C. Wijeyawickrema, LL.B., Ph.D.

 Black-white vs. Buddhist approach

            Dayan Jayatilleke writing to Colombo Telegraph about his friend Lalith Weeratunga’s trips to Geneva (Jan. 21) and Washington, D,C., to convince America not to proceed with the war crimes resolution against Sri Lanka in March 2014, stated that Lalith’s (MahindaR’s) approach is strategically wrong. This means that Dayan thinks Lalith did not do “everything humanly possible to implement LLRC recommendations.” Dayan is writing from a Marxist, Christian and Eurocentric (black-white) but a Cuban-tempered, point of view and therefore from an anti-Sinhala Buddhist perspective. Dayan is a theoretician for the UNP’s Rosie Senanayaka position of “erasing the Sinhala Buddhist foundation of Sri Lanka society.” The purpose of this essay is to dispute Dayan’s three “baskets” of alternative strategies (mentioned below) and present the Buddhist approach proposed by me to LLRC to have peace and prosperity in Sri Lanka, thus avoiding manipulations by the American ambassador Michele Sison. So from a Buddhist perspective, Lalith (MahindaR) has not done what is humanly possible and unlike Dayan I do not think Lalith has a golden brain.

Humiliation or beggar’s wound

            It is basically wrong to think that GOSL can take the issue to Washington, D.C., by passing Michele Sison in Colombo. This kind of behavior would work with Sri Lankan ambassadors or ministers but no with the American system. If GOSL cannot handle Sison using the Upasena Damanaya or the Angulimala Damanaya how can Lalith and Co. handle U.S. Congress or the State Department? This will be wasted effort unless MR caves in to American conditions already in the public domain and already refused by him in public.  When Saddam Hussein was planning to invade Kuwait, he summoned the lady American Ambassador in Bagdad, and told her about his plan. The lady said, if he were to invade Kuwait, Americans will not intervene. Saddam ate the American dead-rope.  Father Bush was waiting for an opportunity to split Arab countries and he finally got it and he finished Iraq. This is what is in store for MahindaR, a humiliating defeat and surrender, if even at this late stage he does not change his path and dismiss people like Dayan or GL Peiris or Lalith (one should not forget that Lalith was a Marga Institute director).  On the other hand he may be following this suicidal path because a Geneva UN defeat could be used at PC elections as a beggar’s wound consoled by so many tele-drama actresses.

Dayan’s suicidal baskets

            In his Colombo Telegraph essay titled, “the Lalith Weeratunga presentation”, Dayan says he presented his strategic plan in April 2011 when MahindaR met with a 15-member group to discuss the Darusman report:

            “…..I [Dayan, then Ambassador to France] argued that for all practical purposes the world is divisible into three strategic zones on the issue of Sri Lanka.  I likened these to three baskets. These are:

(1) the US-UK led West which wants accountability and democratization.

(2) India, most of the BRICS and much of the Nonaligned [India/BRICS/NAM/G77] (because of the Indian factor) which wants [devolution =13A plus] the implementation of the 13^th amendment.

(3) the Far East (mainly ASEAN) and some parts of the global South which want an integrated, multiethnic, meritocratic, non-discriminatory Sri Lanka ”” a return to the rather more level playing field that prevailed in Ceylon modified by that which I dubbed ‘Soulbury Plus’.(with strong anti-discrimination legislation and a Singaporean type high profile integration of the Tamil community in the ruling elite).

            Of the three baskets, Dayan says, MahindaR  accepted  (2) and instructed GL Peiris and the team that was negotiating with the TNA to take the 13^th amendment as the basis and to discuss trade-offs through the fair reallocation of the powers contained in the Concurrent list. MR followed it up with instructing his officials to invite the TNA leader and the India High Commissioner for breakfast with him….”

            According to Dayan, “…Sajin Vas Gunawardena provoked R, Sampanthan and the TNA path collapsed. Government shifted to the new position that negotiations would henceforth have to be through a Parliamentary Select Committee, and not take the form of a dialogue. To date the process of seeking a comprehensive political reconciliation through dialogue with the leaders of the TNA and now the Northern Provincial Council has not resumed…”

            Dayan, the self-declared winner of Geneva 2009 declares, “….thus ended the three dimensional strategy of trading devolution for accountability, keeping India on side, and leveraging the East against the West and the South against the North”” in short, the winning strategy of Geneva May 2009…” What brilliance! This must be why his uncle Carlo Fonseka described Dayan as modern Sri Lankan-born Lasky.

13A plus and Soulbury plus

            In May 2009 at Geneva Dayan added 13-A as part of the solution knowing that it was not 13A but 13A++. From a Sinhala Buddhist point of view this is no victory and a sure path to Eelam. Dayan was thrilled by Wigneswaran coming to the picture and now NPC has passed a resolution demanding war crimes investigation by Geneva UN. MahindaR did something that was against normal human nature by holding elections so soon in a previously terrorist controlled area, when such type of election was not held for 50 years in Kashmir, India. Now Wigneswaran has become MR’s albatross. The three baskets of Dayan and the one MR selected from it also is a guarantee of an Eelam. Hasalaka Hero did not die for such unilateral acts by MR. He should have conducted a referendum.

