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Gathering consensus in South for negotiated settlement

by Rashomi Silva

Karuna Amman one time trusted Lieutenant of LTTE leader V. Prabhakaran and former Eastern leader of the LTTE decided to break ranks with his leadership, claiming discrimination against Eastern Tamils, known as Batticaloa Tamils.

The split was a grave setback and had no precedent for the organisation known for its leader's totalitarian style of governing and his dislike for dissidents.

Prabha and Karuna - comrades no more

Karuna, 37, was reported as telling the media that the LTTE leadership was preparing for a another war and he wished not to take part in it and assured he would abide by the Ceasefire Agreement signed between Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe and LTTE leader Prabhakaran. His allegations were however dismissed by the Wanni leadership and Karuna was expelled from the outfit, charging him with breaking the founding principles of the LTTE. His offer to sign a separate MoU with the Government was turned down due to fears of offending the LTTE.

Both the Government and the Nordic facilitator have shown their inclination to steer clear of what they termed as the internal crisis of the LTTE; the move was welcomed by peace activists here and the international community.

The LTTE in the process of transforming itself into a political entity from a military entity may have to encounter more challenges in the process, analysts here predicted.

After locking horns with his boss, Karuna made another interesting move and said that he does not consider the East a homeland for the Tamils as the region was inhabited by other ethnic groups from time immemorial. He also objected to political campaigns protecting the LTTE as the sole representative of Tamils. However, the response of the Muslim leadership to Karuna's statement remained to be announced.

Colombo media and the diplomatic circles looked at the split with misgivings and concern lest it should upset the country's fragile peace process.

Prof. Jayadeva Uyangoda, a renowned peace activist and the Head of the Political Science Department of the Colombo University attributed the internal crisis within the LTTE to the diversity of the Tamil nation. For the last three decades the combined effort of the Tamil nationalist movement was concentrated on winning back their rights and privileges. But today they want to get back to their separate identities.

He referred to the issue of disclaiming the Tamil homeland concept in East as a tricky one for the government to respond to.

"For the first time since the LTTE coming to the negotiating table the strategic military balance on which the talks was based was changed by this internal crisis."

"Present conflict is a serious setback to the progress of the peace process; the new Government will not be able to start negotiating as they would have to wait for an agreement with the Wanni leadership and the defacto Eastern leader Karuna," he said.

Expressing his views on a suitable federal structure he said that a final solution should be in the form of federalism within federalism; within every administrative unit there should be a degree of autonomy which allows its sub units a certain degree of decision making.

"The final settlement should be an autonomy within autonomy, federalism within federalism.

Tamil unity should not replicate another unitary system of Sri Lanka."

Emphasising the need for the two major political parties to work together he said the new government will have to engage in an earnest discussion with the opposition.

Together they have to strategise the next phase of the peace process and agree on a manner to carry forward the peace exercise.

"There are no major differences between the two major political parties but the pity is that they cannot work together without discord," he said.

Though the unexpected election presented a serious setback to the ongoing peace process the major political parties and their political allies have agreed on a negotiated settlement, a development too that has no precedent.

It is up to the political leadership to use this opportunity and to work towards a lasting political solution to end one of South Asia's longest running insurgencies.

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Gam Sabhas as a stepping stone to peace

by Justin D. Keppetiyagama

Today almost all Sri Lankans are divided among different political parties. Yet they are nearly unanimous in accepting that the existing structure of governance has made it almost impossible to govern the country. It needs heavy blasting and re-engineering to mould a completely new system of government to find solutions for the problems that have accumulated during the past 50 years.

Jaffna’s ordinary citizenry - they could gain by participatory governance

On April 2, 2004, the people in Sri Lanka are going to elect their representatives to exercise their sovereignty. At this point in time when the people are preparing to elect their representatives to exercise their legislative power the writer considers that it is pertinent to reproduce the following words, taken from "Open Letter to Leader of Our Country" by Rev. Dr. Marcus Fernando, former Archbishop of Colombo.

"Let us forget about getting back to the Westminster model or copy the French or any other models. Let us create a system of government forged on our own anvil to suit our needs. Let us learn to be independent and think as Sri Lankan at least on this all important subject of governance." (Daily News, October 27, 2000; pg 10).

In keeping with the Archbishop's above advice, the following structural changes are proposed for the consideration of voters who are going to hand-over their sovereignty to a set of politicians on April 2. This proposed system of government will be a significant solution to our ethnic problem and for achieving area based growth with equity.

* Establish one Gam Sabhawa per village covering the entire island. Gam Sabhawa should be the only primary local authority at grass roots level. There is no rationale in maintaining two categories of local authorities as rural local authorities and urban local authorities.

