forces. It is not only on the ground. In the last three years, the LTTE has demonstrated its ability to control the sea route between Trincomalee and Kankesanthurai. Now they have even brought in a few aircraft- for the first time. They have built up an armoured column and artillery from equipment captured from the Sri Lankan Army. This shows the extent of political interference. The total losses, the death toll for the Army over the past four years is 11,500-while in the previous period stretching from 1983 to 1994, it was in the region of 6,000 or 7,000.
Desertions
NR: And this phenomenon of desertion everyone is talking about: are you concerned about that?RW: It is a matter of concern. People are deserting the Army, no one is joining the Army. Every day our strength is being reduced.
NR: There is some talk of conscription in the future, if this continues.
RW: Conscription will not work. It is politically unpopular. The Government will not press ahead with it. There was some idea being floated by the Defence Ministry, but the President abandoned it because she realised it was very unpopular.
The UNP and devolution
NR: Finally, on this devolution package: could you give us an update on your party's assessment of what is on offer and also what needs to be done?RW: The present devolution package will not find acceptance in Sri Lanka because many major parties and groups are opposed to it. From the South itself, many or most of the political parties; from the North, the LTTE. We have to work out a new package.
Devolution is necessary but I would say the basis of political settlement is a state that is based on democracy, the rule of law, human dignity as well as the supremacy of the constitution. On that count, the equal treatment of all Sri Lankan citizens, the acceptance of the different cultural and linguistic traditions. As far as the UNP is concerned, within an indivisible Sri Lanka, we could go forward in devolving power to a large extent. Not merely to the Provinces but also to the local authorities. This is what we have been working on and talking about.
UNP prospects
NR: May I have your reading of the political situation on the ground? You are now in a phase of building up your party. The UNP has been the leading party in the system, when we look at the track record; but you suffered big reverses and there was also a period of disarray. As party leader, how do you see it on the ground in different parts of the country?RW: The party organisation is getting into shape. A lot of new people are coming in. For the first time, after about ten years, the youth and women's wings have been reorganised. Professional sections have been brought into the party. A lot of enthusiasm, a lot of grassroots reorganisation has gone on, including what is called the cluster system where we cluster two polling booths and have one person supervising it.
At the present moment, we have about 16,000 party branches in different parts of the country outside the Northern Province. And that's a tremendous task that has been undertaken by the UNP. I am quite confident and hopeful that the UNP will be the single largest party in the next election and will have an overall majority in Parliament.
India, Sri Lanka and free trade
NR: And finally on bilateral relations with India. President Kumaratunga will he visiting India later this month, in the last week of December, and perhaps the highlight of the visit will be the conclusion of a Free Trade Agreement between the two countries. In the SAARC framework, the various member states are supposed to be moving towards free trade, but bilateral progress could come on a faster track. What is your thinking on this?RW: We have always been for close economic relations with India and we finally have to become one market. We have identified the sectors where we are strong, where we are weak and work it on a basis so that the stronger sectors are opened out initially and the other sectors are strengthened... and you can look at the other options. We have been pushing this for the last few years both in Government and in Opposition.
I think the major achievement of the SAARC Heads of Government meeting in Colombo was Prime Minister (A.B.) Vajpayee's offer of a fast track negotiation with other SAARC member states. We are sorry that the Sri Lanka Government and others did not utilise the SAARC Heads of Government meeting to press ahead with this and to get it clarified. Nevertheless, they followed it up subsequently. There will still be certain issues to be worked out like...
NR ... the Rules of Origin stipulation (that is, the stipulated domestic value added ratio used for Rules of Origin purposes) ...
Towards a single South Asian market
RW: ...Rules of Origin and some of the other non-tariff barriers. Free trade is a sensitive issue in any country, in the domestic political scene. Therefore it must be handled in a way that ensures that there are no major political issues on either side, as far as India and Sri Lanka are concerned. But in the long term, a single market is something that we have to work for. And we welcome every move, every step that moves us closer to that.NR: You are thinking of a time frame of ..
RW: I would look at a decade plus. A decade should be a target, some may take longer. That's in what the WTO (World Trade Organisation) lays down: a decade is the maximum, but then it can be sector by sector. So once you identify some of the sectors as late-comers, this can be done.
