A Good Political Solution
Should Strengthen the Cause for an Undivided Nation and Weaken the Cause
for Division
Dilrook Kannangara
The simple issue that caused utter confusion among the public, politicians
and the international community is the wide array of proposed solutions
to the so called ethnic problem. Almost all these ‘political’
solutions are about giving away, to different degrees, what the separatists
demand. This is akin to giving into the problem and hence it is the
funniest solution! There is no doubt that the conflict and the underlying
causes have a political solution, but that can never be any form of
separatism as it defeats the whole spirit of conflict resolution.
Malaysia is a classic example of a nation that found a solution to a
similar problem. Separatist forces were very active in Malaysia to divide
it into Chinese and Tamil enclaves. This movement spun up on many occasions
until a resolution was reached. What was the resolution? Did it involve
federalism, devolution or decentralisation? No; on the contrary. Malaysia
identified the problem correctly. The problem was not Chinese aspirations,
Tamil aspirations or Malay aspirations. It was rather about the undivided
nation; how to keep Malaysia undivided so that people of all races can
live in peace anywhere within its territory. This is the problem facing
Sri Lanka too. Most solution providers haven’t identified the problem
correctly.
If the problem was about Tamil or Musilm or Sinhala aspirations, why
on earth should Sri Lanka be worried about it? Let the individuals belonging
to each community handle it. The most peaceful way to handle it is to
go where their aspirations are met; for instance Tamil Nadu. There is
no justification why Sri Lanka should handle racial aspirations of anybody;
no country in the world does so. Muslims living in London have community
aspirations distinct to other British residents; so what? If they want
to live like in Arabia they can always go there. Same applies to any
racial aspirants in Sri Lanka.
On the other hand, if we have identified the problem correctly as a
problem affecting undivided Sri Lanka, we should follow what Malaysia
did to successfully overcome it. Malaysia introduced the Bumiputera
Law (BL) to strengthen the undercurrents (forces) for an undivided Malaysia.
It identified those who support and protected Malaysia to remain as
an undivided nation and strengthened those supporters. Preferential
rights were given to ethnic Malays in business, education opportunities,
politics, employment, etc. Though it was considered highly controversial
at inception, soon the majority realised that it yielded benefits for
them and the nation was behind it. The cause for separatism died a natural
death. Today there is no movement for disintegration of Malaysia within
the country (of course, there are many forces outside it). Though a
race based empowerment as in the case with the BL is not suitable for
Sri Lanka, there must be Constitutional privileges for the undercurrents
that work to keep Sri Lanka in one piece at the expense of separatists.
People of all races support a unitary Sri Lanka and a system should
be in place to give them preferential rights over the others.
There is no doubt that SL solutions are backward looking and in fact
are part of the problem! We can never solve the problems facing the
country by empowering the forces for disintegration. Simple logic defies
it. Suppose we created a separate federal state in the N-E; what good
does it bring on the people of SL? Nothing!
Will it add anything for the national economy? No
Will it end the war? No
Will it facilitate the exploitation of economic resources in the N-E
for the betterment of Sri Lanka? No
Will it give better education, employment, etc. opportunities to all
Sri Lankans as a whole? No
Will the terrorists be exterminated by a magic wand thanks to federalism,
etc? No
Will the lack of water, building materials, arable land, minerals and
other resources be solved? No
Will it add anything to the betterment of me, my city, my district,
my people and my country? No; then why should we support it?
Will it help Sri Lankans live in any part of the country at will? No
Simply there is no good in it and therefore, it is only a waste of time
and money. However, its evils are aplenty.
Ethnic isolation and disintegration
Barring the use of resources on the other side of the island; worst
still the use of such resources by the terrorists
Unnecessary overheads, fat cats and corruption/waste
No congruency in economic, political and other policies of the region
with national policies leading to conflicts, waste and disputes
Continuation and thriving of terrorism and the nation’s inability
to stop it
Water wars, wars to gain access to other key resources
New conflicts will crop up as between Russia and Ukraine/Georgia/Latvia/Estonia,
North and South Korea, Israel and Palestine; Sri Lanka will have a West
Bank, a Gaza Strip, a wall and many more such nonsense where most Sri
Lankans will end up in refuge camps in their own country as Palestinians
Better avenues for outside interferers
Eventual complete disintegration and continued war
Doing good for the separatists hoping that they will sympathise with
the nation and give up separatism is nonsense. Resources are too scarce
to be wasted on such clumsy expectations. Instead those resources should
be heaped upon the Sinhala, Tamil and Muslim patriots who struggle to
keep the nation together.
Family members of security forces personnel should be allocated preferential
university opportunities ahead of the district scheme.
Tax rate reductions should be awarded to companies that engage in the
development of the East and that supports national integration
Income of INGOs and NGOs that are not positively engaged in the national
agenda should be taxed as any other entity
Untapped economic/mineral resources of the N-E should be used to generate
export revenue
LTTE financing networks should be destroyed; its sympathisers’
assets should be confiscated
Constitutional amendments are needed to compel every political party
to be multicultural and multiethnic at its apex governing body and its
representation
Ownership of large business entities (by revenue) should be broad based
(excluding foreign companies)
Tax collection should be broad based and wide spread throughout the
country
Resettlement of people in their homes from which they were chased away
by the LTTE for racist reasons; Muslims from Jaffna must be resettled
with adequate security in the peninsula where ample business opportunities
exist that can more than compensate them for their loses
Incentivising business activities in the N-E by extending credit, safety
and other encouragements to outsiders
Reinvigorating the Mahaweli dream that can propel rural prosperity
Any federal set-up will create minorities within minorities. What solution
can be extended to fulfil their aspirations?
What (good) can a federal solution offer to the aspirations of majority
Sri Lankans who want the country to remain as it is?
Eastern Muslims already demand a separate Muslim unit to be carved out
of the same area that the ‘moderate’ Tamils want. How on earth
are we going to solve that?
All federalists suggest ignoring these aspirations; if so, why can’t
they ignore the aspirations of the separatists in the first place?
We can opt to follow Korea or Malaysia with contrasting results. It
is also noteworthy that some separatist elements that failed in Malaysia
found a home in Sri Lanka. The plight of the Federal Party leader –
SJV Chelvanayagam - ought to have been completely different had he stayed
back in Malaysia! The question begs as to why we always entertain the
garbage of other countries with Lankan hospitality?
Federalism will land us in the record books as the smallest federal
country in the world; it is ridiculous that an island the size of Tasmania
is sliced along ethnic lines to ‘bring peace’ to its people!
We urge the government and the APC to look into the avenues of strengthening
the forces at work for a unitary Sri Lanka and weaken those for separatism.
This is the right political solution and the only one with mass support.
It will have the added bonus of keeping the voters happy as well. And
tell the separatists to go to hell
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