“A
leader is useless when he acts against the prompting of his own
conscience, surrounded as he must be by people holding all kinds of
views. He will drift like an anchorless ship, if he has not the inner
voice to hold him firm and guide him”
-
Mahatma Gandhi, in Young India, Feb.23, 1922.
Eelam
of mid-1980s: the frontier territory
When
Pirabhakaran landed in January 1987, the then Tamil Eelam could easily
be visualized as resembling that of a frontier territory depicted in
many a Hollywood Western story line, which entertained us decades ago. High
Noon, Shane and Gun Fight at O.K.Corral are some
classic movies, which come to my mind.
If
one re-reads Kiddu’s answers in his 1987 interview to the Asiaweek
magazine (presented in Part 14 of this series) in 2001, the analogy
appears so apt. The old social order, which was maintained by the Sri
Lankan state, had begun to rot. Then, there emerged quite a number of
puppet gangs, whose strings were pulled by the Indian Intelligence
operatives. These puppet gangs lacked a flag and lacked a vision as
well, though for convenience and masquerade carried the ‘Eelam’ tag
in their banners: - Tamil Eelam Liberation Organisation, Eelam People
Revolutionary Liberation Front, People Liberation Organisation of Tamil
Eelam, Eelam People Democratic Party etc. Pirabhakaran’s entry in
Jaffna was more or less like that of the Sheriff in the frontier
territory, riding up on his horse and marking his area of influence:
‘Listen
boys, you’ve been trouble around here for a long time, so get out of
town by sun rise, and don’t ever let us see you back around these
parts again’
The
decimation of TELO and EPRLF and later Tamil National Army (TNA), by the
LTTE, between 1986 and 1990 had to be interpreted along these lines.
There was much agony among the Eelam Tamils for deterioration of
discipline, especially after the introduction of ‘gun culture’ in
the early 1980s. But, discipline in the island’s public life per se
had begun to disintegrate two decades before that, when the Sinhalese
politicians wrongly believed that the maniacal mantra ‘Ape Anduwa’
(Our Government) would serve as the panacea for their lack of tact and
leadership skills.
Demand
of Discipline
The
curse of post-independent Sri Lankan politics is the lack of discipline
among the politicians who became the representatives of people. This
came to be felt strongly since the ascension of Sirimavo Bandaranaike as
the prime minister. The only Sinhalese politician of note who cared for
a little dose of discipline, when he was offered the proverbial
‘power-stick’ was that irrepressible eccentric Wijayananda
Dahanayake. He even dictated, during his short tenure of power (late
1959 to early 1960) following the assassination of padre Bandaranaike,
that the ‘D’ in his name stood for ‘discipline’. He was a school
teacher during colonial times, before he plunged into politics in mid
1940s. Thus, Dahanayake knew something about the value of discipline.
When the SLFP kitchen-plotters couldn’t stand the heat generated by
Dahanayake, they dumped him in early 1960 and with that, the essential
ingredient which could have saved the island was also thrown out. Rather
than the importance given to ‘the country’, ‘the people’, and
even ‘the party’, the key-word in the SLFP came to be ‘family’
(read it as, Bandaranaike family) and with that Ceylon’s future as a
viable and productive country was sealed.
When
Dahanayake cared about discipline, he was in his late 50s, and
Pirabhakaran was only 6 years old. The only island leader, following
Dahanayake, who cared about discipline came to be Pirabhakaran, and when
he instilled the significance of discipline for his cadres, he himself
was youth in his 20s. In his strong adherence to discipline,
Pirabhakaran stands peerless among other Sri Lankans. But other
successful freedom fighters (Mahatma Gandhi for instance) have
instructed their followers on the importance of discipline. Arm chair
critics, bourgeoise scholars and pretentious Poo Bahs who are more
literate, but less intelligent than Pirabhakaran, fault the LTTE leader
for his monkish demands in discipline highlighted by ‘No smoking, No
drinking and No sex’ for his cadres.
