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However, the president’s popularity is accompanied by considerable alienation of the Tamil ethnic minority and other ethnic minority groups. There are reasons for this growing ethnic polarization.
The intensity of the war effort in the north, the aerial bombardment that accompanies it and the sufferings of the displaced civilian population are horrifying to the victims and their kin – but not directly felt outside the region. This is partly due to the severity of informal censorship stepped up by the government. The most recent control imposed on the media is a new licensing regulation that takes national security considerations into account.
In the face of the government’s determination to tackle the violent challenge of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam through military means, many citizens have adopted a survival approach. Ethnic Tamils are doing their best to keep out of trouble by keeping their opinions to themselves or tailoring them to what the government wishes to hear.
The same is evident in the business sector, among those that wish to keep their businesses going and obtain whatever concessions and contracts they can from the government. This explains the call by three main chambers of commerce to support the president and his government, and their public statement saying the government is on the correct track to solve the country’s problems.
However, stringent security measures by the government to limit the war in the north have had their own costs. Government spokespersons are repeatedly stating that there is no war in the country, only military operations to end terrorism. There is a growing callousness in society to the language and reality of killings, which are projected by the government as a temporary phenomenon to rid the country of terrorism. It has also meant that Tamils living everywhere are viewed with a measure of suspicion, as possible terrorists or collaborators.
The problem is that Rajapaksa and his many advisers appear to be giving first priority to bolstering their Sinhalese ethnic base. This would secure their majority in Parliament, even if it means alienating ethnic minorities.
The desire to remain in power with the sectarian support of extremist Sinhalese groups is preventing the president from providing constructive leadership to all sections of Sri Lanka’s multi-ethnic and plural society. Currently, civil society groups are the ones performing the symbolic actions necessary for reconciliation and rebuilding relationships in the country.
Last week, two events organized by civil society groups raised possibilities for ethnic and national harmony. One was the annual general meeting of the Business for Peace Alliance. This alliance is based on a network of district-based business leaders, including those from the north and east. The ability of BPA to bring together medium and small business people from different districts, and keep them together in a spirit of amity, indicates the potential that lies ahead.
To give an example, some business leaders from the east had formed a company jointly owned by Tamils, Muslims and Sinhalese to cope with the challenges and opportunities of that multi-ethnic province. The positive inter-ethnic relations at BPA indicate absence of ethnic conflict at the social, business and personal level of people.
The unresolved ethnic conflict is about political matters and inter-ethnic power sharing, which would enable people who are a majority in their own local areas to make decisions pertaining to their own lives.
The second event last week that gives hope for the future was the national delegates’ conference on power sharing organized by the National Peace Council. Over 200 delegates from seven of the country’s nine provinces, including the east, met in Colombo. At the conference they unanimously approved a manifesto on power sharing. This document was handed over to a government minister, Professor Tissa Vitarana, who is also chairman of the All Party Representatives Committee, which Rajapaksa has tasked with working out a political solution to the ethnic conflict.
So far, the government’s position is that a political solution must be within the framework of the present 13th Amendment to the Constitution, which established the existing system of provincial councils.
Although the government claims to be implementing the law, the reality is different. All governments in the past 21 years, including the present one, held back powers over police and land, and diluted other powers that ought to be vested with provincial councils. The provincial councils have also been starved of economic resources, making them white elephants.
On the other hand, the people’s manifesto on power sharing went beyond the 13th Amendment. It called for the setting up of a second chamber of Parliament, drawn from the provinces, which would decide on the dissolution of provincial councils along with the Supreme Court. It called for the devolution of powers over police, land, health and education in order to bring effective administration to the people of the provinces. It also called for safeguards to uphold the supremacy of the Constitution.
Mid-term in office, Rajapaksa and his government appear to be prevailing over both the LTTE and the democratic opposition. But the political polarization that exists and the alienation of the ethnic minorities suggest that this dominance is not going to be sustainable.
The hope is that the pragmatism the president has demonstrated throughout his long years in politics will cause a change of approach that brings respect for life, human rights and media freedoms back to the center stage of politics. What the country needs is a political leadership that nurtures people as a whole and not just ethnic majority segments.
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(Dr. Jehan Perera is executive director of the National Peace Council of Sri Lanka, an independent advocacy organization. He studied economics at Harvard College and holds a doctorate in law from Harvard Law School. ©Copyright Jehan Perera.)
