(Monsieur Bergeret in Paris)

 By Tisaranee Gunasekara

Mahinda Rajapaksa, Namal Rajapaksa and Basil Rajapaksa

The draconian land-grabbing Bill is back.
The resurrected Bill empowers the regime to acquire any piece of land, anywhere, by the simple expedient of declaring it of economic, social, historical or environmental import or as a sacred area. The first attempt at enacting the Bill failed because the Supreme Court refused to rule on it. Land is a devolved subject constitutionally, and the Rajapaksas, in their hurry (and arrogance), had not bothered to refer the Bill to the provincial councils.
That failure is being righted: “Provincial Councils are expected to give their consent to the proposed Town and Country Planning Ordinance Amendment before February 8 … The Bill would be presented to Parliament next Wednesday (Daily Mirror – 1.2.2012).
Those Provincial Councils controlled by Rajapaksa acolytes will assent to this Bill – or any other Rajapaksa order – with slavish alacrity. Since the Northern Provincial Council is in abeyance, if the Eastern Provincial Council does not put up a fight, this ultra draconian Bill will become law, ere long.
Once the Bill is through, the Rajapaksas will be able to expropriate any land, from North to South, from East to West. No Lankan, Sinhala, Tamil or Muslim, will be safe from their rapacious tentacles. The poor man’s few perches and the rich man’s many acres will be endangered alike.
Let there be no doubt – the Rajapaksas will not shy away from even the most extreme measure, to appease their land-hunger. After all, who would have thought that the Siblings are planning to grab the land on which the Hulftsdorf courts complex is located (and has been located for over a century)? According to a government decision, “the entire court complex…will be…relocated to another area” (Ceylon Today – 2.2.2012). The land can then be ‘developed’ and sold/leased, probably to a Chinese company. Once the land-grabbing Bill is through, even private lands will become vulnerable to such arbitrary treatment.
Already the Rajapaksas are grabbing lands belonging to the poor and the powerless – from Kalpitiya fishermen to Anuradhapura farmers, from the Northern displaced to the peasants of Hambantota and Moneragala – with no compensation. These lands are being used to build military camps, expressways, car parks and tourist hotels. The Bill is needed to subject the middle classes and the rich, to the same unjust and arbitrary treatment, legally.
The Bill will also provide the Rajapaksas with a deadly weapon against political enemies and ordinary voters. During the recent CMC elections, parliamentarian Namal Rajapaksa issued a thinly veiled threat to Colombo’s poor – they will be evicted from their homes if they do not vote for the UPFA. Once the land-grabbing Bill is through, that threat can become a reality, in Colombo, and everywhere else.
Since the Bill presents a common danger, it can be used to unite people of all communities and political-hues. The regime will present the Bill as a pro-development and anti-devolution measure, to render impossible this possible North-South unity.
Will the JVP fall for this ruse? Will the UNP overcome its debilitating divisions to oppose this tyrannical measure? After all, the Bill will be used to punish UNP and JVP activists and voters as well. Will the TNA be able to convince Delhi to put a spoke in this deadly Rajapaksa-wheel, because the land-grabbing Bill, if enacted, will make a mockery of the 13th Amendment, just as it will make a mockery of democracy?

13th Amendment Minus, Minus, Minus…

According to Minister Basil Rajapaksa, the regime has “no plans to allocate land and police powers to the provinces” (Sri Lanka Mirror – 26.1.2012). Naturally; how can the Rajapaksas sustain their financially-encumbered administration and continue with their showy projects, if they do not have monarchical power over all Lankan lands, public and private?
Perhaps the Rajapaksas delayed resurrecting the land-grabbing bill because they needed to enact their customary pro-devolution drama for the benefit of the visiting Indian Foreign Minister.
Did the Rajapaksas don their Bonapartist-mask and pretend that they are committed to 13th Amendment plus, but need time to pacify Sinhala hardliners baying at their heels? Did Mr. Krishna really believe the Rajapaksas or was he too playacting, for the benefit of the Tamil Nadu voters?
According to the ‘Official Government News Portal of Sri Lanka’, Minister Krishna said, “it was heartening to hear from the Sri Lankan President that he was committed to solving Sri Lanka’s national problem based on the 13th Amendment plus approach” (News.lk – 17.1.2012). This statement was made in the presence of Minister G. L. Peiris; if Mr. Krishna misquoted the President, Minister Peiris could have corrected him. There was no such correction, then or later.
Now the President says he never promised 13+ to Minister Krishna: “Oh, No! How can I make promises like that? I have referred the issue to Parliament” (The Island – 30.1.2012). The Rajapaksa plan seems to be to stage another Parliamentary Select Committee charade, even as the land-grabbing Bill is enacted. Eventually a powerless senate will be offered to the minorities, the real purpose of which will be to provide an expensive political-retirement home for those Rajapaksa acolytes past their use-by date.
The land-grabbing Bill is important because it is proof-positive that Rajapaksa actions are motivated solely by Rajapaksa needs. The Rajapaksas are not centrists doing a difficult balancing-act to stay on the middle-ground. They are the real extremists, because their project of Familial Rule cum Dynastic Succession is inimically antithetical to both democracy and devolution.
The Ruling Family’s political project requires individuals and institutions willing to obey unquestioningly every Rajapaksa dictat, including anti-democratic and unlawful ones. This in turn necessitates a police and a judiciary ready to protect those law-breakers who are members/acolytes of the Ruling Family. The other basic Rajapaksa political requirements include an elections commissioner who will ignore blatant violations of elections laws, a bribery commissioner and a human rights commissioner who will turn a blind eye to the criminal deeds of power-wielders, a central bank governor who will manufacture statistics to prove every Rajapaksa claim and a military which will protect Rajapaksa Rule, even against the constitution.
None of this is compatible with democracy or devolution. But all are necessary for Familial Rule and Dynastic Succession.
Therefore the Rajapaksas replaced the 17th Amendment with the 18th Amendment, turning independent commissions into presidential appendages. Therefore the President took over the AG’s Department. Therefore Ajith Nivad Cabral rules the Central Bank. Therefore the Freedom of Information Act was killed. Therefore a variety of means are used to silence the media which tells the country what the Siblings do not want the country to hear.
Those officials who do not want to play along will be compelled to resign honourably, as the Human Rights Commissioner did.  The Rajapaksas want absolute power and absolute control. They will lie and deceive, cheat and cajole, buy and bribe, kill and imprison to achieve these interrelated goals. Their first victims may be those who oppose and expose their dynastic project. But no citizen, however apolitical, will be safe from their kleptocratic-tentacles, as the land-grabbing Bill demonstrates. Vellupillai Pirapaharan was the objective-enemy of Tamil people; the Rajapaksas are the objective-enemy of Lankan people.