Between the Lines
People sacrificed at targetsBy Kuldip Nayar
At the first press conference - the only one he held - Prime Minister Lal Bahadur Shastri was asked how he would tackle India's economic problems. His reply was: one, he would bring down prices; two, he would have the various plans and projects spelled out in jobs, not in outlays.This was nearly 35 years ago when the living was cheap and when unemployment had not touched the figure of 80 million. The import of down-to-earth Shastri's observation was that he would do what benefited people. They had precedence, not a predetermined growth rate.
Today, targets are fixed first; people are accommodated later. Mainstream economics assumes that the common man's problems and his privations are secondary to the primary objective of having impressive statistics. An individual has to be sacrificed at the altar of targets.
Jawaharlal Nehru warned against such an approach. He said: 'We talk of the good of society. Is this something apart from and transcending the good of the individuals composing it? If the individual is ignored and sacrificed for what is considered the good of society, is that the right objective to have?' Woefully, his concept of an egalitarian state failed in his lifetime. The system was taken over by the nexus of bureaucrats and businessmen.
Nobel laureate Amartya Sen has once again focused attention on the common man. He has said in an interview that India's priorities are wrong: they should be 'people-related, not commodity- related.' Raising economic growth is important, he concedes, but the ultimate objective is to expand the ability of most sections of the population to earn their living.
No one can find fault with his analysis. Indeed, the economic activity is a means to an end not the end itself. The end is the welfare of people. Of what use are the plans, which do not improve their living conditions? Socialism, capitalism or any other ism are good concepts. But they are for the welfare of people, not people are for them.
True, India's annual growth rate of 3.5 per cent before the nineties came to be sneeringly termed as the Hindu growth rate. But the entire thinking, however muddled, was how to improve the lot of people. The public sector undertakings were given the highest priority because they were meant to benefit the nation, not individuals. That the projects got snarled into red tape or that the bureaucracy defeated every effort towards welfare is another story.
Then came the phase to push the growth rate. Figures became important, not people. It was the escalation of graph that mattered. How it was achieved had little meaning. Controls, permits and licences were, no doubt, roadblocks and they had rewarded only a few. Still when they were dismantled, people did not gain, the upper strata did. And the biggest beneficiary was a foreign investor. People were nowhere in the picture.
The scene has not changed since the advent of the BJP-led coalition. The party has only made noises about indigenous economic framework. The policy of Swadeshi has also been flaunted to check 'liberalisation'. But the effort is, at best, a feeble protest against economic reforms. The RSS, the party's mentor, is more forthright. It is not allowing the BJP to go overboard. The party has neither courage nor an alternative blueprint that it can place before the nation. The BJP is back on the track, which the desperate Congress had hewed from the mountainous difficulty. No wonder, Finance Minister Yashwant Sinha announced a few days ago in the Rajya Sabha: 'We shall carry (forward) the reform process initiated by Dr. Manmohan Singh.'
It is nobody's case that foreign capital should be kept away. Nor is anyone opposed to new technology, which the country badly needs. But the gates did not have to be thrown wide open. What was needed most should have been sought and permitted first. This was how China, which averages a growth rate of 10 per cent a year, went about. In our country, colas, hamburgers and breakfast foods came first. They still constitute the bulk of foreign activity. The target has not been people but the elite, which flattened itself even in earlier regimes.
Not only that, the self-sufficiency built over the years has been demolished and what has been raised on its ruins is an edifice, which is more foreign than Indian. Multinationals have grabbed a substantial share in the industry. Many Indian companies have closed down and many are on the verge of doing so.
'We have neither resources nor the government assistance to face the multinationals,' says a top industrialist, who has sold his set-up to the Japanese. 'A few may survive but all others will be taken over by foreigners.' His argument is that the Indian industrialists, not used to competition, should have been gradually exposed to it. Even the facilities advanced to foreign investors have not been made available to Indians, he complains.
This may well be true. But once the indiscriminate process of economic reforms began, the writing was on the wall. The change had to be quick. That is the law of liberalisation. Bridges are broken so that a country does not go back. India is no exception. In fact, the charge is that the process has not been fast enough due to political and other pressures from within the country. The controversial insurance bill, which offers one fourth of equity to foreign companies, is meant to assure them that all doors will open if they remain patient. The purpose is to get foreign capital, which has lessened in flow.
