by Rajkumar Sivapatham ; published May 16, 2004
The recent elections in two South Asian countries send some messages to the world loud and clear. The important one is that “Don’t take the ordinary people for granted.” Recent Indian election results were shocking to the BJP, despite its records in the government. They were unbelievably surprising to the Congress Party. The ordinary Indian people seem to have voted against the BJP to protest that they haven’t got the benefit of the economic boom in India. The Congress government can also expect the same from the Indian people, if they don’t change the situation.
In Sri Lanka, despite the ceasefire and peace with the LTTE, the UNF government could not turn that achievement into a political victory. The main reason was that UNF could not translate the peace into something tangible for the people of Sri Lanka. In the Tamil National Leader’s Maaveerar speech, he said that the LTTE wants an Interim Administration to look after the reconstruction of the NorthEast. This would give time and space for the UNF to develop the South. This idea would have given a boost to the peace effort among the Sinhalese people, if it had been carried out. But Sinhalese politicians would have none of it. They need a consistent problem so that they can exploit the people of Sri Lanka. The Tamil problem is an ideal one to keep the Tamils and ordinary Sinhalese people at odds all the time.
The leaders of the UNF government behaved like sitting ducks while the UFPA created havoc in the south. However, the UFPA had to promise peace to the Sinhalese people because, like the Tamils, Sinhalese people are sick and tired of the war. Little by little, Sinhalese people are beginning to realise that the Tamils are fighting for their rights and dignity and not for gobbling up the Sinhalese nation, as preached by their politicians. In short, the people went against the UNF because they could not see any benefit by the peace. Because of that, the people became suspicious and thought “Maybe the UFPA is right”. There was no effort or courage by the UNF to show the genuineness of the peace process. It is not to say that current UFPA government is doing everything right. Everyone knows that the UFPA’s current peace effort is due to the pressure from outside Sri Lanka. They should remember that the peace is between the Tamil population and Sinhalese population, not between two individuals or two parties. It is not a difficult one to achieve if they keep that in mind all the time.
The history shows that without taking the people along with the process, any effort will be doomed. This is the main reason for the break-up of the USSR. While Mr. Gorbachov was trying to introduce openness in the USSR with good intentions, the ordinary people could not get any improvement in their life. That prompted a rapid and destructive break-up of the USSR. The countries of the former USSR are still trying to come to terms with that break-up. With history being the teacher, the LTTE leader wants to improve the life of the people before even talking about a final solution. That is why the Tamils need an interim administration. Obviously, the Sinhalese people should also benefit from the peace. The interim period should be used to develop the life of ordinary southern people. This will give a tremendous boost to their confidence in the peace process. Instead of that, if the southern political parties decide to play cheap politics with the peace, they can expect the unexpected as the UNF of Sri Lanka and BJP of India have just experienced. As the knowledge and awareness of the people always improve, people will not hesitate to dump the established political system, if it does not work for them. The Tamils of Sri Lanka needed only one man to shift the paradigm of prejudice and established norms and lead them in their liberation struggle.
Ignoring the ordinary people and shouting regionalism was the main reason for Karuna’s fall. Despite the publicity from national and international media, wishful thinking and support from outside, Karuna could not survive. He could only hide outside the area which he claimed to represent. This is mainly because the Eastern Tamil brothers refuse to buy his regionalist cry.
Elsewhere in the world, people and governments refuse to accept the LTTE as the sole representatives of the Tamils despite the fact that over 90% of the Tamils accepted them as their representative in the latest election. Yet, they support a government which was elected by only 42% of the people. They fail to understand that in the democracy as we know it in South Asia, the democratically elected government treat the people they are supposed to serve as dirt. However, an organisation in NorthEast of Sri Lanka which had sprung out of the people and is banned as terrorists by promoters of democracy, does worry about not only their own people but also the people whose government they fight against.
If this is democracy, the Tamils of Sri Lanka are very happy to be with this organisation which is built on the spirits of the fallen sons and daughters of the Tamils.
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