Poll-time bribe or political threat?

By N Sathiya Moorthy

Campaigning for the upcoming local government (LG) elections in the Tamil North, President Anura Kumara Dissanayake threw a lot of bait to garner local votes and local LG bodies to the maximum. His appeal flows from the ruling JVP-NPP?s credible and creditable performance in the Tamil-majority North, in the parliamentary poll last year.

Going by media reports, in the North, Anura promised the moon, knowing full well that it would be a Herculean task for him to deliver on them all, or even some, given the complexity of the southern Sinhala politics he has inherited and has worked with all through his adult life. Yet, the temptation for making poll promises was as strong in him as with the case of every other predecessor.

The President thus promised to ?free? all private lands in the control and occupation of the tri-Services and also get the bottom of ?missing persons?. Days before his visit, the army had opened a street leading to Palaly, with a lot of restrictions on civilian movement ? that it would be kept open only during sun-rise hours and no vehicle should stop in the street or travel at high-speed, etc.

If it was a trial of some kind for opening up other roads and freeing private property, it?s welcome. But if it is about a half-kept election promise from the presidential and parliamentary polls, now extended to LG elections, it is a different thing.?

Missing persons

Likewise, the government should clarify, sooner than later, how it intended to take forward the President?s poll-time promise to ?locate? victims of ?forcible disappearance?. In general terms, it refers mostly to those who were reportedly picked up by the armed forces in the closing days, weeks and months of the ethnic war in the first half of 2009 ? starting with those from the 300,000 Tamil civilians whom the LTTE had held as a ?human shield? and whom the forces had freed.

Such a promise leads to two questions. One, if concrete evidence emerged that some Tamil civilians, or even LTTE cadres who were picked up post-war, post-Prabhakaran?s death, and the name or face of the soldier(s) were still identifiable, will the government take whatever action it needs to take? After all, successive governments and successive Presidents, including this one, have stood firm against any ?external probe? into war-crimes, incidentally by the UNHRC.

Already, there is a ?missing persons? commission. A forgettable one under Justice Maxwell Paranagama was appointed by war-time President MahindaRajapaksa, and it also submitted a report. As may be recalled, the commission had written to foreign governments for details about those Tamils that might have escaped the local security forces and living there under their own names or new names.

No foreign government even seemed to have acknowledged the missive, but there was/is still some truth in the Paranagamainitiative. Maybe because it was instituted by a President who they had opposed, Mahinda?s successors did not address this query raised by Paranagama.

Positive initiatives, but?

Yet, there are very promising announcements by Anura while in the North. He invited Tamil youth to join the tri-Services and the police. The taste of the pudding is in the eating, and the government has to show speed, alacrity and sincerity to take it forward.

After all, the Tamils have their cynical way to approaching such proposals, however genuine the political leadership be. Again to recall, the very same Mahindadispensation began by recruiting 500 Tamil youth into the police in the North, but it is anybody?s guess if any of them continued beyond a few months or years.

And the reason they gave, or those self-appointed guardians of theirs gave? ?Our podiyans (boys and girls) are being made to slog in the sun as traffic constables?, and the Sinhalas that they replaced were sitting idle, enjoying their lives (possibly before being transferred out, once the former became trained. Or, a few of the Tamil youth were reportedly orderlies to senior officials. ?A Tamil youth becoming the orderly of a Sinhala officer? No, no and no.?

There were also reports of ex-LTTE sympathisers in the neighbourhood visiting the families of those who had signed in, asking them to quit asap. Their one-liner, ?Soon, there will be another round, and your son/daughter can get caught in the cross-fire.? Scary, did you say?

Then, there was the case of some Tamil girls who were recruited into the armed forces. The day they joined the service after a few months of training, a sudden rumour got spread that many of those girls were gang-raped in the camp. The families were naturally distraught over the ?branding? of them as ?gang-rape victims?, and their marriage to Tamil youths would have been jeopardised even more. Possibly, most, if not all of them, pulled out.

Rumour-mongers

All of it raises questions about the motives and methods of those rumour-mongers, and the pregnant silence of their political leaders, barring a handful. Today, all those Tamils who want the return of ?occupied lands?, restoration of Hindu kovilproperties, illegally and forcibly occupied by some chauvinistic Buddhist monks, war-crime probe and that on ?missing persons? now and again, do not talk about jobs for their youth, either in the government, or the uniformed services.

The President, while touring the North, also promised not to proceed with the wind-energy farm in Mannar, which was once offered to Indian infra major, Adanis, and which the latter has since walked out from. In a way, he was responding to local Tamil parliamentarian,

He has also promised severe action against those that had indulged in illegal sand-mining and the killing of those that had opposed it. No marks for guessing, whom the President had in his mind.

In the same vein, Anura also promised to safeguard the interests of northern fishermen (vis a vis their Indian-Tamil counterparts). On this one score, the interests of both parties, minus interference by Tamil political leaders, gel ? whatever the reason and motive.

The long list of the President?s poll promises ? yes, they were / are only poll promises, whatever be his intention to implement at least a few of them ? included an international-level stadium in Jaffna, and the commencement of ferry service between Mannar and Rameswaram.?

A stadium where international tournaments, especially of the cricketing kind can be conducted, will draw people from all over the country, especially when the national team is playing a crucial game, whether a test match, one-dayer of 20-20. Likewise, restoration of ferry service can promote religious tourism between the two countries.

Ring a bell

Yet, issues remain. Addressing LG election rallies across the South, the President was reported to have told the voters that if they elected JVP-NPP local bodies, the government would overwhelm them with funds. If not, the funding will be measured.

Already, most Opposition parties in the South have reacted strongly, saying that it was against the Election Commission?s code of conduct or whatever for campaign speeches. ITAK?s Sumanthiran has gone one step further and declared that it?s bribing voters.

No, it?s not bribing voters, which is what all election manifestos and campaign speeches otherwise are ? whether of the ruling party or their political rivals. If it is true, then Anura has held out a threat to the voters.

That?s saying a lot in terms of democracy and equitable distribution of funds between the government, provincial administrations and local governments. If not this time, Sri Lankan voters will remember it when the JVP-NPP?s star does not shine as bright as now.

It has happened to successive Presidents who won elected power first, and lost it owing to the common perception of their hidden anti-democratic streak. After all, Aragalaya was also a reflection of the same. It was said to be an explosion of pent-up emotions of the people against their governments, particularly the Rajapaksas, going beyond the economic crisis of the time.

Having said that, it should be acknowledged that for all that he promised the Tamils in the North, he did not utter a word about a political solution to the ethnic issue. Yes, he has promised to commence work on a new Constitution only in his third year in office ? and the Tamil people and their polity would be looking at the results of his current promises, to draw their own conclusions.

Incidentally, a key campaign rally of President Dissanayake in the North was held at Valvettiturai, VVT, the home-town of LTTE boss, Velupillai Prabhakaran. The attendance was good, whatever the means by which they reached the venue, from wherever and what ? and more so compared to any or all of the Tamil parties? campaigns, where getting a dozen people to hear a leader continues to be problematic.

Incidentally, the venue of the rally carries the traditional name, ?Sangilian Grounds?, but the Tamil newspapers continue to refer to it as ?Kittu Grounds?, in reference to an LTTE commander, who seems to have been all but forgotten and whose name does not even seem to ring a bell in the younger generation!

(The writer is a Chennai-based Policy Analyst and Political Commentator. Email: sathiyam54@nsathiyamoorthy.com)