PANEL: the Tamil factor in Sri Lankan polls
Updated
Thousands of Tamils in the north of the country will be voting for the first time in many years.
Ironically, the minority Tamils - who've suffered discrimination under successive governments - may decide the outcome, if the majority Singhalese vote is split. While both incumbent President Rajapakse and the former military chief General Fonseka actively courted the Tamil vote during campaigning, many observers say it remains to be seen if the lot of the Tamil minority will improve in Sri Lanka.
Presenter: Sen Lam
Speakers: Sisira Jayasuriya, Singhalese-born Professor of Economics at LaTrobe University in Melbourne; Dr Sam Pari, Sydney-based spokesperson for the Australian Tamil Congress
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PARI: I think the fact that the two main candidates, one of whom was a commander-in-chief who ordered the war against the Tamil people, and the other, the former head of the military who executed that order, the fact that it's these two individuals who are the main candidates running for presidency, I think that is of deep concern to the Tamil population. Both these gentlemen have given speeches and have said many things that are staunchly nationalistic and very pro-Sinhalese and quite inconsiderate of the Tamil population. For the Tamil people, the absence of war does not equal peace. The history of Sri Lanka has shown several pacts, several agreements made between Tamil leaders and the Singhalese president that have only later been abrogated by the Sri Lankan government. It's been more than six months since the end of the war and we still see about 150-thousand Tamils being interned in camps. There are about ten to 12-thousand young Tamils who are still arrested, jailed and kept in undisclosed areas. There are allegations of rape, of torture, of abductions still continuing, people are disappearing. I don't believe that the Tamil people really are much more free today as compared to say a year ago.
LAM: Professor Sisira Jayasuriya, now that the Tamil Tigers are out of the picture, do you think perhaps the next president of Sri Lanka, whoever he may be, might have a real opportunity to work towards long-lasting peace?
JAYASURIYA: Yes, I think there's a real opportunity but whether that opportunity's going to be grasped is another matter altogether. I think as Sam pointed out historically, during elections often Singhalese parties have used the support from various Tamil groups to win an election only to subsequently renege on those.
LAM: So is that still the prevailing mood, that there's a hardline, hardcore Singhalese majority out there?
JAYASURIYA: I think that's still the case that certainly there is a very strong hardline Singhalese Buddhism constancy to which both these candidates have very strong links with and draw their support from. But that's not to say that they're identical or at this point in time that they're behaving in exactly the same manner. There's also a huge groundswell of dissatisfaction I think which had been building up over some time about cost of living, about corruption, about lack of basic democratic rights, not just for the Tamils but also for Singhalese, intimidation, all these kinds of things have become an issue. And these things are now getting expressed in the public arena with the space given through their election campaign. I guess, getting back to what you asked, is this an opportunity? Yes it is an opportunity but is the opportunity going to be grasped, one hopes so but history tell us that one shouldn't bank on it.
LAM: Sam Pari do you think it's a positive thing that the Tamils now have a free and unfettered voice, that they have political participation, and in a way some people are even seeing them as the king-makers now given that both Fonseka and President Rajapakse need their votes?
PARI: Well the choice of the kings we have isn't very good. Unfortunately, the Tamils are in a situation where we do have to work out who the lesser evil is. On that side of things, I don't actually see the Tamils are in a very good situation. Both these individuals ran a very, very ruthless discriminatory campaign for 18 months against the Tamil people. The Sri Lankan government pulled out of the ceasefire, unilaterally pulled out of the ceasefire that was signed between the Sri Lankan government and the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam. And furthermore, with regards to whether the Tamils now have an opportunity to vote freely, the presence of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam did not actually impinge on any of the activities of the Tamil people. The Tamil people have only been restricted in their activities as civilians, as citizens of Sri Lanka because of activities of the Sri Lankan government.
LAM: But we had wide reports of the LTTE actually intimidating voters from participating in the last elections, that's what brought Mahinda Rajapakse power to begin with, because of the Tamil Tigers intimidating their fellow Tamils?
PARI: Sure, in the last presidential elections the Tamil Tigers ran a campaign where they encouraged Tamils not to engage in voting because they felt that neither candidate would bring about justice for the Tamil people, and today we see the same situation. The Tamil population does not believe that the two main candidates will bring about justice or peace for the Tamil people. And I believe that even today regardless of who the Tamils vote for, whether it be the current president or whether it be the former head of the military, I don't believe either leaders will really come about and give a solution that will treat Tamils equally.
LAM: What do you think Sri Lankan Tamils would like to see happen on their island nation? We get that neither candidate is totally 100 per cent acceptable, but what do you think Tamil voters ... how do you think they view the way forward?
PARI: I think at this point in time the last thing that the Tamils are ready for is an election. There are 300-thousand people without a home. At the moment, they don't have houses, they don't have schools, they don't have hospitals, they need to be looked after and they need to be assured that their life is returned to normalcy. There are 150-thousand people still being interned in camps, there are 10 to 12-thousand Tamil civilians who are being kept in an undisclosed areas because they're suspected to have been combatants, and they're not being treated properly under the Geneva Convention. So there are a variety of issues that the Tamils have to deal with at the moment. And so for the Tamils really their priority is normalcy, and I do not believe that the current president is doing enough to bring about that normalcy. I very much doubt that the former military commander, Sarath Fonseka has also actively done anything to ensure normalcy.
