JAPAN, SLFP AND THE WEST
Japan has entered the peace market. They are to give the LTTE terrorists so called aid to the value of Rs. thirty five million. It appears that the Japanese seem to believe that the aid would be spent on computers and other electronic gadgets and that the LTTE would be hooked to the spare parts produced in Japan. Why should Japan be interested in a "peace process" that is on war path against the Sinhalas and India? Japan which is not a military power is being used by the USA against India. Japanese claim that they do not want to be confined to writing cheques and want to get more involved in deciding "development" projects. However it is not clear how Japanese would be invited to take part in the decision making process in a so called Thamil Eelam. It is more probable that the USA is trying to kill more than two birds with one stone.
It may be that the USA wants to replace Norway with Japan in the "peace process" in the future. Norway that has lost all its credibility, if it had any with people like Westborg, with the Sinhalas, especially with the Sinhala Buddhists, is not welcome by the latter. Japan, that is considered as a Buddhist country is assumed to be more acceptable to the Sinhala Buddhists and the USA probably thinks that Japan is a better "facilitator" than Norway in Asia. Norway could be asked to leave the "peace process" gradually installing Japan in its place. Secondly by establishing Japan as a so called decision maker (we all know that it is the USA that makes major decisions that are carried out by the others) in South Asian affairs the USA wants to undermine the role of India in the region. Thirdly Japan could be given some importance as a "political power" in addition to being an "economic power". However, the USA knows that without military power Japan would never be a political power and if Japan tries to expand its activities in the region, the USA would be in a position to stop the process whenever the need arises. Japan, of course would get some marginal benefits out of it as the "market" would be open to them in the northern and the eastern provinces as well.
India has already expressed its displeasure regarding the involvement of Japan in the South Asian affairs and would most probably take it up with the relevant authorities in the near future. It is coming to a stage when India would no longer be able to remain silent on the Tamil racist problem in Sri Lanka, as a passive observer. In spite of its reluctance to take part in the "peace process" India would be compelled to "intervene" . The USA is interested in an "Israel type" solution in the northern and the eastern provinces of the country. If an Eelam is established in the northern and the eastern provinces, it would become a "colony" of the USA. There may be a few Tamils who would support such an outcome but I am sure most of the Tamils would not approve of such an eventuality. Prabhakaran would be a mere puppet in an Eelam controlled by the USA, through economic aid by countries such as Japan. India would naturally oppose such a situation and the so-called Eelam could end up as the next state of India. In any event what is clear is that there would not be any peace after the "peace process" is over, but there would be a war making Sri Lanka the most war affected country in the region.
While the Japanese special envoy Mr. Akashi was meeting the LTTE terrorists, as we mentioned last week, some prominent SLFP MPs were visiting European countries as a part of study tour. By now they would probably have studied the Belgian system to recommend to the Sri Lankans as the ideal solution for the Tamil racist problem. However, they would not tell us the differences between the Belgian situation and the Tamil racist problem and would hope that the Sinhalas would accept what they have to say in their report on federalism. If the SLFP thinks that simply because the Sinhala people had voted them in the past they would continue to get elected, then they are mistaken. They would have to change their federalist politics and enter into an alliance with the JVP in order to come to power. If they fail to do so then it would be the beginning of the end of the SLFP.
There are pundits who come on the Rupavahini and other channels to remind us as well as the SLFP that the latter has always come to power with the assistance of the leftist parties and preach that the party should continue to have an alliance with the LSSP, CP, Mahajan Party and the party of Mr. Podiappuhamy. According to their logic, the LSSP, CP and the others are the leftist parties but not the JVP. There may be many who would contest whether the LSSP, CP and the Mahajana party are leftist parties, but even if they are so identified what is clear is that they do not have the support of the people. Neither these parties nor the NSSP of Vickramabahu Karunaratne and the party of Mr. Vasudeva Nanayakkara could obtain the votes of the Sinhala people and they are only existing as historical artefacts. Only the historians are interested in these parties and the SLFP would not gain anything by having alliances with these historical artefacts. The SLFP stands to gain by dissociating from these historical left overs of the left movement. The pundits, who are the agents of the UNP are worried not because the SLFP would lose if the latter were to dissociate from the so called left but since they know that a SLFP - JVP alliance would prove to be detrimental to the UNF - LTTE "government".