            See what Dayan is proposing to put Sri Lanka (and MR) from frying pan to fire. He says the NPC elections should have been held much earlier (even with land mines) (he says his suggestion was at the cost of his job) or after the CPC election there should have been a structured dialogue mechanism and a reasonable time table on the implementation of the 13^th amendment, which could have got India back on board and therefore also many of those who voted for us in 2009 but against us in 2012 and 2013.

            Dayan goes on with his slow Eelam plan. He says Lalith’s presentation does not contain any of the following points which could rally the requisite support to deflect the threat of an international accountability mechanism:

a)     A credible local investigation by distinguished Sri Lankan personalities of high international             repute.

b)    A compressed time frame for the full implementation of the 13^th amendment.

c)     The speedy arrest and prosecution of those identifiable through video evidence of attacking             places of religious worship.

d)    A strong anti-discrimination legislation and a powerful watchdog body with teeth.

e)     A UNESCO supervised revision of school text books by a panel of internationally renowned            Sri Lankan scholars (such as Prof Sudharshan Seneviratne) so as to minimize prejudice             against communities and ‘build the defences of peace in the minds of men’.

f)     The reconstitution of the Ministry of Human Rights and the Peace Secretariat (SCOPP) as    well as the appointment of a highly respected National Ombudsman for Human Rights           who would report to parliament and a more autonomous and credible National          Commission of Human Rights.

g)     The restoration of the independent commissions proposed by the 17^th amendment, albeit with           no prejudice to the 18^th amendment and the removal of presidential term limits.

h)    The bridging legislation needed domestically to fully incorporate the ICCPR.

            These ideas which are essentially the ideas of the Friday Forum, NGO lobby, UNP, Tissa Vitharana, Dew Gunasekera, Vasudeva and Wickramabahu plus so many in the MR cabinet, if implemented, will mark the end of Sri Lanka as we know it. America is not concerned with others’ human rights. It is trying to get Sri Lanka not to become an irritant in its new global geopolitics. No matter what MR does American will not stop unless MR caves in. Thus, Dayan’s prophesies that ” there are no serious, verifiable structural reforms on offer which can be counter-posed to the dangerously de-stabilizing call for an international accountability mechanism and intrusive (even invasive) process.”

Buddhist approach

            Dayan says by following his plan three things would happen:  (1) That we can defend Sri Lanka’s sovereignty without balancing off a coalition of states against the Diaspora driven West; (2) That we can cobble together a coalition that can defeat or deter the West without India as the cornerstone of that coalition; and (3) That India can be retained or won back without addressing the Tamil Question through devolution.  Sinhala Buddhist should discard all these theories just like they discarded “this war is not winnable” canard. Instead of these Eurocentric proposals we need to go back to pre-1505 roots of our society which are more relevant today in a world of corruption and greed spearheaded by western corporate capitalism. In 2014 we find that what Anagarika Dharmapala said in the 1940s and what Ven. Gangodawila Soma said in the late 1990s have come true and the Bodu Bala Sena is trying now to take the Anti-Mahavamsa crowd by the horns.

            Since 1815 Buddhism was under attack in Ceylon and in 1873 after the Great Panadura Debate the situation began to change. But after 1948, local black-white Christians took control of the country running it from behind the scene. Colonial masters used divide-and rule policy and created a Burgher and Tamil minority elite group laden with a superiority complex. With majority Sinhala divided as low country and Kandyan Sinhalese, Tamil elites in Colombo got the impression that they could become the future rulers of Sri Lanka. All this changed after the grant of universal suffrage in 1931, which replaced communal representative system that began in 1832 by a territorial representation system. While in India Ali Jinna was working on a Pakistan, Tamils in Madras also joined with him and asked London to give independence to a Dravidathan. By this time rich Christian Tamils in Colombo thought that they could expect a Pakistan set up in Ceylon also and made ridiculous demands.

            The problem was that after 1948 Christian-influenced Sinhala politicians in Colombo did not understand this Tamil problem, and did not try to handle it in a reasonable manner. Thus, these black-whites messed up the Tamil issue as well as the socio-economic issues common to any former colony. There was spatial disparity in economic development and structural inequality he growing gap between the rich versus the poor. The suffering of people due to these problems of an export-import oriented open economy was not limited to any ethnic group. Most Jaffna educated worked in Colombo and created a money-order economy, with monthly money transfers by mail.

            By the 1960s and 1970s there were two major problems. One was the fear of Sinhala people of a slow or rapid invasion by Tamil Nad Tamils. Tamil Nad politicians turned their attention to Sri Lanka after the 1963 Indian Constitutional prohibition against secessionist plans. DMK was all over the upcountry areas among the Indian Tamils after 1963. Kallathonis were coming illegally to settle down. The second interconnected problem was the Tamil feeling that they are not getting an opportunity have more political power which they were told by the Christian Colombo Tamils, could be obtained under a federal or a separate country solution (Bangladesh solution). Caste-based social suppression was thus continued with attention diverted toward a Sinhala enemy. Not a single PM or President in Sri Lanka tried to manage these two problems with reason, justice and nationalism. It so appears that MahindaR who has a historical opportunity to solve this problem once and for all is also rapidly losing it. While Buddhism provided the best approach to solve these two ethnic issues, these so-called leaders have had other hidden agenda and were not willing to apply the Buddhist Middle Path.