To
assess the success of Pirabhakaran’s discipline, I provide two
features which have appeared in the Time magazine (Asian
edition), in a span of six years.
1.
Edward Desmond’s feature entitled, ‘Inside the Tiger Mind’
(Time magazine, Sept.16, 1991)
2.
Tim McGirk’s report from Jaffna entitled, ‘Running Away from
the Tigers’ (Time magazine, November 17, 1997)
Since
both features appeared in the Time magazine, there exists an
element of coherence. The first feature (reproduced in entirety)
appeared exactly 10 years ago, when LTTE had established itself solidly
in the northern Eelam, following the withdrawal of India’s army. It
describes the Pirabhakaran’s leadership style and his adherence to
strict discipline. The second feature, which appeared in 1997, describes
the mind-set of a Sri Lankan army. It presents snippets of the mind-set
of a Sri Lankan army’s foot soldier (a deserter), revealing glimpses
of the lack of discipline and why he was absconding from his
‘employer’, despite the fact that in 1997, LTTE had ‘lost’
Jaffna.
Now,
to Edward Desmond’s feature.
Inside the
Tiger Mind: Tamil fighters are forged from discipline, nationalism and
worship of their leader
[Time
magazine, Asian edition, Sept.16, 1991]
“Just
300 meters beyond the northern-most checkpoint of the Sri Lankan army is
a crude barrier across the road. Close by stands a serious-looking young
man, not more than 16 years old, dressed in camouflage fatigues and
carrying an AK-47 rifle. He looks over the Tamil peasants and a
journalist passing through on their way to Jaffna and politely but
firmly tells the reporter, ‘Don’t take pictures, and there is no
need to talk to the people.’
The
sentry’s stern directive is a measure of the Tigers’ remarkable
obedience. Tigers do what they are told, whether on guard duty or in
battle. The ultimate symbol is the vial of cyanide dangling on a string
around the sentry’s neck – a vial carried by all the fighters,
including their leader, Velupillai Prabhakaran. Rather than be captured,
more than 600 of the guerrillas have committed suicide by taking the
poison.
To-the-death
determination has been the Tigers’ most effective weapon in their
struggle against the bigger and better-equipped armies of Sri Lanka and,
in the late ‘80s, India. It has also ensured the guerrillas’
absolute domination of the Jaffna area. Whenever Tiger recruiters visit
Jaffna University, they ask students, ‘Who does not want to become a
member of the Tiger’s student wing?’ No hands go up. No one would
dare.
The
Tigers remain visibly popular among Tamil civilians, despite the fact
that the guerrillas tolerate no dissent. Informers, complainers,
questioners all risk the same punishment; a bullet in the head. The body
of the victim is usually tied to a lamppost with a stark explanation
provided on a placard: THIS IS WHAT HAPPENS TO TRAITORS. A group of
Jaffna University professors complained two years ago about the
Tigers’ heavy-handed tactics. One of the academics was shot dead; the
others went into hiding in Colombo.
But
the weapon of fear alone does not explain the Tigers’ success. Firm
resolve is instilled during intense training and indoctrination. Says
Prabhakaran: ‘Commitment comes from strictly enforced discipline’.
The guerrillas, men and women alike, are not allowed to drink, smoke or
have sex. Anything but unquestioning acceptance of the Tiger credo –
to be loyal to Prabhakaran and to fight and sacrifice body, life and
soul to achieve an independent state of Tamil Eelam – is taboo. Small
infractions result in humiliating tongue lashings, usually in front of
other Tigers; severe offenses such as rape, murder or bribe taking bring
an instant death sentence. Last month a Tiger who had killed a civilian
in a dispute was publicly executed.