Yet for the sake of foreign capital, the nation cannot allow itself to be pushed. The fate of Asian countries is before us. They were forced to adopt certain reforms in the economic field - both the World Bank and the IMF gave them blueprints - that left with no space of their own. They over- stretched the resources and they came tumbling down. All that the West could say in sympathy was that they did not turn out to be the tigers it had imagined them to be.
There is no set formula to growth. Opening markets and privatising government ventures are the two known methods for curbing monopoly on the one hand and the bureaucracy on the other. But it is not necessary that they should work. Competition alone is no solution to the India's problems. In fact, as Nehru said, 'in a poorly developed country, capitalist methods offer no chance.'
The problem, which New Delhi faces, is that there are too many demands from too many sides. How to balance them? Consensus is not possible because the different pressures in a democratic structure are inevitable; they represent the urges of the electorate. Still political parties could reach some understanding; for example, not to have bands or strikes, which cost the nation dearly.
Ultimately, the policies will have to be drafted in such a way that will benefit more and more people. Probably additional allocations for the agriculture sector, which sustains nearly 75 per cent of the population, will have some impact. The question is not how to accelerate reforms but how to cast in such a way that they improve the living conditions of the society on the whole. A broad-based economic growth is what the country needs, not the high-flaunting words like globalisation.
Some thoughts on Nyerere's lament
By Gunadasa Amarasekara
(Part one of this article appeared yesterday)
With the veil of chicanery fast melting away it is becoming increasingly clear that if this avalanche of a 'world order' is not resisted with a counter force, with an alternate world order it would soon drown not only the weaker on this earth but also the rest of the world except the Western Hemispher.e The recent Asian crisis has proved beyond any doubt that even those who embraced it with great glee are not being spared. A National economic order centered round a national ideology built on the civilizational foundation appears to be the only viable alternative, the only counter force that would stop this juggernaut rolling on.To put it in our simplistic way it is only a Jathika Arthikaya based on a Jathika Chinthanaya that would save us. Let it be said once again that seeking such a 'National alternative' should not be construed as going back to prehistoric times, to a pastoral past or to self-sufficient economies as painted out by its opponents. And it is the emergence of such an awareness that has become the greatest challenge to the Western powers who are out to keep their 'world order' going. This was what was meant when Simon Pierce said that our enemy is not Communism any longer but Cumeinism.
That the bete noire of the NGO intellectuals should be Jathika Chinthanaya should not be surprising at all. It is precisely to undermine that awareness that they are being funded and kept going.
The question that puzzles me is why Julius Nyerere should not have thought of this alternative, centered round the national state - a national ideology based on the civilizational dimension. Could it be that the Marxist indoctrination to which he was exposed to in his early years has prevented him from seeing this alternative. In that early phase of Marxism the concept of the nation, a national ideology was considered anaemia. They were incompatibles, absolute opposites that could not be brought together. Hitler's socialist nationalism was readily pointed out as proof of such an unholy alliance.
Any contamination of Marxism with nationalism was to be abhorred. The main conundrum faced by the various liberation movements in Afro Asian countries was how to integrate these two - Nationalism and Marxism. 'Nationalism and Marxism - a Difficult Dialogue' by Ronaldo Munck gives a comprehensive account of the complex problems, contradictions faced by these leaders and the convoluted theories trotted out by some of these leaders in seeking a synthesis of these two ideologies.
I do not know to which camp Nyerere had belonged to at that time. But it is quite reasonable to assume that the hangover still continues and that he continues to see these two as incompatibles and to look for a national ideology as a betrayal of socialism which is so close to his heart.
I am influenced to think on these lines by the behaviour of our own Marxists. A good many of them no doubt have sacrificed their ideological convictions for immediate gains but a few of them still continue in their old strait jacket, and continue to see any attempt to bring together these two ideologies as mere hearsay. I do not intend comparing them with Nyerere. These Marxists of ours right from the beginning including the fathers were, inspite of their erudition an unimaginative lot incapable of any original thinking. As a matter of fact for most of them Maxism was a convenient substitute for 'thinking' . At best an oracle to be consulted at every turn, at worst a catechism that could provide readymade answers to all questions. Even today to speak of a national ideology is unthinkable for most of them. However for some opportunistic elements amongst them this dilemma has provided a safe 'moral passage' to the NGO kingdom.