Ranil Wickremesinghe and Maithri Gunaratne

UNP Southern Provincial Councilor and Attorney-at-Law Maithri Gunaratne says the outcome of the election for UNP office bearers would have been different if a proper secret ballot had been held. Gunaratne has now challenged the appointment of party leader Ranil Wickremesinghe before court and the case is to be taken up for hearing on the 22nd. Speaking to The Sunday Leader, he said that the value of a secret vote has been destroyed at the election for office bearers last December. He charged that Wickremesinghe is a disgrace to democracy. “He has in fact raped democracy. The IDU should remove him from the Union,” he said in the interview.
Excerpts:

Q: You have filed a case against UNP Leader Ranil Wickremesinghe’s appointment as party leader. On what basis have you challenged his appointment?

A: Article 8.2 of the party Constitution makes provision for the holding of a secret ballot to elect office bearers. The first issue is that there was no secret ballot. The ballot papers were numbered and issued to the 92 member electoral body on the day of the election. There is no secrecy when the ballot papers are numbered because the person who cast the vote could be identified. Although there had been objections raised at the time and attempts to change the system, the ballot paper numbered 1 had been given to Ranil Wickremesinghe, 2 to Karu Jayasuriya and 3 to Sajith Premadasa. It is not a secret ballot when a vote could be spotted.
The second issue is that the election was held in the party leader’s office. There was a power of incumbency there. Party Secretary Tissa Attanayake had organized the election in the party leader’s office in violation of the concept of a secret ballot. Voters are given a message through the holding of an election in the party leader’s office with numbered ballot papers that they need to think sharply before casting their votes. The party Secretary has a separate office and the election could have been held there. The party leader appointed him to parliament through the national list because he could not contest and win an election. He is therefore grateful for this gesture. After appointing him to parliament, the party leader also appointed him as the General Secretary. The party leader appoints the General Secretary annually. According to the party constitution, the party Secretary Attanayake has to perform the duties of a returning officer at the election for office bearers. It is evident that Attanayake had conspired with Wickremesinghe to somehow subvert provisions of the constitution.
Another issue is that only Working Committee members and parliamentary group members were allowed to Siri Kotha on the day of the election, but other members and supporters of Wickremesinghe were allowed into the party headquarters. An environment was not created to hold a free and fair election.
All these actions are similar to President Mahinda Rajapaksa deciding to hold the next Presidential election at Temple Trees. Would that help have a free and fair election?
My contention is that the appointment is illegal.
Wickremesinghe appointed Ravi Karunanayake as the national organizer in violation of the party constitution. The move is being challenged in court. However, the appointment diluted the composition of the Advisory Committee. This Advisory Committee appointed a Working Committee with a composition favorable to Wickremesinghe. It is this illegally appointed Working Committee that has voted for Wickremesinghe’s re-election.

Q: Do you have evidence to prove your accusation?
A: Yes. Two parliamentarians have given affidavits and there are several more are willing to come forward when required.

Q: Do you believe that the outcome of the election for the party leadership would have been different if the issues raised by you had been addressed?

A: Definitely. The voting would have been different if the people were satisfied that no one would know whom they had voted for. That is the importance of a secret ballot. For example, if an election is held when the country is under a terror rule where the voters could be identified will the people vote to dismiss the ruling party? The value of a secret vote has been destroyed. Ranil Wickremesinghe is a disgrace to democracy. He has in fact raped democracy. The IDU should remove him from the Union.