The JVP and the youth who support the party are an important component of what can be identified as the children of fifty six (panas haye daruwo). There are many people outside the JVP who could be called the children of fifty six as I mentioned in my Bandaranaike memorial lecture of 1989. That was at the height of the "bheshanaya" but I had no hesitation in identifying the JVP also as an important component of the children of fifty six. The children of fifty six are in need of theories and concepts formulated in this country and it is due to lack of such theories that most of them gravitate towards Liberalism and Marxism. It has to be mentioned that even the SLFP today consists mainly of children of fifty six ( it has to be emphasised that it is not only the JVP supporters that are considered as children of fifty six ), and its leadership literally and literary comes from the children of fifty six. I am referring not only to Ms. Chandrika Kumaratunga and Mr. Anura Bandaranaike but also to leaders such as Messrs. Mahinda Rajapakse and Mangala Samaraweera. Even Mr. Dinesh Gunawardhane, though not of the SLFP, could be grouped with the others mentioned above.
It is unfortunate that some of these leaders have come into contact with the NGO manipulators and are moving away from fifty six. They are being influenced by the western powers and after the collapse of the Soviet Union they do not see any other alternative. The former leaders of the nationalist movements such as the fifty six gained inspiration from the Soviet Union but unfortunately for the present leaders the west is the only beacon of light. They are not different from the Japanese leaders who have to depend on the west for their survival.
If the leaders of the SLFP continue to move away from fifty six then the majority of Sinhala people have no alternative but to move away from the SLFP. The SLFP should not think that they have a monopoly of the fifty six movement. The days of the parents are gone and now the children of fifty six have gravitated towards different centres. The SLFP is only one of the centres while there are the alternative centres the JVP, MEP and even others such as the Sihala Urumaya. They could be all considered as the national forces while the LSSP, CP, the UNP and the LTTE could be identified as the agents of the non national forces. The old divisions have changed and it is not a case of defeating the UNP any more. There are no progressives and reactionaries anymore along the old lines, but nationalists and anti nationalists. It is the UNP - LTTE block together with the Norwegians and the Japanese who are backed by the 'war mongers' USA and UK (Bush and Blair are all out to bomb Iraq while supporting the LTTE ) that have to be defeated and in this fight the SLFP has no choice other than to align with the JVP.
If the SLFP insists on dancing to the tune of the NGOs financed by the west then it could march to its own grave accompanied by the LSSP and the CP. The people have other parties to vote and the JVP is going to benefit as it would emerge as the leading party of the children of fifty six. If the SLFP leaders think that the people are supportive of what they are doing at present, then they are mistaken. The SLFP would become another historical artefact like the LSSP and in three years when the children of fifty six celebrate the fiftieth anniversary of fifty six its leaders could consider themselves to be lucky if they are invited for the celebrations as guests. The people are getting fed up with the SLFP leadership for not taking a tough line on the so called peace process. They would not wait for much longer and it is time for the leadership of the SLFP to go back to the spirit of fifty six. However, the recent visit by Messrs. Sarath Amunugama and Nimal Siripala de Silva to Europe to study the Belgian constitution ( couldn't Norway, the facilitator supply a copy of the Belgian constitution to these worthies ) would not help the SLFP and they have to be reminded that the vast majority of Sinhala people, including many who vote the UNP, are against a federal constitution for Sri Lanka, that has been a unitary (eksesath) state for more than two thousand years. When Sri Lanka or Sinhale as the country was known then, became an "eksesath rajya", the Europeans had not evolved even the concept of a state not to mention a unitary state. A Belgium was not known to anybody at that time and it speaks volumes for the imitative education we receive, for some of the parliamentarians to visit Europe to find solutions to the Tamil racist problem.
The SLFP should not be scared of the west. The SLFP leaders should not be dictated by Bush, Blair and their ambassadors. They should take a lesson from Japan that has become a puppet in the hands of the west, in spite of being a major economic power. The children of fifty six want their two major parties, the SLFP and the JVP to join hands and form an alliance to defeat the UNP - LTTE - Norway - Japan ( Ali - Koti - Nari- Walas) alliance backed by the USA and UK. I have spoken of the JVP as a major party of the children of fifty six as it has grown up to that status. However, this does not mean that I agree with all that the leaders of the JVP stand for, and they have a long way to go. They have to shed their Marxist theories, to recognise the importance of culture and to accept that Sinhalathva has to be given its rightful place in the country.
Bush and Blair would not be able to deceive the Sinhala Buddhists by introducing a Buddhist Japan into the "peace process". The Sinhala Buddhists have come a long way and they no more depend on the theories formulated in the west, though "their leaders" are subservient to the west. As far as the Sinhala Buddhists are concerned an independent Hindu India (it is mot secular as many people claim and I do not find anything wrong with India being a Hindu country. If Norway can be a Christian country why can't India be a Hindu state?) is much more important than a dependent Buddhist Japan, in their fight against the LTTE and Tamil racism backed by the Christian west. If the SLFP can realise the importance of this then more than half the battle is won.
Professor Nalin de Silva
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