I do not intend here to elaborate on the complex relationship that underlies nationalism and socialism. I have attempted such an analysis in the latest edition of the collection of my essays 'Ganadura Mediyama'. In passing what I would like to point out here is that no socialist transformation of a society is possible without an understanding of the national ideology of that society. Socialism has to be built within the parameters of a national ideology. This is the lesson that has to be learnt from the collapse of socialism in the Soviet Union and the Eastern Bloc.
Looking back, to have thought that Stalin's Marxism (Barbarism) could have survived in a country whose ideological fathers were Tolstoy and Dostoevsky should sound ridiculous to us at least now. Let me conclude this digression with a personal experience. On my first visit to Russia I was taken to a dilapidated church off Moscow one late evening. As we were coming out of the Church I saw a group of old men and women praying and making the sign of the cross. The sun was setting and there was a faint melancholy glow over the surroundings. The scene touched me deeply, and instinctively I felt the days were numbered for the chicanery that was being practiced by the State.
Julius Nyerere's inability to look for a national alternative is I believe more deep seated. It is an inability rather than an aversion on his part.
We are all products of our culture and civilization. Every intellectual is ultimately conditioned by his own cultural-civilizational consciousness. His horizons are determined by the civilizational dimension. Julius Nyerere could not be an exception.
The Tanzanian nation to which Neyerere belongs is in Neyrere's own words a motley of 126 different tribal clans with different cultures, speaking different dialects. I believe the present Tanzation nation which Neyrere and others have toiled to 'construct' has still not evolved into a 'nation proper' with a unifying civilization and an overarching culture. Its national language kiswahili has no alphabet of its own, its written literature is less than a century old. As such the multi-cultural strands have still not coalesced into a unifying civilizational pattern. Tanzania like most other South African states is still on the road to 'nation building'.
Samuel Huntington who has enumerated six definite civilizations in his book 'Clash of Civilizations' speaks of an African civilization only as a distant possibility. This is how he puts it. 'African (possibly): Most major scholars of civilization except Braudel do not recognise a distinct African civilization. The north of the African continent and its East coast belongs to Islamic civilization. Historically Ethiopia constituted a civilization of its own. Elsewhere European imperialism and settlement brought elements of Western civilization. In South Africa Dutch French and then English settlers created a multi fragmented European culture. Most significantly European imperialism brought Christianity to most of the continent south of Sahara. Throughout Africa tribal identity is pervasive and intense but Africans are also increasingly developing a sense of African identity, and conceivably sub Saharan Africa could cohere into a distinct civilization, with South Africa possibly being its core state'. (It is from such a Civilization that we are seeking solutions to our so-called ethnic problem!).
The one stumbling block I see at the moment for such a coherence to take place is the emergence of Nelson Mandela presumably as the unifying force. After being the deadliest enemy of the imperialists he has now turned out be their darling. These imperialist forces who have not given up their neo-colonist motives see a great ally in Mandela to whose vanity they are playing up very successfully. He is being fast fumed into another Goberchov by these Western powers.
Coming back to the question of Neyrere's inability to see the national alternative, the above facts I have enumerated should provide the answer we are looking for. It should not come as a surprise to us, that Neyrere being the product of his own civilization should fail to see the 'National alternative' as the counter force, as the new order which could stand up to the neo colonial forces that are at work.
On the contrary the failure of Nyerere to see the national alternative must embolden leaders and intellectuals of established nations and civilizations, including our own, to realise it as the way out of this impasse; to see it as the path that would lead us to the next century. Nyerere's lament should gave us courage and strength to turn that lament into a joyous refrain heralding the coming of a new age.
(Concluded)
A reply to 'Revolt in the temple'
Sinhala Buddhist NationalismBy Kingsley Heendeniya
I am writing this after reading two items in 'The Island' newspaper of December 18, 1998 I regard as connected.(a) There is a reply to my article titled 'A revolt in the temple'. I can dismiss without effort because the writer has either not understood me correctly or is misleading others away from the main thrust of my argument. Worship of gods, statues, icons, rituals, etc. is irrelevant to the understanding and practice of the teaching of the Buddha. Even the Buddha never expected to be worshipped by his followers. He was the only Teacher to declare, with supreme confidence: "Come and see for yourself", and accept if you will. If some pious Buddhists want to venerate Vishnu and other gods, let them do so.
