"WAR" THE SLFP PROPOSALS AND THE UNITARY STATE
It is heartening to learn that the Navy has been successful in destroying ships carrying arms to the terrorist organisation called the LTTE. However, these arms do not come free and somebody has to pay for them. The million dollar question is who pays for the shiploads of arms sent to the LTTE. It is unthinkable that it is paid out of only from the money collected from the expatriate Tamils and others as the money is paid in millions of dollars. Is it the west or somebody else that pays for the arms? On the other hand the question could be asked as to why the Navy was not able to destroy the arm carrying ships previously. Does the Navy get more information now on the movements of these vessels? There is a school of thought which thinks that the information is supplied by the west and India. Did the west provide the LTTE with arms previously but now they want to put an end to the terrorism of the LTTE?
Recently there have been statements by the western diplomats to the effect that defeating the LTTE completely is only a dream. These statements have to be studied seriously as they provide us with information to analyse the dreams of the westerners and other non national forces. The national forces do not seem to understand that the non national forces would never allow the armed forces to defeat the LTTE, without the government offering a federal state. Those days, including the periods of sudu nelum and thavalama staged by Mangala Samarawera and other stalwarts of the SLFP, we were told by the so called experts in the field of guerrilla warfare that no guerrilla outfit could be defeated, and examples from Vietnam and other such places were brought to illustrate their point. However they were keen to hide that the best known guerrilla in the form of Che Guevara had been defeated, when he attempted to export guerrilla warfare to other countries. It may be that guerrillas had not been defeated by foreign forces, but in a country its national forces are in a position to defeat any guerrilla outfit provided there is a will. Then we were told by others that the LTTE was invincible, and Prabhakaran was a "military genius". The conflict resolution "intellectuals" went from seminar to seminar telling us that "war" was not a solution to the problem, and there were cardboard Brechts who thought that they were innocent artistes who were against war in the name of humanity.
However, they did not tell us it was the capitalist imperialist Churchill and the other imperialist Stalin who stopped the war in Europe at least temporarily by defeating Hitler, and not Brecht. I suppose only Buddha could have stopped "war" without applying political power, and even Buddha could not prevent the Shakyas being annihilated in war as a "punishment" meted out for their extreme proud character. In Sri Lanka these "conflict resolutionists" could operate due to the political power of the westerners who backed them. If not for the backing they got from the westerners, in the NGOs, they would not have being anybody in this country. Not only them but even those who write on nobodies and somebodies, are somebodies in this country due to the political power that lies behind not only the financial support they receive but the certificates that they have obtained from the western universities. Except in the case of Buddha "war" can be stopped by others only by applying political power in some form.
In Sri Lanka "war" in the form of limited operations seem to have run through its course and the "road maps" are very clear. The westerners and their "podiyans" in Sri Lanka will not allow the LTTE to be defeated completely, unless we have a very strong political leadership that could stand up to all forms of pressure from the westerners and carry on with military operations against the terrorists. The so called September eleven incident has not changed the attitude of the west towards the LTTE. The LTTE gets special treatment from the west though it is known that the former is a terrorist organization. The LTTE is "invincible" due to the support they get from the west, and also due to the lack of a very strong Sinhala political leadership up to now. The present political leadership has resisted the pressures from the non national forces, but we have to see whether the President could go that "extra mile" to defeat the LTTE completely. It is clear from the statements made by the westerners that, at present, the west and India would not allow the LTTE to be defeated, and the successes of the armed forces would have to be limited probably to the eastern province.