Q: Why have the other seniors and Working Committee members refrained from taking any action about this matter?

A: They have raised objections. But Ranil Wickremesinghe is not too different from Mahinda Rajapaksa, who destroys anyone who dares oppose him. Sarath Fonseka opposed him and ended up behind bars. Whoever opposed Ranil Wickremesinghe has been harassed and penalized. Sajith Premadasa and Karu Jayasuriya have opposed him and they are being harassed and penalized along with their supporters. Wickremesinghe while being in the opposition is doing what Mahinda Rajapaksa is doing in government in a different manner. He (Wickremesinghe) is a dangerous man who should not be given government power.

Q: Have you received the support of other party members to challenge the party leader?
A: Yes. My strength comes from the people and the party members. It was unbelievable to see the number of people who called me and supported my actions.

Q: Do you believe that your actions would help change the party leadership?

A: Yes. All positions of authority have to be held by gentlemen. If there is are persons without any scruples who get their way through any means, they put all citizens at risk with their actions. You have to be careful about who you put in positions of authority. Ranil Wickremesinghe was quick to bring regulations to curb media freedom citing a British example, but he has failed to speak of the other British teachings. He should abide by his school motto – Learn or Depart. He has failed to either learn or leave. He has become a puppet in the hands of the government.

Q: Who do you think could take over the UNP leadership?

A: In the present context I believe Karu Jayasuriya could rally all forces together. He would be able to bring back the Sinhala Buddhist voters who drifted away from the party due to the ridiculing of the war by Wickremesinghe and a few other party seniors. For the first time the four Mahanayake Theros signed and handed a letter to Wickremesinghe asking him to step down and hand over the party leadership to Jayasuriya. It is a great feat for Jayasuriya. I thing Jayasuriya is more accessible and a gentleman. I have no objection to Wickremesinghe remaining as a senior leader of the party. There is no personal animosity against him. The people however are not willing to accept him as the party leader.

