The armed attack on the Siyatha radio and television station which has
been latterly supportive of the opposition has highlighted the absence
of a return to normal democratic life. It reinforces the realization
that the country is still in an early post-war stage. The
government’s security measures remain in place and visibly so. It is
difficult to travel a few hundred metres without seeing someone in the
uniform of the security forces. But the plethora of security
checkpoints in the city of Colombo failed to apprehend the attackers.
The allegedly lethargic responses of the police and fire brigade to
the incident are signs of the continuing impunity that dampen public
life and protest in the country.
On the other hand, these highly visible breakdowns in law and order
have become much less frequent in the aftermath of the war. This
would serve to convince the majority of people that normalcy has
indeed been restored to the country. There is an abiding sense of
relief on the part of people of all communities that the bombings and
other acts of terror that took place in markets, buses and trains in
various parts of the country have come to an end. Any concern of the
general public in the attack on Siyatha is likely to be overtaken in
the next few days by something else that is news worthy, whatever it
may be. As major acts of violence are few and far between such
breakdowns will be unlikely to occupy a central part of public
attention.
The appearance of a vibrant market place for news and an essentially
free media will be the dominant impression in the minds of most
people. The ordinary citizen has only to look at the wide variety of
newspapers, magazines and electronic media to come to this conclusion.
But the message conveyed to many journalists and to political
activists by the attack on Siyatha radio will be different. This
smaller group of opinion formers would know that the forces that use
violence can pick them off at any time, and with impunity. Although a
few dozen media personnel have been attacked or killed in recent
years, there is hardly anyone who has been caught and punished for
their crimes.
As a result of the uncertain environment those who express their views
are careful when they do so. They may even prefer to praise the
existing order, which further reduces the opportunities for the
general public to understand the reality beneath the appearance. There
is a tendency on the part of many opinion formers to engage in
self-censorship in the cause of their own self-preservation. They have
families to whom they are responsible. There are, of course, notable
exceptions and a free and democratic society needs to honour and
respect the courage of such opinion formers, and care for the widows
and orphans that are sometimes left behind.
PEOPLE’S CONSENT
The basis of democracy is the consent of the majority of the people to
their government. The practice of impunity can cripple and debilitate
the opposition to the government. But if the violence is targeted it
does not affect the lives of the majority of people and so they can
continue to support the existing order. While this may seem to be a
winning formula for keeping majority support it is not necessarily a
formula that can provide unity and cohesion within the country. In
particular, if the country is polarized on an ethnic basis, obtaining
majority support does not automatically translate into successful
governance in which the country reaches its full potential. The
present situation in the country is not at all positive in this
respect.
The absence of normalcy in the lives of the majority of Tamil people
particularly those living in the North and East means that the
strategy of governance and social control that seems to be working
well in the South of the country is unlikely to work in the North and
East. While to most members of the Sinhalese majority the end of the
war has meant the restoration of normalcy, to most Tamils it has not.
Therefore they are much more likely to be disappointed by any actions
of the government that fail to meet their needs.
Last week a group of thirty journalists from the North and East
visited the South where they met with government officials as well as
with a range of other political and civil society actors. Their
interactions in the South, including both Colombo and Galle, were
uniformly cordial and positive. They were not subjected to security
checks even when meeting senior government officials and one
journalist who had a problem in obtaining his media card was provided
with one that same day. During their three day visit they encountered
no problem at all, which showed them the positive potential there is
for normalcy and reconciliation.
In the discussions that took place the impatience of the journalists
from the North and East for quick change for the better in their lives
was manifest time and again. One journalist said that he had been a
youth when he was displaced from his home 23 years ago. The land on
which his village was situated was taken over to become a high
security zone. He said he wanted to be able to go back to his home at
least now in his middle age. The response of the government officials
was that the consequences of thirty years of war could not be undone
in a year. They asked for more time, to complete the de-mining of the
North and to rebuild the infrastructure necessary for normal community
life to recommence.
TROUBLING ISSUES
Looking at conflicts and wars in other parts of the world it is the
case that most of them take a long time to settle after the end of the
war. Whether in Europe, Asia, Africa or the Americas the pattern is
for countries and peoples to take decades to come to terms with the
past and to admit the wrongs on their side and make reparation for
them. Some countries, like Turkey in the case of Armenia will deny
their responsibility for a hundred years. Australia took over fifty
years to admit its wrongs in forcing Aborigine children into state
homes where many of them were torn away from their families. Sri
Lanka is now only in its 15th month since the end of the war.
Displaced and war affected Tamil people may feel that even a year is
too long a period to wait to receive justice and compensation for all
that they lost. By the standards of the world and governments
worldwide, a year may be a relatively short time. The government may
find it difficult to solve all the problems of the past within a short
time period. But if it is to win the hearts and minds of the majority
of Tamil people, it has to find a way to address their needs as soon
as possible. Just as the government has found ways to keep the
majority of Sinhalese people with it, the government needs to find the
way to obtain the support of the majority of Tamil people.
The complaints made by the journalists from the North and East who
visited the South were not limited to their profession. Their
complaints applied across the board to include the sentiments of the
people living in the North and East. The most grievous of their
complaints concerned the re-militarisation of the North and East after
the war. The reasonable expectation of the people of that part of the
country after the war was that there would be some measure of
de-militarisation, even symbolically. Instead, the government has
kept the military in control of the North and East and declared its
intention to further increase the number of troops and even take over
more land for military purposes.
The journalists also identified other issues that troubled them. They
spoke of the government’s big road development projects where the
contractors came from outside of the North and East and also brought
with them labour from outside. They expressed the need for
development that would benefit them instead, such as restoration of
irrigation networks and fisheries harbours. The present lack of
consultation with the people, or with their elected political
representatives, in fostering the development process is another form
of impunity that needs to be addressed. The government needs to be
accountable to the people of every part of the country and end the
culture of impunity if normalcy throughout the country is truly to be
restored.