Page 1
Vol. 15 No. 6 July 15, 1992 Price Rs. 10.00
5-STAR DEMOGRAGY: A
THOMAS ABRAHAM: A
S. SATHANANTHAN: Th
10. P. SWARAM: Destr
A. M. MACAN-MARKAR
 
 
 

二
Registered at GPO, Sri Lanka OD/43/NEWS/92
Torrent of Rot
- Izeth Hussain
鷺 蠶 蠶鬥雲 V = ീ | اتسا
樽
貂 鹦°臀
শুভূক্ত
Bruce Matthews
last look at Lanka
B Federal Alternative
(a reply)
Dying Military Castes
: Media and Ethnic
Gonflict

Page 2
Why there's So in this rustict
There is laughter and light batter amongst these rural darinsels who are busy sorting out tobacco leaf in a barn. It is one of the hundreds of such
barris spread out in the rid and upcountry intermediate zone where the arable land remain 15 fallợụ during the pff 5ë:15UTI.
Here, with careful nurturing, tobacco SIows as a lucrative cash Crop arbid the green leaves turn to gold, to the value of over Rs.20 Tillil II TO TE annually, for perhaps 143,000 rural folk.
 

ENRICHINGRURAL LIFESTYLE
und oflaughter obacco barn.
Tobacco is the industry that brings employment to the second highest number of people. And these people are the tobacco batta Tiers, the titչեicrd growers and those who work for them, on the larihd
Tmiri in the barm5. For them, the tobacco leaf means meaningful work,
a comfortable life and a secure future. A good enough reason for laughter.
CeylonTobacco Co. Ltd.
Sharing and Coring for our land and her people,

Page 3
Briefly. . .
Јапа gosha
The President said derisi
Vely that the Opposition was bankrupt-the Opposition had to ask the people to tap on their pots and pans in a nonsensical attempt to make Some nois a because they really had nothing to protest about. Other spokesmen for President Premadasa's gOWernment said that the "jana gosha' on July 1, led by the SLFP, was a 'total flop".
But joint-opposition leaders (SLFP, MEP, NSSP) claimed that it was a resounding sucCESS, a Wen Timore SLUC Cessful than the "pada yatra", the protest march from Colombo to Kataragama staged last March. Mr. Mahinda Rajapakse (SLFP) and Mr Wasudewa Nanayakkara (NSSP) said that the violence unleashed on the protesters, in some instances, was proof that the 90 WETTI ment was getting scared of the increasing voices of dissent.
Opposition MPs said that the people were now getting over the fear psychosis.
Growth drop predicted
A private sector survey predicted that Sri Lanka's growth fate Would drop to 3,7 parcent this year. The GDP last Year Was 4.8 per cent. The Forbes and Walker Group's survey, the first ever published analysis of the economy by the private sector, also fore cast a 17 per cent rise in inflation.
The "Sri Lanka Economic and Stock Market Review, June 1992'' put out by the much diversified Forbes and Walker Group, also revealed that the export growth rate had dropped to 14 DBT CBTit in the first quarter of 1992 from a high of 22.1 per cent in 1991. But in a note of cautious optimism Forbes and Walker said that it expects
the Sri Lanka TBSD'ft to Muth i mic managemen 8Č0ľ10ľTly On CO
Мопеу says
The continui ag Einst the Kan CDTT1plex wi|| = handling the pr Some money to SDITS 5pEar-head | aign of agitatio minister of Por ping at a press at the Garn. Ude at But tala. The Alick Aluvi hare, Ma tale district hamlet of Kanda a teld.
JVP ate The JWP strike Were apparently
disrupt the G. CEEEO Ea trons i B tracked down ar Core Subversives ted, police sourc Sunday Times.
Kan dalama: a9епts ap|
The Travel Ag ciation of Sri ՞լ sident — M. Fa Said in a statem disputa ower tha hotel project sho cably settled publicity abroad
GUARI
WD I. 15 N. B. .
PTTEL ||##|
Publishod fortin LATED GUETTE PLE
ħin, 24G, Lir CocoEditor: Mervyn
TelephՃոE: 4 Printaid by Anan 825, Sir Ratnajothi. Muwaha, Colo Telapho па:43
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

