CLASSIFIED | POLITICS | TERRORISM | OPINION | VIEWS

Race based devolution – Beginning of the end of Sri Lanka

Ben Silva UK

My views below relate to the article by Dayan Jayatilleka (Eelam war and the external battlefield) and various comments by others.

Rights of all members of the Sri Lankan family should be the foundation for freedom, justice and peace in Sri Lanka. Race based devolution may legitimise racism and may invite future conflicts based on race. We need to move away from racism and tribalism, and provide, justice and fair play and opportunities for all. However, it is not an easy task to achieve. Power on Land, Police and Education should be with the central Government as these are national issues and should not be used to promote tribalism. Devolution of power on the basis of race is simply sowing the seeds for future wars, similar to the one we have at the moment against Prabakaran. Devolution based on race will only create a situation that will lead to the loss of the home land of the Sinhalese.

Politicians all over the world, in the past, as well as in the present have played the ‘race card’ and used race to get votes. Even Hitler used the ‘race card’ to get into power and any racist could copy the same method to get into power using the Democratic system. Using ‘race’ to get votes has been true in UK, where UK politicians entertain LTTE agents to get the Tamil vote, true in TN and true in Sri Lanka. We need to look at alternative means of providing justice and fair play to all citizens of Sri Lanka, rather than looking at race based solutions. A system should be devised to see if a particular group is disadvantaged, and to give support to disadvantaged groups to overcome difficulties experienced by them. In Sri Lanka, there are Sinhalese groups that are seriously disadvantaged. For example, people in NCP not only experience severe poverty, suffer from malnutrition, lack suitable meals, lack suitable shelter. Thousands are dying due to disease, due to lack of uncontaminated drinking water. No one appears to care about them, as they are voiceless, not organised and powerless. We have to deal with all voiceless groups in Sri Lanka and help them irrespective of their ethnicity. This approach is better than dealing with people on the basis of their ethnicity.

We need to help our fellow Sri Lankan brothers and sisters. We should work towards integration and non race based solutions. We have to do what is morally right and should not create situations that will lead to the loss of the only home land of the Sinhalese. Without a shadow of doubt any devolution based on ethnicity will lead to the eventual fragmentation of Sri Lanka and the loss of the only home land for the Sinhalese.

Also we have to bear in mind that Sri Lanka has been the home of the Sinhalese and that the Sinhalese have no other home other than Sri Lanka. We need to make sure that the Sinhalese do not ‘evaporate’ as has happened to many minority groups in the world.

Dayan mentioned that external views were not significant in the case of wars with rebels in Russia and in India. This is true due to the fact that Russia and India are powerful countries and they could ignore external views. In the case of Sri Lanka, external battlefield is relevant as it affects trade, military aid, bogus refugee numbers, image of Sri Lanka and its leaders etc.

For Sri Lanka, the outcome of the external battle field is relevant and important. It is the poor performance of the external battlefield that enabled LTTE to ship nearly a million bogus refugees to Western countries, that currently fund the terror war. It is poor performance of the external battle field that still enable LTTE to fund raise, allow bogus refugees into Western countries, allow LTTE to hold propaganda events, threaten aid and preferential trade concessions etc. In a nutshell, LTTE is powerful now and is able to destroy Sri Lanka, because previous governments have been so incompetent that they neglected the external battle field. It is fairly obvious that LTTE has a very efficient communications director and an organisation communicating with the world and Sri Lanka has no such mechanism. It is indeed the incompetence of previous governments of Sri Lanka and meddling HR groups that enabled a small criminal racist gang to be the deadliest terror group in the world. Much of the growth of LTTE can be attributed to the incompetence of previous governments in handling the external battle field.

There should be a structured method, or even a special unit to deal with the external battle field.

Some of the things that could be used to counter LTTE disinformation is given below.

Exhibitions,
Cultural events
Sports events
PowerPoint presentations
Workshops
Social events
Multi party meetings
Regular Publications
Appoint a Coordinator to distribute relevant publications to decision makers in the world.
Resources such as officials (information minister etc), embassy premises, media units could be used to produce pictures, videos, audio clips etc, keeping the cost to a minimum. Many of us have written good articles that appeared in Lankaweb and SPUR, without any cost to the state, and I trust these could be used.

Materials used in events could be circulated to cut the costs to a minimum.

All of the above methods have been used by LTTE on a frequent basis.

How LTTE won the external battle is covered well in http://www.asiantribune.com/index.php?q=node/5889 and there could be lessons to be learnt.
The present MR government has done a lot to counter LTTE propaganda, but could do more to improve the situation. It is fair to say that the past Sri Lankan Governments have been thoroughly incompetent in dealing with LTTE propaganda.

References

1. How the Tigers beat the Sri Lankan government
http://www.asiantribune.com/index.php?q=node/5889

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