      |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Politics of Sri Lanka (Volume III) – Prologue
By T. D. S. A DissanayakaIt is sad but true that today millions of Sri Lankans are wondering whether the UNP or the SLFP is more skilled in the sordid art of rigging elections.
It is only a fool or a liar from the UNP who will not acknowledge that the UNP rigged several elections during the period 1977-94, when the UNP both ruled and misruled Sri Lanka. For example, at the infamous District Council election of 1981, for the first time since 1931, when adult franchise was introduced, sealed ballot boxes disappeared in Jaffna. Besides for the first time since 1931, a public building went up in smoke during an election. The tragic victim was the splendid Public Library of Jaffna which had so many priceless manuscripts. At the nonsensical referendum which President J. R. Jayewardene held in 1982 in lieu of a General Election, the Attanagalle and Dompe electoral areas, pocket boroughs of the Bandaranaike family, mysteriously voted UNP. Another mystery was that when Hector Kobbekaduwa, the Presidential candidate from the SLFP and Pieter Keuneman, the much respected leader of the Communist Party, went to their polling booths to exercise their franchise their votes had already been impersonated. At another polling booth a UNP Member of Parliament brandished a revolver and threatened everybody around him. In the spate of by-elections which followed in 1983, the UNP unleashed unprecedented thuggery and intimidation in the Mahara electorate which resulted in Vijaya Kumaratunga (SLFP) losing that seat by a mere 44 votes. At the Presidential election of 1988 common criminals like Sotthi Upali and Mora Sunil played a role that was not insignificant. During that infamous election, held at the height of a JVP insurrection, hooligans and thugs from the UNP came in State-owned vehicles sans number plates and committed all manner of election offences.
Besides in predominantly SLFP areas, trees and live electric wires were cut and placed across the roads and violence unleashed to prevent voters from exercising their franchise. President R. Premadasa claimed that the JVP was responsible for it. That was a supreme example of sophistry.
Now the UNP is reaping what they have sown. At the recent Provincial Elections in Wayamba, the SLFP even surpassed the UNP in the art of rigging elections. That unbelievable story is narrated in graphic detail in the next fifty pages, Chapter I, "January 25, 1999". That day of infamy culminated the most disgraceful election campaign in Sri Lanka, ever since the two party system came into being in 1956.
As history unfolds itself before our very eyes, we have a contemporary society that looks upon our politicians, irrespective of their predilections, as compulsive liars. Indeed our politicians are truly able in masquerading themselves as paragons of virtue while in the Opposition. In Government they are just as despicable as those whom they supplanted. Yet the very society that looks upon our politicians with the contempt which they richly deserve, venerate them while in office. Unfortunately our people are more than willing to sell their souls for a mess of pottage. Our people refuse to realize that we can only be freed from our present misery and bondage, when we rise up and uphold the truth. Indeed it is only truth that will make us free.
put not your trust in politicians. It is they who have ruined our nation since Independence. It is they, who by placing their personal ambitions above our national interests, have foisted upon our nation a civil war of frightful proportions. please do not demean yourself by venerating Presidents, Prime Ministers, Cabinet Ministers and Members of Parliament. They are your servants, not your masters. They must be beholden to you, not you to them.
Politicians of Sri Lanka, condemn me if you must. However please remember, history will absolve me, not you!
Disproving Tamil claims to the Eastern Province
By Gunaseela VitanageI was reminded to Humpty Dumpty when I read E. A. V. Naganathan’s letter under the above caption appearing in the issue of "The Island" of 12th January, 1999. "When I use a word’ Humpty said in a scornful tone," it means just what I choose it to mean-neither more no less", Naganathan is like Humpty Dumpty. He criticises Gamini Iriyagolle and the Sinhala Commission’s disproval of the Tamil claim to a traditional homeland in the Eastern Province and in the same breath says that they must "accept current realities as the parameter of finding a solution to this outstanding issue, without living in the past."
