Humility is probably the most powerful propaganda tool
around. It is also the least used,
especially by politicians. This is why
Opposition Leader Ranil Wickremesinghe should be applauded for acknowledging
that his party erred in July 1983. He
said that the then UNP government did not take adequate action to prevent the
riots.
Wickremesinghe referred to this as he urged the Government
to make sure that matters be resolved before they get out of hand; the ‘matter’
being that of Buddhist-Muslim tensions in the aftermath of riots in Aluthgama
and Beruwala. Implied here is the notion
that contrary to wild extrapolations, what happened last week was nothing like
‘July 1983’ but that this country might very well see a repeat of ‘July 83’ if
issues are not addressed adequately and conclusively.
That’s another issue.
What’s interesting here is Ranil Wickremesinghe’s humility. He was not only a cabinet minister at the
time but as the nephew of the President widely viewed as heir apparent. He lived through it all, silently. But as they say, ‘better late than never’,
after all it’s a lot more than other leaders have done, both in the UNP and in
other parties. The JVP, for example,
still indulge in ‘mumblement’ when it comes to 1988-89 without clearly saying
‘yes, we killed some 3000 “informants”, close to 2000 “Government supporters”,
almost 500 public servants, fifty principals of schools, one professor and one
vice chancellor, over 500 members of the security forces and police, close to
100 home guards and 24 bikkhus’.
The same goes for the Tamil National Alliance (TNA). D.B.S. Jeyaraj has for example called out the
TNA for duplicity, loud in calling for investigations into alleged crimes by
all parties (knowing the LTTE is no more and therefore the exercise is futile
and even impossible and knowing that only the Sri Lankan armed forces are being
targeted) but remaining silent about TNA’s complicity in LTTE crimes. Jeyaraj elaborates thus: ‘The TNA never
appealed to the LTTE to release the Tamil civilians under its control even
during the height of the war, is yet to condemn the conscription of children
and will not celebrate the lives of political colleagues brutally murdered by
the Tigers. Among other things, one
might add.
The crimes of omission and commission of the SLFP and its
later avatars, the PA and UPFA, and its allies (JVP, Karuna-Faction) and the
many, many, many acts of thuggery including murder perpetrated by top ranked
politicians of that party are well documented.
They might pale of course when compared to the ‘adventures’ of the JVP
and UNP, but that’s no excuse. What happened in 1971 was nothing like what happened in 88-89, but '1971' did happen. Youth were killed. Policy errors, moreover, can always be revisited, from the time of S.W.R.D. Bandaranaike.
The JVP will do (or will not do) this or that and that’s
their business. The same goes for the TNA.
The same goes for the UPFA. Ranil
Wickremesinghe has come clean on the crimes of his party and in this he’s
scored to the detriment of his detractors in the aforementioned parties and
indeed those inside the UNP. There’s a
hitch though. It is not the case that
the only blemish of UNP rule between 1977 and 1994 was ‘July 1983’. For each individual assassinated by the JVP
the UNP regime oversaw the murder of at least 10. Wickremesinghe has opened a door. He must now walk through it all for selective
humility is not humility but calculated political deceit.
No politician in this country, apart from perhaps Champika
Ranawaka and Sarath Amunugama, is more qualified than Ranil Wickremesinghe to
review those UNP years (1977-1994).
Wickremesinghe was in the middle of it all. He has the intellect. He has the analytical skills. He has shown that he has the humility and
therefore it is legitimate to hope that he has what it takes to enumerate and
discuss dispassionately that era. He can
begin with the 1978 Constitution (which he has described as a document that has
outlived usefulness), take us through the July 1980 strike, the ‘Accelerated
Mahaweli Development Programme’, the ‘Green-Black July’ of 1983, the White
Paper on Education, the Indo-Lanka Accord, the IPKF years, the bheeshanaya, his ascent to the post
of party leader subsequent to multiple assassinations and of course all that he did (and didn't do) during his brief tenure as premier and overseer of the Ceasefire Accord with the LTTE.
He will no doubt inform, illuminate and teach thereby all
politicians in his party and elsewhere the difference between politician and
statesman. He has nothing to lose and
everything to gain. More importantly he
would be setting an example, a standard that others would be judged
against. He will be rewarded too, by an
electorate that has demonstrated time and again an amazing capacity to forgive
and forget and to show particular affection to those who are humble. The UNP will benefit, naturally. The UPFA will be stumped because as incumbent
the party would have to acknowledge ongoing errors (mild word, that) unlike
Ranil, whose disclosures could be easily dumped into the account of J R
Jayewardene and Ranasinghe Premadasa.
0 comments:
Post a Comment