Urban development and local government have become two separate functions today. There are large number of specialised institutions like Urban Development Authority, Road Development Authority, Central Environment Authority, Common Amenities Board, Ceylon Electricity Board, Water Supply and Drainage Board etc. engaged in urban development.

* The area of operation of the Gam Sabhawa should be the Grama Niladhari Division. This was the area in which the defunct Gramodaya Mandalayas operated. Gramodaya Mandalayas were established on the recommendation of a 12-member committee to facilitate people's participation for representative government.

At the time of committee recommendations there were only 4,712 Grama Niladhari divisions. This has been subsequently increased to 14,700. This is also one of the reasons for the failure of Gramodaya Mandalayas as a viable institution for effective participation of people for representative government.

* 9,946 Gam Sabhawa: The administrative limits of the Grama Niladhari Divisions should be re-demarcated to correspond to limits of the present general election polling booth areas.

For the purpose of 2000 general election 12,071,062 voters have been allocated to 9,946 polling booths. If the 14,700 Grama Niladhari Divisions are re-demarcated to 9,946 Grama Niladhari Divisions each Grama Niladhari Division will have an average number of 1,850 people; 1,200 voters or around 370 families.

* 9 elected members: Each Gam Sabhawa should consist of 9 elected members. If nine representatives are elected for each Gam Sabhawa one representative has to interact with only 42 families; 133 voters or 210 people. This number of families can maintain constant contacts with their people's representative.

* Election of members: Grama Niladhari area should be the electorate. Political parties may sponsor candidates, but nominations should be made on individual basis.

Group nominations should not be allowed. Any voter of the area should be eligible to contest. In the ballot paper for election, the names and symbols of all candidates should be stated. Each voter will have only one vote. The first 9 candidates in the order of number of votes polled will be declared elected.

* Grama Seva Niladhari should be the ex-officio secretary of the Gam Sabhawa

Federation of Gam Sabhas into Pradesiya Sabhas

* All Gam Sabha Presidents within a Divisional Secretary's area should be the members of the particular Pradeshiya Sabha.

* The number of members of a Pradeshiya Sabha should not be less than 15 or more than 30. Divisional Secretariat and Pradeshiya Sabha's areas should be re-demarcated to keep this requirement where necessary.

* The president of the Pradeshiya Sabha should be the Member who can command confidence of the majority of its members. He should be elected by secret vote of the members using a method to avoid undue influence and corrupt practices.

Federation of Pradeshiya Sabhas into Provincial Council

Provincial Council for a particular province should be a federation of all the Pradeshiya Sabhas within the province. All the presidents of the Pradeshiya Sabhas should form its membership.

The member of the Provincial Council who can command the confidence of majority of Gam Sabha members within the province is elected as the Chief Minister. He should have the power to appoint 3 other ministers from among the members.

Parliament

The parliament should consist of both executives and legislatures.

Executives should consist of the President and the Cabinet of Ministers elected at national level. Cabinet should consist of 35 ministers, which should include 24 District Ministers and 10 functional ministers. Each contesting candidate should go to the people for election with his/her list of Cabinet of Ministers.

Only the names of the sitting Members of Parliament should be included in this list. There should be one minister to represent each district of the country. People will be voting not only for the Presidential candidate but also for the Ministerial candidates.

In case of a vacancy occurring for a Minister the President should be empowered to nominate a member of the legislature representing that particular district to fill that vacancy.

However in such instances a referendum should be held only for the district for which the vacancy occurs. If the referendum is lost the President and the entire Cabinet should resign.

Election of members to exercise the legislative power of the people

Every Pradeshiya Sabha area should be treated as a separate parliamentary electorate. Nomination for election should be called for these electorates but election should be conducted on district basis using the preferential voting system.

All candidates whether coming from a political party or not should contest as individual candidates not as a group. The number contesting from a political party should not exceed the number of MPs that will be elected for that district. There should not be a national list. National list has become a list of political refugees.

We have seen how the so-called very eminent people were clamouring to go to Parliament as a National List member. Some rejected politicians by the people found their way to Parliament as National List members. The people who cannot win the confidence of people should not be given any executive or legislative powers.

MPs should be elected for a period of 5 years. New elections should be held at least one week before the completion of 5-year term. Parliament should not be dissolved for the purpose of holding new election. Parliament should have perpetual succession.

On the date a member completes his 5th year by operation of law he loses his membership. If he has been re-elected for the next term he should take fresh oaths as a new MP.

Local authority to be the mini-government

Local government is functioning today not as a level of government, but as institutions authorised to perform limited functions. Sovereignty of the people at village level should be exclusively exercised by the Gam Sabhawa or with the consent of the Gam Sabhawa.

For the implementation of the above proposals political will to devolve power to the grass roots level is an important requirement. Proposals involve fundamental re-thinking and radical redesigning of a political system to achieve dramatic improvements. These changes will affect the vested interests both in the contemporary political and bureaucratic sectors.

