‘Rapid resettlement and economic empowerment in North’
The following
is the full text of responses to questions from Associated Press with
regard to Reconciliation, given by Prof Rajiva Wijesinha MP, Adviser on
Reconciliation to the President.
The article by
Associated Press carried little of this. It should be noted however that
it did not distort the responses or present a one-sided perspective.
Given the generally biased nature of international reporting on Sri
Lanka, we must be thankful for this, since we cannot but accept with
gratitude the crumbs from rich men’s tables. However, since all AP
carried was the following - ‘Rapid resettlement and economic empowerment
is taking place...though obviously more needs to be done,’ said Rajiva
Wijesinha, a lawmaker and Adviser to President Rajapaksa. He denied that
the military was taking over land and said it would pay compensation for
any land it acquired.’ It seems desirable to place the full text on
record.
Q: With the end of the military
conflict does the government think that there are more do be done on the
social and political front to establish normalcy or does the government
feel that the end of the military conflict itself solves all the
problems?
A: Not at all, as
government always said, a military solution was necessary to deal with
terrorism once the LTTE proved intransigent, but political and other
problems required other measures.
Q: If the government feels more needs
to be done, what steps it has taken so far to accommodate the minority
Tamil community?
A: Rapid resettlement and
economic empowerment is taking place. This proved successful in the
East, and is being pursued in the North, though obviously much more
needs to be done. Also political empowerment through the resurrection of
local and provincial authorities. This was done swiftly in the East, and
has been started in the North, with the next tranche of local elections
- the third after hostilities concluded and resettlement began - due at
the end of July, with Provincial Council elections thereafter, as
happened in the East.
Children playing at Manik Farm |
Q: Does the government seriously
think that devolution is a necessary component for future ethnic
harmony?
A: Certainly devolution as
practised elsewhere should be implemented in the North, and extending it
as appropriate will be finalized through discussions with the TNA as
well as the input of that and other parties through the Select Committee
that is planned. At the same time, given that the Centre will also
continue to exercise power, and in particular in areas pertaining to
security issues in the broader sense, it is important to introduce a
greater voice for the peripheral units at the Centre too, which is why
the President’s manifesto introduces the idea of a Second Chamber based
on those units.
Q: Does it feel that forming a
uniformed society with no consideration for minority ethnic and cultural
identities and freedoms to preserve same is part of the solution?
A: Not at all, uniformity
goes against both the government’s commitment to pluralism and the
socio-cultural history of this country. After the introduction of Tamil
as an official language in 1987, for instance, little was done to
enforce this provision, but this government has taken more measures in
this regard than any other.
Q: Why there is so much delay in
addressing the housing and land problem of the IDPs?
A: Compared to other
countries, and indeed previous work for IDPs in Sri Lanka, this
government has been comparatively quick. Even before the Vanni was
liberated, there were hundreds of thousands of IDPs, some of them in
camps for decades, and now most of them too are being resettled, along
with the ‘new’ IDPs. Land rights are particularly problematic, given the
long delays and our laws of prescription, so solutions acceptable to all
need to be worked out.
Q: How do you respond to allegations
that the military is taking over land and refuses to hand over lands
that were forcibly taken over by the LTTE to the rightful owners on the
premise that they were captured from the Tigers therefore it belongs to
the military?
A: I believe such
allegations are false, and the High Security Zones have been reduced
considerably over the last couple of years. If any land is needed for
security or other reasons, it will be acquired with due compensation as
the laws prescribe, though obviously with the range of government land
available in most of the area except in the Jaffna peninsula, such needs
will be minimal.
Q: We heard Army Commander Lt. Gen.
Jagath Jayasuriya telling Buddhist chief priests that the government
plans to create military cantonments in the former war zones with
farming land for the soldiers, is this the official position of the
government? If not why does the military take over land?
A: The need to set up
military posts in the area, as in the rest of the country, is not
contested. However these should be as small as possible, given the
requirements.
Q: How do you respond to allegations
that there is a systematic effort to change the ethnic demography of the
North and that the military cantonments and Buddhist shrines built all
over are part of that plan?
