{"id":119281,"date":"2014-01-31T00:02:26","date_gmt":"2014-01-30T18:32:26","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/?p=119281"},"modified":"2014-02-06T12:45:44","modified_gmt":"2014-02-06T07:15:44","slug":"the-reconciliation-game-and-its-discontents","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/the-reconciliation-game-and-its-discontents\/","title":{"rendered":"The Reconciliation Game And Its Discontents"},"content":{"rendered":"

By Malinda Seneviratne<\/span><\/a> –<\/strong><\/p>\n

\"Malinda<\/a>

Malinda Seneviratne<\/p><\/div>\n

It\u2019s that time of year again when political discourse is reduced to a three syllable name. Geneva. That\u2019s another name for the UN Human Rights Commission<\/span><\/a>.\u00a0 It is time to talk about roads walked and roads not taken, progress made and not made.\u00a0 It is time to talk about reconciliation and its fallen-from-sky twin, \u2018justice\u2019.<\/p>\n

So we ask ourselves some questions, the same that we asked ourselves a year ago or rather were thrust in our faces.\u00a0 The plural refers to Sri Lanka of course although this is less about nation and citizenry than it is about a president and a regime.\u00a0 However, given that whatever the target of the punch is it falls on people and nation, independence and sovereignty, there\u2019s nothing wrong in using \u2018us\u2019 and \u2018we\u2019.\u00a0 We are digressing.\u00a0 Let\u2019s get back to the questions.<\/p>\n

Are we reconciled or are we not?\u00a0 Will we reconcile, ever, or will we not?<\/p>\n

Different people have different ideas of \u2018reconciliation\u2019.\u00a0 Some thing, for example, that full reconciliation will only be obtained if Eelam (as per the LTTE map) is carved out of this island.\u00a0 Others think that getting rid of the LTTE<\/span><\/a> amounts to reconciliation: war ends, problem ends.<\/p>\n

Between these there are the doubters, the half-empty-glass seers and the goalpost-shifters.\u00a0 The problem is that you can\u2019t satisfy any one of these individuals.\u00a0 They all need a little more or else they want a little less.<\/p>\n

There were people for example who wanted all those who fled the clutches of the LTTE to be allowed to go wherever they wanted the moment the bad news about Prabharakan was announced.\u00a0 They didn\u2019t give a hoot about landmines or the fact that the LTTE had effectively ensured they had nothing to go to; no homes, no livelihoods, no schools and no hospitals.\u00a0 Some pooh-poohed the LLRC<\/span><\/a> and later chided the government for not implementing the LLRC-recommendations (as per their preferred\/slanted reading of the same).<\/p>\n

All these people forget one thing. No one in this world is happy.\u00a0 The most powerful are besieged by security, the most wealthy are terrified of theft.\u00a0 The poor want out of poverty, those who suffer from unrequited love pine for the beloved\u2019s embrace.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 As for goalpost shifters, the sky is the limit for them.<\/p>\n

At some point someone will say wtf.\u00a0 At some point someone will remember that reconciliation is not coterminous with concession and that it implies reciprocity, that it is a two-way street.\u00a0 At some point someone will say, \u2018hey, you\u2019ve done me wrong, but I haven\u2019t heard you say \u201csorry\u201d.\u2019\u00a0 At some point someone will say, \u2018You take what I give and you act as though I should thank for taking.\u2019<\/p>\n

