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Monday, 2 May 2011

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Upholding Sri Lanka’s dignity

It is plain that the crying need right now is unity locally among those political forces and progressive sections which are desirous of stabilising peace, unity and solidarity within Sri Lanka, in the face of those inimical forces which are seeking to victimize this country in the wake of the controversial Darusman Report. As President Mahinda Rajapaksa has time and again pointed out, the citizenry of this country owe complete allegiance to their motherland since they belong nowhere else. This appeal has met with a tremendous positive response and the coming together of diverse political and other forces yesterday, May Day, in a show of undivided loyalty to Sri Lanka was the proof of this.

There is no questioning the timely insight brought out in some quarters that the Report could have a divisive impact on the Lankan polity. The government has set before itself the great and monumental challenge of welding the multiplicity of the communities of this country into a single nation and the Report could have the effect of undermining this undertaking by opening afresh wounds that are healing in the collective psyche of each community and by rekindling old enmities among some mutually-hostile sections. For these reasons and more, the Report should be denounced as being of malicious intent and as totally lacking in foresight, besides being grounded on allegations. The Report has obviously not taken into consideration the deeply divisive impact it could have on local society.

There are numerous views on how the government should respond to the Report. Some are of the view that the divisive document should not go unanswered and there is some merit in this position. A stance of maintaining a silence on the Report could be wrongly misconstrued to mean that the state has nothing to say about it, or that the state is incapable of formulating an appropriate response to it. Accordingly, we hope a studied response is forthcoming.

However, in the longer and medium terms, we believe that the best response to the current criticisms being levelled at Sri Lanka could come in the form of reconciliation and amity among all relevant quarters and communities in Sri Lanka. The government’s policy of remaining engaged with the TNA and other relevant sections of Tamil opinion thus emerges as a most welcome trend. Increasing and concrete evidence that the just grievances of the Tamil community are being redressed by the government would not only accelerate the reconciliation process within Sri Lanka, but expose the adverse international criticism against Sri Lanka as false and lacking in substance.

In this connection it is relevant to point out that President Rajapaksa is adopting the correct policy position by continuously stressing the multi-ethnic and multi-religious identity of Sri Lanka. There is no denying that such pronouncements could have the important effect of promoting a sense of identity on the part of all our communities with the Sri Lankan state. Besides, these sentiments are bound to bring our communities increasingly together in a spirit of brotherhood. It was only a couple of days back that the President reminded some Year 5 scholarship winners, hailing from our numerous communities, about their common identity as Sri Lankans and such sentiments are bound to have a positive impact on young minds, besides promoting unity.

Accordingly, advancing national unity needs to be high on the state’s agenda and this process would gather in strength and pace to the degree to which political leaders lend it their firmest support. It is also hoped that the Lessons Learnt and Reconciliation Commission’s findings with regard to meeting the legitimate needs of our communities, would be acted on quickly by the state. The Commission, in fact, should be seen, particularly internationally, as a very vital tool in bringing healing to Sri Lanka.

In the long run, true reconciliation among our communities, we believe, is one of the most effective ways of upholding Sri Lanka’s dignity. However, it is also most important that Sri Lanka as a political community comes together to oppose the Darusman Report which is defaming this country’s image and raising the possibility of undoing all that has been achieved over the past two years in the form of internal stability and unity. The Report needs to be discussed in depth in public so that the general awareness of the harm it could do to Sri Lanka is increased.

This is also an occasion when Third World groupings, such as the Non-aligned Movement, should lend their undivided support to Sri Lanka’s cause. The current balance of global political forces is tilted against the developing world and there is no denying that the latter should come together in a massive show of strength if the current international efforts to undermine Sri Lanka are to be defeated.

UN officials’ involvement in hardliners’ programmes

Yesterday I wrote a satirical account of a meeting held at the house of the American Ambassador, reportedly at the request of Dr Paikiasothy Saravanamuttu of the Centre for Policy Alternatives. In noting some versions of stories in circulation about what had been going on there, and why, I had based my account on what Jehan Perera had said to the newspaper which had leaked the story, namely that the discussion was about how the Report of the Darusman Panel could be made use of for reconciliation, instead of for ‘division and polarization’.

Full Story

And love is thicker than hatred

It was reported in the newspapers that a set of NGO personalities (prominent, may we add?) had been hosted by a top diplomat (prominent, shall we say?) of a foreign mission for a party. While it is not clear if it was a tea party, a luncheon gathering or a sumptuous dinner, it has been revealed that sampling cakes, gulping caviar or sipping coffee (black, with no sugar, please) was not the main purpose of the meeting. One of the participants has confessed that the purpose was to discuss a personal communication between Ban ki-Moon and three individuals tasked by the UN Secretary General to advise him on matters pertaining to Sri Lanka, in scandalous violation of the UN Charter.

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Enhancing efficiency of the public service - a prime challenge

The Public Administration and Home Affairs Ministry has a very big responsibility to ensure an excellent public service for the nation and to support the massive development drive in the country, as the Public Administration and Home Affairs Minister, W. D. J. Senaviratne is obliged to carry out this task successfully. The Daily News got an opportunity to talk to him about the policies and strategies the Ministry has adopted for the betterment of the country

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