Parliamentary Elections and the Political

Emancipation of Sri Lanka

by Dayapala Thiranagama - on 08/08/2015

As, in private life, the distinction is made between what a man thinks of
himself and says, and that which he really is and does, so, all the more,
must the phrases and notions of parties in historic struggles be
distinguished from the real organism, and their real interests, their
notions and their reality. Karl Marx, The Eighteenth Brumaire(p.35).
The current parliamentary election presents a clear division between democratic
forces and anti-democratic forces. A victory for democracy would offer a
generational chance of resolving some of the fault lines in Sri Lankan society. The
Rajapaksa regime won the war against the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE)
but they used this victory to defeat the legitimate democratic aspirations of the
Tamil people. When the Muslim community was attacked the law was not applied
and the perpetrators got away scott-free. The war victory was also used to
plunder state resources, cover up frauds and corruption and augment personal

wealth. Their authoritarian rule maintaining the white van culture brazenly
violated the right to life and disappeared journalists as well as political
opponents. Their shrewd use of intimidation and violence against innocent
people was unprecedented in perpetuating their dominance in the democratic
political history of this country despite decades of war and emergencies. Members
of the traditional left parties ended up being implicated in these misdeeds.
Prior to the announcement of the Presidential election last year the United
National Party (UNP) looked a deeply divided party over with various factions
fighting on the streets in the South. With the decision to back Maithripala Sirisena,
they suddenly appeared to regroup with an almost steely determination. The UNP
and the civil organizations that supported him looked the antithesis of the
Rajapaksa regime and gave civil society a genuine choice. That is how the long
night of the Rajapaksa regime ended and the democratic will of all those who
suffered and millions and millions of people were awoken to their democratic
rights. The Rajapaksa regime is reluctant take any responsibility for the grave
mistakes they have committed and have used the divisive rhetoric of religion and
language to arouse the anxieties and fears of the Sinhalese Buddhist people in an
attempt to return to power in the current parliamentary election.
Taking democracy as a vital political project, this article pays particular attention
to the devolution of power using historical parallels. This is because this has
become a major contention between democratic forces and anti democratic forces
vying for power in this election. This includes the Peoples Liberation Front (JVP)
who contest election on their own and who continue to oppose any devolution of
power to the Tamil community. And the history of the conflict repeats itself.
The democratic project was initiated and shaped by the old Left in the mid 1930
but they could not sustain in the face of a nationalist surge. They succumbed to
pressure and abandoned the democratic aspirations of ethnic communities. With
their electoral demise in the 1977 parliamentary election, the project they had
themselves fatally diluted with exclusions went into oblivion with them. This is

why a victory for pro-democratic forces offers us a generational chance in

resolving our historic problems. The sharpest irony is that this promise does not
come from the Left but from the capitalist political formation!
A strong civil, political and constitutional structure is fundamental to any political
project to emancipate the people of Sri Lanka and encourage the growth of a
peaceful, democratic and socially just political culture. It should encompass all
basic democratic rights including, and especially, the democratic rights of
minority communities. To these, three other basic components should be added.
They are the right to life, free education and access to free health care.
Historically, the political parties including armed groups involved in anti state
violence as well as the governments in power have attacked the rights and
fundamental freedoms
Attacks on these aspirations have been ideological, political and constitutional at
times. When the legislation was introduced limiting the rights of citizenship of
the plantation Tamil community as early as 1948 it was a fundamental
constitutional attack. A similar situation arose when the Sinhala only Act was
introduced in 1956 that curtailed the language rights of the Tamils. Again the
1972 Constitution granted the foremost position to Buddhism. All these
constitutional arrangements over the years made the multi ethnic and pluralistic
character of our country untenable and in turn it diluted the emancipatory
potential of the democratic political project. This is still on the political agenda as
an unfinished business. Some of the discriminatory legislation introduced over the
years were supported by the SLFP with the help of traditional left leaders.
Therefore it is not surprising that both the SLFP and the old left leaders are ready
to use the Sinhala language and Buddhism to garner the electoral support for this
parliamentary election. They claim that their defeat would lead to a separation of
the country. This argument is used to prevent the devolution of power to the Tamil
community, when in fact it will enable us contribute to correct and reformulate the
historical injustices meted out to the Tamil community and uphold their
democratic rights.

Armed violence used by political groups such as the Liberation Tigers of Tamil
Eelam (LTTE) over period of thirty years and the Peoples Liberation Front (JVP)
between 1987-1989 in the South (JVP) have inflicted heavy casualties on Sri
Lankas democratic culture. These acts of armed violence directed against
political activists and individuals who held dissenting views still reverberate.
These violent acts not only restricted peoples rights to express their views but
also punished dissent with death. The LTTE is now not active anymore following
their defeat in 2009 and the JVP has regrouped as a mainstream political party
since their defeat in 1989. Today it is being led by the second or third generation
of leaders. The JVP claims that they have abandoned the armed struggle. This has
to be cautiously welcomed. They should have done it even before the 1971
insurrection that led to the unnecessarily sacrifice of thousands of youths in this
country fighting against a popularly elected government. Under the banner of Che
Guevara the JVP fought the state against his famous advice where a government
has come into power through some form of popular vote, fraudulent or not, and
maintain at least an appearance of constitutional legality, the guerrilla outbreak
cannot be promoted, since the possibilities of peaceful struggle have not yet been
exhausted (Guerrilla Warfare, P.8). When they again fought the state during their
second insurrection between 1987 and 1989 against the devolution of power to
the Tamil community under the 13th Amendment the elected government then
still had the constitutional legality as before, as far as the elected government
was concerned.
The use of armed violence to achieve political objectives is always at variance
with the needs of ordinary people in any country. While they might argue that
some curtailment of peoples democratic rights is necessary during the armed
struggle, the lessons of history show that the abridgements of democratic
freedoms become a permanent feature of these struggles and the states they
create. This also happened in the LTTE de facto state in the North and East.
Many valuable lessons can be learnt from the JVP and the LTTE closely looking at
how they conducted their armed campaigns. The JVPs claim that they have

