Jaffna Polls: Concerted Effort Aimed At Voter Turnout

• Basil Rajapaksa spearheads UPFA campaign
• Clear battle between TNA and UPFA in Jaffna
• TNA: “People still under pressure”

By Faraz Shauketaly in Jaffna

The local government elections in Jaffna are being taken very seriously by the ruling People’s Alliance (UPFA) and the Tamil National Alliance (TNA).
The main opposition party, the United National Party (UNP) has a low key presence and on the surface is not pursuing these elections with much gusto. The government efforts are spearheaded by Minister of Economic Development, Basil Rajapaksa and the TNA by Suresh Premachandran.
Minister Rajapaksa’s meetings were largely very well attended, with veteran politician M.L.M Hizbullah accompanying Rajapaksa and doing the Tamil language version of the Minister’s speeches. Meetings around Jaffna were well attended and large crowds had gathered waiting for the Ministererial entourage. Basil Rajapaksa was accompanied by Douglas Devananda, Rohitha Abeygunawardena (Deputy Minister of Ports) and M.L.M Hizbullah. The only noticeable UNP activity we spotted was a solitary van distributing leaflets.
The TNA’s Suresh Premachandran was scathing in his attack on ‘ground reality’. The intimidation is very much present and in favour of the UPFA candidates. The main thrust of the people’s hopes remained livelihood development but he feared that his campaigners were not able to go about as freely as those representing the majority party.

We spoke to a number of local people:
Yogesh: “This time we are more interested because things are slowly changing.”
Shivalingam: “The roads even in the evening are safe and the Army is not bothering us unless they sense some suspicion. Maybe they are themselves more comfortable now that there is no regular threat.”
Vathan: “I am sure that more people will vote this time; now the people are seeing new opportunities, especially for unskilled workers. They are earning around Rs 1,000 per day and are in big demand.”
Niroshan: “Even though the government has sent us their big people like the brother and son of the President, the real issue is that we need the government to respect our land rights. So many people have problems regarding land and ownership. The government will lose this election and the TNA will get the majority because the TNA is telling the people what they want to hear. The TNA says that if we vote them in, they will be in a better position to talk with the government for all the people. Really the TNA is the best option – that is my view.”
Melville: “ President Rajapaksa is wasting his bigger moment than even the war victory. If he can get the majority of the parliament  to agree to fully implement the 13th Amendment, he will be the uncrowned King of the Tamil people for very many years into the future. We don’t need independence from Colombo but we need Colombo to respect our rights in terms of lands for example. They have taken over a lot of land but as far as I know there is no compensation agreed on. For example regarding the widening of the road they have taken land, built new walls but no compensation for the land has been discussed. In Colombo I am told that the RDA paid lot of money before they took over the land. There is injustice don’t you see that?”
Lucky: “I think even though the war was won by Rajapaksa he is not able to easily sell the idea of a political solution for the Tamil speaking minorities. The problem is not easy either for him to solve. We have had independence from the British for 63 years of which the last 32 we have been at war for a separate homeland. So after over hundred years we got independence from Britain, then after around 30 years we lost some of that total independence. Therefore just two years after regaining our total independence, it maybe not so easy to create a new idea for peace amongst all the people.  I am thinking that to vote for the TNA would be best as they have only one focus for now – to speak up for the people of the Tamil speaking minority.”
Arul: “Even though the government is in power they are coming here and working hard to allow the people to move freely. There is lot of poverty and difficulty here but we can see the different opportunities. At least people have their freedom. There are a lot of problems but step by step is better and safer.”
“The Seaman”: “I don’t want to tell my name but I can tell you only this – ‘before I was seaman, now I am in pavement’. Can you give me a job?” The Seaman promptly gave Minister Rajapaksa his son’s original certificates in the hope that he would be given a job.
Thava: “The problem is for the educated young people. They have no jobs. The only jobs are for unskilled workers  not for graduates. But I think I will give this government a chance. At least when international people see that many northern people came to vote they will know that the government made this possible. Still some people in camps and also Sinhala people are coming to live here. That is good because then we can rebuild the trust. My father was boarding with a Sinhala family many years ago when he went to University. We are still friends with that family. I will vote but still not sure – I like to hear what Namal has to say because like me he is young but unlike me his father is a big shot and so is he. He has a job but I don’t have one!”
The principal problems and wants that faced the Rajapaksa entourage as they made their way to well organised and large meetings were almost without exception the same: water,  power,  land cultivation, recover land that was once theirs, jobs and jobs. There was a refreshingly low rate of complaints about Human Rights abuses. We spoke to an activist and asked him what his typical day was: missing people we ventured? No, it is inter-family disputes about land, marriage abuses and domestic violence. Help to rebuild homes, schools, medical facilities were also featured on many a “Wish” list.

We spoke to the TNA’s Suresh Premachancran

“On the most popular issues:
Political settlement for a sustained peace and the requirements concerning peoples’ livelihood are the key issues. People are still under immense hardship and want results based on how to come out of the poverty trap they are in and to rebuild their life.”

Army interference?

“Some of our candidates were stoned, dogs cut and left at candidates’ home, are all intimidatory tactics of the parties opposed to us in the Opposition. We have filed number of cases and also to the Elections Commissioner. In Killinochchi our workers have been intimidated allegedly by the security forces. These are some of the incidents.”

Sinhalisation?

“We have reports that about a hundred or so families have come in where as before there were only a handful. These people have occupied government housing lands. This maybe an indication of so-called Sinhalisation.”

Development?

“Roads yes, but when it comes to livelihood development the progress has been very painfully slow. There is a Presidential Task Force and all NGO’s must submit their programme and get approval beforehand. They have distributed small things like water pumps and cement packs and opened banks. Whether these banks give out loans for development and rebuilding is difficult to analyse, especially when you know that the banks will be looking for title deeds. One of the main problems right now is to establish ownership of lands and therefore progress is slow.”

Overview and Voter Turnout

“There has been no noticeable withdrawl of the security forces, candidates homes have been stoned, others have had unidentified attacks on themselves and their staff, even my secretary was attacked. There is definitely a certain pressure being experienced by the people of the North who are not allowed to forget that there is a complete surrounding by the Armed forces. Some of these pressures are politically motivated. If this level of pressure continues then we may well see a reduction in the voter turnout. We have to monitor the situation over the next few days.