Editorial-The Island

Prabhakaran won many battlesƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ¢¢”š¬…”ƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ¢¢”š¬…”some very spectacularlyƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ¢¢”š¬…”ƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ¢¢”š¬…”but lost the war in the end because he made one fundamental mistake. He thought he could achieve his separatist goal by stepping up terror attacks on civilians and frightening the Sri Lankan leaders and public into submission. But, in so doing, he only helped them adapt to terrorism and later resist it with might and main.

Prabhakaran’s followers overseas are making the same mistake, we reckon. They succeeded in staging massive protest rallies and sabotaging events that President Mahinda Rajapaksa was scheduled to address like the morning session of the Commonwealth Economic Forum in London on Tuesday. They, too, won several political battles but lost the war, as it were, on Wednesday. President Rajapaksa was received warmly by the Queen, and, above all, he braved LTTE protests and got on to the London streets to shake hands with a group of Sri Lankans.

It is being argued in some quarters that President Rajapaksa should be flexible enough to address the accountability issues troubling his government and devolve power extensively to the provinces to win over the LTTE activists on the warpath overseas. True, his government has to get its act together on the human rights front and come up with the goods where its homegrown solution is concerned; it cannot go on reneging on its promises to the minorities, but anyone who thinks the President will be able to make the LTTE less intransigent or amenable to a political solution through such measures is being as optimistic as a penniless person who orders oysters for dinner hoping to pay the bill with pearls to be found on his plate! The expatriate Tigers will never settle for anything less than a separate state because they seem to fear that a compromise will deprive them of a pretext for raising funds and seeking asylum or continuing their stay in the West, where governments have started deporting economic refugees.

The overseas Tigers may be patting each other on the back, having staged aggressive protests but in reality they not only failed to have President Rajapaksa uninvited by Buckingham Palace but also unwittingly helped boost his image back at home. Angry LTTE sympathisers shouting anti-Sri Lankan slogans have become a perfect foil for their bete noire Rajapaksa, who is wearing his patriotism on his sleeve and effectively marketing it to the voting public. He will return home to a hero’s welcome shortly with even his disgruntled supporters rallying behind his government in a bid to ward off LTTE threats. The first leg of PC polls is due in a few months and he will make the most of his London heroics to gain political mileage.

The crate law, stupid!

The government has decided to enforce the so-called ƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ”¹…”crate lawƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ¢-¾‚¢ again with effect from next Monday. It wants some varieties of vegetables transported and stored in plastic crates, we are told. There is bound to be fierce resistance from farmers and traders once again and it is hoped that fruit and vegetable supplies won’t be disrupted as a result.

The Ministry of Cooperatives and Internal Trade argues that if a law is not implemented properly it might as well be scrapped. If so, most of the laws will have to be done away with as they do not get implemented where government politicians are concerned. Not a single minister, past or present, has been arrested and prosecuted for bribery and corruption. So, of what use are the anti-corruption laws in a country where the most corrupt carry out their sordid operations with impunity?

The government would have us believe that its crate law is aimed at reducing the waste of perishables. Would it tell us how it intends to prevent large quantities of vegetables and fruits from being destroyed by farmers themselves unable to dispose of them? Paddy farmers cannot sell their produce and are without storage facilities. Dairy farmers are dumping their milk into waterways and on highways in protest as it cannot be sold.

Instead of finding solutions to the burning problems of food producers, the government is trying to enforce its crate law again! It is trying to stop dysentery with a loincloth or amude. Before trying to minimise waste of fruits and vegetables, let Minister of Cooperatives and Internal Trade Johnston Fernando urge his political bosses to prevent farmers from having to destroy their own produce by finding them markets or providing them with storage facilities.