04-01-2004, 11:37 AM
[b]<span style='color:red'>Decisive Experiment - Sri Lanka's democratic mechanisms are on trial
Apr 1, 2004, 04:49 [Tamil Guardian Editorial]
The peoples of Sri Lanka vote this Friday in elections that, as campaigning closes this week, increasingly appears an act of utter futility as far as selecting an effective government in Colombo is concerned. Opinion polls - for what those arbitrary questionings are worth are generally predicting a hung parliament. This means that neither Premier Ranil Wickremesinghe or President Chandrika Kumaratunga's parties, motley coalitions notwithstanding, are likely to secure the requisite total to take firm control of Parliament. Although disagreement over the conduct of the negotiations with the Liberation Tigers, the handling of the economy, etc were cited as the cardinal issue over which the electorate had to be consulted, observers of Sri Lanka's politics are well aware that Friday's mammoth exercise is merely another round in the battle between the two Sinhala leaders. With this year's polls being the first in many years that has been conducted amid conditions of ceasefire, record numbers of candidates are participating. The Sinhala ultra-right has gone for broke, placing hundreds of monks- sometimes quite literally - on the frontline against the main Sinhala parties. Opinion polls suggest the monks may even take a bite out of the latter's constituencies. And it is during the post election coalition-expanding numbers games that the smaller parties will make their mark. The monks hope to replace the Tamil and Muslim parties and ensure Sinhala nationalist goals at least are not vulnerable to coalition turmoil.
But this is not to suggest there is nothing in Friday's polls for the Tamil people. Quite the contrary. In the last Parliamentary elections, the Tamil National Alliance (TNA) contested vowing to support the LTTE politically if elected. As a result they won a thumping victory, the extent of which would have been greater if the Sinhala military hadn't prevented tens of thousands of Tamils living in LTTE controlled areas from crossing the defence lines to vote.
But this year, the TNA are going further, contesting as proxies of the LTTE and campaigning on the strength of the movement's ideological and political objectives. As the party leader, R. Sampanthan, put it: "TNA is contesting the forthcoming general election with only one objective. That is to show the international community that Tamils in the northeast are wholly behind the LTTE." The implications are inescapable. A vote for the TNA is a vote for the LTTE. This is why, as LTTE political chief in Trincomalee put it, "this is not an ordinary election."
The possibility of a pro-LTTE party securing a significant presence in Parliament has inevitably unsettled some quarters. Ironically, these are the same voices that have oft lectured the Tamils on the wonders and sanctity of democracy. Therein lies the rub. For the first time since its inception, the LTTE is giving Sri Lanka's dubious democratic mechanisms a try.
While endorsing democratic elections, the movement has also thrown its weight behind the process. Subordinating security considerations to political ones - usually an anathema to the movement - the LTTE even offered to withdraw from its frontlines to ensure the quarter of a million people in its controlled areas get to cast their vote. It remains to be seen if Colombo and the Sinhala armed forces will permit this exercise. But the de facto hardships imposed on Tamils in LTTE-controlled areas who - unlike voters elsewhere have to travel considerable distances to vote, suggest our people's participation is not exactly welcome.
