END OF THE JOURNEY FOR THE SLFP?
Will Ms. Chandrika Kumaratunga finally sign the agreement on the so called joint mechanism? She appears to be determined to do so for two reasons. The pressure from the western countries must be climbing daily with the approach of the meeting of the aid consortium which effectively gives loans that have to paid back with interest. The western countries must be blackmailing her to sign the agreement, and by this time would have warned her at least indirectly that there would not be much loans unless the joint mechanism is established. Even without the pressure of the western countries she would have already approved of the joint mechanism as such action is not against the policies of the party that she belongs to, though not formally. The Sri Lanka Mahajana Party, the party her late husband established against the Sinhalathva, though insignificant compared even with the party of Dr. Vickramabahu Karunaratna, is wholeheartedly for the joint mechanism.
However, there is the Sinhala Majority, especially the Sinhala Buddhist majority, that is vehemently opposed to the establishment of the joint mechanism. Some time ago Mr. Kumar Rupasinghe, a well known International Non Government Organisation personality, who cannot be identified with the Sinhala Buddhist majority even in the wildest dreams, had said that those who oppose the joint mechanism do so even without reading the relevant document. It is true that only people who are close to Eric Solheim and the other Norwegians, and the western powers, had the opportunity of knowing the details of the document. Even cabinet members had been kept in the dark and only now the details are being told the JVP a constituent party of the "sandhanaya" government.
Then why and how did the JVP and the Sinhala organisations decided to oppose the joint mechanism? There was a time when Marxists of all shades, including the Maoists of yesteryear such as some of the INGO personalities, took pride in the fact that they possessed a "science" that could predict events. The Sinhala Buddhists do not claim to have deterministic theories but they know how the political winds have been blowing since the establishment of the legislative assembly in the first half of the nineteenth century. The politics of this country since about the time of Colebroke-Cameron commission has been revolving mainly around the determination by the British, and then by the Christian west, to deprive the Sinhala Buddhist culture its due place. The creation of the so called Tamil minority to oppose the Sinhala Buddhists, demand for a Tamil member in the legislative assembly in order to have more Tamil members than Sinhala members, the fifty fifty demand, the attempt to create an artificial majority for the non Sinhalas in the parliament had the same central theme. At present the Tamil racism inspired by the west is attempting to rewrite history so as to deprive the Sinhala Buddhist culture its due place. The most recent attempt is to distort history to claim that there was a Christian culture present in this country since the Sigiri Kasyapa days, without an iota of historical or archaeological evidence.
This attempt by the British and then by the west is consistent with their modernity project. Western modernity that began in the fifteenth century, and continues up to today without a break or branching off to a so called post modernity is nothing but the project of making the whole world Christian by culture if not by religion. The westerners, especially the British who knew what they were doing used the so called minorities against the majorities in the colonial countries in order to deprive the culture of the majority its rightful place. If they were successful, then they could easily turn against the minority in the subsequent phase. In Sri Lanka they are still in the first phase two hundred years after the British replaced the Dutch as the maritime colonial power.
The Sinhala Buddhists who know where the political winds blow did not have to go through the agreement in detail to find out what the outcome would be. One does not have to taste each and every meal prepared by a cook. After tasting a few meals one knows what to expect. In the present case the agreements are cooked by the Norwegians, and by now the Sinhala Buddhists have a thorough knowledge of the Norwegian cookery. While Mr. Kumar Rupasinghe may have actually tasted the food with delight the Sinhala Buddhists know how horrible the food would be. Their assumptions have already been confirmed by the preliminary details that Ms. Kumaratunga has revealed to the JVP, which have been published in some of the newspapers.
Apparently there going to be a three tier system in the so called joint mechanism. They are to be named as island wide, district and regional. In the island wide level there would be equal representation of the different communities, thereby reducing the Sinhalas with a more than 70% percent of the total population to much less than that. Equal representations was what the Tamils had wanted in the legislative assembly, and subsequently in the state council. To add insult to injury the representatives to the national level joint mechanism, will be appointed by the government. This is the way it was in the first legislative council hundred and seventy years ago when the British governor appointed one representative each for the Sinhala, Tamil and Burgher communities. The only change is the replacement of the Burghers by the Muslims.
It is clear that the three tier structure of the joint mechanism is a creation of the Norwegians and the other westerners who are working within the parameters of Christian modernity. If it is a question of simply distributing aid in the tsunami affected areas in the northern and the eastern provinces, what is the use of a national level tier for the joint mechanism. It is said that in the district level tier there will be five Tamils, Three Muslims and Two Sinhalas. Why this ratio in each of the districts? These ratios remind us the fifty-fifty demand by the Tamil racists at the instigation of the British governors, and are aimed at depriving the Sinhala Buddhist culture its due place in the country.
The LTTE is a powerless body especially after the tsunami. The Norwegians and the other westerners are not only trying to resurrect the terrorists but to give the terrorist outfit equal status with the government. The LTTE is confined to a small area today, and if at all distributing tsunami aid is going to be a problem it would only be in those areas. There is no need whatsoever to establish a joint mechanism giving the LTTE equal status with the government to distribute aid in the rest of the northern and eastern provinces. It has to be reminded that soon after the tsunami disaster the LTTE had to depend on the government for food and other facilities. The western Christian countries, in the guise of giving tsunami aid is imposing conditions on the "government" to treat the LTTE as an equal partner.
Ms. Kumaratunga says that the joint mechanism will function only for a specific period and it will be dissolved after two years. Knowing the LTTE and the western powers behind them, it would be suicidal to agree to establish a joint mechanism with the LTTE even for a day. Once a joint mechanism is established the LTTE with the backing of the west would ask for more and more. We remember how various "Kapuwas" had tried to establish Apex bodies and such other bodies in order to give LTTE an equal status with the government, paving way for a confederation from which an Eelam could be established in one step. The MoU signed by Mr. Ranil Wickremesinghe and the murderer Prabhakaran was another attempt to give equal status not only to the LTTE with the government, but equal status to the LTTE terrorists with the armed forces. The ISGA was another attempt, and now we have the joint mechanism.
The Sinhala Buddhists in particular and the Sinhalas in general would oppose the joint mechanism. They know what the west is up to and they are not prepared to betray their ancestors and their children for a few dollars that would be given as tsunami aid. There is no price for the country and in comparison even billions of dollars amount to a few dollars. If the west thinks that they could buy the Sinhalas with a few dollars then they are mistaken.
However, Ms. Chandrika Kumaratunga may have different ideas. She knows by now that there is no possibility for her to become the President for a third time, and that she has to go at the end of the next year. As far as she is concerned the "sandhanaya" government can be sacrificed as she would be in power for the next few months. It appears that even if the JVP leaves the government, it does not matter to her as her political future is already determined. However, it would be a problem for the ordinary SLFP members, and MPs especially who would be thinking of continuing in that capacity at least for another few years.
Ms. Kumaratunga was brought to Sri Lanka in early nineties from her self exile in London by a group of persons with the backing of the NGOs and the INGOs that are financed by the west for the specific purpose of establishing a confederation that paves the way for a separate country. For more than ten years she has been the president of the country but has been unable to deliver goods to the west, due to the strength of the Sinhala nationalist forces. Would she in her last year as the president do what her sponsors want even by destroying the SLFP. If she agrees to sign the document on the joint mechanism it would be the end of journey (gamanaka avasanaya) for the SLFP and the JVP will win the vote base of the SLFP. Is it a case of "yana yaka koraha bindagena yema" (devil leaving with breaking the pot)?
Professor Nalin de Silva
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