Our island was called Lanka in pre King Vijaya times. Valmiki’s immortal Ramayanaya had King Ravana ruling the land from the city of Lankapura. That was almost four thousand years ago. The Arab traders termed it Jaziratul-Yaqut, island of rubies. Some called it Serandip, some Ceilan, from which the Portuguese picked Ceilao and the European map-makers coined Ceylon. Many were the names from the many that came, and they all were collective in their comment in the description of this land. Bar none, everyone agreed and noted in their chronicles that this island was indeed the complete Paradise.
We never gained it. Let us be honest about that part. We simply inherited. The Gods from their celestial dome, in their infinite kindness, gifted this Paradise to us, the beautiful island of Lanka, to the people of Sri Lanka .
The privilege of being born and belonging to such a place can only be rightfully expressed if one can take the turmoil out and look through the veils of disharmony that obscure what lies beyond. The purity of the land, still remains, so much unspoiled. The occupant of Paradise, still smiles, in spite of the battering he had received from the time we were reborn after the colonials left. Mother Lanka dawdles, whilst her sons and daughters drowse in ignorance, somewhat a prelude to the disasters ahead.
Ruben walks daily carrying his Malu Kada following the footsteps of his father and grand-father. His son Saman tags along, apprenticing the trade, helps to weigh the fish, cleans the broad blade knife as his father barters with the housewives, haggling for the bargain. They leave, father and son, with the little boy shouting Malu Malu straining his tender vocal chords. The fishmonger to be, on his first lessons. No change.
Podi Hami prays every day. That is all she can do. She and her son Sirisena, did try every possible means and failed. No they could not get a letter for employment. Wrong party, not our people, that is what the man said. Not that Podi Hami had any inclination of what happened in the parliament or who sat aloft. She merely crossed the ballot papers.
There was always too much controversy in the news and people spoke in such different tones about their leaders that Podi Hami had long given up in her little mind to seek the truth. That was impossible. She merely voted and got branded. Now she sees young Sirisena, a posthumous corporal, beret and braid, in black and white, immortalised in a cheap framed photograph, hanging on the nail infested bedroom wall, boring his eyes at her, a sad and constant memory of a war where mainly the poor make the payments.
A Porsche glitters inside a show room at the Bambalapitiya junction. A young boy pushes his crippled father, looking at the cars. The old man sits crumpled, folded along with his worldly belongings, in a rickety old chair that rolls on warped wheels. Donated by the Lions, says the back. A blind man and his woman share their lunch, seated on the pavement on Dickman’s Road. Someone had been generous. The woman, withered and wasted, raises a buth kata to her toothless mouth and hears the world with sightless eyes, whilst the husband waits his turn, scratching his mottled skin of burnt black – Citizens of Paradise.
The sun goes down and the pavements become the bedchambers for the super poor who pray for the rains to hold till morning.
These are no fairy tales of my redundant imagination. They are the stories of Paradise. The day-to-day events that play sad and silent along the cacophony of achievement. Do not tell me they are isolated, oh no, not by a long shot. They are the unheard, the ignored and the expendable debts of the displaced denizens of Paradise. The stentorians are there, loud and clear, announcing to the world and beyond, the inflated paths of progress, with rainbow visions for the morrow, splashing milk and honey stories. But, isn’t there a big question mark? Isn’t there some straining needed to seek the truth?
I am not talking of devolution and separations, politics do not interest me. I am like Podi Hami, totally confused between right and wrong and where lies the light. I am writing of the core, the very basics that humans search for, Uncle Sam’s stuff, the pursuit of happiness type, the very essence that Paradise should be made of, which I think, is sadly missing at present.
They leave Paradise by the thousands. Why? That is a good question. Look around and you will see the answer. They move out to pursue their happiness elsewhere. Not by choice, but by reasons of sheer necessity. The Sri Lankan Diaspora is everywhere, from the chilly summits of Northern Canada to the dry lands of Tasmania. From sushi land to Swaziland. From the deserts of Dhahran to the lush green valleys of New Zealand. You see them with their little Sri Lankan clubs, clinging on dearly to memories of a homeland, torn between a new life and what they left behind.
It is a love they cannot shed, a romance gone rotten, and they gather and lament, speak in sad nostalgic tones and save miserly to visit and spend a week or two in their much loved and beloved Paradise.
Why do these inheritors leave Paradise? Something must have gone wrong in the system. The exodus only began after we were reborn. Hence, the blame is not with the colonials and their House of Commons. It is ours and ours alone, lying firmly in the Pontius hands of the custodians who were chosen to charter our future, and seemingly have failed in their delivery.
Is it not a fact that there is a mass cry for employment outside. The mason and the maid lead, followed by the waiter, the janitor and the bartender. Name him, and he is there, looking for agents to send him to some far away Valhalla . The banker too, and the medicine man, fill passport forms, standing side by side with the young urban professional and the academic erudite. All looking across the sea, from the shores of Paradise.
There are some consolations too, one cannot be totally paranoid. The factory jobs are there for the tradeless. Foreign Marks and local Spencer make the mint and scope the cream and the poor Paradisians eat the peanut. Still, it is something to keep the kitchen fires burning. The rest of the no skills pawn their souls to go abroad. Local Dick Whitingtons charging into the unknown, exploited at every toll gate (there are many) and slave in alien homes in the Middle East and Asia, sending their carefully hoarded pitiful dirams and dollars to their loved ones, whilst counting agonising days to return home.
Sixty four years have gone by from the day of independence. The blameless blame, the nameless suffer, the shameless go on, ramroding their way to erode and annihilate Paradise. No need to further elaborate, the reasons are obvious. Some things happen to be best left unsaid. Let me be the coward and let discretion become the better part of my limited attempts at journalism.
Call me a fool if it pleases you and I will accept it. But let me trickle some sanity to your thoughts. Just to kindle an interest. Totally non political. I cannot and do not separate the villain from the venerated, the line is too thin and the facts are wildly scattered. The truth certainly is in masquerade. The Lankan Paradise is not lost, not yet. It is certainly misplaced. That much can be clearly seen, lest one be blind. What happens in the end to things that are misplaced? They never get found and as time goes by; it surely will become something permanently missing.
Ours is a Paradise misplaced. Let us all valiantly search, it is not too late. Let us collectively find ourselves and our land, before it vanishes beyond the limit, and becomes a Paradise Lost.

Shehan Karunatilaka

Q: It was just announced that you won the DSC prize for South Asian Literature. How does that feel? Is it something you expected, or is it very surreal?
A: It was not something I expected. I was at Jaipur to meet Oprah and hang out with Rushdie, neither of which I got to do. It is pretty surreal, considering that I when I spent years in a tiny room in Colpetty hammering it out, I did not expect it to be read outside of Colombo.

Q: Where did you draw your inspiration from for Chinaman, particularly for the title character, W. G Karunasena? Was there a person in particular who inspired you?
A: WG is really the soul of the book and it’s his voice that attracted me to the story. While researching it, I spoke to many older gentlemen on their knowledge of Sri Lankan cricket. Yes, many of them happened to be drunk at the time. WG is not really one person, but I suppose he did stem f rom these conversations.

Q: How much work was it to write? Was it something that flowed naturally or did you too have writer’s block, as Karunasena did?
A: Writing is always tough work. Especially when you procrastinate as much as I do. The only solution is to do it everyday, at the same time, for hours on end. Some days it flows, some days it does not. But like any job, you have to turn up on time and stay till the end.

Q: I hear you attended the Jaipur Literary Festival — how was the experience, and how did it compare to the Galle Literary Festival?
A: The Jaipur Lit Fest is a stampede. I think there was around 120,000 people there, double that of last year. While the line-ups are somewhat similar, (apart from Oprah, of course) and both Jaipur and Galle are magical settings, the main difference is that Jaipur is free, so anyone with an interest, or without one, can turn up. While Galle is more intimate and exclusive, Jaipur is more egalitarian and much more crowded. But they are both fantastic events and it is a pity they are held at the same time.

Q: Do you think local writers are adequately represented at the Galle Literary Festival?
A:  I attended a few years ago, when Sunila Galapatti was in charge. Back then, I thought there were plenty of Sri Lankan writers, though perhaps not that many writing in Sinhala or Tamil. I have not been invited back since, so I am not sure I am in a position to comment.