LAM: You're listening to Connect Asia on Radio Australia and our guests this morning are Dr Sam Pari, who joins us on the telephone in Sydney. She's a spokesperson of the Australian Tamil Congress. And here in our Southbank studios with me is economist Professor Sisira Jayasuriya of La Trobe University. Professor Jayasuriya we've heard from Sam about the plight and the dilemma of the Tamil population in the north and east especially, of Sri Lanka, but what to your mind remains to be done in terms of national reconciliation? Is economic reconstruction one of the key factors?
JAYASURIYA: Certainly I think economic reconstruction is a key factor but that's certainly not going to be adequate. People have floated this idea of truth and reconciliation, exercised in Sri Lanka, I have to confess I'm not that confident that anything serious along those lines is actually going to happen. But certainly, there is a constituency even within the Singhalese who would like to move to a position where Tamils are given their legitimate rights and can be reasonable situation for all.
LAM: Indeed, as Sam pointed out all the Tamils want is some semblance of normalcy after years of being on the run, years of war and years of hardship. Do you think that that feeling is being shared by the mainstream Singhalese community as well, in Colombo for instance?
JAYASURIYA: I couldn't say that this is the dominant view amongst the mainstream Singhalese community, but there's certainly a section within the mainstream Singhalese community that does share that view that after all the trauma of what has happened for 25 years, that here's an opportunity, one should reach out, one should be inclusive and move on from here. Unfortunately, I think Sam Pari's quite right. At this point in time, the election is taking place not under normal conditions so even though legally, Tamils have the right to vote and participate in the elections, in practice, the space for them to exercise totally, freely, politically is very much circumscribed. The elections were brought forward, they were brought forward because the incumbent president felt that with the military victory he would be in a position to capitalise on that and go to the elections early and win the election. It's not because things have returned to normalcy fully, and that was the driving force behind having an election at this point in time.
LAM: Well the bottom line is there is a hardline group of Sri Lankan Sinhalese out there and you have to work with them. Do the Tamils offer any solution to this?
PARI: I think the way forward with reconciliation and closure to all these issues that have been out there for the last 60 years since Sri Lanka got independence from the British, is for the culprits, people who have made the mistakes to be brought to justice. This is where the international community has a huge role to play. We have seen situations like this happen time and time again.
LAM: So you think the solution lies in a war crimes investigation of some sort, to bring some kind of closure?
PARI: Definitely, there are hundreds of thousands of people who have been affected. The overwhelming incredible majority being the Tamil people. When you have an entire people, an entire population that's been discriminated against, persecuted for decades, the only way forward is to acknowledge that these people have been persecuted and to bring about closure by bringing to justice the people who have committed these crimes. But it also sends a very strong message that this is not acceptable and no one, whether they be Sinhalese, Tamils, Muslims, of any background can commit crimes and get away with it.
LAM: Professor Jayasuriya what's your reading of the prevailing mood in Sri Lanka? Do you think a war crimes investigation will be acceptable to the people of Sri Lanka?
JAYASURIYA: For the majority of Sinhalese it probably isn't acceptable because a lot of the Sinhalese view this as a military victory accomplished by the government and the armed forces, which they have supported. Any attempt at going back and re-examining what really happened is seen as a threat to their sovereign right to do whatever they want in Sri Lanka. I think that has been used in the campaign actually to whip up nationalist fervour, as you know, "this is western interference in our affairs and what right do they have when they do the same kinds of things in Iraq or Afghanistan, nobody takes them to court."
LAM: Well we're running out of time here, but I'd just like to point out before we wrap up that I understand there are some 700-thousand first-time voters this time around. Do you think the youth of Sri Lanka perhaps may hold the solution, can they point the way forward?
JAYASURIYA: I certainly hope the youth will move on from where they are and break with this narrow nationalism that has plagued the country since independence, pandering to pan-Singhalese chauvinism, has led to the whole country to an impasse from a country that had one of the highest standards of living in all of Asia, number two or three depending on numbers, next only to Japan in the early 1950s, to end up being one of the poorest countries on the planet. The systematic discrimination against the Tamils which started immediately after independence by depriving something like a million people of citizenship rights. And I really hope that the youth will take this and break with the politics of the last 60 years and open up a new phase in the country's life.
LAM: Dr Sam Pari, as you heard from Sisira the old Ceylon was held as a leading beacon if you like, in the 50s and early 60s as a regional success story. What do you think the Tamils in Sri Lanka would like the international community to do, to bring back those glory days, to make sure that everyone has a chance to live a prosperous and full and happy life in Sri Lanka?
PARI: I think the Tamils simply want to have their legitimate grievances acknowledged. They want a platform where they can air these legitimate grievances and have their voices heard, and sit down and negotiate and come to a solution where everyone is happy. They accept that everyone in Sri Lanka needs to be treated equally, the Tamil people out of all the parties understand the importance of justice, of peace, of freedom, and I think at the end of the day, the call out to the international community is to recognise that the so-called leaders of Sri Lanka who exist in the government and in the military et cetera, have been persecuting and discriminating against the Tamil people, and at this point in time the Tamil people simply want justice, with peace and freedom, and dignity at the end of the day.