Tigers
are expected to live austerely. They have no personal possessions except
their weapon and a change of clothes. Family ties are cut; the new
family is the Tiger legion. A Tiger’s weapon, usually an AK-47,
becomes the most important object in his life. The guerrillas are warned
never to let the rifle touch the ground; they are told that at least 10
comrades might have died in the effort to capture it. Says Anton
Balasingham, a spokesman for the guerrillas; ‘We teach them to
transcend their egos and material pleasure, to subordinate their lives
to a noble cause.’
Discipline
is effective because the Tigers’ cause, in the minds of the typically
poor and middle-class young Tamils they recruit, is just. The Tigers
demand the creation of Eelam; they are convinced that the ethnic
Sinhalese who dominate Sri Lanka’s population and government will not
give the Tamil minority a fair share in education, jobs and government.
Over and over, recruits are told of atrocities by the Sri Lankan army, a
point driven home by propagandists who produce pictures of mutilated
bodies and describe torture in horrifying detail.
The
Tigers develop a passionate veneration of Prabhakaran, their 36-year-old
political and military leader. There is Prabhakaran the war hero, who
led the now famous ambush of a Sri Lankan army patrol in 1983 that
touched off the Tamil-Sinhalese war. There is Prabhakaran the
incorruptible, who refuses to deviate from his goal of Eelam despite
military pressure from India, despite offers of money and power from
Colombo and New Delhi that turned the heads of less resolute Tamil
leaders. There is also the Prabhakaran who embodies the spirit of a
glorious Tamil past, especially the Chola dynasty, a line of belligerent
kings in southern India who in the 11th century invaded what
is now northern India, Java, Sumatra and Sri Lanka. Prabhakaran plays on
such history in political classes; he borrowed the Tiger symbol from the
Cholas’ imperial crest.
It
is in the end Prabhakaran whose will binds the Tigers. His followers
call him Annai, or elder brother, and talk of him with wide-eyed
awe, their only far the possibility that they might let him down. ‘He
is mother, father and god all rolled into one’, says a guerrilla named
Sunil. Government soldiers tell of a badly wounded female Tiger they
captured at Elephant Pass. Her dying words were not a call for mother
but for ‘Annai, Annai’. [p.20]
For
reasons of shock, slant and surprise as well as due to deadline
pressure, journalists are known to use words and phrases which sometimes
appear less accurate, unless the context and nuance is understood
clearly. In the above sketch on Tiger psychology, some specific
citations need comment. First, Desmond describes that ‘firm resolve is
instilled during intense training and indoctrination’. Here,
‘indoctrination’ is not the appropriate word. By the same yardstick,
my daytime job also involves ‘indoctrination’ – teaching
undergraduate and graduate students the discipline of lab research and
related protocols. I also ‘indoctrinate’ students about how to
communicate effectively with non-Japanese and even with laboratory rats.
Secondly, details on the mention of ‘the group of Jaffna University
professors’ who complained about the ‘Tigers’ heavy-handed
tactics’ was also technically inaccurate in that only four individuals
made that ‘group’, and none of them were ‘professors’ at that
time, by the American or British criteria of academics.
Tim
McGirk’s 1997 report presents a Sri Lankan army’s foot soldier, who
is on the run. He was also upset that his discipline-challenged
superiors stole his food ration.
Running away from the Tigers
[Time magazine, Asian edition,
November 17, 1997]
“Corporal
Rana is on the run. A tank gunner, Rana, 26, is one of the Sri Lankan
army’s 23,000 deserters. He fidgets with a lucky amulet hanging around
his neck, one that has shielded him in battle against the Tamil Tigers
and, more recently, from arrest by military police. He was not the only
soldier to go AWOL [absence without leave] from his 800-man unit; Rana
reckons 300 others slipped away into the jungle or simply never returned
from home leave. After serving nine straight months inside a war zone,
facing a fanatical enemy who embraces martyrdom on the battlefield, Rana
(not his real name) couldn’t take it any longer. Besides, he says, the
officers stole his food rations. So during a furlough, Rana ran away.