Q: What is your own writing process like?
A: I spend months on research before I write a single word. I have to have the walls covered with notes and ideas before I begin. Then it is just a grind like any other job. I write from 4 a.m till noon every day and read in the afternoons. I try and get a first draft done in a year. Then I spend another year revising it. That is how I did it last time, anyway.
I have only written one book. The next one may take longer.
Q: How easy would you say it is to make a living as a writer in Sri Lanka?
A: As a copywriter, it is reasonably easy. Long hours at times, but decent pay and lifestyle. That is as long as you can stomach being in advertising.
Being a journalist is more challenging, but I guess more rewarding.
And depending on your beat, more dangerous. I did not find it hard to make a livi1ng as a freelancer when I was writing Chinaman. You just have to be organised and have a steady stream of clients who pay on time.
As for making a living as a novelist, I am sure it is possible, but I am not sure many have cracked it, especially if you are writing in English.
I have been searching for Sinhala and Tamil translators for Chinaman for years, but to no avail. It is sad that the book will probably come out in French, Italian and Malay before it comes out in Sinhala or Tamil.

Q: Which authors do you consider to be your inspiration? And which books do you enjoy reading, in your spare time?
A: Reading is no longer a spare time activity. It is an essential part of the gig, if you are writing seriously. You have to be knocking back as many books as possible on a daily basis. Most of my reading is connected to the project I am working on, but the authors I keep returning to are Kurt Vonnegut, William Goldman, Chuck Palahnuik and Neil Gaiman.

Q: Any future novels in the works?
A: Yep. Still in the research stage, but it is  going well. It will be set in Sri Lanka, but I am steering clear of sports and drunks.

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A Billion Rupee Blackout
Following our expose last week on that energetic champion of all things cee e bee has had disastrous results for manthrithuma Champika. The power & energy lot have had little option but to make immediate provisions to secure 100 MW of Emergency Power. The quaintness of the English language has been used however to make this announcement less dramatic: It is now called “Supplementary Power”. In Romeo and Juliet, they said, “a rose by any other name would smell as sweet’ except that at the cee e bee emergency power by any other name would cost the same astronomical amount. The agent of a leading power supplier has been called a “Bloodsucker” in describing the situ this paradise isle is in thanks to the diesel mafia. That dear boy Thiru with Suba are at play. Making hay while the sun shines. Hmmm!

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UL Hits An Air Pocket
A little bird whispers that UL is to take wing in July this year to the land of the kangaroos.  At huge cost dear boy. At huge cost.  The silly blots are to give up their two daily slots in the UK and fly instead only once a day to Blighty. The remaining slots are up for grabs – To who pray? The Emirs for sure. So there! Another one bites the dust eh?.

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Ravi The Lone Ranger
Ravi Kay received an invite from ‘His Worship’ our dear boy Muzza. It was to grace the occasion of the visit by dear Mahin-deer  to the Wellawatta Market & Multi-storey car park. Muzza sent out invites to all the members of the CMC. Ravi Kay as Colombo District organizer got one too. He then spent much of his time trying his best to ask fellow UNPers at the CMC to boycott the event. As it turned out all members of the UNP attended and Ravi Kay was the only one missing. Well at least none can accuse this green man of not having a backbone. Hear! Hear!

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A Minister at Large
The flip side to the tamasha was this: with expensive cards printed and a large gathering invited, the prez spent a maximum of 7 minutes at the market – entering from downstairs and exiting in his car which was in the multi-storey car park.  Fowzie was spotted without much to do and with his diary somewhat out of sync what with the Prez making an extremely short visit, was spotted on Charlemont Road knocking on a friend’s door. Perhaps he discussed naughty Nowzer and his drawing of a gun near the Cinnamon Gardens Police station. Tee Hee!

