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Crudities from the Asian Human Rights Commission
Secretariat for Coordinating
the Peace Process (SCOPP)
30th April 2008
Basil Fernando of the Asian Human Rights Commission has finally gone
over the top in attacking the Head of the Peace Secretariat in scatological
terms, though clothed in impeccable literary references as befits a
former scholar.
He is upset that I am amused by much, but doubtless he intends everyone
to be amused by this latest effusion, which suggests the direction in
which he is taking the poor Asian Human Commission. Certainly I am amused,
but there is room for sadness too, in his failure to think, which is
unusual in the man and suggests that he is very deeply involved emotionally.
Basically he attacks me for criticizing Sir Nigel Rodley's skepticism
about a statement of the Sri Lankan government regarding a letter sent
by the Head of the IIGEP, Justice Bhagwathi. Basil's basic argument
is that, instead of pointing out the absurdities of Sir Nigel's performance,
I should have produced the letter. Surely he should, instead of judging
others by himself, have realized that I would not have been so confident
about my facts had I not had a copy of the letter in my possession.
I did indeed fax a scan of the letter along with my press release,
but this was not reproduced. The letter had however been previously
reproduced on the website of the Sri Lankan Mission in Geneva, and it
will accompany this release on the Peace Secretariat website, in case
there are others like Basil who judge the world by standards they would
not dream, I hope, of applying to themselves.
Typically Basil has not addressed the points made in my release, but
instead engaged in a long disquisition in scatological terms on what
he sees as the failure of the peace process. This is accompanied by
personal criticism based on my book, 'Declining Sri Lanka', which he
obviously has not read, since it makes clear my very different readings
of the situation under J R Jayewardene and what obtained since. He is
at liberty to disagree with my interpretation of events, but to assume
hypocrisy without addressing my arguments is unworthy of a former scholar.
Certainly the existence today of forceful critics of the government
who are the beneficiaries of massive amounts of international funding,
Basil being in the forefront, in itself shows the difference between
now and then, when those of us who spoke out were a tiny lonely minority,
with hardly any public forum for our analyses.
Finally, since he seems to understand literature, let me note the relevance
to my case of an extract from his poem 'Just Society' -
I who was grieved
at my school mate,
my neighbour, my friend,
my guru and fellow worker,
when he died, when he went into hiding,
when he fled to escape the mob,
suddenly departed to other lands
empty handed - I, who cried holding his hand
at the Harbour bidding him farewell,
am now to bear this insult.
I did not bid farewell to Basil at the Harbour when he fled Sri Lanka,
for I did not know him then, but I published him since, and held his
hand metaphorically in Phnom Penh, when he was working there. I did
more, for in the early nineties I acquiesced in the request of his great
friend Oranee Jansz that we purchase multiple copies of his book 'The
Village by the Mouth of the River' and prescribe it for students on
the pre-University General English Language Training Programme we coordinated
nationwide. She thought this would help him, and I could not disagree
with the argument that it would be good for young students to read about
Basil's youth and the trials and tribulations of caste discrimination
which he described so vividly.
I have done my bit for Basil, but of course no gratitude is necessary,
for I did it not as a favour but because the poetry was good and the
prose instructive. Sadly success has not suited Basil and one can no
longer say the same about the prose. I hope the poetry has not suffered,
but his crude prosaic rendering of Chaucer worries me. However there
is no doubt that Sir Nigel Rodley, if he reads Basil's explosive response,
thankfully not a bomb but mere hot air, will be duly grateful.
Prof Rajiva Wijesinha
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