I was under the impression that "tradition" had something to do with the past, that is with history, and in accepting any belief, opinion custom as traditional we should look into its history. The longer the time the belief, opinion or custom had existed, the greater is the tradition. We cannot ignore history in evaluating a tradition. He wants the Sinhalese to accept "current realities" in finding a solution to this issue. Now, what are the current realities he speaks of. It would appear that in all his 64 years he had not come across a Sinhala person or family that ‘hailed’ from the Eastern Province where as he had frequently met or heard of ‘Trincomalee’ or ‘Batticaloa Tamils’ or Muslims or Burghers, who are proud of their ancestral habitation of the lands. Surely Naganathan, as an educated man, cannot be so naive as to adduce his personal experience as the criterion in a highly controversial issue such as this?
The fact that a group of people who either belong to a particular race or religion are in a majority in a given area, does not make that area, their traditional homeland? For example, the fact the Tamils are in a majority in the Wellawatta - Dehiwala areas or the fact that the Tamils of Indian origin are in a majority in certain areas in the Central and Uva Provinces does not make those areas their traditional homeland.
There is no dispute about the Northern Province having been the "traditional homeland of the Sri Lankan Tamils". Even in the Northern Province there is a large area in the Vavuniya District called Madukanda which has been the "traditional homeland of the Sinhalese" from ancient times.
As the Most Venerable Madihe Pannasiha Maha Nayake Thero told the Sansoni Commission: "The whole of Sri Lanka is the traditional homeland of the Tamils and the Sinhalese and the other communities that have lived in it" (Sansoni Report, P. 610)
Will Naganathan or any other Tamil separatist tells us:
1. How was it that King Senerat of Kandy (1605 - 1635) gave permission to 4,000 Muslim families to settle down in Digamadulla (Presently Ampara and Batticaloa districts) when on the orders of the King of Portugal the Portuguese Governor Constantine de Sa expelled them from the Portuguese territory, unless the area was within his kingdom?
2. How was it that when the English ship The Ann captained by Robert Knox (Snr) landed at Kottiyar near Trincomalee and anchored there for some time to effect some repairs, that King of Kandy Rajasinha II (1635 - 1687) got the news and sent a very high official like a Dissawa to investigate? How was it that the Dissawa was able to capture Robert Nnox Jr. and others and bring them to Kandy, unless the area was within his Kingdom.
3. How was it that King Rajasinha II sent a letter to the Dutch Governor of Plaiakat asking for assistance in his war with the Portuguese and offering them land for a fort either at Kottiyar in the Trincomalee district or in Batticaloa, unless the whole of the Eastern Province was a part of his kingdom?
On the face of such incontrovertible evidence, Tamil separatists now tell the Sinhalese: "Do not live in the past. Take the existing situation, namely, that the Tamil speaking people are in a majority in the Eastern Province and establish a Regional Council in the combined Northern and Eastern Provinces. Otherwise there will be no peace in this Island." According to them, although recorded history is of no account in this matter, pre-history is valuable. Ravana of pre-history, who was a king of Sri Lanka was a Tamil. That shows the Tamils have been living here long before the Sinhalese. As I stated earlier, all these are Humpty Dumpty type of arguments.
The claim for the Eastern Province as the "traditional homeland of the Tamil - speaking nation was originally made by the Ilankai Tamil Arasu Kadtchi (ITAK) or the Lanka Tamil State Party at its first Convention held in Trincomalee. In 1951 the term "Tamil - speaking nation" was coined by S. J. V. Chelvanayagam, President of the ITAK, to include Tamil - speaking Muslims in the Batticaloa who formed nearly 33 per cent of the total population in the Eastern Province. The leaders of the ITAK were intriguing at the time with certain elements in the Madras presidency who were toying with the idea of separating the Dravidian States in South India, Madras Presidency, Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka and Kerala from India and forming a Federal State called Dravida Desham. Sri Lanka also was to be included in this Federal State. Trincomalee was to be the Capital of this state. In a pamplet authored by Professor Appadurai of Madras University, one of the architects of the envisaged Pan Dravidian Federation, explaining the aims and objects of Dravida Munnetra Kazagam said;
"Ceylon is already semi-Tamil and when Ceylon comes under their rule the envisaged Free Tamil State will possess the best Tamil harbour in the world, Tricomalee."