Now he spends his time at his parents’ village home, dodging the
police and teasing his hair out into a ‘50s-style quiff. ‘This
amulet? A Buddhist monk made it for me before I went away to war’,
says Rana, still fingering the tiny golden cylinder. ‘There’s a
prayer inside. It’s supposed to guard me.’
Slender
as a flower stem, this talisman is nearly identical to ones worn by the
Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE), who for the past 14 years have
been waging a campaign of guerrilla attacks, assassinations and suicide
bombings for their goal of creating a separatist state in the north and
northeast of this Indian Ocean island. But the Tigers’ amulet contains
not a protective prayer but a lethal dose of cyanide in the event of
capture. It is a negative talisman of sorts, and a potent one, asserting
the Tiger’s readiness to die for the cause. That shows the difference
in attitude between the army and the Tamil rebels toward this grisly
conflict that has left more than 50,000 combatants and civilians dead;
the soldiers just want to survive, while the Tigers welcome death as a
kind of devotional sacrifice. Says Paikiasothy Saravanamuttu, an analyst
at the Center for Policy Alternatives, a think-tank in Colombo: ‘The
average Sri Lankan doesn’t know what he’s fighting for. It’s an
unreal war’.
Such
doubts are not shared by the Tigers. The LTTE’s elusive chief,
Velupillai Prabhakaran, 43, is not only a genius guerrilla tactician but
also a deft manipulator of symbols. He has tapped an undercurrent of
martyrdom in Tamil folklore and films (his favorite actor is said to be
Clint Eastwood) to create an army –mainly of impressionable teenagers
– some as young as 11 and 12 – ready to pop cyanide or become
suicide bombers for their leader. This fanatical loyalty, senior
military officers concede, has enabled Prabhakaran’s 8,000 to 10,000
insurgents to inflict punishing losses on a Sri Lankan army ten times
that size…”
The
last paragraph of Tim McGirk’s commentary read,
“The
army is readying for a major assault against Prabhakaran’s jungle
bases in Mullaitivu district. But the army, like the Tigers, is running
short of men. When only 450 volunteers signed up during a national-wide
recruitment drive with a goal of 10,000, authorities tried to lure back
Corporal Rana and the 23,000 other deserters. Several amnesties have
been announced – soldiers were given back their full rank and salary -
but when the final offer expired on Oct.24, some 10,000 runaways were
still missing. Among them was Rana. ‘When I read about the battles,
sometimes I feel like going back to my unit’, he says. ‘My friends
tell me it’s better now’. One improvement they have mentioned; an
officer who stole his rations have deserted too.” [p.24-25]
The
punch-line that the officer who stole the food rations of foot soldier
Rana also deserted the Sri Lankan army is humorous and ironic. It
reveals that the officers in the Sri Lankan army may have surplus food
and drinks, but they starve from surplus dose of discipline.
What is Discipline?
The
1991 feature on LTTE mentions about the importance of discipline to its
success. That the Sri Lankan army couldn’t break the backbone of LTTE,
during the passage of ten years vindicates the beliefs and claims of
Pirabhakaran related to discipline. What in fact is discipline?
To
answer this question, I quote an excerpt from a talk of physician
Franklin DuBois delivered in 1952, entitled, ‘The security of
discipline’.
“From
time immemorial discipline has been recognized as an essential
ingredient of man’s life. Experience has demonstrated that objectives
can be achieved and individuals can be happy only if human energies are
directed in an orderly fashion. Since a person’s desires often
conflict with the desires of others, society has set up regulations for
the common good, to which each member of the group must adhere or suffer
a penalty…
Discipline
defined:
“To
arrive at helpful conclusions, one must first have an understanding of
what is meant by discipline. The immediate and restrictive connotation
is apt to be what is done to an individual when he is disturbing
to others, but we shall deal with the broader concept that discipline is
a process of training and learning that fosters growth and development.