            This inability created a crisis situation, and now UNP members like Rosie Senanayaka openly talk about erasing the Sinhala Buddhist foundation in the Sri Lankan society. Muslim extremists planning to remove Suffi sects from Sri Lanka and introduce Sharia laws, and NGO-based unethical conversion of Buddhists and Hindus have added extra complications to this ethnic problem. On top of all that there is a serious moral decay in the country, waste, mismanagement, corruption and crime making life in the island difficult.  After 1978, capitalist democracy brought in Social Darwinism of survival of the fittest to people’s life where money is more important than the mother.  There is a new rich class who get all the benefits. Sri Lanka became a hub for regional trade of Kudu and ethanol, which was a lucrative business of the Prabhakaran’s fleet of ships. It served a dual purpose of destroying the Sinhala youth and giving large profits. For thirty years people lived under a fear of death and it sunk into the depths of their hearts and brains which affected two generations. This is why people became so selfish, timid, violent, suspicious, and untrustworthy and run for risky sex gratification.

How to handle America

            Dayan is purposely silent on these issues because his aim is to divide Sri Lanka into two countries. Such division is the best way to ruin the Sinhala Buddhist heritage in the island. This is why we have to take a holistic approach, a Buddhist approach in handling March Geneva. At present not a single politician can face Ms. Sison because they are cheap politicians and not statesmen. Wikileak gave us some information on what these foreigners think of local politicians. Colombo embassy people think of the Sri Lankan politicians the same way university srudens think about their Vice Chancellors, unsuitable, unqualified puppets of politicians. If for example, MahindaR followed a Buddhist approach he would not have fallen into this predicament, to think that Lalith can change American politicians’ minds. Already MR got his hands tied by giving a platform to TNA-based Tamil separatists to get Eelam by law. The moment he tries a Rpremadas type Vartharaja chase, Ms, Sison, Ban Ki Moon and Navin Pillay will be on the scene to clip his so-called constitutional powers. Gotabhaya will not be able to use the army to save the country again. But there is still a chance to get people behind him if he does the following:

1. Implement what LLRC said about empowering people at the lowest level possible

(a) demarcate GSN boundaries on ecological-hydrological basis (the number can be less than the 14,000 that Rpremadas created from the previous no. of 4,000)

(b) elect on a non-political party basis a ten-member committee to run these new GSNs

 (c) empower them to handle local affairs, such as water, health, waste management, education etc.

2. Use these GSNs to demarcate electorates, districts etc. (since a river is like a tree with branches ecology-based GSNs fall within a river basin)

3. Since Sri Lanka has 103 river basins aggregate these GSNs as Seven River Basins and replace the nine-province colonial division of the island.

            The old SLFP had ideas similar to the above, and BasilR even had a units set up with a director general of Jana Sabha. But suddenly a Divi Neguma came up which is old wine in old bottles solution. People must be rescued from the evil triangle in Sri Lanka, the politician, officer and the NGO. Another monster department will not empower people. It is rumored that BasilR did not want to introduce the very successful Gami Diriya program to North and East. It was working so good in the Sinhala areas separating politician from interference, Imaginewhat could have happened  if instead of pouring concrete, either Gami Diriya or Jana Sabha was poured into Tamil villages?

            I think these Sinhala politicians (SLFP and UNP) do not want to get rid of the PC system. By keeping 13A Colombo politicians stay in power and local politicians make money and the common man suffers. To deceive them pretty actresses will come to the stage, lot of people will come to see them. Instead of these jokes it is necessary to prepare a new constitution with people participation. The election system must be changed. The predicament of an average man””his or her fear to go to a police station, fear that if he gets Dengue he or she will be sharing the narrow bed with another patient, even those mothers on Samurdhi thinking how she can give 20,000 to get a child to a school, the culture of offering and demanding bribes to get any work done, the road hazard whether in Colombo or on highway to Anuradhapura, the dictatorship of private bus drivers and conductors, pathetic conditions of railway, poisoned fruits and vegetables””I have experienced and seen all this first hand when I spent seven months in Sri Lanka, recently. Dayan Jayatilleke hides these. If this government does not change the system, there is nobody who can. UNP, Sarath Fonseka, JVP, A newly re-minted Mrs. Chandrika, Ven Maduluwave Sobhitha, none of those collectively or separately can do it. People will be in fire from frying pan if they vote any of these opposition politicians. It is my hope that MahindaR learns from Bodu Bala Sena what he should do. But the simple change in civil administration mentioned above will give the much needed oxygen MR needs at present. The system of governance he now has with a massive cabinet, three or four god-like officers, the thinking that new highways are helping the poor people never worked in the past in this island or in other places in the world.