It is in these circumstances that the separatist Tamils’ claim for the Eastern Province as their "traditional homeland" originated.
By repeated propaganda the separatist Tamils have been successful in making not only the ordinary Tamils but even some Sinhalese politicians believe that there is substance in the Tamil claim for the Eastern Province as the traditional homeland of the Tamils"
In December, 1986 a ministerial delegation from India, comprising Nawar Singh, Minister of State for External Affairs and P. Chidambaram, Minister of State for Home, Pensions, Personal and Public Grievances came to Sri Lanka to have discussion with the Sri Lankan government as well as those who are immediately concerned with the ethnic conflict in Sri Lanka. They were to advise the Indian Prime Minister as regards the actual situation and to recommend a solution to the problem. Rohan Gunaratne in his book "Indian Intervention in Sri Lanka" says about the visit of this Ministerial delegation:
"The proposals which emerged as a result of their discussion became known as the ‘December 19th proposals’. Sri Lanka agreed to consider bringing the two provinces together and even the creation of the office of Vice President. The proposals, incorporating new ideas and continuing the discussions held in the past, were:
(1) The present territory comprising the Eastern Province minus the Ampara Electoral District may constitute the new Eastern Province.
(2) A Provincial Council will be established for the new Eastern Province.
(3) The institutional linkages between the Northern Province and the Eastern Province discussed earlier will be further refined in order to make it more acceptable to the parties concerned.
(4) The Sri Lanka Government will be willing to consider a proposal for a second stage of constitutional development providing for the Northern province and the new Eastern Province coming together subject to the modalities been agreed upon for ascertaining the wishes of the people concerned in the Northern Province and the Eastern Province respectively.
(5) The Sri Lanka Government is willing to consider the creation of a Vice-President to be appointed by the President for a specified term.
(6) The five Muslim Members of Parliament of the Eastern Province may be invited to visit India to discuss matters of mutual concern with the Tamil side under the auspices of the Government of India.
"Traditional homeland?"
"The majority community, the Sinhalese, opposed these proposals vehemently for a number of reasons. A few Tamils who felt that the proposals were not fair by the Sinhalese also opposed the proposals. In fact, on December 18, when the Indian delegation met a Sri Lankan delegation of Members of Parliament of the Eastern Province led by Jayawardena’s Home Affairs Minister K. W. Devanayagam, the five MPs of that province boycotted the meeting. When Chidambaram was supportive of the word ‘homeland’ and spoke of Eastern Province going back to the pre-settlement demographic pattern, Devanayagam said that there were large areas in Bintenna Pattu and Wewegama Pattu which had never been Tamil homelands. He said ‘They were Sinhala and Kandyan for centuries. They could never be considered Tamil homelands’. Then Chidambaram inquired whether it was not possible to recurve the Eastern Province leaving out the overwhelming Sinhala areas in Ampara. Devanayagam said; ‘the Sinhalese, Muslims and Tamils of the Eastern Province have lived together and should continue to live together in one province. The Sinhalese necessarily had to be part of it’. The Indian delegation compromised the two Ministers and High Commissioner Dixit, while the Sri Lankan delegation included the Deputy Power and Energy Minister P. Dayaratna (who represented the Ampara electorate in Parliament), Ranganaki Pathumanathan, the MP for Potuvil and H. D. Leelaratna, the MP for Seruwila. Sinha Ratnatunga quoted the Tamil Minister K. W. Devanayagam as having said at a news conference that’ when he came to the Eastern Province as a young lawyer fifty years ago to start practice, there were hardly any Tamils around, and the Eastern Province could not be considered Tamil homeland’. The fear, that the Tamils want to rule the Muslims in the east prevented the Muslims from supporting the Tamils." (Pp. 168, 169)It is this bogus and highly provocative claim of the Tamil separatists for one third of land surface in the Island that has be — devilled the good and friendly relations between the Sinhalese and the Tamils that had existed for centuries.