Its derivation is the same as that of disciple: ‘one who learns or
voluntarily follows a leader’ (Webster). Discipline is, therefore,
primarily the process of ‘making a disciple’…
While
discipline may carry with it an idea of punishment, this should be only
the discomfort that logically follows the pursuance of a selected course
of action and is voluntarily accepted as incidental to the attainment of
a desired goal. One speaks of the discipline of medicine, of art, of
athletic training, when one refers to hardships foreseen and endured in
an undertaking that leads to the chosen objective. Like the athlete, the
child in training must learn to accept the restriction of many of his
impulses. Discipline is, in essence, adherence to the rules of life; not
a hardship to be endured intolerantly, but an educational opportunity to
be welcomed enthusiastically, since it is only through discipline that
lasting satisfactions can be obtained… [Mental Hygiene, July
1952, vol.36, no.3, pp.353-372]
Merit in sexual discipline
Radhika
Coomaraswamy is one of the intellectual Poo Bahs, who happen to be a
literate Eelam Tamil. She has critiqued the sexual discipline of young
LTTE women, in her 1996 Rajani Thiranagama Memorial Lecture (Sunday
Times, Colombo, January 5, 1997). I cannot let this criticism go untouched. The title of Ms.Coomaraswamy’s lecture was, ‘LTTE women:
is this liberation?’. She has begun her lecture with the pompous
claim:
“I
am often asked, as the United Nations Special Rapporteur on Violence
Against Women, what I feel about the women cadres of the Liberation
Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE). As someone who has been entrusted with the
task of attempting to protect women victims of violence, how do I
respond to a situation where women become the perpetrators of
violence?”
Then,
she identified herself with one of the giants among freedom-fighters by
the statement, “As women concerned with non-violence, we can only be
critical of the dynamics which have led to this process [of
militarisation]. As people concerned with human rights, we have to
question and challenge any discourse which attempts to promote this
perverse militarisation of civil society as a step towards the
realization of equal rights among women.”
Having pretentiously identified
herself as a disciple of Mahatma Gandhi’s non-violence principle,
Ms.Coomaraswamy, in her lecture, subsequently ridiculed Gandhi’s other
cherished values (of self-sacrifice, austerity, sexual discipline and
freedom from the fear of death) as follows:
1.
“LTTE is also clear that the ideal woman remains a virgin;
sexuality is seen as an evil, debilitating force… Self-sacrifice,
austerity and androgyny are put forward as ideals.”
2.
“Death, not life, is celebrated. The greatest feat for a woman
is to die a martyr. This celebration of heroic death is an aspect of
most nationalist movements, but in the LTTE it is a major factor which
determines and conditions the life of women who have dedicated
themselves to the cause.”
3.
“They [LTTE women] are denied sexual or sensual experiences.
This refusal to accept hybridity, sensuality, sexuality, the social
mixing of human beings as an important part of everyday life, is a
foundational principle of nationalist ideologies and the LTTE is no
exception.”
It
is surprising that Ms.Coomaraswamy has conveniently overlooked the
mission of LTTE women. They are in combat duty and not functioning as
cabaret artistes or fashion models or casual sex workers. Combat duty,
as well as convent life, demands eschewing sexual thrill. Those who
undergo special training and adhere to disciplining their minds can
achieve higher goals than ordinary mortals who allow their minds to
sexual gratification.