However, it does not mean that the west and India would tolerate the LTTE for ever. They want the LTTE only to extract a federal solution to the so called ethnic problem in the country and deprive Sinhalas the northern and the eastern provinces. For this purpose the "podiyans" have been busy rewriting history and reinterpreting "facts". These "podiyans" who cannot come up with a new concept or theory are only busy doing what Einstein called tinkering in the name of research. It is tinkering at the periphery they are engaged in, for which they are recognized by their masters and mistresses in the west. The westerners want a federal solution from the SLFP, more than from any other party, though Tissa Vitharana seems to think that his proposals should be accepted by the other parties with amendments. He does not want the other parties to come out with their solutions. The MEP had wisely rejected the Tissa Vitharana proposals in toto without any amendments, and I am of the opinion that the party would not agree to submit a few amendments to the Tissa Vitharana proposals accepting its basic framework. One proposes amendments only if one agrees with the original document in principle and this is what Tissa Vitharana wants the other parties to do. He wants the others to agree with his proposals and propose only amendments. According to his view the SLFP should submit only amendments and he may not be happy with the SLFP coming out with a new set of proposals. The west wants the SLFP to come out with a federal solution with the support of the other political parties, and until that is done the west and India would not allow the Sri Lankan armed forces to defeat the LTTE.
In the meantime Tissa Vitharana in an interview to a Sunday newspaper has stated the country is already divided. He claims that one has to go to Jaffna, through what he calls LTTE territory. It is clear that he is making use of his positions as a cabinet minister and the chairman of APRC to propagate his and his party's federalist ideas. Even if the LTTE is in total control of the entire Northern Province it would not imply that the country is divided. It only means that temporarily a terrorist has taken control, and it is the foremost duty of the government to defeat the terrorist and defend the sovereignty of the state. A government that does not take steps to protect the state is not fulfilling its responsibilities and a cabinet minister who goes round making statements to the effect that the country is already divided is betraying the government. The LSSP that could not muster even twenty five thousand votes and a minister who has been appointed on the national list are clearly working against the mandate given to the government by the people. There is simply nothing that the LSSP could do even if the President decides to relieve Tissa Vitharana of ministerial responsibilities.
It would be interesting to see how the JVP and the JHU would react to the proposals of the SLFP. These parties just as much as the SLFP and the MEP have children of fifty six, among their membership including the leadership but it does not appear that they have the will and also the theoretical strength to succeed. The JHU seems to have learnt the "theory" necessary to defeat the non national forces. However, the leaders seem to think that they "discovered" the theory by themselves, and also are not strong enough. They seem to be following the SLFP in finding solutions to the problem. One should not be surprised if some of the leaders of the JHU join the SLFP in the future.
The JVP on the other hand wants to come to power but they are still dabbling with Marxist politics and talk a language that is not understood by many people in the country. Recently they published a book on Quantum Physics and Dialectics, apparently authored by a person who calls himself Pubudu who does not seem to have any understanding of what he talks. However, at a seminar organised by the students sympathetic to the JVP at the University of Peradeniya, "Pubudu" has said that the book was published in order to attack Nalin de Silva. I am revealing this incident only to show the thinking (and the chinthanaya) of the JVP, which is full of Marxist categories. The recent review by Wimal Weeravansa of the film Sankara published in a Sunday newspaper clearly shows that the chief spokesman of the JVP on the "national question" is still in Marxist wilderness.
If the SLFP offers a federal solution, obviously without calling it as such, and then defeat the LTTE militarily with the support of the west and India, how would the JHU and the JVP react to the situation? Would Mangala Samaraweera be back in the cabinet? Any solution offered hereafter would not be called either unitary or federal, and would even be called a deshiya visanduma. However, the SLFP can still come out of the situation by defeating the plan of the non national forces. The unitary character could be retained, if the SLFP wants, its leaders can go back to an eksesath rajya and evolve a solution along those lines. There could be one legislature for the whole country and the provincial councils could be abolished. The single legislature could have committees made of members elected from the districts, and certain powers could be given to these committees by means of suitable mechanism. What is proposed is a dual character within a single legislature instead of dual legislatures such as provincial councils or bicameral structure for the purpose of developing the districts without going against the interests of the country as a whole. The eksesath rajya is not very much different from a unitary state, and contrary to the views of some of those who teach Political Science at the so called leading universities in Sri Lanka, we have had some kind of unitary state before the British not only came to this country but before they had thought of a unitary state in their own country.
Professor Nalin de Silva
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