Using current political capital for conflict-resolution

Lakshman Indranath KEERTHISINGHE LL.B, LL.M
Attorney-at-Law

‘Sri Lankans’ approval of their President’s job performance likely reflects their happiness to finally have peace in their country and a vision for the rebuilding of their nation. The government’s lifting of Emergency laws has earned praise from the US and other Western nations and suggests Sri Lanka is trying to leave its violent past behind. It will be imperative for the Sri Lankan government to use this political capital as it works to resolve conflicts within the country and reintegrate disenfranchised portions of the population.’ Peter Cynkar - ‘Sri Lankans back the Rajapaksas amid Western criticism says poll’ Lanka Independent - Sept 2, 2011

President Mahinda Rajapaksa kissing the soil of our motherland after the defeat of the LTTE

The lifting of the Emergency laws by the President has been met with acclaim by many nations in the world. After the defeat of the LTTE with the able leadership of our President as the Commander in Chief of the Forces assisted by the experience gained in the battlefield by Defence Secretary Gotabhaya Rajapaksa and the Commanders of the three forces, the President was able to usher in an era of peace and tranquillity to our island nation, for which the large majority of Sri Lankans are forever grateful. It is regrettable that a very small minority of Sri Lankans due to their political inclinations have forgotten the suffering the Sri Lankan nation underwent during the three decades of brutal terrorist activities by the barbaric LTTE.

Foreign diplomats

Listening to the speech made by the Defence Secretary at the launch of the ‘Report on Humanitarian Operation - Factual Analysis July 2006 to May 2009,’ addressing the foreign diplomats and other dignitaries in Colombo, in impeccable English, without making a single mistake displaying an absolute mastery of that language and making out a case against the infamous Channel 4 video and the Darusman Report, I felt the patriotism generated in the heart of this Southerner and the ingratitude of some Sri Lankans for the great achievement of defeating terrorism, in which Gotabhaya Rajapaksa played a major role under the direction of our President Mahinda Rajapaksa. The picture of the President kissing the soil of our motherland immediately after alighting from the plane at the Katunayake Airport after the defeat of the LTTE came to my mind in vivid detail exhibiting the patriotism of our President.

As Peter Cynkar states in his article ‘Sri Lankans back Rajapaksas amid Western criticism says poll’, Sri Lankans are grateful for the leadership of the President as they finally achieved peace after defeating the LTTE, described as the world’s most ruthless terrorist organization thereby creating an environment where the Sri Lankans of all walks of life are able to live without fear of suicide bombings and other atrocities committed by the LTTE.

Print-electronic media

I have decided to write this piece after observing the criticisms of the present regime in Sri Lanka found in the print and electronic media that are being made almost daily. As Catullus said in Carmina. ‘Cease to expect to win men’s gratitude; To think that human beings can be grateful.’ May be the President could say with Henry Fielding, as Fielding stated in Ton Thumb the Great; ‘When I am not thanked at all, I am thanked enough; I’ve done my duty and I’ve done no more.’ It is very relevant to note here what Edmund Burke said in ‘Thoughts and Details on Scarcity’: ‘And having looked to government for bread, on the very first scarcity they will turn and bite the hand that fed them.’ I am indebted to Former Justice Dr A R B Amerasinghe for these quotations taken from his work ‘Beautiful Inspiring Interesting Words’ (2005).

John Owen in his Epigrams said: ‘God and the Doctor we alike adore; But only when in danger not before; The danger over both are alike requited; God is forgotten and the Doctor slighted.’ From all these sayings it is obvious that human nature is such that gratitude is a rare commodity in human beings. But the same cannot be said about the majority of the Sri Lankan people who have overwhelmingly displayed their gratitude by returning the present regime to power by a vast majority of votes.

Emergency regulations

As international acclaim comes in the wake of the lifting of the Emergency regulations, as Peter Cynkar in his article quoted at the beginning of this piece states, the Sri Lankan government should use this political-capital to resolve conflicts within the country and re-integrate disenfranchised portions of the population. The report of the Lessons Learnt and Reconciliation Commission (LLRC) is due shortly and its recommendations may be useful in the resolution of many problems facing the nation on ethnic issues.

As the President has often said, while constructive criticism is helpful and appreciated, destructive criticism has to be rejected and despised. As Winston Churchill said in his speech to the House of Commons in 1941: ‘I do not resent criticism, even when, for the sake of emphasis, it parts for the time with reality.’ As the Bible says no man is infallible. Every person has faults. The people who criticize others have their own faults.

A patriotic person would engage in criticism constructively pointing out the mistakes and suggesting the solutions to correct such errors. Such criticism is useful and should be respected at all times. Freedom of Expression must be freely available in a democratic society.

Civilized society

Criticism should be met with suitable non-violent response in a civilized society. Recently a few articles appeared in the local print media and also on some web sites, which were critical of some members of the judiciary in Sri Lanka, which criticisms were not well founded. Such irresponsible criticism should be avoided at all costs as it erodes the respect of the public for the judiciary and thereby undermines that hallowed principle of the Rule of Law which is detrimental to the well-being of a democratic society.

It is time that all Sri Lankans irrespective of ethnicity and other differences unite for the peace, tranquillity and future prosperity of the nation, shedding petty differences. The present regime under the able leadership of our President would undoubtedly usher in economic prosperity to our country as it had already ushered in peace and tranquillity ridding our nation of three decades of unabated terror. Let me conclude with that beautiful thought of Bahaullah, revered religious leader of the Bahais thus: ‘We are the fruits of one tree; and the leaves of one branch. Deal ye one with another with the utmost love and harmony, with friendliness and fellowship... So powerful is the light of unity that it can illuminate the whole earth.’

(The writer is a former senior consultant in the Law Reform Project funded by the UNDP for Human Rights)