Internally displaced Sri Lanka's most pressing problem
Updated
One of the most pressing tasks facing the Sri Lankan government is nation-building.
The UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon, who'll visit Sri Lanka on Friday, to assess the humanitarian crisis in the war zone, has also called for national reconciliation. Speaking in Geneva, Mr Ban said "the wounds of a war that has alienated communities for almost 30 years" must be treated, through a sustainable and equitable political solution.
Presenter: Sen Lam
Speaker: Asoka Bandarage, Professor at the Institute of Public Policy at Georgetown University and author of "The Separatist Conflict in Sri Lanka"
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BANDARAGE: I think the resettlement of the IDPs (internally-displaced people) is the most urgent task, because they need to be resettled in their homes of origins and I think rehabilitation, reconstruction and development of the war torn areas is urgently needed.
LAM: Indeed, if the government were a bit tardy in this rebuilding effort in the island's north and east. Do you think that might further alienate Tamil civilians in the rest of Sri Lanka?
BANDARAGE: Yes, and also in the rest of the world, because I think the government needs to show its firm commitment to resettling the IDPs, and that they are not planning to keep them in camps for a long period of time. Of course, it has to be carefully done, because there could be LTTE cadres among them and it's necessary to separate them and also to find ways of rehabilitating the LTTE cadres.
LAM: You spoke of Tamils in the rest of the world. Might there be a role for the Tamil diaspora in Sri Lanka's reconciliation process?
BANDARAGE: Absolutely, because it's diaspora that was aiding the LTTE in terms of financial and ideological support. But that's not necessarily the whole of the Tamil diaspora. It was a vocal and active minority. The majority of them were kept silenced because of the authoritarian policies of the LTTE. So this is really an opportunity for the diaspora to become a part of the solution, rather than part of the problem. And the government needs to extend invitations to them through offers of dual citizenship and other ways that they can be part of the process of reconciliation and rebuilding.
LAM: Indeed, now that the Sinhalese-dominated government has defeated the Tamil Tiger rebels, how much political incentive is there for the government to be more inclusive, to give Sri Lanka's Tamil community a greater say?
BANDARAGE: I think that it is really imperative that they take a long term approach and also come up with an integrated solution and action plan, because it is a very complex issue. In addition to various forms of political decentralisation, the development of the northern eastern areas and providing education, employment opportunities for the people on the ground are very important.
LAM: And, of course, on the ground, in Sri Lanka, certainly even in the south, the Tamils do have quite a few grievances, have they not. Can you just tell us what some of the grievances are?
BANDARAGE: Yes, this struggle started in the 1950s, when the Sinhala language was made the official language. Now again, if that can be interpreted in different ways, because the official language act of 1956 was never fully implemented and Tamils could still be used in terms of official work. But this was changed in 1978, and Tamil is now an official language, with a national language status that it does not enjoy even in India, where there are some 65 to 70 million Tamils in Tamil Nadu. The other was language-based university entrance courses which were introduced in 1970 to redress the imbalances that were put in place during the British Colonial period, where the Tamils were disproportionately represented in the prestigious faculties in the university. But this legislation only pertained to the Tamil elite, because it did not really affect the vast majority of Tamils. But this was also done away with these language-based quotas, but still there is sense of distrust and fear on the part of the Tamil community and these are genuine concerns that need to be addressed in terms of the different groups coming together and finding a long term solution to this problem.