It may be mentioned in this connection that the Indian Minister Palaniappen Chidambaram who at these discussions was supportive of the "Tamil homeland" concept and also suggested the recurving of the Eastern Province by leaving out the overwhelming Sinhalese areas to create an exclusively Tamil Province, is a Tamil from the State of Tamil Nadu in India. He could not have brought to bear an independent and disinterested outlook on the issue.
Excerpts of a letter the writer has sent to President Chandrika Bandaranaike Kumaratunga
Proposals of western medicine doctors(GMOA) for the closure of Kalubowila Acupuncture ClinicI am a Swedish Rheumatologist practising as a Medical Consultant at the Pain Relief Centre in Sweden, now on my holiday in Sri Lanka. I have had the privilege to learn both Buddhism and Acupuncture in your beautiful country since I first visited Sri Lanka nearly 23 years ago. I have taken much pains and time to study the background to your cabinet order to close the Kalubowila Acupuncture Clinic.
Firstly it is now my privilege to thank you and the Government of Sri Lanka for providing me the opportunity to study acupuncture and alternative medicine in Sri Lanka at the Kalubowila Clinic 24 year ago during the Government of your mother in 1976, and I also had the pleasure of meeting her at our BMICH convocation. Over 700 doctors like me trained in Sri Lanka are now (like me) practising acupuncture in Scandinavia.
The acupuncture training imparted at Kalubowila Acupuncture Clinic is acclaimed as the foremost in the world, far superior to that offered in the People’s Republic of China or anywhere else in the world. The training we received in Sri Lanka has been accepted by our Government and in all E.U. (European Countries), Medical Associations, Medical Councils and other professional associations of the EU for the practice of acupuncture and other forms of traditional medicines worldwide. Of course, the influential pharmaceutical industry has always vehemently opposed the practice of alternative medicines as the various treating modalities are drugless, and harmless and do not bring them any revenues to them. In Europe and America many practitioners are jailed on false trumped up charges.
The proposal to implement the closure of the Kalubowila Acupuncture Clinic will be a travesty to the cause of education and health care for poor patients in Sri Lanka; as also for the rest of the world. The Government of Sri Lanka will be annihilating a worldwide accepted institution, in the event this clinical and teaching programme is demised after a quarter century of yeoman service. To close an institution which has been established by your own (mother’s) Government and run for public benefit is unpolitic; to kick out the founding father of this valuable healing institution is akin to the barbarian act of bombing the Holy Sacred Temple of The Tooth by your uncouth adversaries. Two and half million patients treated is not a small number.
Throughout your great history, your people have been an epicentre of civilization, and an example to the civilized world; a nestor of toleration in Buddhism and a font of open-mindedness in matters religious and intellectual. If you now close the Kalubowila world acupuncture centre for healing, it would be a cannibalistic act which would go down in the annals of uncivilized history as equal to burning of the library of Alexandria, the inquisition of Galileo or the torching of the writings of Copernicus. Dear Respected Madam, the traditions of your great predecessor, King Buddhadasa, who said "If you cant be the King be a healer"; no less, of the Great Savant the Lord Buddha; "Health is the greatest Wealth" will be polluted and decimalized. There was in Pakistan a similar institution of Alternative Medicine popular for the past 30 years. The drug companies tried hard to close it for many years. In the end they succeeded by assassinating its founding father Dr. Hakim Mohamed Said.
History will never forgive you, if you allow the heavy hand of the pharmaceutical industry to cause duress and blackmail your government into closing this invaluable acupuncture clinic which has benefited more than two and half millions of your poor citizens and the rest of the world, and also brought significant economic benefits to Sri Lanka.
We are aware that the ugly grease of the pharmaceutical industry is the motivating force which has bribed some sections to act in such an uncivilized, rash and rabid manner to demand its closure. The entire allopathic health industry is exploitive of the public who are held to ransom by a trade union of healers for the mercenary benefit of the drug manufacturers, who are, no doubt malignantly paracticidal on human illness and misfortune. I also met your late husband several times at the Kalubowila Acupuncture Clinic when he brought his mother to Kalubowila for acupuncture treatment on the recommendation of Mrs. Jitka Gooneratne.
Dr. Sven-Olov Jacobsson,
President, Scandinavian Acupuncture Foundation,
Sweden
 |