Bid at prolonging colonial control

External Affairs Minister Prof. G.L. Peiris has very rightly taken issue over a comment made by the British Prime Minister in regard to what is made out as human rights accountability, and the External Affairs Minister's observations go to the heart of the issue of sovereignty and the will of the people. In a democratic dispensation, a government is instituted on the basis of the popular vote and it is the prime task of the government to govern on the basis of the aspirations of those who voted it into office.

The question would not arise of the government bowing to the dictates of foreign states and kindred external actors and this needs to be recognized as a cardinal principle of good governance.

It is plain to see that the vast majority of countries of the Commonwealth of Nations have supreme trust and confidence in Sri Lanka and this is reflected in the decision to go ahead with holding the 2013 CHOGM in Sri Lanka. This decision has gone unquestioned by the 2011 CHOGM and is a sure enough indication that a substantial proportion of the international community is staunchly behind Sri Lanka.

There are no reservations on their part on what are referred to as accountability issues with regard to Sri Lanka and it is best that the totality of the international community recognizes this fact. Any efforts to question Sri Lanka's credentials should be seen as attempts at undermining its status as an independent sovereign state in the international political order.

Every state enjoys a degree of cultural uniqueness and the relevant legal system of the state should be responsive to and respectful of this reality. There could be no question of a state being dictated to by any external quarter on what its value and legal system ought to be. Nor could any state, in this age of democracy, be expected to bend to the dictates of external actors and states. Sri Lanka is no longer a colony or a subject state and it could not be expected to bow to the harangues and dictates of any external quarter which, in all probability, does not have its interests at heart.

The government of Sri Lanka has done well to show those states who attempt to brow beat it on nebulous issues, where to get off, and has thereby helped to underscore Sri Lanka's equality of status with those who are seen as the most powerful of this world, but it is most baffling that some local political parties and actors should insist on going with their complaints to some of these powers which are bent on dictating to Sri Lanka on governance and connected issues.

The TNA, for instance, is currently engaged in an exercise of this kind and one wonders whether some of those guiding the affairs of the TNA are labouring under the delusion that Sri Lanka is continuing to be a colony.

This could be referred to as a typical 'colonial' mindset. Such acts of seeking the advice of external powers, which at one time ran vast empires, amount to jenuflecting before them and their might.

The control that these one-time colonial powers exercised over sections in the Third World could be construed as continuing and the conduct of the TNA could be seen as proof of this. Needless to say, it is behaviour of this kind which encourages these powers to interfere in the affairs of sovereign states such as Sri Lanka.

Rather than have recourse to such self-belittling conduct, we call on the TNA to discuss all their issues with President Rajapaksa and the Lankan state. After all, the TNA should be sufficiently pragmatic to realize that it is entirely the Lankan state which could help in resolving its problems and none other. The state on the other hand, would do well to jump-start mechanisms, such as, the Parliamentary Select Committee, which could go a long way in helping us to resolve our issues.

Mind-control is one means through which colonial domination and influence is sought to be perpetuated in the developing world, in the post-colonial era.

The Third World should not only increasingly work towards collective economic and political emancipation but also forge ahead towards freeing the minds and hearts of its citizens from the inimical cultural influences exerted by one time colonial powers. We in independent Sri Lanka need to put our heads together to sort out our problems by ourselves and this smacks of true sovereignty. Hopefully, this point would be taken cognizance of by groups such as the TNA and some local opposition leaders who insist on seeking foreign succour.