The LTTE's indirect participation in this year's elections is not a result of some liberal revolution in Kilinochchi. Nor is it an inevitable reconsideration of the liberation movement's strategy. It is an experiment. And one, as astute political observers are well aware, on which Sri Lanka's future hangs. Is it possible, as is often lectured to our people, for Tamils to pursue their political rights and security through Sri Lanka's democratic mechanisms instead of armed struggle? Is the Sinhala dominated state, which presently discriminates against Tamils in every aspect- security, education, health to name a few - of governance, be amenable to reform and to permit our aspirations to be realised? That the Tamil people and the LTTE are committed to securing their political goals is not in question (the TNA's campaign has, incidentally, allowed the party and the LTTE to appreciate the true extent of grassroots support for these). But is there a viable alternative to the armed struggle? Thwarting the Tamil vote would be an unequivocal no. An emphatic victory for the TNA, meanwhile, would herald a new phase of Sri Lanka's politics - and mark a concrete step towards the a permanent peace in the warshattered island</span>
Apr 1, 2004, 04:49 [Tamil Guardian Editorial]
The peoples of Sri Lanka vote this Friday in elections that, as campaigning closes this week, increasingly appears an act of utter futility as far as selecting an effective government in Colombo is concerned. Opinion polls - for what those arbitrary questionings are worth are generally predicting a hung parliament. This means that neither Premier Ranil Wickremesinghe or President Chandrika Kumaratunga's parties, motley coalitions notwithstanding, are likely to secure the requisite total to take firm control of Parliament. Although disagreement over the conduct of the negotiations with the Liberation Tigers, the handling of the economy, etc were cited as the cardinal issue over which the electorate had to be consulted, observers of Sri Lanka's politics are well aware that Friday's mammoth exercise is merely another round in the battle between the two Sinhala leaders. With this year's polls being the first in many years that has been conducted amid conditions of ceasefire, record numbers of candidates are participating. The Sinhala ultra-right has gone for broke, placing hundreds of monks- sometimes quite literally - on the frontline against the main Sinhala parties. Opinion polls suggest the monks may even take a bite out of the latter's constituencies. And it is during the post election coalition-expanding numbers games that the smaller parties will make their mark. The monks hope to replace the Tamil and Muslim parties and ensure Sinhala nationalist goals at least are not vulnerable to coalition turmoil.
But this is not to suggest there is nothing in Friday's polls for the Tamil people. Quite the contrary. In the last Parliamentary elections, the Tamil National Alliance (TNA) contested vowing to support the LTTE politically if elected. As a result they won a thumping victory, the extent of which would have been greater if the Sinhala military hadn't prevented tens of thousands of Tamils living in LTTE controlled areas from crossing the defence lines to vote.
But this year, the TNA are going further, contesting as proxies of the LTTE and campaigning on the strength of the movement's ideological and political objectives. As the party leader, R. Sampanthan, put it: "TNA is contesting the forthcoming general election with only one objective. That is to show the international community that Tamils in the northeast are wholly behind the LTTE." The implications are inescapable. A vote for the TNA is a vote for the LTTE. This is why, as LTTE political chief in Trincomalee put it, "this is not an ordinary election."
The possibility of a pro-LTTE party securing a significant presence in Parliament has inevitably unsettled some quarters. Ironically, these are the same voices that have oft lectured the Tamils on the wonders and sanctity of democracy. Therein lies the rub. For the first time since its inception, the LTTE is giving Sri Lanka's dubious democratic mechanisms a try.
While endorsing democratic elections, the movement has also thrown its weight behind the process. Subordinating security considerations to political ones - usually an anathema to the movement - the LTTE even offered to withdraw from its frontlines to ensure the quarter of a million people in its controlled areas get to cast their vote. It remains to be seen if Colombo and the Sinhala armed forces will permit this exercise. But the de facto hardships imposed on Tamils in LTTE-controlled areas who - unlike voters elsewhere have to travel considerable distances to vote, suggest our people's participation is not exactly welcome.
The LTTE's indirect participation in this year's elections is not a result of some liberal revolution in Kilinochchi. Nor is it an inevitable reconsideration of the liberation movement's strategy. It is an experiment. And one, as astute political observers are well aware, on which Sri Lanka's future hangs. Is it possible, as is often lectured to our people, for Tamils to pursue their political rights and security through Sri Lanka's democratic mechanisms instead of armed struggle? Is the Sinhala dominated state, which presently discriminates against Tamils in every aspect- security, education, health to name a few - of governance, be amenable to reform and to permit our aspirations to be realised? That the Tamil people and the LTTE are committed to securing their political goals is not in question (the TNA's campaign has, incidentally, allowed the party and the LTTE to appreciate the true extent of grassroots support for these). But is there a viable alternative to the armed struggle? Thwarting the Tamil vote would be an unequivocal no. An emphatic victory for the TNA, meanwhile, would herald a new phase of Sri Lanka's politics - and mark a concrete step towards the a permanent peace in the warshattered island</span>
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