There are two ways of looking at this.\u00a0 First, we can go the \u2018what if\u2019 way.\u00a0 What if it didn\u2019t end in May 2009?\u00a0 What if the LTTE was still around?\u00a0 The answer could be something like this: \u2018Do a quick recall of what happened in Sri Lanka from 1983<\/span><\/a> to 2009 and tell yourself \u201cmore of the same\u201d.\u2019\u00a0 That\u2019s a lot of blood.\u00a0 That\u2019s also a lot of broken bodies, body-bags, bomb-explosions, children being abducted, assassinations and lots and lots of roadblocks.\u00a0 It also requires a bit of erasing.\u00a0 Take out all that\u2019s nice in Colombo and bring back squalor.\u00a0 Take out the roads, hospitals, schools, irrigation works, electricity projects, banks in the North and East. Take fishing out of the livelihood equation.\u00a0 Take out much of agriculture.\u00a0 Take out Wigneswaran<\/span><\/a> and the Northern Provincial Council.\u00a0 Toss in landmines.\u00a0 Toss in all the military facilities that were withdrawn along with the soldiers.\u00a0 Remember the \u2018vehicle movements\u2019?\u00a0 Remember living in fear? Remember wondering if you\u2019ll ever see your kids or parents or loved ones again after waving goodbye?\u00a0 Remember being wary of everyone you encounter, every suspicious object that catches your eye?\u00a0 Remember not being able to travel beyond Vavuniya?<\/p>\n

There\u2019s another way.\u00a0 We can assume, as some claim, that ours is a Sinhala-Buddhist<\/span><\/a> state and this Government is likewise \u2018Sinhala-Buddhist\u2019 with those \u2018natural tags\u2019 such as racist, chauvinist, extremist etc., etc.\u00a0\u00a0 The structures of the state are thus made for genocide.\u00a0 The government is genocidal, as are the Sinhala-Buddhists.\u00a0 What is the logical thing for these institutions, individuals and collectives to seek, then, if not the total elimination of Tamils from the island?\u00a0 If that is the case, what we\u2019ve seen during the conflict and afterwards should be hailed as the height of stupidity.<\/p>\n

Why should the Government send food, medicines and other supplies to \u2018The Enemy\u2019?\u00a0 Why pay the salaries of principals, teachers, doctors, nurses, attendant and employees of state agencies?\u00a0 Why on earth did the regime risk the lives of Sinhala-Buddhist soldiers to rescue 300,000 Tamils held hostage by the LTTE?\u00a0 Was it unthinkable that the LTTE cadres captured and those who surrendered were actually rehabilitated using taxes collected from Sinhala Buddhists in the main?\u00a0 Why did they bother to educate them, help them sit exams, teach them marketable skills etc., etc?\u00a0 Why did they facilitate their marriages \u2013 after all marriage often results in pregnancies and helps swell the enemy numbers?\u00a0 Why were more than 11,000 of these individuals who had been part of a terrorist organization released? And after May 2009, why channel funds to build infrastructure, resettle people, clear landmines, facilitate the revival of the fisheries industry?<\/p>\n

Perhaps one could argue that intent was there but fear of retribution in the form of censure from certain sections of the international community held the Government back. Those with genocidal intent don\u2019t look that far, though, do they?<\/p>\n

And so, ladies and gentlemen, perhaps we have come to the point of reconciling to the fact of irreconcilability.\u00a0 Perhaps we are now in that place where if the word reconciliation is uttered it prompts an F-word response.\u00a0 Perhaps we are at a juncture where the justice-predicate provokes a stony stare followed by something like \u2018Yeah, it\u2019s the injustice that wrecked the R word just now\u2019.<\/p>\n

Then again, maybe it is time to reconcile to the fact of reconciliation.\u00a0 The \u2018aggrieved,\u2019 after all are not falling over each other to talk about their own crimes of omission and commission, are they?\u00a0 The LTTE called itself \u2018Sole Representative of the Tamil People\u2019. The Tamil National Alliance (TNA) concurred.\u00a0 Very few Tamils objected.\u00a0 Most of those who objected were killed by the \u2018Sole-Reps\u2019 while the TNA remained silent.\u00a0 There\u2019s then another aggrieved party here: those who were victims of Sole-Rep terror and, dare we say, by extension victims of Tamil Community terror?\u00a0 If there\u2019s no \u2018sorry\u2019 coming from the other end, is it not natural for the reconciliation hand at this end to be withdrawn?<\/p>\n

If shifting goalposts is the name of this game then there\u2019s no point playing it.\u00a0 It is far better to say \u2018enough, we are done\u2019.<\/p>\n

*Malinda Seneviratne is the Chief Editor of \u2018The Nation\u2019\u00a0and his articles can be found at\u00a0www.malindawords.blogspot.com<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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