Moving from appearance to essence | Daily News

Moving from appearance to essence

 

A serial drama is being unfolded in the media these days during prime time on electronic media and in the front pages of print media. The villain of the piece is none other than the Northern Province Chief Minister Retired Supreme Court Justice C Wigneswaran. There is, however, a competition for the role of the hero with representatives of both the Opposition and the Government vying for it. Although the dramatis personae are different the script and the modus operandi are both quite familiar.

The drama begins with a street protest in which the Chief Minister articulates the demands. What follows is an avalanche of protests against his words or rather words attributed to him by interested parties. Critics harp on the words or words that were purported to have been uttered rather than dwell on the message of the drama. Leaving metaphor aside, no attempt has been made by any of the critics to understand the reasons behind the protest or its legitimacy.

In view of the importance of matters raised it is necessary to go from appearance to essence rather than superficially beating about the bush. Man’s knowledge is moving from appearance to essence, from essence of the first order to essence of the second order and so on, say the philosophers. Our attempt here is to assist a deeper comprehension of the issues raised.

The former President Rajapaksa seems to be leading the tirade against the Chief Minister. He sees the demonstration as an attempt or at least the beginning of an attempt to dismember Sri Lanka. He has arrived at this conclusion based on the demand for federalism coming from the North. One cannot consider him an ignoramus as he has been the Executive President of the country for two terms, besides a very long parliamentary career. Federalism does not mean dismemberment of the country. In fact very many countries in the world, including our giant neighbour India are federal States. In fact, it is way of uniting diverse peoples and regions into a single State.

Greater regional autonomy

At present nobody in the North or the South is calling for a separate State. Everybody including Wigneswaran is for a united Sri Lanka. There is no country in the world that has not recognized our country’s territorial integrity. To be viable any new State has to get recognition internationally. Besides it cannot exist without taking part in the international division of labour, without integrating with the globalized world economy. To conclude the existence of a threat of dismemberment of the country merely because of a demand for federalism is like seeing crocodiles in a platter of water, one could say using a local idiom.

Almost all countries that separated from bigger States had sound economic basis for separation or States were divided to plunder their wealth by colonial powers. If not for the diamonds Congo, for example, would not have been divided.

Even consider the historical formation of nation States. It was the growth of common economic centres that led to the integration of city States into national states with the emergence and development of capitalism in Europe. A second wave of national State formation was the result of the liberation struggle of the colonial peoples and the desire of the colonial powers to maintain their economic stranglehold even after independence. Today in the context of deeper global integration under globalization the viability of the separate States without international support is in question.

A close scrutiny of history shows that movements for separation have been defeated in countries that have legislated for greater regional autonomy. Once again we have the example of India where separatist movements for Sikh and Tamil communities have waned due to more powers granted to constituent States of the Indian Union. Renowned British historian E J Hobsbawm says that the separatist movement in Sicily which developed in 1943 was killed by the regional autonomy legislation of 1946. He also cites the example of states defeated in the Second World War in which high degree of devolution was imposed as regions that lacked separatist movements as those found elsewhere in Europe. He concludes “even in regions where the classic aspiration for separate nation-states might be expected to be strong, effective devolution or regionalization has pre-empted it, or even reversed it.”

Apparently the former President is opposed not only to further devolution but also opposed to the full implementation of the 13th Amendment to the Constitution. He refrained from granting land and police powers granted to the Provincial Councils by the Constitution despite his talk of Thirteen Plus to placate India and the wider international community.

The protests against the Northern protest is based largely on a false reading of the Chief Minister’s speech wherein he stated categorically it is not against the Sinhala people or Buddhism or the Government but only a call to redress the grievances of the Tamil people. Instead of looking into these grievances those that cry foul are even asking whether the Tamils in the North have any special problems that the Sinhala Buddhists in the South are not faced with. The answer is in the affirmative.

Breach of party discipline

First, their privately owned land is still occupied by the Security Forces. Second, large numbers of their children and relatives have disappeared or are missing. Third still nearly 160 persons are detained under the PTA and even the former President Rajapaksa has told the Tamil media that they should be released. Fourth, government authorities do not correspond with them in the language they understand but continue to use Sinhala only in corresponding with Tamil citizens. Fifth, they often become suspects merely because they are Tamil. To many every Tamil person is a Tiger. Sixth they feel alienated as their voice is not recognized. For example the government has already taken an intransigent attitude in tabooing certain Constitutional proposals coming from the Northern polity such as federalism whereas it has given its blessing to the unitary nature of the state which is demanded by a section of the Southern polity.

We even hear of calls for disciplinary action against the Chief Minister for allegedly violating his party discipline whereas hordes of SLFP parliamentarians and other leaders are given kid’s glove treatment despite the most brazen breach of party discipline. Some have also demanded the removal of the Chief Minister from his post just for articulating the desires of a section of the Tamils in the North. This smacks of discrimination and rabid racism.

Though Sri Lanka has voted for greater democracy on January 8th last year it still seems unable to understand what democracy is. Or rather the practices and habits inculcated in the days of authoritarian rule are hard to give up. It is time that one understands and follows what Voltaire meant when he said “I disapprove of what you say, but I will defend to the death your right to say it”. 

 


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