JVP SHOULD NOT QUIT
At least by now it should be clear to most of the Sinhala people that by facilitation Norway meant facilitating the LTTE to prepare for "war". The Norwegians and the other countries in the Protestant Christian west were only good at getting the Sri Lankan "Government" to agree to the LTTE demands. They never considered the task of taking the proposals of the "government" to the LTTE. However, it is very unlikely that Mr. Ranil Wickremesinghe had any suggestions to make to the LTTE. The UNF "government" merely implemented whatever the Norwegians dictated to them.
The "Sandhanaya" government is different not because of the policies of Ms. Chandrka Bandaranaike Kumaratunga who as we have said on number of occasions, is more of a Kumaratunga than a Bandaranaike, but because of the presence of the JVP. The present JVP is different from the JVP of 1971 and of 1987, not to mention the educated rural youth of the early sixties. Forty years ago they were educated on western theories and concepts, and the Central Schools that had been established had only one main objective which was nothing but imitation of the elite schools of all varieties, Government, Christian, Catholic and Buddhist in the main towns. Mr. C. W. W. Kannangara was interested in broad basing the education through the establishment of the Central Schools and the implementation of the free education scheme and changing the medium of instruction to Sinhala or Tamil from English. (When the present day authorities on education want to get back to English without producing the teachers who could teach in English they are only attempting to restrict "education" to a few. In any event what has been the contribution by the English medium educated elite to the "development" of the country? How many theories and concepts have been formulated by them during the last hundred and seventy five years or so?) While Mr. Kannangara should be congratulated on the worthy ideals he had and his work should be appreciated, it has to be pointed out that the education he had in mind was what the British had imposed on us and the rest of their colonies. If schools such as Royal and S. Thomas' imitated the British public schools, the Central Schools by imitating the former became imitators of imitators. The JVP leaders of 1971 and 1987 were mainly the products of this imitative education in the Sinhala medium, and they were only following those who were produced by the elite schools in the English medium, and subsequently in the Sinhala medium. No wonder that most of these leaders, especially those of 1971 could be "rehabilitated" and could be employed as academics, journalists, artists and others, who could only imitate the westerners in their respective disciplines, by the state sector as well as by the NGOs.
It was a difference in degree rather than in kind, and unfortunately the Pirivena education had failed to take up the challenges posed by the western education, and evolve an education suitable for the country where the hegemony of the western Christian modernity prevailed. It is the "uneducated" youth, in the sense those who are not taught to imitate the west or who have been able to overcome what is taught in the universities and the schools especially after the GCE (O Levels), who should give the leadership. Since the late eighties Jathika Chinthanaya theories and concepts have made an impact in many fields and the JVP cannot be oblivious to these developments. However, one must add that the JVP still flirts with Marxism, and the party is still vulnerable to many ideas stemming from the Marxist theories, though many Trotskyites would say that the JVP does not follow any Marxism at all.
It appears that the President following the UNF government is willing to recommence the so-called peace talks with the terrorists. Ms. Kumaratunga according to press statements is even prepared to talk on the ISGA even in the absence of a so called final solution or discussion towards such solution. However, the JVP is against an ISGA and it is at this point the UNP enters the scene. The UNP has claimed that if the JVP leaves the "Sandhanaya" and hence the government, the greens would join the government. What the UNP should have done was to apply pressure on the Norwegians and request them to go back to Vanni and force Prabhakaran to drop the ISGA demand. Instead true to their colours the UNP is now willing to support the "Sandhanaya government" provided the "peace negotiations" are recommenced with ISGA as the basis, and the JVP leaves the "Sandhanaya".
Having formed a government with the SLFP, the JVP should not leave the "Sandhanaya" at this stage. It will only strengthen the hands of the non national forces who are waiting for an opportunity to bring the UNP and the SLFP together to form a government that would give a confederation to Tamil racism on a platter. So far this has been prevented due to reasons more personal than political, but many well meaning Sinhalas have been airing the idea of a "coalition" of the UNP and the SLFP for more than a decade, in order to "solve" the Tamil racist problem. What these Sinhalas would not have realised is that these two parties could come together only to appease Tamil racism, under the patronage of the western powers. The western powers who have been maintaining Tamil racism for about three centuries having created it first, had wanted the UNP and the SLFP to form a "government". However, the "Sandhanaya" between the SLFP and the JVP, as wished by the majority of the Sinhalas, especially the Sinhala Buddhists, made a coalition between the UNP and the SLFP a non starter. Now with the intransigence of the LTTE on the ISGA, the western powers instead of ousting Prabhakaran, which they are capable of, have begun a "campaign" to oust the JVP, which is strongly against the ISGA, from the government. Mano-Malik duo have come to the forefront again, against the wish of the Sinhala people. The western powers have a history of not listening to the Sinhala majority opinion claiming that the Sinhalas are racists and Chauvinists. What else can they claim when the Sinhalas are fighting in their own way the western Christian colonialism and exposing the "svabhava" (self nature) of Tamil racism that was created by the Dutch and baptised by the British? If some third rate political scientist thinks that the west could be convinced by "good behaviour" of the Sinhalas then it only exposes the fact that he or she has been trained in the west. As the Sinhala proverb goes one can wake up a person who is actually sleeping but one could never wake up somebody who pretends to be sleeping. The west that created, baptised and maintains Tamil racism is only pretending to be unaware of the Sinhala position. They take deliberately the views of a minority of western trained academics, journalists and other NGO types to represent the Sinhala majority opinion and pretend that the latter are only a minority of "extremists" and "Chauvinists".