By Tisaranee Gunasekara

The militarization of Sri Lanka

Some walls should never be built; some should never be breached.
Many of Sri Lanka’s most devastating ills emanated from our habit of building unnecessary walls, and demolishing necessary ones.
Our school-system, marred by de facto segregation, is structurally incapable of creating Sri Lankans. Most schools are ethnically/religiously uniform; as jealous preserves of a single community they reinforce our primordial identities. Consequently, many children spend their formative years without any association with their ethnically/religiously different compatriots. Most of them would carry their ignorance and its offspring, prejudice, into adulthood.
S. W. R. D. Bandaranaike, in his quest for power, turned the state into the property of the majority community. His widow removed the wall between the state and the majority religion (that the architect of the 1972 anti-secular constitution was the same man who in 1956 warned of the danger posed by ‘Sinhala Only’ to national unity is a sad demonstration of the degeneration of the once principled Lankan left). It took a war and the threat of an Indian invasion to remove the linguistic-bias; the state-religion nexus might lead to an even greater catastrophe, ere saner counsel prevails.
The Rajapaksas, in the pursuit of their dynastic agenda, are bringing down another wall vitally necessary for the very survival of democracy. By letting the armed forces into civil spaces, they are causing the steady militarization of almost every aspect of Lankan life. The result is a society in which the jackboot-print is becoming ever more pervasive.
Human rights and the Rule of Law are among the first casualties in any war; their restoration is a sine-qua-non for a lasting peace. A military accustomed to the power of the gun and being a law unto itself, needs assistance to adapt to peacetime conditions. Helping the military to deal with psychological problems (such as Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder) is another necessary task. The Rand Corporation conducted a path-breaking study on the psychological damage caused to US military personnel who served in Iraq and Afghanistan. According to its report, “unlike physical wounds of the war, these conditions are often invisible to the eye …. (They) affect mood, thoughts and behaviour; yet these wounds often go unrecognised and unacknowledged” (Invisible Wounds of War). The Report argued that providing scientific (‘evidence based’) care is a “cost-effective way to retain a ready and healthy military force for the future”.
Post-war, a mammoth military is a financial burden and a politico-social danger. A system of voluntary retirement, based on the ‘golden handshake’ model’ (combing a monetary grant and the pension with skills training) could have been a fair solution to this problem. A generous retirement scheme may have had many takers since poverty and unemployment are the two main reasons most youth join the military. A programme to treat the ‘invisible wounds’ caused by the war is another neglected necessity. The recent spate of violent incidents involving serving military men (including rape and lethal attacks on superiors, comrades and family members) signals the danger of allowing these ‘invisible wounds’ to fester through denial and neglect.
It is this numerically intact and psychologically unreconstructed military which is being enmeshed with society.
A largely mono-ethnic/religious military (with a Sinhala-Buddhist ethos) becoming enmeshed in an ethno-religiously pluralist society is an especially combustive development.

Their Common Rampart

According to a WikiLeaks cable, “Basil and Gotabhaya appear not to get along very well… (But) Basil often relies on Gotabhaya to provide the necessary ‘muscle’ to get things done” (Colombo Telegraph – 7.1.2012). The Rajapaksas have their separate and competing power-projects; expanding the role of the military into civilian spaces might be the only way Gotabhaya Rajapaksa can prevent his eventual eclipse by his other ambitious relatives. But militarization is of seminal importance to the larger Rajapaksa project as well. The Rajapaksas would know that voters are fickle beings and the SLFP is unreliable; thus they need an entity which can guarantee their power even after they lose their current popularity. The military is expected to be the Ruling Family’s supporter and protector of last resort, its impregnable rampart against SLFP discontent and voter anger, in lean times.
In return, like in other actual and nascent tyrannies, the military is being encouraged to create its own economic/business empire. The plan to set up a separate company by the army to carry out ‘development and construction at cost’ is a case in point. The argument that such practices are saving public-funds is a specious one since far greater amounts of public-funds are being spent on maintaining a gargantuan military totally apposite with peacetime needs. Furthermore the military involvement in infrastructure projects negates a key economic benefit of public works – that of employment and income generation. This could have a particularly pernicious impact in the North where the military involvement in construction projects is depriving local people of much needed jobs. The resultant exacerbation of local resentment and discontent cannot but be non-conducive to peace and stability.
A militarised society discourages critical thinking and dissenting outlooks. As Victor Jara, who as a young man was a conscript in the Chilean military, explained, “…I remember having to polish an officer’s boots or do the cleaning in his house and I thought it very natural…indeed, I thought it almost a privilege to be called upon to do it, because it meant that I was a very disciplined bloke who could be trusted to do the job properly.  But looking at it now, without innocence, I think it was a conditioning – it conditions the servility of the private, just as it conditions the superiority of the officer” (Counterpunch – 28.8.2008). Such conditioning in unquestioning obedience is inimical to democracy but vitally necessary for tyranny. Since Sri Lanka has a volunteer military, the Rajapaksas are using programmes such as ‘Leadership Training’ (for university entrants in military camps) to condition Lankan society in these pro-authoritarian attitudes.
The myth of humanitarian operation justified, ipso facto, everything which was done to win the war. The notion of a perfect military – a military which is incapable of doing wrong because it is incapable of doing wrong, is a part of this myth. That fallacious notion is now being expanded to include developmental-attributes such as total efficacy, absolute incorruptibility and unlimited capability, to justify the steady militarization of the administration and the economy. The underlying assumption is that civilian officials are inept and corrupt, and thus unworthy, unlike the pure and efficient military. This romanticisation of the man in uniform is a key psychological premise of military rule.
There is a folk tale of a Buddhist monk who summoned a demon to build a temple wall. The demon, having fulfilled his task, began hounding the monk demanding more chores. The pithy Sinhala saying ‘Yaka bendagaththa wage’ (like having a demon as indentured-servant) stems from this tale. Bringing the military into civilian spaces and feeding its ambitions is a dangerous game. When a military’s perception of its own role changes, once it becomes an autonomous agent and a propertied-caste, what prevents it from intervening in politics, to defend its own interest, even against its one-time masters?

