Book review: Sri Lanka The New Country

Author: Padma Rao Sundarji

Publisher: Harper-Collins Publishers, Noida, UP

Price: Rs 499; Pages 322

By Col R Hariharan

Seasoned journalist Padma Rao Sundarji’s book Sri Lanka – The new country is refreshingly different from scores of other books that appeared in the wake of the defeat of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) ending their 25-year separatist war in May 2009. She is a self-confessed critic “of the one-size fits all application of Western perceptions, expectations and demands unique to South Asia” a view I heartily share. This probably has given her the strength to look at the Sri Lankan side of the “fence” that had been ignored particularly by Western critics and sections of Sri Lanka Tamil diaspora and polity after the war ended in May 2014.

The author has not allowed her tenuous South Indian lineage (with some Tamil connection also) to cloud her objective of reporting the situation on ground as she saw and understood it. Her years of experience as the South Asia bureau chief of Der Spiegel, the reputed German news magazine, in New Delhi with sufficient exposure to Sri Lanka and its ethnic conflict has enabled her in writing an eminently readable book for the average reader and traveller to the emerald island.   

After giving a brief background to the current Sri Lanka scene, inevitably touching upon the origin and growth of Tamil extremism and separatism, Padma Rao gives vignettes of her visits to Sri Lanka during various periods before and after the War. Absence of the shrill rhetoric we have become so familiar with writings on Sri Lanka is a welcome feature of the book. So is the absence of instant remedies in her reporting.

Padma has almost succeeded in presenting Sri Lanka with “equanimity and open mind” as she claims by not allowing emotion to override common sense in presenting her viewpoint.  But I have one reservation. Padma’s analyses fail to critically examine the Tamil arguments with the same interest she has shown in presenting the Sri Lanka government viewpoint. Perhaps this was intentional as it would have made the reading heavy. But the question why Tamils ‘well integrated in Sri Lanka upper echelons of power’ like Northern Province Chief Minister CV Wigneswaran supporting a united Sri Lanka were not charmed by Mahinda Rajapaksa’s dispensation for Tamils during five years of peace is left unanswered. Rajapaksa’s failure to put through a nuanced strategy in the last five years is as much responsible for this as Tamil politics or LTTE’s overseas remnants’ handiwork has sustained the ethnic confrontation. Rajapaksa’s defeat in the January 2015 presidential election due to massive minority votes against him is a testimony of this. To certain extent this weakness has been rectified in the quick fix addition towards the end, written after presidential election.

In chapter 3, Kilinochi commander Major General Udaya Perera cogently presents the Sri Lankan perspectives on some key issues like allegations of war crimes and human rights violations. But it is to be noted that he had wisely avoided commenting on the alleged killing of surrendering LTTE leadership in the last stages of war (White Flag incident). The cameos on former LTTE women cadres now serving in the army and former LTTE’s international gunrunner KP (chapter 4) and on former Tamil Tiger PR man Daya Master (chapter 7) touch upon how they have come to terms with life after the LTTE’s defeat. Chapter 6 is a unique but a little lengthy exploration of the rare species of Tamil Buddhists in Jaffna before and after the war. The rest of the book presents the beautiful country that Sri Lanka is (if we omit the two political interviews (with Rajapaksa and Wigneswaran) with added human touch.  

The author need not be apologetic (as she had done in the end)  for writing a book on post-war Sri Lanka that focuses on the human aspects of the nation trying to rebuild itself from the embers of nearly three decades of war that cost nearly 200,000 lives. Both Sinhala and Tamil purists who look at the past in the back drop of the past are likely to criticise the book because it does not conform to their analytical pattern. But I have faced years of criticism for telling them to learn from the past to build a new idiom for peace. I am sure Padma Rao as a seasoned reporter has enough resilience to take it in the stride; this is what I do.

Written on March 15, 2015; Published as “Sri Lanka-The New Country” by Padma Rao Sundarji is a Refeshingly Different Book from Scores of Others Appearing After Defeat of LTTE    in www.dbsjeyaraj.com

Sri Lanka perspectives - March 2015

Col R Hariharan

Prime Minister Modi visits Sri Lanka

Prime Minister Narendra Modi made a successful visit Sri Lanka from March 13 to 18, 2015 on the last leg of his visit to three Indian Ocean island nations. During the Sri Lanka visit he addressed Sri Lanka parliament, visited Kandy, flagged off the Mannar-Madhu section of the railway constructed by India, and Jaffna to handover 23,000 houses built with Indian aid for internally displaced persons and addressed the parliament and business leaders in Colombo.

He also met with President Maithripala Sirisena opposition leaders including the leaders of Tamil National Alliance (TNA), Sri Lanka Freedom Party (SLFP) and briefly met with Former President Mahinda Rajapaksa. He counselled the TNA to rework its political strategy in keeping with the changed environment after the presidential election. He also met with Northern Provincial Council Chief Minister CV Wigneswaran and war widows rendered destitute.