Many things are wrong with the preaching and the practice of mass Buddhism in this country and elsewhere. There is a difference between what the Buddha taught and what is taught by persons such as Gangodawila Soma. Historically, all religions have been corrupted by priest-craft. Government media should not be used to crusade against other religions. Buddhists should give leadership in toleration. That is the way to honour the Buddha.
(b) The second news item springs from here, and is thereby connected. Maduluwawe Sobitha and others of a body called the National Sangha Council are protesting against Islam: the Muslim form of cattle slaughter, halal, as prescribed in the Koran, should be banned because it violates Buddhist ethics, Sinhala culture, etc.
The Minister of Buddhist Affairs is said to be preparing a 'Halal Bill'. And this is a great injustice to Buddhists. I remember that Maduluwawe Sobitha Thera and others created a big shindig about a statement by another Minister using the time worn phrase 'the dustbin of history' which translated into Sinhala had a certain offensive sense. They went wild with dashing coconuts, chanting 'vas kavi', etc. and tried to whip foolish people to join them.
There is a simple English word which describe the above kind of crooked thinking. It is 'bigotry'. I do not think it is necessary for me to expand on this any further. Let me say just this to these people who, quite honestly I should say, are campaigning to promote Sinhala Buddhist nationalism, tradition, and culture. Please be tolerant of others. Tamils, Muslims, Christians and others are contributing for example to the salary of the Minister for Buddhist Affairs. There is no way that he or anyone else or any other faith can destroy the teaching of the Buddha. If we do not think and try to act as the Buddha did, then we will.
The revival of the carter's song
Godwin Witane
Before the discovery of the wheel, the mode of travel on land was on the back of animals such as the elephant, camel, donkey and the horse, which took a prominent place as regards speed. People were also carried on palanquins carried by men. In this instance it were the elite who usually engaged the meniel bearers of this mode of travel. After the discovery of the wheel chariots, carts and waggons of various make with four or two wheels were devised. At the beginning there were only rough-roads chiefly sandy and muddy. By and by they began to metal the roads to make them strong and durable. The modern day roads are macamadized with a coating of tar or bitumac for smooth and speedy travel. During the early days at the beginning of the 20th century the mode of transport in this country were coaches and buggies for the conveyance of people and the single and double bullock cart for heavy goods. Before the advent of the motor driven vehicle and the railway for the transport of merchandise, the bullock cart reigned supreme in the island of Ceylon. The roads were lonely and houses far apart. Those days the roads were rough and dusty. Mecamadized roads appeared only a long time after. Unlike today there were no hotels or take away food centres on the wayside. There were only 'AAPPAKADA' where women baked hoppers throughout the day and night for their customers, mainly the carters. The carter had his few cooking utensils hung in a small sack on the frame of his cart. Next to his bull, his earstwhile companion was the dog, which he treated tenderly and provided it with a hammock designed with an empty gunny hung under the basement of the cart, for it to ride comfortably throughout the journey. The carter's life was a difficult one, often travelling both day and night. To ease his burden and avoid falling asleep, he goes into rapturous singing and the cool night atmosphere reverberated with his melodious songs. The carter who transforms his suffering into song and music of the night in bitter loneliness is a testimony to his simplicity of character and of the times. The carter displays his great gift of provoking warm emotions and traditional virtues brought to his listeners. In the subjects of love, regret, longing, sadness, religion and patriotism are embedded in his song and lyrics. These melodies lighten his lonely dark hours. Sinhalese poetry or Siv Pada, composed and handed down by our fore-fathers are legion. They have now gone into limbo or oblivion. They are couched in the simplest of language that the carter, the boatman, the miner, the chena cultivator and the women who weave thin coir rope down south, with their bare palms revel in them. Usually the theme of those songs depict the incessant human suffering of the poor villager.As an example the song :
'Vel yayaka gon dennek kaka uni,
In eka gonek valige nethuwa veni veni,
Valige ethi gona messanta beta duni,
Duppath kamath valige nethi gona veni'
The tailless or helpless against the torments of the flies expresses a situation which illustrate that poverty is a symbol of the plight of the ox that has no tail.
