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War as pretext: a replyC. Wijeyawickrema USASubjective-Objective perceptions Tisaranee Gunasekara (TG) complains that the Rajapakse Administration is using war as a pretext to cover its crimes, misdeeds and sins of commission and omission (Island, 6/15/2008). TG cites delays in printing text books, malnutrition of people, the shortage of cancer drugs at the Maharagama hospital, the blunder of creating a budget airline and finally the threat of losing GSP+ to the garment industry as examples of government's failure. She thinks allowing media freedom and appointing the Constitutional Council are immediate solutions to win over the support of IC (EU?). Were TG's accusations and proposed solutions, examples of "reasonable" public journalism? For this we need to understand the dictionary meaning of pretext. Dictionary meaning of "pretext" 1. something that is put forward to conceal a true purpose or objective Conceal and concocted are the key words. TG has not shown that the government has given war as the reason for doing or not doing what she had cited. Her mixing of a war about to finish successfully with other problems is not justifiable. As for the CC the government is strategically trying to delay the adverse effects of a bahubootha viwasthawa which made the president a constitutional prisoner. TG is shedding crocodile tears on the future of garment factory workers, mostly girls from villages, the local counterpart of the maids and janitors exploited in Arabian houses and roads. Their plight for the past 20 years in the Colombo Region was no different from what took place in the textile mills in Manchester, England as described by Friedrich Engels in his book in 1844, "The Condition of the Working Class in England," or in Lowell, Massachusetts (USA) in the 1840 and 1850s. The Rajapakse legacy versus UNP-SLFP-LSSP legacies Just like the R2P group is starting HR "problems" in Sri Lanka from November 2005, TG begins her legacy tale from 2008. Sri Lanka's problems began not with MahindaR in 2005 but with the SLFP-ULF-UNP-FP in the 1960s and became chronic after the 1978 UNP landslide. Victor Ivan's book, the queen of deceit, gives a rare glimpse of sins of commission and omission of pre 2005 Sri Lankan Colombo rulers. What did Mahinda Rajapakse (MR) inherit? For this one should start with what JRJ promised in 1977. JRJ failed in every thing he touched. He wanted a strong executive to go back to "oriental despotism." He did not want MPs to defeat government plans by taking bribes from vested interests. What did he end up with? Well he had to ask Dixit to have a ship ready in case he had to escape or leave Colombo. Despite his massive majority he got MPs to sign undated resignation letters. The constitution he designed with AJ Wilson made the president a prisoner. R Premadasa faced an impeachment war! Today MahindaR is surviving by bribing MPs with ministerial jobs! Anyone who demands smaller cabinets must understand this "death trap." JRJ's election law adjustments created a situation similar to what we see in the jungles-how wolves trying to grab the carcass eaten by a tiger or lion. Minority parties are the wolves demanding the maximum possible or impossible. On top of that no respectable person can come forward as a candidate. It is in this context one should consider the magic solution of Constitutional Council. Since crooks and thugs become MPs and political parties would they act in selecting a respectable CC or behave as a reasonable CC? JRJ failed miserably in foreign affairs. As the Yankee Dickie he did not get a single rifle from USA. He insulted IndiraG and a car-racing-pilot-boy made him surrender and accept in 1987 an Indian formula, a formula that began with the Government of India Act of 1935. The language-based Indian formula of 1956 had been a failure in India itself. India now has 28 states and at least 31 other demands are waiting on line! Fortunately, in August 2006, guns fired at the Marvil Aru anicut stopped this Indian headache. Sri Lanka's economic failure (what TG is complaining as books and drugs) and Sri Lanka's corruption and crime filled society today were direct results of JRJ's free market panacea. There is no country on earth which is based on the "free market" as described by Adam Smith. Sri Lanka's colonial economy gave a pattern of rich Colombo and poor villages. Freedom in 1948 was a freedom for the rich and the powerful in Colombo and in major towns. Garment factories will never help a country to have economic development. JRJ's Mahaveli acceleration was a disaster. I could not believe that the only road in the village I was born, Walana, Panadura was covered with trees and shrubs as all the resources were taken to "develop" the Mahaveli. Even the town of Panadura reminded me death, destruction and desolation. Prabakaran's prison MahindaR inherited from his predecessors literarily an island prison. After the infamous 2002 CFA Prabakaran's agents dispersed all over the country getting ready for the final war while Sri Lanka's president or prime minister could not even get out of their official residences without thinking about a possible bomb-death. Even their offices were not safe with infiltrators and spies. Mahinda R's legacy- an objective look A journalistic legacy project must begin first with an account of what the legatee inherited! If one looks at facts not from 2005 but from at least 1978 it is clear that MR will go down in history as the village man from Ruhuna who saved the island from total destruction. He was lucky to have three brothers behind him in this effort. Who is the politician in the world who did not use his or her relatives behind the curtain if not openly when he or she was in power? After the war is finished there is no doubt that the army will be used in developmental work with a new constitutional framework based on empowering people at the village council level. Mervin Silva and the budget airline are mistakes but how can we to expect a saint in MahindaR? Even the Mother Teresa made mistakes. Sri Lanka has to develop as a country based on the two pillars of agriculture and agro-based industry. A blind free market system has been a failure in Sri Lanka. It is not a big deal to eradicate crime and corruption if there is the power of will. The removal of terrorism after 30 years of war will give that will power. Sri Lanka does not need the IC to dictate terms or to give favors. Sri Lanka's MR will not give the White Man a (new) burden as TG is trying to imply. C. Wijeyawickrema |
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