EDITORIAL

The Wages Of Lethargy

When the LTTE announced its unilateral ceasefire in December 2001, the nation’s sigh of relief was audible across the globe. What high hopes we had then! After more than 20 years of war, at last it seemed there was a real chance for peace. Not only were the irascibly belligerent Tigers seemingly yearning for peace, but the newly-elected UNF too, despite a deeply flawed election, had won a clear mandate from the electorate to sue for a peaceful solution to the “north-east problem.” Within days the roadblocks and barriers came down, and Sri Lanka breathed the air of freedom.

The UNF government lost no time in reciprocating the ceasefire, sitting down earnestly to talks and signing a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with the LTTE. In having decided to make war for their rights, the Tigers had sacrificed a whole generation of youth in northern and eastern Sri Lanka, reducing much of the area to rubble: no industries, no employment, no welfare and a massive occupation of civilian property by the armed forces. In seeking to better their lot, the people of the LTTE’s Utopian Eelam had made themselves poor indeed.

In signing the MoU, the government committed itself not only to a specific set of goals, but also to disengagement. Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe was quick to warn that a final solution would not be quick in coming. It was first necessary to rehabilitate the north-east, resettle refugees in their homes, and make the Tamil people true beneficiaries of the “peace dividend.”

For its part, the LTTE began singing an altogether different tune to that it had chorused for the previous quarter-century; it was ready to reject the idea of a separate sovereign state and embrace a federal solution. Music to many Sinhala ears. And while there have been incidents of violence during the past 16 months, none of these have brought the two sides in the least bit close to actual warfare. As ceasefires go, this ceasefire has been exemplary.

The Tigers’ sudden withdrawal from the talks last week then though anticipated by ringside observers of the peace process came as something of a shock to a complacent nation. It seemed at first that the LTTE’s grievance was its omission from the aid talks in Washington on April 14. The government’s argument is that the LTTE continues to be a proscribed organisation in the United States and there is no way the Bush administration could, short of lifting the proscription, recognise the organisation officially in its capital city. As far as the Americans are concerned, the Tigers are yet to prove their bona fides: they are just another terrorist organisation, much the same as al Qaida. The LTTE’s response to this argument is that the talks could have been held in a country in which their organisation is not banned.

But the Tigers’ real grievance has little to do with pique: to the impartial observer, the LTTE has every right to be bitter and frustrated by the UNF government’s inability to deliver on its promises. Almost half of Anton Balasingham’s four-page letter to Prime Minister Wickremesinghe takes careful aim and hits that nail on the head: the UNF government’s programme of national reconstruction (Regaining Sri Lanka) has completely diluted the acute problems of the north-east in the chronic backwardness of the south.

Balasingham rightly points out that the poverty of the south should not be equated to the poverty of the north-east. The north-east has been a war zone for two decades. Business, industry, construction, roads, schools, hospitals, houses, hotels — you name it, it no longer exists. By any yardstick, the north-east is a disaster area. It is in urgent need of a massive infusion of aid, and it is in urgent need of demilitarisation.

The poverty of the south is quite different. The south has been afflicted by neglect by successive corrupt and uncaring governments, whether UNP or SLFP-led. Balasingham makes this painful and embarrassing point leaving no holds barred, and it is a point we have repeatedly made ever since this government took office.

The suspension of the talks is largely the responsibility of the Prime Minister. As well intentioned as he undoubtedly is, good intentions are insufficient for effective governance of a country — certainly not Sri Lanka. His laissez faire and lackadaisical attitude to political discipline is having tragic consequences. The rehabilitation and restoration of the north-east cannot be entrusted to the likes of Jayalath Jayawardena, whose honesty has been publicly questioned, with a wealth of shady deals being exposed. It requires visionary zeal, dedication and integrity. What the north-east needs is a special commissioner who is at the same time close to the Prime Minister, efficient and completely above board: the names of Bradman Weerakoon, Malik Samarawickrama and Charitha Ratwatte spring to mind.

The government also needs urgently to address the issue of Tamil homes still occupied by the army, displacing thousands of people: 16 months have passed, and the UNF has done little indeed. Wickremesinghe also needs to start seriously addressing the political opposition and behaving as if he has an actual mandate from the people. He needs to read the riot act to the armed forces commanders and get them to play ball. He needs to tell President Kumaratunga just where she gets off. Unless he stands up for his principles — and is seen to do so — it will continue to appear as if he is simply trying to slip one by the people and the opposition.

With the barriers coming down, tourists flooding in and the economy taking off, the south has begun to feel the “peace dividend.” What of the north-east? What peace dividend for them? No investors, no industry and no infrastructure. The frustration the Tigers feel at being unable to deliver something, anything to the people is palpable in Balasingham’s letter. Government’s argument is that unless it panders to the south by diverting most of the aid there, it will not be able to carry the south into supporting a deal with the north-east. The problem is that by doing so at the expense of the north, the government risks alienating not just the LTTE but also the Tamil people.

As the months of peace wear on, the Tigers’ ability to fight diminishes steadily. The regular routs to which they used to put the Sri Lankan army, looting tonnes of arms and ammunition, are a thing of the past. Improved international surveillance of the seas around Sri Lanka and the international safety net Wickremesinghe has put in place has made their arms smuggling operations and return to war more difficult than ever. And all the while, the Sri Lankan armed forces continue to modernise and train. So long as the war was on, governments argued that development money was needed for defence. Now that the peace is here, the defence budget has hardly been cut. Wickremesinghe has succeeded in depriving the Tigers of their principal weapon while at the same time giving little indeed to the people of the north-east, thereby frustrating and alienating the very people he wants so much to bring back to normalcy.

As much as the Sinhalese like to ignore that reality, the fact is that the LTTE does have widespread grassroots support among the Tamil people of the north-east, especially the Tamil Diaspora in Europe and North America. It promised them Eelam, and now it is settling for an obscure and nebulous deal involving federalism. Sixteen months into the process, what has been there for the people of the north-east but an absence of war? Is that all Wickremesinghe has to offer? In that case, it is simply not enough.

The LTTE’s disappointment at Wickremesinghe’s inability to control his corrupt and inefficient ministers, engage in plain talk with the President and stand up publicly for his convictions, is entirely understandable. After all, many in Wickremesinghe’s own party share that frustration. This is a problem that only Wickremesinghe can solve, rising above the ring of bureaucracy with which he has encircled himself, and his obsession with policy and principle rather than action.

The people of Sri Lanka are faced with Hobson’s choice: a warmongering President on the one hand, and a peacenik Prime Minister who cannot find a way to deliver development. As Balasingham’s missive hit the news stands last week, one could almost hear the palms of arms dealers rubbing against each other in glee. But the LTTE has made it clear that they are committed to a negotiated political solution, and to the peace process. There is no talk of war: only pain and frustration at Wickremesinghe’s slowness to deliver meaningful benefits to the north and east.

By suspending the talks, the LTTE has sent a clear message to the Prime Minister; indeed, the same message that many who voted for him in December 2001 would like to send him now — ‘buck up, or you will be forced to pack up.’

And the tragedy of it all is that Wickremesinghe is the only real hope Sri Lanka has at present to deliver peace and prosperity.