Gajalakshmi Paramasivam

29 December  2019

DEVOLUTION OR DEVELOPMENT?

The new President of Sri Lanka is not able to project Devolution but confirms ability to project Development in Tamil areas. The experience of war would have helped share the truth of  the group on behalf of whom the current President participated directly in the war. Those people have honoured Mr Gotabaya Rajapaksa by electing him as their President. Hence one is entitled to conclude that majority Sinhalese are not able to envision devolution despite the war and the conflict with Muslims. The ability to consciously practice Equal Opportunity values is the cost of that choice.

To the extent Tamils opposed this group in the past they are Sri Lankans through Politics also. Hence the root cause of Mr Gotabaya Rajapaksa’s presidency includes Tamils who waged armed war despite the serious threat to their lives. Any punishment to those within that ‘Opposition’ area – is a natural demotion to the one who so punishes.

Relatively speaking, Tamils would not have this difficulty with Sinhalese who are majority by numbers. But LTTE  did manifest it with Muslims.

In his Daily Mirror article ‘The Tamil problem can’t be resolved either way, but can be managed’, Ranga Jayasuriya reports about the declaration by the new President:

 “Devolution of power is a lie and most are opposed to it,” he  told a meeting of heads of media organizations recently adding that ‘reconciliation can be achieved through broad development’.   

The truth in the mind that is committed to Sri Lanka manifests Itself  to connect the current Government to Post Tsunami Development work by this government. In my recent articles I have been connecting Tsunami to the internal war in Sri Lanka. As a global person, the deeper I sought through my own true experience -   the nearer I was taken to the parallel global experience. Today, my attention was drawn to the paper headed ‘Sri Lanka: Country in Perspective’ by Dr  Ernest Allan Gunasekara-Rockwell of Air University Press‎ to Military Research & Writing Specialists. Dr  Ernest Allan Gunasekara-Rockwell states in that paper:

[Recent Events

Conclusion of the Civil War

In 2004, the commander of LTTE forces in eastern Sri Lanka, Vinayagamoorthy Muralitharan (known at the time as Colonel Karuna), split with the group’s leadership and began a dialog with the government. This removed eastern Sri Lanka from combat and significantly reduced LTTE’s resources. That same year, a massive tsunami devastated coastal communities throughout the Indian Ocean, including Sri Lanka]

I had the divine call to go to Batticaloa to be with the victims of Tsunami. I however discovered  that the folks were actually mourning the loss of their sons and worse were fearful of expressing such feelings due to Army presence. The Tsunami-cover helped them cry and mourn. I felt that their pain was mine and my proposals to fund them – presented to Madam Kumaratunga who was then President – were approved. Those folks who also believe in Kathiragama Murugan, attribute the credit to me – the person through whom they communicated to the President – their true pain. That is the power of common belief.

This I believe is  the root experience that gave me the insight into the connection between Tsunami and the War.

If the Government had made that connection – they would not have punished Northern Tamils but would have left it to their own Karma which divided the East from North in terms of military power. But Truth has its own way.

[In 26 July 2004, Muralitharan broke away from the Tamil Tigers after he alleged they were ignoring the interests of the eastern Tamil people, and claimed to have renounced violence at this point. This move by Karuna, to break away from the LTTE and renounce terrorism has been claimed to be one of the major turning points that brought about the end of the two and a half decade conflict. He turned away and helped to capture LTTE bases. Deputy Minister Seyed Ali Zahir Moulana has been hailed as being instrumental in Karuna renouncing terrorism, who in turn joined the democratic mainstream.

The LTTE alleged that the real reason he broke way was because the LTTE's intelligence wing was closing in on him for alleged financial and personal misconduct, terming his break a "temporary aberration". The Tigers reacted to his defection by launching attacks against Muralitharan's forces, and heavy clashes ensued. They claimed to have fully evicted his forces from the area he controlled in mid-2004.

However his group, dubbed the Karuna Faction by the media, continued to maintain a stronghold in the southeast of Sri Lanka with a force estimated to number a few hundred. They also regularly attacked the LTTE. In 2006 the Sri Lankan armed forces launched a major campaign to evict the LTTE from the east of the country, with the assistance of the Karuna Faction. They succeeded in clearing the east of Sri Lanka by July 2007.

Karuna has alleged that Prabhakaran intentionally dragged out peace talks so that the rebels could use the cessation in hostilities to re-arm for further combat.

He has said that the LTTE has lost 70% of its fighting capacity due to his TMVP group separating from the LTTE]

I met Karuna through the UNDP project in 2003. As per my assessment – he was clever but lacked the discipline to stay within his true borders. Hence the conflict with Prabhakaran in terms of ‘developing’ heirs by enjoying less than his share of the benefits earned - financial and other pleasures.  By splitting – Karuna resigned himself to the fate of his group. This fate / karma included strong dose of financial mismanagement which combined forces with the Rajapaksas.

On 27 August 2016, DBS Jeyaraj published Vimukthi Yapa’s article ‘Fresh Action Must be Initiated Against the Alleged Corruption of Mahinda Rajapaksa in the “Helping Hambantota” Affair.’  This highlights to the true service provider in support of Tsunami victims the karma that has come with  Karuna to the Rajapaksas:

[The details of the Helping Hambantota scandal took the media by storm. The colossal sum of Rs 82,958,247.70 in tsunami aid being siphoned away from an irregular government account into a private account controlled by the presidential candidate’s family seriously jeopardized Mahinda Rajapaksa’s chances of victory. What is more, the Helping Hambantota account was irregular on multiple levels. It breached several Financial Regulations, including FR170, FR323 and FR321. It also breached Circular PA/272. It came as no surprise then, that on July 18, UNP parliamentarian Kabir Hashim made a complaint to the CID based on our reports, which contained remarkably detailed information including bank-account and cheque numbers. A CID investigation was duly launched, very likely with the concurrence of President Kumaratunga.]

As an inalienable  member of Jaffna  Tamil Community – I believe that LTTE  in 2005 – sold the voting rights of Tamils in 2005 to the Rajapaksas and thus invited them to defeat his group in 2009. One driven by loyalty to Jaffna would never have done so.

Hambantota also lost itself to Chinese due to the weakness of their leaders who lacked the strength to prevent temptation to enjoy pleasures way above  their earnings. Cleverness without caring leads to such weaknesses. During the Presidential Election 2019 campaign there was lack of Diversity based opposition demonstrated by Mr Premadasa – which to my mind was due to Mr Premadasa being a junior in Hambantota – relative to Mr Gotabaya Rajapaksa. The dynamics between the two failed to confirm diversity – strong enough to OPPOSE. Hambantota needs a very strong mind to recover from the sell-out.

A Sri Lankan from Hambantota lack the power to Devolve Hambantota powers, leave alone Sri Lankan Powers. Hence the President is being honest. As for Development – Tamils would be stronger Sri Lankans by saying no to development funds that come through those who specialize in quid pro quo deals.