EDITORIAL : THE DAILY MIRROR, SRILANKA

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Vision for a new Sri Lanka In the aftermath of a bloody and horrifying three-decade war, a new Sri Lanka needs to be built with a new vision of a multi-racial, multi-religious and multi-cultural community of deep unity in diversity. Our journey towards this vision of a new Lanka will involve two vital goals – devolution or sharing of power and poverty eradication through a more equitable distribution of the country’s wealth and resources. Both need to take place at the same time but in view of the international pressure or crisis facing Sri Lanka over allegations of war crimes or genocide, priority should be given to reconciliation by addressing the deep-rooted grievances and aspirations of the Tamil-speaking community. For more than half a century talks have been held between the government and minority communities. In 1958 a pact was reached between the then Prime Minister S.W.R.D. Bandaranaike and the then Federal Party leader S.J.V. Chelvanayakam.  But extremists in the South undermined or sabotaged it. This led to the 1958 riots, the assassination of Premier Bandaranaike by a Buddhist monk and the devastating events that followed. Premier Dudley Senanayake’s 1965 national government included the Federal Party and a Dudley-Chelvanayakam pact for the setting up of district councils was reached but this was also sabotaged by extremists. The 1972 Republican Constitution drove the moderate Tamil parties out of the mainstream and led to the Vaddukkodai declaration calling for a separate state of Eelam. When JR Jayawardena introduced an executive presidency in 1978 several Tamil armed militant groups were being formed though Tamil United Liberation Front leader Appapillai Amirthalingam was the leader of the opposition in parliament. Then came talks in various places from Thimpu to Oslo, with India and Norway as facilitators but the discussions were futile. Now with the extermination of the LTTE and Tamil extremism, the Rajapaksa regime is planning to appoint another Parliamentary Select Committee to formulate proposals for power sharing. The Janatha Vimkukthi Peramuna (JVP) a one time ally of the Rajapaksa regime and the United People’s Freedom Alliance government has asked President Mahinda Rajapaksa who has virtually absolute executive powers to come up with a just and fair solution instead of giving the responsibility to a PSC, which might mean another long drawn and dead-end process like what happened in the All Party Representative Committee (APRC) led by Minister Tissa Vitharana. Many observers believe it might be a case of now or never for the President who enjoys immense and unprecedented national popularity though the international community is highly critical of Sri Lanka. Like S.W.R.D Bandaranaike, President Rajapaksa needs to take some bold steps even if they mean losing the support of extremist groups in the majority community. The President needs to rise to the highest levels of statesmanship and work for the well being of the next generation instead of transient victory at the next election.  As for long term and sustainable poverty eradication through the principle of distributive justice, the example needs to be set at the top with our political and other leaders committing themselves to a simple and humble lifestyle or Alpechchathavaya. The vice of busting up tens if not hundreds of millions of rupees on showpiece projects, luxuries and vulgar extravagances must stop and stop now. If the leaders set the example, the rich and middle classes will also be inspired to follow the hallowed middle path of being content with basic needs instead of desiring various luxuries. When more is saved there will be more to share and it will be a vital step towards sharing the resources of the country and restoring the human dignity of millions of people who are strapped and struggling below the poverty line.