Why are we still keeping the Norwegians as so-called facilitators? The SLFP including Ms. Chandrika Kumaratunga when in opposition wanted to send back the Norwegians to where they came from. The Vikings have come on their own (the so-called invitations were only for diplomatic purposes) and during their stay here they have worsened the situation. They should have been sent back immediately after the "Sandhanaya" government was formed but they continue to facilitate the LTTE that has already started the "war". The so-called MoU is something forced on the UNP government by the west that the "Sandhanaya" does not have to adhere to. However, it is clear that the west is forcing the "Sandhanaya" government also to continue with the MoU and the Mahajana Party policies of Ms. Kumaratunga have only helped the Tamil Terrorists. If we had a President with self dignity the Vikings should have been deported long time ago.
The LTTE terrorists are roaming the city of Colombo and the suburbs without any difficulties as a result of the MoU signed between Mr. Ranil Wickremesinghe and Prabhakaran. Ms. Chandrika Kumaratunga has not done anything to change the situation and the LTTE continues to have a license to kill anybody whom they wish. It has to be emphasised the LTTE is in this position due to the help and the encouragement that they get from the western powers and also due to the kneeling before the west by the so-called leaders who have been "governing" this country for the last fifty years or so, thinking merely of their survival.
The ISGA will be the acid test and the JVP and all the patriots in the SLFP should come together to put an end to Tamil racism. There is only one solution to the problem at present. That is to oust Prabhakaran from the leadership of the LTTE. This murderer who is wanted by India has to be stopped. He does not represent even the Tamils in this country though he claims that the LTTE, meaning himself, to be the sole representative of the Tamils. People such as Ananda Sangaree, Douglas Devananda, Karuna and others have shown to the world that Prabhakaran is not the sole representative of the Tamils but the west continues to ignore all these and continues to maintain Prabhakaran. If not for the west and their creations such as the MoU, the LTTE would have collapsed a long time ago.
The JVP should not leave the "Sandhanaya" but should continue to oppose the ISGA vehemently in the months to come. The west together with the NGO media and the media controlled by anti Sinhala Buddhists would launch a campaign against the JVP and the Sinhalas in the near future. The west could even impose economic sanctions, indirectly as well as directly, forcing the government to agree to the ISGA. However all these attempts have to be resisted and the people should be warned of the suffering that they would have to undergo in order to defeat Tamil racism. As we have said in these columns the "war" has already started with the LTTE killing not only members of the Karuna faction but also informants of the armed forces. Incidentally what action has the "Sandhanaya" government taken against those responsible for the Millennium City Complex incident?
The strategy of the west is clear. They would try to oust the JVP from the government get the UNP to form a coalition with the SLFP, recommence so-called peace talks on the basis of the ISGA, and when it is opposed from outside would suppress the Sinhala nationalist forces and get the government to massacre the JVP and the other Sinhala nationalists reminding the days of Brownrigg in 1817-18 and Torrington in 1848. There will be some so-called Sinhala nationalists who would advise the JVP to leave the government. These are really agents of the west who pretend to be Sinhala nationalists and they have a history of sending the JVP leaders to the guillotine in 1987-89 period. A husband and a wife combination that has links with the JVP and Sinhala nationalists is one of the most dangerous groups and the JVP should be warned of all those who advocate the party leaving the government on the ISGA issue. The JVP and the others who oppose the ISGA should do so from within the government and for a moment they should not entertain any idea of leaving the "Sandhanaya".
Note: In the column that appeared last week an error has crept in editing it. The relevant portion should be read as follows.
"What is the problem that they want to solve through these interim administrations? However, unfortunately the JVP itself is still adhering to their Marxist ideology and refer to a so called national question (jathika getaluwa) when dealing with the Tamil racist problem in Sri Lanka. I was surprised to find Dr. Gunadasa Amarasekera who claims that he came out with the concept of Jathika Chinthanaya and said that Marxism is no substitute for Jathika Chinthanaya in his very first article on Jathika Chinthanaya, though a theory cannot in any case be a substitute for a Chinthanaya as theories are formulated within a Chinthanaya, himself using the term Jahthika Getaluwa in one of his recent articles. (Professor Amaratunga of the Dental Faculty who writes on Jathika Chinthanaya does not seem to know how the concept of Jathika Chinthanaya evolved from a word that was used to translate the word "thought" as it appeared in an article on the Russian Revolution. Those who want to write on how the concept of Jathika Chinthanaya evolved are advised to read the debates that were published in the pages of Divaina in late eighties and early nineties.)"
Professor Nalin de Silva
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