The weight of different pressures
The present controversies over the 13th Amendment and also the
commitment of the government to conduct Provincial Council elections are
fraught with controversies that I find ironic. I am aware that I am
accused of all sorts of misdemeanours, if not quite crimes, for my
continuing support for the President even while I continue to point out
what seem areas in which reforms are urgently needed, and where some
measures taken by government do not help either reconciliation or the
coherent and equitable development this country needs.
But I am certainly consistent, and this should be the more obviously
recognizable – though sadly no one looks at facts and engages in
discussion based on evidence – in comparison with the astonishing
inconsistencies of many others.
Recently for instance I was struck with the vehemence with which some
international locators were talking about the need for Provincial
Council elections in the North, given that this was very far from their
agenda when the LTTE was in control there.
Norwegian facilitators
I remember way back in 2003 being glad that G L Pieris had announced
that elections would be held in the North. Austin Fernando said he had
wanted to go ahead with elections and it was the Prime Minister who had
stopped him. I assumed this was because the LTTE had decreed they did
not want elections and Ranil Wickremesinghe thought he had no
alternative except to indulge them. Austin did not confirm this, but I
gathered from his response that I was not wrong.
I can understand Ranil’s dilemma, having as it were caught the Tigers
by the tail. What I found abhorrent was the failure of the Norwegian
facilitators to push for democracy, to which at any other time,
including now, they pay such sanctimonious lip service.
Unfortunately our memories are so bad, and the capacity of our
Ministry to point up inconsistencies so limited, that these
international do-gooders get away with murder. One of the more honest
national interlocutors tried to explain their stance at the time, which
was that, given that there were ongoing negotiations with the LTTE,
these should not have been disrupted.
I find that argument specious, since the only reason for negotiating
with the LTTE was that they were supposed to represent the Tamil people.
If they themselves felt that they would be repudiated at the polls,
there was no reason whatsoever to continue to talk to them, or at any
rate to indulge them so egregiously.
It was assumed when I pointed out the anomaly that I was arguing that
the elections in the North should be postponed.
That was not the case at all. But my point was that, when I said
elections should be held, that was because I have faith in democracy.
But when others who clearly have no commitment to democracy demand
elections, government understandably feels that there must be some
ulterior motive.
Different agenda
This is no reason to postpone elections, but those who are genuinely
concerned both about democracy and about the Tamil people of the North –
which I believe is the case with India – should realize the negative
consequences of pressures from those whose track record suggests a
different agenda.
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Jaffna town |
What they should be doing instead is arguing on the principles which
the Liberal Party has continuously upheld, namely devolution based on
the principle of subsidiarity, with safeguards against possible
separatism.
That is why the Liberal Party has always opposed the merger, which we
pointed out in 1987 could well damage the whole idea of devolution,
since it suggested that this was to create ethnic enclaves, rather than
to bring government closer to the people. And I believe the TNA
certainly set back their cause when they introduced the merger into what
were otherwise generally very acceptable principles, in their note of
March 2011 to the committee appointed to negotiate with them.
But I believe government too was at fault in not discussing the other
points they raised while making it clear that the merger could not be
considered.
And it was also at fault in not having had elections sooner in the
North. Had they been held as soon as possible after the war was over,
they would undoubtedly have done better than they are likely to do now.
For that would have pre-empted the campaigns by the LTTE oriented
diaspora – which was much weaker three years ago than it is now, fuelled
as it has been by a brilliant media campaign we have done little to
counter.
Excessive powers
This has made the TNA feel the merger should be pushed, and that in
turn fuels the arguments of those who are opposed to devolution. Even
the usually very sensible Neville Laduwahetty has talked of the danger
of separatism given the possibility of a North East Merger.
Though I think that his fears are misplaced, given that the two
Provinces were demerged, they are certainly not to be dismissed out of
hand when talk of a merger continues.
That is why I think government is right to have moved on amending the
provision for merger.
It might have been better to distance the possibility by repealing
the provision for merger in the Provincial Councils Bill, which gave
excessive powers to the President to proclaim that particular merger.
But I realized from the heartfelt arguments of a Muslim politician that
getting rid of the possibility altogether might be a better move at this
stage.
That this is done without affecting the other provisions of the 13th
Amendment should also I think be appreciated by those who suspect all
actions of the government. While pressures based on what seems an
exclusivist agenda must be overcome, such pressures are real, and their
sources seem more reliable, if only because they are consistent, than
those who are pursuing a very different political agenda. |