Mahatma Gandhi has shown the lead in this adoptive
strategy and Pirabhakaran has followed the steps of Gandhi, in
inculcating sexual discipline among his cadres. In one of his early
works, to appear in print, (‘A Guide to Health’, originally
published in Madras by S.Ganesan in 1921), Gandhi preached about sexual
discipline. Following passages are excerpted from the chapter on Sexual
Relations:
“Many
are the keys to health, and they are all quite essential: but the one
thing needful, above all others, is Brahmacharya… What do we
mean by Brahmacharya? We mean by it that men and women should
refrain from enjoying each other. That is to say, they should not touch
each other with a carnal thought, they should not think of it even in
their dreams. Their mutual glances should be free from all suggestion of
carnality. The hidden strength that God has given us should be conserved
by rigid self-discipline, and transmuted into energy and power not
merely of body, but also of mind and soul.” [Mahatma Gandhi, The
Health Guide, 1965 edition, pp.145-166]
This
Health Guide of Gandhi, first appeared when he was 42, and a quarter
century before India received its independence. Ms. Coomaraswamy’s
lament on the ‘celebration of death’ seen among the LTTE women has
been answered by Gandhi 80 years ago, as follows:
”…Brahmacharis:
They know no fear of death, and they do not forget God even in the hour
of death; nor do they indulge in vain complaints. They die with a smile
on their lips, and boldly face the day of judgement. They are true men
and women; and of them alone can it be said that they have conserved
their health…[ibid]
Kindly
note that Gandhi had used the word brahmachari in a
gender-neutral context. His healthy advice on sexual discipline seems
more relevant for achievers, considering the pathos in the careers of
John F.Kennedy and Bill Clinton, who were found lacking in this
component.
Sexual discipline in Sri
Lankan army
While
Pirabhakaran has strictly enforced sexual discipline for his army, how
does his rival army face the situation? The qualitative distinction
between the two armies is revealed by the following feature, which
appeared in the Sri Lankan government’s mouthpiece, Ceylon Daily
News of June 19, 1999, under the caption, ‘Casual sex thrives in
war climate’. Excerpts:
“Anuradhapura
as we know it, was a town of religious and archeological importance. It
bore witness to the rich spiritual and cultural heritage of the country.
Today it has a different story to tell. During the last few weeks there
were reports about unholy activities in Anuradhapura. According to the
reports, young women from several parts of the country come to the town
to provide pleasure for money to young men, some of them in the army…
Supplying
women to young soldiers has become a hotel and guest-house based
business now. Three wheeler drivers mediate between the two parties.
From time to time, Anuradhapura police has been raiding these places,
and rounding up women who loiter around the hotels and send them to the
remand prison. Once they are presented in court, most of them are
released on a 500-rupee bail, which is normally paid by the hotelier…
For
hoteliers in Anuradhapura, this is a very good business. A room is
rented out for 400 or 500 rupees per night. They hire women and keep
them for their customers. Hoteliers are very supportive and protective
of these women. ‘Sometimes these women who are rounded up and brought
to the police station refuse the food given them by the police. Then it
is the hotelier who supplies food for them and in the courts it is the
hotelier who bails them out.’
Over
the years, Anuradhapura became a camp town and a transit point for the
armed forces who travel to and from the North. Invariably, they have a
stop-over in Anuradhapura. Those who come from the South get off here
and stay in camps until the time for their next flight to the war front.
Some soldiers with nothing particular to engage in, loiter in the town
where they meet these women…
Altogether
there are around 40 hotels in Anuradhapura engaged in this trade. Some
of these are well-equipped residential houses which have been rented out
for 10,000 to 20,000 rupees per month…
This
situation arose in Anuradhapura, because it is a transit point. Young
soldiers come here. They look for a way out to release their repressed
minds and bodies. In the town, they have very limited ways to enjoy
themselves.
[According
to Dr.Kithsiri Kaldera, former head of the STD clinic in Anuradhapura
hospital] ‘There’s no cinema, no theatre, not even a park. We should
look at the problem from their point of view. Many of these men have a
common mentality about their lives and future. They seem to think this
way: ‘As we are people who are destined to get killed sooner or later,
[we] have to make most out of it for the short spell we are here,
whether it is good or bad.’…
Women
flock to the town around the 20th to 30th of the
month – the time when the soldiers’ pockets are full.”[Malini
Govinnage, Ceylon Daily News, June 19, 1999]
Govinnage’s Anuradhapura report,
while confirming the moral bankruptcy of analysts like Ms.Coomaraswamy,
simultaneously attests to the sound strategy of Pirabhakaran in
enforcing sexual discipline among his cadres. (Continued)