Dharmasoka, Geetha and their little family in front of their home before the fire

It was the stirring of her little sons that woke her on the night of January 20.
When Jayasinghe ArachchigeGeetha opened her eyes,  and looked at her sons aged four and five years of age, they were both cuddled up to her from both sides.
She had been tempted to turn towards her youngest – hug him, and go back to sleep.
Then she began to cough. As she opened her eyes she found that she was blurry eyed.
“My greatest fear was whether anything will happen to my sons. So I sat upright and looked around. There was a mist that had settled inside our little home. Then I heard a strange wailing,” recalled Geetha.
This young mother had then got off the bed and opened the door of the bedroom. Without warning the scorching flames lunged towards her, as if angryand impatient about having to wait outside her door.
“I fell backwards but scrambled up again and  ran towards my little sons screaming. I carried them amidst resistance and and ran out of the next door, into the garden where they sat sleepily. It was the screaming that awoke my husband. When we looked around, every space in our humble home was filled with fire. Our home was a blaze,” cried Geetha.
As the angry flames licked and swallowed their clothes, documents and possessions of a lifetime that they had lovingly gathered, all that Geetha and her husband Dharmasoka could do was stand and stare, with only their hearts threatening to stop.
“January was a difficult month for us. We had to balance between finding the money and the strength to prepare our five-year-old son for school,” said Geetha.
Their older son Isuru GihanWickremanayake, aged five years and six months however had only excitement in his life. With new books covered in brown paper,  a new pencil case and a new uniform.
On January 16, Geetha and her husband Dharmasoka had taken their son to school and had handed the smiling little boy over to the teacher.
But  their youngest son, Mahela Nuwan Wickremasinghe, (4) was not to be left out.
“He too insisted that he wanted to go to pre-school, so to make him happy, we had to buy him his pre-school books which he cherished and kissed every night before going to bed. It is not that money comes easily into our lives. We have to work in the field and do all the work around the house too,” said Geetha in tears.
On that day, we had woken up at about 4.30 a.m. as usual. My sons told us that we will all sleep till 7.30 a.m. the next day.  As we were very tired, we prepared our meals early and had our dinner and went to bed early,” said a heartbroken Geetha.
But someone crept into their garden set fire to their home – their hearts, their dreams and their lives.
“Our sons are crying for their new books. They are also crying for their toys. Though all their toys have been broken, they collected all the pieces lovingly in a bag. Every morning and afternoon, they have to play with these toys – these special pieces of toys were ‘essentials’ in our sons’ lives, some of them even have special names,” cried Geetha.
It is an unbearable heartache for this poor couple. Having lost their home, their possessions and their documents, they now find that they have no answers to the questions that their sons are asking.
“Our clothes, our undergarments, the clothes of our children, our identity cards and documents that we preserved with great care have all been reduced to ashes. Please, can someone help us to get ourselves another little home. Who will hear us,” lamented Geetha. “Where are my children going to sleep. What will become of our little family?” she cried. For Geetha and Dharmasoka have no means to buy themselves a square meal.
“Every hour or so, my little sons tell us that they want to go home. How can we tell them that we have no home now?” asks Geetha.
Dharmasoka and Geetha have been having a ‘land dispute’ and ‘problems with relatives’.
Today they have no place to go to. They have no answers to the questions that their sons are asking.
Their plea is for help to get them another home.
What can be worse than this – for a couple to watch their home of a lifetime burn this way, scalding and scarring the owners forever. As the fire devoured every item in the house, Dharmasoka and Geetha had tried to fan off the flames from their sons’ books, because they knew how much their children loved these books.
“We threw water on these books and it only got worse. Though it was close to midnight our whole neighbourhood came to put the fire out, even little children threw water; but it was too late. Everything that belonged to us was gone,” said Geetha.
Dharmasoka and Geetha had telephoned 119 but there had been a response from the police only at 6.30 a.m.  So what can the police do now? Their home is gone and there is no way that it can be found again. If home is where the heart is then Geetha’s heart has been reduced to ashes.Their postal address in Uduwatte, Udahentenna, Gampola, remains: but their home is gone.
raneemoham@hotmail.com

The Supreme One said : “I am made evident by my own power, and as often as there is a decline of virtue and an insurrection of vice and injustice in the world, I make myself evident and thus I appear from age to age for the preservation of the just, the destruction of the wicked and the establishment of virtue.
-Anonymous-Hindu Literature (God)