Badagini vela awa mama puthuge geta,
Menala wee mitak dunnai mallakata,
Gando nogando kiyala hithuni mata,
Menalada puthe kiri dunne man umbata?
In these two songs, a son shows ingratitude to his mother, who suckled him and the other laments on the death of his mother in great sorrow. In the first song it says 'I felt hungry and I came to my son's house, then he gave me some paddy measured with his fist. She could not decide whether to accept it or not. She cries: Oh My son! Did I measure my breast milk with which I fed you?
The dutiful son's song rang thus:
Nethata vila thamai kandulak vegirima,
Kayata bala thamai raha ethi kiri beema,
Maruta bala thamai leda duk peminima,
Dukata mula thamai vedu mawa nethivima.
It is the eye that causes a pond of tears, it is drinking tasty milk that gives strength to the body, it is the chance of the god of death when one falls sick, sorrow is the result of the death of one's mother. Haputale Kanda is a steep uphill, the bane of the cart bull that even the present day motor vehicles pause at a number of places on this climb to cool their engines without running at one stretch. It is only in connection with the Haputale climb that the carter mentions the hardship of the cart bull in his carter's song.
'Tandale denna depole dakkanawa
Katukele gale noliha wadadenawa.
Haputale kanda dekala bada danawa,
Pau kala gono edapan Haputale yanawa.'
I drive the bulls on either side. In not releasing the oxen at Katukele Stand, it is a drudgery for animals. When you arrive at the Haputale climb your stomach heaves. You sinful bull pull the cart uphill to Haputale. The famous songster and lyricist Maxie Jayaweera, has produced a modernisation of Carter's song, which is extremely popular and highly appreciated and enjoyed by the listening public. This emotional song enhances our inborn sympathy and compassion for the most exploited animal, the Bull. It is yorked to the cart for hauling unwieldly loads, often at the expense of the total strength of the animal. The song promotes most sentimental feelings and is soul enlivening.
Beri bara kare thiyan, depayata Waaru aran, ape bada, kata purawanawaa,
Re seepada kiyamin, seethalayata gehemin, Haputale kanda naginawaa.
Umba podi petiya kaale, mage honda tharuna kaale Ammaapa puduma hithenawaa,
Linda langa harak gaale, sellam keruwa kaale, thawamath mata sihivenawa.
Vairo! Umba nadan, thawa poddak edapan, mama umbata wivekadenawa.
Waligaya karakawapan, honda heti gaaya ganin, onna bole karaththe yanawaa.
Poth tika podi keleeta, aragena dennata mata, deiya mage muna balanawa,
Pasela weta yannata, mirivedi sangalak mama, puthe, umbata aragena denawa
Umba pera aathmayaka, kala ethi maha paapeta, naya mata thawamath gewapan.
Me maha sansareka, nodanna manussakama, umbawath watahala deepan.
Umbata Waaru nethi wenakota, umba naaki wee yanakota, mama umba gena dukvenawaa.
Umba adapana wenakota, maskada mudalalita, umbe watinakama vadiwenawaa.
Umbai mate kanna dunne, umbai mate bonna dunne, egena mate sihiwenawa.
Umbe mas minissunta, kavadawath nodenna, mama umbata porondu wenawaa.
Wielding a heavy load and straining your feet, you toil in order to feed me.
Shivering in the cold, we climb Haputale hill, absorbed in singing Siv pada.
I still remember your tender age, when I too was a youth and how you played in the cattle shed near the well.
Vairo! You need not weep, strive a little more, very soon I shall relieve you.
Raise your tail, put on full strength, and Behold! There moves the cart.
The gods help me to provide the books for my little girl.
I shall, my child, buy a pair of slippers for you to wear to school.
You still pay for the sin you have committed against me in one of your previous births.
You, however, convince the people, the inhumanity of man in this world of Sansara, which they are ignorant of.
I feel sorry for you when you grow old and weak.
It is the time when the butcher value you most and hopes a bargain.
I always remember that it was you who fed me and quenched my thirst.
I promise you that I shall never allow your flesh to ever be enjoyed by man.
