‘Let’s stop post-mortems and forge ahead’

Nadira GUNATILLEKE

I suffered a lot at the hands of the LTTE. The LTTE killed my parents when I was a child. They killed thousands of innocent civilians during the war. I communicated my experiences to the diplomats and to the international community during recent UNHRC sessions in Geneva.

Power should not be devolved among provinces or ethnicities. Power should be devolved among people. It should be devolved at grass roots level giving power to villagers to solve their own problems within their village or district, said Presidential coordinator for the Batticaloa district, Batticaloa Sri Lanka Freedom Party (SLFP) Organizer and a member of the Sri Lankan delegation to UNHRC sessions in Geneva Arun Tambimuttu in an interview with the Daily News.

Following are the excerpts:

Presidential coordinator for the Batticaloa district, Batticaloa Sri Lanka Freedom Party (SLFP) Organizer Arun Tambimuttu

Q: Please comment on the Geneva resolution against Sri Lanka.

A: I was a member of the Sri Lankan delegation to UNHRC sessions held in Geneva recently. I contributed my experiences as a victim of the LTTE and also a Tamil person who lived abroad for 20 years and returned to my hometown Batticaloa in Sri Lanka to live. I paid a high price as a victim of the LTTE. The LTTE killed my parents when I was just a 13-year-old child. Before that incident the LTTE kidnapped me and my mother. They interrogated and tortured us. I faced the consequences of the war. I communicated my experiences to the diplomats and to the international community during the sessions.

A lot of diplomats, permanent representatives of a number of countries and observers did not have a better understanding on the issue. We had to make them understand more. Therefore I conveyed my bitter experiences. The LTTE and the Tamil National Army existed in the early stages of the war, recruited child soldiers. There were a large number of victims during the 30 year war and not only during the last stages of the humanitarian operation. Therefore, I pointed out the injustice and unfairness of conducting investigations on the deaths during the last stages of the humanitarian operation excluding the large number of civilians killed during the past 30 years. Now we have to stop conducting postmortems and move forward.

The Tamil Diaspora members had never been to Sri Lanka. The Diaspora members had been inspired by the LTTE ideology. They were told that the Sinhalese are brutal killers. Some of them had very strong views. Some of them had fixed ideas. Some of them were willing to listen and some wanted to know more. There is a diversity of views in the Tamil Diaspora. The Westerners had a very different view. They were not willing to see the progress Sri Lanka has made, had fixed and very anti Sri Lankan ideas. But in the middle of all these some of the diplomats privately told us that they understand the fact but they are helpless because they are bound by organizations.

There were INGOs, NGOs and civil society members. They were very angry because they could not continue with their own agendas. Some of them wanted to portray Sri Lanka as something that is far from the reality and accuracy. For example, one person attached to such an organization said current situation in Sri Lanka is worse before the end of the war! Then I asked her during 1988 and 1989 how many bodies of youth floated in Sri Lankan rivers. Then I asked whether people watched movies at cinema halls till midnight before, like they do now. She had no answers. The Sri Lankan delegation had to face so many anti-Sri Lankan forces at once. Even film stars in Tamil Nadu have been actively involved in anti-Sri Lankan propaganda and LTTE leader Prabhakaran is seen as a hero by them.

Until Sri Lanka educates the diplomats, permanent representatives of countries/organizations, observers etc, more and more, this challenge will be there and it will trouble us from time to time. What we have to do is educate them more and more about the real situation in Sri Lanka and show them the ground realities. We cannot let any outside force to destabilize our hard won peace.

Q: What do you think about getting rid of communal/ethnic politics and promoting national politics and grooming national politicians in the country?

A: I joined the SLFP with a very different background. My parents and grand parents had connections with the TULF and EPRLF (my father contested under the EPRLF banner). My language is Tamil, not Sinhala. But I live in this beautiful island as a Sri Lankan.

Both Tamil nationalism and Sinhala nationalism are wrong. We have to have a Sri Lankan national identity. In the UK (where I lived for over 20 years) there is a law prohibiting people from using discriminatory language (hate speeches etc) which leads to divisions in society (country). We also should have similar laws to ban hate speeches etc carried out by politicians in public. We need to foster harmony among ethnicities. During past 50 years Sri Lankan politicians played the ethnic card and used ethnicity as a tool to obtain political advantages, especially to come to power and stay in power. This tool was freely used during election campaigns creating divisions in the country.

I have many identities. I am a Tamil and I speak Tamil. I am from Batticaloa. I have a mixed religious background. I believe in many religions, including Budddhism. When Muttiah Muralitharan takes a wicket during a cricket match all Sri Lankans cheer for him because he is a Sri Lankan. It is not because he is a Tamil. When Sanath Jayasuriya scores a century, everybody cheers for him and it is because he is a Sri Lankan and not because he is a Sinhalese.