Kataragama (also Katharagama, Katirk  mam and Kathirgamam, is a pilgrimage town popular with Buddhist, Hindu and indigenous Vedda communities of Sri Lanka and South India. The town has Ruhunu Kataragama Devalya, a shrine dedicated to Skanda or Murugan also known as Kataragama Deviyo Kataragama is situated in the Moneragala District of the Uva Province, Sri Lanka. It is situated 228 km from Colombo. Kataragama was a small village in medieval times, today it is a fast developing township surrounded by jungle in the South Eastern region of Sri Lanka. It also houses the ancient Kiri Vehera a Buddhist Stupa. The town has a venerable history dating back to the last centuries of BCE. It also was the seat of government of many Sinhala kings during the days of Rohana Kingdom. Since the 1950s the city has undergone many improvements with successive governments investing in public transportation, medical facilities, and business development and hotel services. It adjoins the popular Yala national park.
The general vicinity of Kataragama has yielded evidence of human habitation at least 125,000 years ago. It has also yielded evidence of Mesolithic and Neolithic habitations. During the historic period, the general area was characterized by small reservoirs for water conservation and associated paddy cultivation. Kataragama village is first mentioned in the historical annals known as Mahawamsa written down in the 5th century CE. It mentions a town named Kajjaragama from which important dignitaries came to receive the sacred Bo sapling sent from Asoka’s Mauriyan Empire on 288 BCE. It has also functioned as the capital of number of kings of the Ruhuna kingdom. It provided refuge to many kings from the north when the north was invaded by South Indian kingdoms. It is believed that the area was abandoned around the 13th century. Based on archeological evidence found, it is believed that the Kiri Vehera was either renovated or built during the first century BCE. There are number of others inscriptions and ruins. By the 16th century the Kataragamadevio shrine at Kataragama had become synonymous with Skanda-Kumara who was a guardian deity of Sinhala Buddhism. The town was popular as a place of pilgrimage for Hindus from India and Sri Lanka by the 15th  century. The popularity of the deity at the Kataragama temple was also recorded by the Pali chronicles of Thailand such as Jinkalmali in the 16th century. There are number of legends both Buddhist and Hindu that attribute supernatural events to the very locality. Scholars such as Paul Younger and Heinz Bechert speculate that rituals practiced by the native priests of Kataragama temple betray Vedda ideals of propitiation. Hence they believe the area was of Vedda veneration that was taken over by the Buddhists and Hindus in the medieval period.
Kataragama is a multi-religious sacred city as it contains an Islamic Mosque within its temple complex as well. Many Sri Lankans show great reverence to God Kataragama. They honor him as a very powerful deity and beg divine help to overcome their personal problems or for success in business enterprises etc., with the fervent hope that their requests would be granted. They believe that God Kataragama actually exists and is vested with extraordinary power to assist those who ever appeal to him with faith and devotion in times of their distress or calamity Interior of the Maha Devale, the Yantra is kept behind a curtain that figures Murugan with his two wives
Tamil Hindus of Sri Lanka and South India refer to the place as Katirkamam. Lord Katirkaman is associated with Skanda Murugan. Hindus of South India call him also as Subrahmanya as well. He is also known as Kandasamy, Katiradeva, Katiravel, Kartikeya, and Tarakajith. Some of these names are derived from the root Katir from Katirkamam. “Katir” means formless light. The Deity is depicted either with six faces and twelve hands, or one face and four hands. Out of love for Lord Murugan and to mitigate bad karma, Some devotees  pierce their cheeks and tongues with vels pull large chariots carrying statue of Murugan with large hooks that have been pierced through the skin of their backs. This practice is known as kacadi. Murugan’s yana or vehicle is Mayil, the peacock. There is also a related shrine called as Sella Katirkamam dedicated to the beloved elephant-faced God Ganesha nearby, who is known as Lord Murugan’s elder brother. The local river namely Manik Ganga (River of Gems) functions as a place of ablution where a sacred bath is taken to purify oneself. Local residents declare that one can be healed of ailments by bathing in it not only from its high gem content but also the medicinal properties of the roots of various trees that line the river through the jungle.
The Bo tree situated behind the Katarasgsama Temple is one of the eight saplings (Ashta Pala Ruksha Bodhi) of Sri Maha Bodhiya  in Anuradhapura Sri Lanka. This tree has been planted in the 3rd century BC The Buddhist Kiri Vehera Dagoba which stands in close proximity to the Kataragama devalaya was built by the King Mahasena. According to the legend, Lord Buddha, on his third and the last visit to Sri Lanka, was believed to have met King Mahasena, who ruled over the Kataragama area in 580 BC. It is said that King Mahasena met Lord Buddha and listened to the Buddha’s discourse and as a token of gratitude, the Dagoba was built on that exact spot where it now stands Devotees who visit the Kataragama Devalaya, first bathe in the Menik Ganga to cleanse themselves, then worship the Kir Vehera to collect merit and then proceed for the pooja at the Devalaya at the relevant pooja times and transfer merit to God Kataragama and make their pleas to the Deity.
Up to the present time, the indigenous Vedda people come to venerate at the temple complex from their forest abodes. As a link to the Vedda past the temple holds its annual festival, that celebrates the God’s courtship and marriage to Valli, a Vedda princess, in July to August.
There are local government schools that provide education to primary, secondary and higher secondary students in the Sinhala medium. Most of the many thousands who visit Kataragama travel by vehicles at the present time. Even today, despite the lure of modern transport, hundreds of dedicated pilgrims stick to the ancient practice of journeying to Kataragama on foot. In 1992, it was proposed to extend the railway from Matara to Kataragama and beyond. The Kataragama railway extension is currently being constructed under a three phase accelerated development program. The first phase of the construction has already begun and will consist of the 27 km stretch from Matara to Beliatta costing 60 million rupees; construction has already commenced on the bridge over the Nilwala River by the State Engineering Corporation. The entire project is expected to take six years to complete and will cost around three billion rupees. The project is funded by the Chinese government and it is expected to be completed by 2015.