abandoned the armed struggle has to be viewed in the context of how they
behave towards the breakaway group Frontline Socialist Party (FSP). They use
physical violence against FSP members whenever and wherever possible. The
current election campaign has shown that the JVP is able make a credible
appearance as democrats without referring to their violent and undemocratic
past. However, the JVP still lives up to their historical opposition to granting the
devolution of power to the Tamil community, which is a democratic right of the
Tamil people. In this respect they are in the same league as the Rajapaksa camp.
But anti -devolution sentiments are alive because it is a vote winner at the
expense of the democratic rights of the Tamil community. It is not rocket science
to understand in Sri Lankan politics, it is not the devolution of power that would
lead to divisions between our communities and the country but in fact the
absence of a meaningful offer of power sharing that truly threatens the territorial
integrity of the country. The parties who oppose devolution and power sharing
should be honest about their lack of commitment to a harmonious future for our
country and our people.
The JVP says that they are the conscience of the country in their much publicized
election campaign but they are nothing more than the conscience of the Sinhala
Buddhist supremacy. They have not changed their view since the dark days of
1987- 89, hunting those who supported the 13th Amendment and the devolution
of power to the Tamil community. The message to the Tamils is still that they
should wait for future a socialist government under their leadership and that
would do away with the national oppression! The JVPs political formation and its
origin as a militant Sinhalese party makes it difficult for them rethink their position
on the national question critically.
Both the traditional and New Left parties do not offer anything tangible
to

exercise the democratic aspirations of the Tamil community and this drives

them to the separatist parties. The remaining traditional Left leaders aligned with
the Rajapaksa camp are also now walking fast into the oblivion. Their historical
promise of fulfilling Tamil democratic aspirations has disappeared with them.

Therefore there is a tendency for the Tamil community to move for their own kind
of political project excluding others. Their election verdict will reaffirm it again as
before.
After the defeat of the Rajapaksa regime in January, open political expression and
the lifting of a climate of fear has opened a new wave of freedom, despite the fact
that their thugs are still attempting to use intimidation and violence at times
during the election campaign. Their efforts to return to power, if it succeeds, will
lead to the loss of any progress that has been made this year. And what is
decisively important is that the UNFGGs electoral win over the Rajapaksa camp
will be a major step towards strengthening democratic project.
Simply granting democratic freedoms to people will not be meaningful unless it
also engenders genuine material improvements. The safeguarding of free
education and free health services is one of the most important aspects making
our democracy more meaningful to the vast majority of people in Sri Lanka.
Already there is a creeping privatization in both these sectors and this has to be
stopped. If there is no adequate funding both these sectors will collapse paving
the way for the private sector to rescue it. Their greed for profit rather than
genuine feeling for the impoverished in this country motivates their intervention.
Safeguarding these services will ensure the vital life chances of the children of
this country to become true citizens.
In effect, to achieve these welfare measures the state needs to have organized
structures and the important issue is who will be able to do this. The current
parliamentary elections have presented to the electorate complex but
extraordinary array of political forces in terms of their ambitions and promises.
The United Peoples Front Alliance (UPFA) sole aim appears to be bringing back a
corrupt, nepotistic and authoritarian regime in order to cover up their misdeeds as
their leaders want to get away with serious allegations leveled against them.
They do it in the name of protecting the country from the Tamils, arousing the
fears and anxieties of the Sinhala Buddhist community. This has proved to be a

successful electoral strategy over the years. Their uncompromising, antidevolutionary, pseudo patriotic rhetoric will only bring the country to serious
ethnic disharmony rather than ethnic reconciliation.
The JVP at their public rallies and media debates have become good advocates for
democracy, exposing the misdeeds of the Rajapaksa regime. But their history and
behavior, which violated the most of rights encompassed in the democratic
political project between 1987-89, goes against them. Even though they appear to
have come out of their political wilderness, still the credibility of their statements
is clouded. They should make public an apology for the mistakes they have
committed particularly the murders of many left wing leaders, prominent activists
and faceless comrades who supported the devolution of power to the Tamil
community. That will make them stronger and show that they are capable of
taking the country towards a modern civilized democratic nation where all ethnic
communities will live as equal citizens. The JVPs chances in this election will be
good in terms of numbers but their ability to garner support to form a government
is very remote. Their view about the devolution of power is politically archaic and
anti democratic.
In this election the electoral ability to defeat UPFA lies with the United National
Front for Good Governance (UNFGG) and they also provide the best hope for the
continuation of the victory of January 8th. They will also offer a devolution
package to the Tamil community. The current situation is not different from the
situation the traditional and civil organizations had to deal with despite supporting
the 13th Amendment of the UNP government and despite the armed opposition of
the JVP. The civil organizations supporting the UNFGG election bid will be able to
play an influential role in creating a democratic and socially just Sri Lanka. These
civil organizations will remain as a catalyst for a future radical and left wing
alternative if they consciously pursue the interests of the January electoral victory
and beyond.
The Left needs to seriously think again and again how to restore the credibility of
their politics and how to place it within the framework of democracy and

socialism. To take it forward

we need to start again from the beginning. There

will be a political space for such an endeavor at least for a short period at the
beginning to reshape and launch our new endeavor a Sri Lanka that belongs to
all its people.
Posted by Thavam