There are no Tamil wickets and Sinhala centuries in cricket. Sanath Jayasuriya is a hero among schoolchildren in Batticaloa. In the private sector all look for talent and not anything else. But in politics all are concerned about ethnicity, religion etc. All Sri Lankans should feel equal. The people’s attitude should change if Sri Lanka is to prosper. The present government’s tri-lingual policy is truly a way forward. We need to learn Sinhala and Tamil not French, German etc. Politicians who come from North and East should be given the platform to voice their ideas.

Q: Please comment in the LLRC report recommendations and their implementation.

A: The LLRC report is a fine document, formulated, taking into consideration many issues. But it is very pathetic if anybody thinks that the entire set of recommendations should be implemented as a whole because nobody does such an act and it is not practical at all.

When a company CEO wants to reform his company, he will call for a full report but he never implements all the recommendations in the report. He only takes important points and implements them.

For example, the government can implement one recommendation in the LLRC report and get rid of anti-social elements in the North and East. There are people in the North and East who still hold lands belonging to others. They belong to various political parties. My property in Batticaloa is being occupied by force. Certain recommendations in the LLRC report need to be implemented to stop such illegal and anti-social activities.

When it comes to giving land and police powers, there is some doubt in the people. This is because Sri Lanka has three major communities, Sinhala, Muslim and Tamil. During the past, politicians played the ethnic card to come to power and stay in power. A province can have only one Chief Minister.

We cannot have three of them. When this position goes to one person belonging to one ethnicity, other ethnicities are suspicious. When he can have land and police powers, he can discriminate against other ethnicities. That will affect the reconciliation process. This is the real and legitimate concern of the people in the Eastern Province.

Power should not be devolved among provinces or ethnicities. Power should be devolved among people. Power should be devolved at grass roots level giving power to villagers to solve their own problems within their village (Grama Sabha) or district without visiting Colombo. The people of Colombo think other parts of the country are outstations and the people living in other parts of the country think that Colombo is an outstation. The people living in the specific village know what is best for them. This is the reality. We need to find something applicable for us and not something that can be applied in India or a European country.

If the North and East become a Tamil homeland, the rest of the country will become the Sinhala homeland. During the past 50 years the politicians made Sri Lanka a Colombo-centred country and President Mahinda Rajapaksa is the only leader who brought development to village level.

In the Eastern Province alone over 40 bridges have been built. They were only promises during the past. We have to rethink our systems at this juncture. We have to strengthen the Sri Lankan Presidency (the institution) enabling him to appoint technocrats to lead relevant subjects/fields, as in the case of Defence Secretary Gotabhaya Rajapaksa who is responsible for the subject of National Security. He is not a politician. He is a specialist and professional in his subject. All other fields need similar specialists/professionals. Then the state ministries can do much better. Parliament is the place where laws get passed.

Q: How do you see this latest tool the Right to Protect Doctrine (R2P)?

A: When you look at the UNHRC, you can see that the INGOs, NGOs have seats. But most of the chairs that hold votes belong to the West. Westerners have double standards. See what happened in Israel. UNHRC became a 'Cave of thieves' when it did not vote in favour of Israel and the same became a 'powerful international body' when it voted against Sri Lanka. The elements now working against Sri Lanka were fast asleep during the past 30 years. Now they have to wake up. It is because of the strategic importance, maritime significance, gas and oil exploration and fast economic growth of our country. The R2P is a useful tool for the elements which desire to grab such resources which belong to other countries. They need destabilized environments. Recently, some statues in Batticaloa were vandalized by the elements which have undertaken the task of destabilizing Sri Lanka. The following day, the elements asked why the statues were not given security.

It is time for us, Sri Lankans belonging to all ethnicities and religions to take charge our own future. The evil elements will go ahead with their own agenda. We cannot be victims of this international game. We suffered for 30 years. It was not because we were stupid. It was because many international players used and took advantage of the so called 'division' between Sinhalese and Tamils. We cannot let it happen ever again.

Q: What you expect from the mass media and people towards speeding-up the reconciliation process?

A: In the mass media there is a political agenda always at play. The media portrays everything in a very political manner. Reporting is always sensationalized. Bad or negative news always gets priority. Good news is never given priority or published/broadcast/telecast quickly/on time. It is understandable because there is a saying that bad news travels faster than good news. The media still propagate either Tamil or Sinhala nationalism. First of all, local media institutions should go for reconciliation and shed petty differences such as state media, private media, Sinhala newspapers, Tamil newspapers etc. Truth should be reported without being sensationalized.

The younger generation has less communal feelings and they are moving away from biases and biased entities. It may take time but we have to reach reconciliation and the media can speed up this process. The ordinary people get all the information either from the media or politicians. Therefore, they believe that everything that comes to them through those channels is biased.