CLASSIFIED | POLITICS | TERRORISM | OPINION | VIEWS

Anton Balasingham and his legacy of hatred

Dr Kamal Wickremasinghe

The death of Anton Balasingham, , provides an opportunity to systematically review his role in the formation of LTTE and more importantly, the savage and immoral ‘operations’ of the LTTE.

Though exaggerations of merits is usual in eulogising, some of the fanciful descriptions of Balasingham (as ‘the chief peace negotiator‘, ‘theoretician’ and ‘ideologue’ of the LTTE) cannot be allowed to pass unchallenged: having been the person who provided strategic advice to one of the most ruthlessly murderous outfits (masquerading as a ‘liberation’ organisation), recording Balasingham’s place in history needs to be done carefully.

Firstly, Balasingham was no Marxist ‘theoretician’. Those who ascribe some expertise in Marxist theory to Balasingham need to note that the philosophy and social theory of Marxism is based on an analysis of history in terms of ‘class’ struggles and not wars between ethnic groups is anathema to class struggle: Marxism and separatism are as fundamentally non-mixing as oil and water!

Balasingham’s ideology ignored the common, root causes of Sinhala and Tamil poverty and the clear overtones of ‘class’ across the ethnic boundary. His imagined solutions to the economic and other woes of the Sri Lankan Tamils, based on a separated Tamil Homeland, can not be justified through even the wildest interpretation of Marxist theory. His analysis of the problem and solutions he pursued violently, shows that he was ignorant of Marxism as well as the history of the colonial ‘divide and rule’ roots of the Homeland theory.

A proper analysis of Balasingham’s personal and LTTE related life and activities shows that he has been historically exploited by foreign powers who nourished and maintained Sri Lanka’s ethnic problem as part of a much bigger international agenda. His venomous personality and disingenuous approach to peace talks contributed to the continuation of war in Sri Lanka.

Balasingham’s early employment at the British High Commission in Colombo coincided with the aftermath of the success of the developing country collective, the Non-Aligned Movement (NAM), which the colonialists saw as a threat to the existing ‘world order‘. Sri Lanka, under S.W.R.D. Bandaranaike had played a leading role in the formation of NAM. Mrs Sirimavo Bandaranaike’s 1971 initiative for a UN "Declaration of the Indian Ocean as a Zone of Peace" also drew the ire of the colonialists.

The colonial powers who were keen to ‘give Sri Lanka something to worry about’ were well aware of the ‘Achilles heel’ of the ethnic issue (which they had previously aggravated). They actively encouraged and surreptitiously supported the formation of a Tamil militant movement as the means of achieving their objectives. They played-up the ‘discrimination’ aspect of the Tamil situation and undermined the State with various programmes of sustenance for militants, disguised as ‘development aid’. Balasingham the ‘translator’ was a key link in these activities, and a ‘cat’s paw‘.

His subsequent marriage in London to Australian-born Adele Wilby is similar to the marriage of Xanana Gusmao to the Australian Kirsty Sword: the usual method of ‘secret services arranging marriages’ as a means of developing solid internal links with future leaders or potentially influential people in the Third World.

Then, more recently, he was fully exploited by the Norwegians led by Eric Solheim. The Norwegian cabal adopted the duplicitous approach of their government dealing with the Sri Lankan government and the ’special envoy’ Solheim keeping in touch with the LTTE, through Balasingham: in old espionage coinage, Solheim was Balasigham’s ‘handler’.

Tributes coming from Solheim and the current Norwegian ‘special envoy’ for the peace process, Jon Hansen-Bauer almost make us believe that Balasingham was a ‘dove’ with no blood in his hands. Solheim, who has reportedly had more than 100 meetings with Balasingham since 2002, last met him only a week ago, was deeply saddened by his death and sees his death is a setback to Sri Lanka’s tottering peace process!.

Similar sentiments were expressed by Bauer: speaking at a memorial service arranged by the Tamil Resource and Consultation Centre in Oslo, Bauer intimated that Norway has lost a much valued friend. He added that Balasingham's personality and practical approach was very helpful for Norwegian facilitators: Indeed.

In a complete overestimation of Balasingham‘s standing amongst the Tamil community in Sri Lanka, Bauer said that with the demise of Balasingham, the Tamil people have lost an unbeatable power who stood for the Tamil people and forcefully articulated their rights. Naturally, Balasingham’s masters are saddened by the loss and are wailing.

From the viewpoint of an analyst of the Sri Lankan situation however, Balasingham was merely an unethical, blood-thirsty man who carried out his evil ideas, exploiting Prabakaran‘s sadistic instincts. The bonds between Prabakaran and Balasingham were based on the Catholic faith they shared, amongst a predominantly Hindu population they sought to rule over. While he was advising the LTTE to carry out the ‘strategic‘ massacres, he maintained a public façade of decency, with the help of his links to the British and Norwegians.

If Balasingham had developed a particular skill, it was in deception: he behaved with the cunning of a fox and applied it without shame during peace negotiations with the government. He used ‘ceasefires’ tactically to regroup and re-arm whenever the LTTE was in a militarily weak position. In the late 1990s, he went so far as to repeatedly declare unilateral ceasefires for the same purpose. The United National Party (UNP) under the weak and naïve leadership of Ranil Wickremesinghe disastrously fell for this trickery in February 2002.

Balasingham’s sometimes overzealous attempts to portray a ‘decent’ face to the world however, created problems with the so-called LTTE leadership of Prabakaran, Pottu Amman and Soosai. This virtually illiterate triumvirate who are efficient killing machines, but have no ability to understand the world outside the Wanni jungles, would have been baffled by Balasingham’s advice on matters ‘international’! The disagreements with the ’leadership’ followed Balasingham’s late conversion to accepting a Federal Solution and his half-hearted apology for the murder of Rajive Gandhi.

As with all matters relating to the Sri Lankan issue, the Indian government (and its Agencies) usually have the best information and its analysis: they never trusted or respected Balasingham. In fact, they saw him as ‘the’ problem. He was not allowed in to India, even for medical treatment and his ‘apology’ for the Gandhi killing was not accepted.

Long after Balasingham is buried on Wednesday, the future generations of Tamils in Sri Lanka will view his legacy as that of a man whose thinking on the Tamil problem was governed only by his hatred towards their ethnic brethren. He was finally consumed by that same hatred.

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