They will resist changes. This challenge can be met only by forming pressure groups at grass roots level.

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How to stay on course to peace

By: W. T. J. S. Kaviratne, Ambalangoda Special Correspondent

Against the backdrop of recent political developments in the South, two separate workshop - seminars were held at Balapitiya and Galle to discuss diverse issues related to the ethnic conflict and the impact of Southern political developments on the peace process.

Dr. Kumar Rupasinghe, Chairman of 'Foundation for Co-Existence' said what every citizen of Sri Lanka yearned for was a peace process which could be implemented and what was discussed during these public gatherings should not be confined to workshop-seminars. The seminar on peace organised by the 'Peoples Peace Assembly' and held at the auditorium of the Galle district Secretariat.

"Achieving sustainable peace in a country like Sri Lanka affected by more than two decades of conflict was not an easy task as some mistakenly believed", Rupasinghe said."

Sometimes, it might take another 15 long years to bring lasting peace to the country. Fear and uncertainty of another major conflict were also found among the people down the ethnic divide mostly due to the happenings in the South."

"Everybody had to admit that the Prime Minister was successful in the establishment of a no war situation and in creating a peaceful atmosphere among the communities.

Similarly the President over the years played a very vital role to find a negotiated political solution to the ethnic conflict", he said.

"As a direct result of two decades of war, nearly 9000 women had become widows, more than 4000 children were orphaned and seven to eight lakhs of people were living in refugee camps amidst untold misery," Rupasinghe said.

Referring to his visit to Nelson Mandela, in prison, he said that he found books of all religions. Nelson Mandela studied comparative religion and was deeply engaged in meditation. He could cultivate a great sympathy and love towards the minorities, he said.

Ven. T. Sarana Thera of Sri Saddhatissa Vihara, Galle said after the ceasefire agreement, numerous programmes could be launched with the cooperation of other religious dignitaries to repair the religious shrines destroyed by the LTTE. He said he discussed the futility of war with LTTE cadres during his visits to the North-East.

"Sri Lankans were famous for religious tolerance but unfortunately this was tarnished due to the recent incidents he said.

He further said that he lived in Vavuniya, Kilinochchi, Jaffna, Padaviya and Eravur. The people belonging to all communities lived in peace and harmony there. Politicians to grab majority votes annoyed the minorities, he said referring to the political mistake of making Sinhala the official language within 24 hours.

Chairman of Inter-Religious Peace Foundation, Ven. Madampagama Assajee Thera said steps would be taken to get down representatives of all organisations working for peace to the city of Colombo. There should be an integration of all sections in the country to establish tolerance of ethnic and religious diversity. Action should be taken to stop attacks on religious shrines, he said.

Rev. Father Anura Perera, referring to President's taking over of Ministries, said that the Prime Minister and the government lost their bargaining power with the LTTE. The great confidence people had in lasting peace gradually decreased and an uncertainty prevailed throughout the country.

G. Dinetti, representative of the Communist Party said that the majority of the political parties were keen on finding a peaceful settlement to the ethnic conflict. Peace process was not allowed to move ahead smoothly. Certain communal minded sections were keen on creating political unrest in the country at the moment when the ceasefire was on and a no war situation was found, he said.

There was no fixed timetable of the stages of resolving the ethnic conflict and unless and until the two major political parties of the country unite, no sustainable peace could be achieved, he explained.

At the workshop-seminar organised by the National Peace Council of Sri Lanka at Balapitiya Pradeshiya Sabha, Southern Provincial Councillor, Asoka Dhanawansa (UNP) said over the years the inability of successive governments in finding effective solutions to the genuine grievances of the North-East community ultimately resulted in an ethnic war.

Director, Research - Media, National Peace Council, Dr. Jehan Perera making the keynote address said that this was a rare opportunity provided to him to gather opinions of the people in the South on the ethnic conflict, peace process and the impact of the political situation on the peace process.

Analysing the political history of Sri Lanka, Dr. Jehan said since gaining Independence, almost all the politicians who emerged in the country, had given priority to power. Good governance depends not only on the 'Letter of the Law' but also on the 'Spirit of the Law', he said.

Referring to good governance found in the Federal States of England, and U.S.A. Perera said under federalism, power could be effectively devolved.

If politicians of our country tried to devolve power among themselves forgetting party politics, recent political crisis of the South affecting the peace process could have been avoided he said.

Referring to the peace dividends from the ceasefire, he said the international community consented in providing financial assistance for the development projects in the country.

The international community supported any political party in the country in solving the problems of the people and after the general election, the international community would observe whether there could be a congenial peaceful atmosphere devoid of internal conflicts to continue providing foreign aid Perera said.

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