A: Those are two separate
issues. The former allegation has been made over the years about various
government activities, beginning with the settlement on the East coast
by the Kandyan kings of Muslims expelled by the Portuguese from the
West, going through the introduction of workers by the British to the
tea plantations, then the colonization schemes of the 40s and 50s. In
all cases I believe there were economic reasons for government action
and availability of land, rather than sinister purposes. Now, with
existing congestion and much greater awareness, ideas of demographic
change are inconceivable, though of course free movement of citizens
within all parts of the country must be permitted, without the sort of
ethnic cleansing the LTTE indulged in.
The latter relates to the security requirement, which is not
contested, though certainly it should be accompanied by measures to
broadbase the composition of the security forces. In this context I am
very sorry that the proposal of the Defence Ministry to recruit more
cadets as teachers, which facilitated minority officer recruitment even
during the war, has not been approved by the Ministry of Education - I
recall that even in 2006 the process was very slow, but it succeeded
because of the hard work of the General in charge of the Cadet Corps and
the then Secretary to the Ministry of Provincial Councils.
Q: How would you respond to
allegations that the North is excessively militarized so much so even a
school prize giving can’t be held without inviting the military and the
military walks in uninvited even for private functions?
A: I have not been to
Jaffna for over a year, but during my frequent visits between 2008 and
2010, I thought the military presence had reduced, and this also seemed
the case with Vavuniya, which I visited again this year. It would be
unfortunate if the military was making its presence felt at ordinary
civil events and problems in this regard should be addressed by better
Civil-Military liaison, which was an area I was involved in closely when
Secretary to the Ministry of Disaster Management and Human Rights.
Resurrecting a similar mechanism might be a good idea to ensure that,
while the security concerns of the military are respected, these do not
disrupt normalization.
Q: How would you respond to
allegation that the elected members of Parliament and intellectuals of
the North are not being given enough space for the political and social
activities? (ex: recent attack on TNA)
A: Such space and mutual
understanding must be expanded, and I was happy to see that the TNA
leader had written to the Secretary of Defence noting the need for
better liaison. The problem is that there are individuals on all sides
who are still distrustful and when problems occur, they wish to assert
themselves. This contributes to polarization and of course there are
individuals who welcome polarization, whereas the leadership at all
levels should aim at conciliation and compromise.
More dialogue is essential and recognition on all sides of the
separate but vital roles of all concerned. I am trying to find out more
about what you have described as the recent attack on the TNA, and if it
there was such an attack, it was not only wrong, it was foolish since
the only result possible was greater sympathy for the TNA.
Q: How could you justify the
Presidential Task Force that handles the development efforts of the
North does not have a single Tamil and elected people’s representatives
are not taken on board?
A: The Task Force was set
up at an earlier time and was made up of existing officials in relevant
areas. I am sorry that no senior Tamils were involved, but at that time
the TNA was representing what seemed an extremist viewpoint, perhaps
through no fault of their own, given the structures under which they had
been elected. Now that they have a streamlined membership and
established themselves in the democratic process, they too should play
their part. Conversely they seemed even more hostile to other leading
Tamil elements in the North, though I hope that there too we will find
mutual respect in the future and agreement, if you like, to disagree.
The Task Force, it should be noted, worked always with the
administration of the North, which is predominantly Tamil. It would have
been wrong to sideline the officials there who had worked tirelessly in
spite of enormous pressures, and whom the LTTE and those supportive of
the LTTE had denigrated. However, I believe the Task Force will be wound
up soon, and with the forthcoming elections and the democratic
credentials of politicians established, there must be more scope for
their involvement too.
Q: Why the people of North are
excluded from the development work? (contractors, labour and machinery
are all from the South and mainly Sinhalese) does this represent a
policy of isolation?
A: Exclusion is the wrong
word, but certainly there was a capacity shortage and I believe that we
need to do more to build up capacity to ensure that the people of the
area become full partners in development. These are issues that came up
in the Entrepreneurs Workshop I funded for former combatants through my
decentralized budget, and the youngsters, very bright and positive in
their outlook, stressed the need for skills development to empower them.
I am pleased that the Ministry of Youth Affairs has moved swiftly on
this, and is encouraging different forms of delivery of skills training
to enhance other capacities too.
But more needs to be done, and one of my themes, when I met the
diaspora in Australia and New Zealand, is the need for support for
training. I asked not just mixed groups including Tamils who want to
support reconciliation, but also predominantly Sinhala groups and even
one SLFP branch, to provide support for the ex-Combatants. They must be
in the forefront of developing that area, and we must work towards
strengthening them and their contribution to society.