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to keep the 5 El.
Minister
9 protests alama hotel t| if լիggB lect offered certain perg that campl, said the and ShipConferênce Лva gгоuпds minister, Mr. TE POTESEent5 Where the ama is loc
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(مUUآسf -5%_لمال ہے۔
damaging to the tourist industry. "From available data, the developers have taken precautions to ensure that there is no damage to environment nor pollution from se Weraga. We area of the view that a project of this natura Will en han Ce the Tifastyle of the people" the Statement said.
National Health Policy
A Presidential Task Force for the Formulation of a National Health Policy has recommended the following short term targets: Reduction of Infant Mortality Rate to 15 per 1000 live births; RLCt10 of Matara | Mortality Rate to O.3 per 1000 live births; lncrease in Lifa Expectancy from 71 to 73 in naas and from 74 to 75 years in fernales; gradication of poliomyelitis and neonatal teta 1 LIS.
ld five hardWETE ETTESt - Probe tea auctions ES told the
The Private Tea Factory Owners' Association Wants travel the go Wernment to pro be the Colorbo tea auctions. prOVe
Speaking at a tea seminar in ents' ASSO- Colombo association cha i Tman lanka (pre- Невтпап Gooneratne said that "nandopulla) some of the 200 buyers at that the operating at the auctions Kandalama were not above suspicion. uld be ami- The auction should come 5 adversa under the complete scrutiny
Could ba of government, he said.
| Luly 15, 1992 NTETS
D.OO News Background 3. lightly by Fū dara | Alter 13tivựe 7 : Co. -- Re-thinking Education 9. BC Sri Lanka's Non-Democracy 11
The Supprossion of Tamil do Silva 475B Military Castes 瞿 da Press Lette T 5aTEVan El TLEtt U Democracy :: Strating and Peri 15. 7ן Timbio 13. WIWIT 2 15975
Media in Multi-Ethnic Society 2호

Page 4
Ace Radio Cabo KK SS LLLLLSSLLLLLL LLL LLL LLLLLL G LLLSSLSLSSLSLSSSLSLSSSSSSLSLSLSLS
" Computerised meters “ Carl be 5ummoned to W. No call up charge Within city limits Vehicle a Receipts issued on request " Company credit aw
Call 501502 50 1503 c.
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Another Aitken Spenc
 
 
 

ou do Ortste D
ccess from selected Stands
| labolE
է 501 504
-e Service

Page 5
Party Politics: Vanishing Batt
Lines
Mervyn de Silva
t"5 in OT PUBLISH. AND BE DAMNED, but apologise or BDBa SLued!
President JR has sent a letter of demand to the UNP journal SIYARATA, the Sunday Tires reported. THE SI YARATA, Hlas republished an article which appeared in the SLUMINA of the state-owned Lake House group, which has already published an apology on behalf of the SLN roda y Obserwer, its editor and political Columnist. The former President, a lifelong U IN P s talWart WiII derland 50 milion rupe: Es from the Editor i Ca55 of non-compliance and Rs. 100 million from the publishers of thE jOL rna, the UNP.
A senior SLFP'er used the Sinhala expression *ali kala balao (literally, 'elephant rumpus" or beeg trouble") to describe the situation. However, the SLFP is not in too good a shape either. The Sunday Times published a detailed account of the Telephant trouble" in the SLFP's decision-making bodia S. The article by the Usual||y well-informed political correspondent focussed on the head-on clash between the ""Hela Uramaya" Caucus. which is staunchly pro-SinhalaBuddhist, and the party leader
ATS. Baldara dike.
The issue was a meeting beteen the Opposition Leader. NAMES. Bandaranalike and represenlatives of the Tamil parties hich hava reached agreement a Four-Point Plan for a egotiated settlement of the ethconflict. The merger of the orth and east on a permanent sis is the main point in the Tamil formula. This new Tamil formation has been greatly stre
ոցthaned by th Mr. S. Toda det ad Millisi It is in his cap tiTIE EOS5 of thli the largest trade, L' plantation Workers daman has join LBLICLI5 WHLH that stand for 'E
"Sitt" O ""| fact thält Hg is President Premat
makes his preser participation, a goverппепt апd
get for the Op "Thonda" is a w a "War" and his
base has given no politician has such a long peri nade him a poli no Tajor party,
Canlı ignore. He F standing links w political establish Tamilnadu parties Lanka agreement 1987 "реace acc negotiated Witho pation. It is Mrs Who knows that
is the co-author -Shastri pact a
through on the w (or citizenship) is
The SLFP. |edd matter to bear it tad settlement of flict, a vital COIC India but the entire läd dono communi totally dependant On this door G the IMF-World B
Apart fгопп that Faгliаппепtaгy Sa|| on the ethnic iss
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