Modi’s objective of Sri Lanka visit was to strengthen mutual ties which he described as resting “on strong pillars of our shared inheritance; of shared values and vision; of mutual support and solidarity; of friendly exchanges and productive cooperation; and above all belief in each and our shared destiny.” In keeping with this objective, he announced a number of initiatives. These include visa on arrival for Sri Lanka tourists, extension of a fresh Line of Credit up to $ 31o million for procuring rolling stock and upgrading railway track, construction of Tagore auditorium in Matara, entering into a currency swap agreement for $1.5 billion to keep Sri Lankan rupee stable.

Except for passing reference he did not emphasise problematic issues like implementation of 13^th Amendment; on the fishermen issue he stressed its humanitarian and livelihood aspects and hoped the meeting of fishermen from both sides would yield results. Overall, Modi appeared to have put the New Delhi-Colombo relationship on better footing than ever before. 

President Sirisena’s visit to China

China had attached importance to President Sirisena’s first visit to China after becoming president. His government is carrying out a review of Chinese-promoted mega projects for corruption and procedural lapses in their finalisation suspected to have benefitted the Rajapaksa family. Sri Lanka prime minister had also accused Former President Rajapaksa of partiality towards China to the detriment of Sri Lanka's cordial relations with India. Chinese interest has been further kindled because Sirisena was visiting China from March 25 to 28, just a week after Modi’s visit to Sri Lanka where India-Sri Lanka strategic issues were probably discussed.

President Sirisena met with President Xi Jinping, Premier Li Keqiang and Chairman of the Standing Committee of the National Peoples Congress Zhang Dejiang.

According to official Sri Lanka news site, the two presidents exchanged views on a broad range of issues of mutual interest covering bilateral political relations and economic cooperation including, development cooperation, trade, investment and tourism and cultural cooperation and people-to-people contacts in their bilateral talks on March 26. Sri Lanka President said he shared the interest of China in the 21st Century Maritime Silk Road for greater economic cooperation.

President Sirisena agreed to work towards the successful conclusion of the proposed China-Sri Lanka Free Trade Agreement (FTA) while recognising the asymmetries between the two economies, towards achieving a more balanced and sustainable bilateral trade and economic cooperation. President Sirisena also participated in the Boao Forum for Asia Annual Conference 2015 on March 28 and addressed the conference.

However, Sri Lanka media reported that Sirisena also informed the Chinese President that the suspension of Colombo Port City project was only 'temporarily' and that it would be 'sorted out' soon. He also clarified that the fault lay with the previous Sri Lankan regime which had adopted corrupt practices to grant it approval and not the Chinese. To date this issue does not seem to have been resolved; we can expect the government to continue with the review till the Rajapaksa family connection to corrupt deals are unravelled.

Implementation of 100-day agenda 

President Sirisena- Prime Minister Wickremesinghe duo has taken the following actions to strengthen the national unity government and enact crucial legislations to implement the 100-day agenda: 

·        SLFP becomes stakeholder in government: President Sirisena who is also the chairman of the SLFP main opposition party in parliament, persuaded the Party to join the national unity government by offering 25 cabinet berths. Though it resulted in number of ministers going up from 46 to 79, it has enabled the government to push through important legislations for carrying out structural reforms of executive presidency, electoral system and greater accountability of government.

·        19^th Amendment (19A) to the Constitution: Salient points of 19A tabled by the ruling national unity alliance in parliament on March 25 include doing away with the designation of the President as “Head of Government”, retaining the Prime Minister as head of the cabinet and making the President to act on the advice of the Prime Minister. Future Presidents will not be entitled to ministerial portfolios. However, they will retain the right to summon meetings of the Cabinet of Ministers “for the purpose of discussing any matter of national importance, and shall preside at such meetings”.  

·        Changes in electoral system: The draft enactment proposed by the Election Commissioner for reforming the present system envisages the increase in parliament strength from 225 to 250 members and modification of the system to directly elect 140 members, 80 members by proportional representation and 30 seats to be filled from the national list. The final enactment will be finalised once major parties accept the proposal.

Return of Rajapaksa

After holding rallies in Nugegoda and Kandy, Former President Rajapaksa’s supporters organised a well-attended rally at Ratnapura on March 26 to demand the return of Former President Rajapaksa to power for “saving the country”. As many as 28 SLFP MPs participated in the rally. In a message to the rally, the former president said "We were defeated because international spy services and conspirators were in the forefront," a theme he had stressed in his recent interview with The Hindu.

Ratnapura district is a Rajapaksa-stronghold where he won all the electorates in the presidential election. Rajapaksa’s prominent supporters include  the National Freedom Front leader Wimal Weerawamsa, Western Provincial Council Chief Minister Prasanna Ranatunga, leader of the Democratic Left Front Vasudeva Nanayakkara, and leader of the Pivithuru Hela Urumaya Udaya Gammanpila. 

As the SLFP has officially joined the government, the Party may not officially support the demand for nominating Rajapaksa in the April general election. If it happens, the SLFP is in real danger of breaking up which could politically weaken Sirisena.

Written on March 31, 2015

Courtesy: South Asia Security Trends, March 2015 issue; www.security-risks.com