Q: Why has the government been
inconstant in its policy on devolution, why do you need to appoint a
Parliamentary Select Committee while there is the APRC final report
which is the result of the present government’s efforts?
A: The TNA did not
participate in the APRC and the UNP and the JVP were not involved in the
Report, while other parties did not accept the text that was
subsequently claimed to be the final report, so to work on the basis of
such a document would not make sense. You must remember that in 2000 the
TULF, which had participated in formulating the proposals President
Kumaratunga put forward, said they would consider the draft before
Parliament as a starting point, while the UNP, which she thought was
pledged to support them, opposed them a racist perspective too. In a
context in which so many changes can happen, government should work in
terms of the current political situation, and be sensitive, as all
parties need to be, to the people who put them into Parliament.
Fortunately the LTTE is no longer present to exercise influence as it
claimed to do before, when it dictated what happened in elections in the
North and parts of the East.
Q: Is a Parliamentary Select
Committee a delaying tactic?
A: Any changes will need
support in Parliament and it is best to involve all stakeholders early.
Discussions with the TNA will continue, and any agreement between TNA
and government will then have greater weight obviously in the Select
Committee deliberations. However we all need to remember what happened
on two previous occasions. Both pacts with Chelvanayakam, by
Bandaranaike and Senanayake, were defeated by rabble rousing in the
country at large by the main opposition along with hostility from
extremists within the governing party. Then, a decade ago, when Mrs
Kumaratunga thought she had support from both the TULF and the main
Opposition, she was defeated in a pincer movement. The TULF, under
pressure I believe from the LTTE which had assassinated Tiruchelvam,
refused to support the measures while the UNP attacked them from a
racist perspective, and the poor President found the majority she had
hoped to command decimated.
Q: Do you think that the government
has its priorities in order when it spends a lot for example on the
Commonwealth Games 2018 bid while hundreds of thousands are homeless?
A: Exercises like the
Commonwealth Games are extremely useful from an economic as well as a
social perspective. I remember in the old days Colombo society, and some
Western commentators following them, used to laugh at President
Premadasa’s Gam Udawa programmes, calling them the most expensive
birthday parties in the world, and it was only when I began working
intensively in the rural sector that I realized how much they were
appreciated in the areas they were meant to benefit - by developing
infrastructure in such areas that were otherwise neglected, by providing
employment, and by drawing the attention of people who never used to
think beyond Colombo of the needs of other parts of the country.
Q: What do you think are the
impediments to peace both locally and internationally?
A: One impediment is the
lack of trust on all sides, which we must overcome. In this regard I
believe the Sinhalese in particular must work actively to help those in
the Tamil community who suffered at the hands of the Tigers, to empower
them economically. Investment and training must be encouraged and this
will convince the Tamils at large of our bona fides whilst also helping
with economic development which will benefit the country as a whole.
We must also deal effectively with those who want to continue with
resentment and hostility. The efforts of the remains of the LTTE
propaganda outfits abroad must be combated effectively, most obviously
by telling the story of how we overcame the LTTE with maximum care for
civilians, how we resettled swiftly, how we rehabilitated the former
combatants, all this more quickly than in any comparable conflict.
This is important because those who wish to revive the LTTE need to
polarize, to prevent our people coming together. Unfortunately their
efforts lead to correspondingly extreme reactions on the other side,
which can also polarize, and we need to avoid these and show the
benefits to all our citizens of working together, appreciating each
other’s strengths, overcoming weaknesses, seeing diversity as an asset.
Finally we need to convince both those countries that wish to play
politics with us, and those political parties in Sri Lanka that seek
advantages from conflict, that they should not play with the lives of
people and leave room for terrorism and extremism to be revived. The
meanness of those who seek electoral advantage through perpetuating
suffering must be pointed out and overcome.
Finally, one massive impediment to peace is inefficiency, our failure
to set clear targets and work towards them. For this purpose we need to
improve our education system, to encourage different approaches whilst
pursuing excellence.
We have made a start in trying to reform our higher education system,
but we must do more with the education system too, to promote thinking
and problem solving and decision making skills, to improve communication
capacity as well as promoting teamwork and discussion and practicality.
We must ensure on the job training for our administrators and enhance
understanding of the roles they must play, as facilitators to the people
they serve, not controllers. |