le
inclusion of n, CWC Prgser of Tourism. Facity as long — a CWC, by far Inion of (Tamil) tit Mr. TOled the Tami
cludes parties Eelam", a Tamif| and". But the a TiTi StGr of das a“5 Cabinet Ce and active ]roblem fOf the a tempting tarposition. But ateгап of плапy Strong political in a clout that enjoyed over Լյd. It has alsՃ tical factor that UNP or SLFP, as also longith the India
ent and the
No Indo-Sri l, except the ord has been Lit his partici| Bandaranai ke bD3St sirce sh B Of the Siria historic breakexed "stateless"
SLJE.
3r has another ind, a negotiaha ethic CoBrn not just for ! US-Japan-EC ty. Sri Lanka is
allyםiוחםחםBG ity andחmuוחב a.k.
thв all-part C Committe: ue is chaired
by an SLFP MP, who also intiated it by way of a private Members' motion. In a previous, post-impeachment confrontation with the Government, the SLFP decided to "boycott' the Mooresingha Committee. But commonSense and Westerm persuasion soоп ргопрtвd secoпd thошghts.
Under furious attack by the HELA U RAMAYA CELICLIS, MT. Anura Bandara naike, the SLFP's
national organiser, intervened. Si Ca tha Committaa Was in fact the initiative of a SLFP MP, it would be churish to ignore or boycott it, or in any way Obstruct ils Work. Parmanent
merger of course, was totally unacceptable. Richard Pathira na Supported Anura. And thara the matter stands, - a serious deadaLLS S Laa S LLLSLL Ha SLLLS tage" (HU) group is powerful endugh to obstruct any "concessions" to the THTils.
In a broader perspective howe War, it means a Sinha la TTL |tiparty consensus which rejects out right the core demand of the ввvвп Таппil parties, the Tamil
COTESL
But there are two parties that are conspicuously absent from these mutually exclusive consen
Sua platforms - tha LITTE and the DUN F. The "Tigers" will not yield on an "Eelam"
which means North AND East, although their spokesmen are Om record on Concessions to Muusi T15 il the gast — Seriautonomy Or 3r administrative Unit, What is more the LTTE is prepared to fight for it to the last young Tiger". At this stage of the struggle, the military is the all-absorbing.

Page 6
The DUNF has quietly shifted its position. Tha Executiwa Presidency as Well as the President were the twin targets of those who mounted the impeach ment" konspiratzia. But the restoration of the Supremacy of Parliament was their rallying cry, The logic was simple. The Worst excesses of the Presidency, they argued were possible because of the concentration of power in Bn Executive Presidency. The Constitution must go; parliamentary democracy must be restored. This meant of course a direct assault on the JR Constitution, a rejection of the JR legacy. And then came the aпnouncement in Kandy by Mr. Gamini Dissa na yake, the key figure in the DUNF, in as much as he was JR's trustead negotiator with the Rajiv regime pre
Gandhi-Jaya Wardene acCord, Lalith, the National Security Minister was no favourite of Delhi. In fact, it was Laith who
was told by High Commissioner Dixit that the Vadamaara Ch Chi operatіоп was totally шпассерtable to India. JFR hiTTISE If Con
firmad this Whan tly about Dixit": tan On the bac
is the change line on the Pre SLFP and Mrs whose leadershi пnini accepted o coincidence? TF receive JR's al cause the DUNF JR's historic politics - the Pre
JR had is first, fro 1978 ter Th. There is a man from CD OnCe therg has this instance ps pгasent day i. а. dan tial election. be purely acade seeing that JR 80's Tark ad ta' riar WOLIS riin a metaphor from game, cricket, W that tha D UNF With Mrs. Bar casualty of the legislation which
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No terms - the deemed as one nothing to stop testing again, De en a break in 5t-1938 to thea the next presiAll this may Tic speculation spast his midon the road to ties, to employ
JR's fa WOUrite hat i5 G|Bar is has cut its links daranalika, tha JR regima's allo vy ed a for
mer prime minister to become a non-person politically. No civic rights, ls JR"s latest intervention a political move that should be seen in the light of higher politics; the politics that may become quite active after September, and a politics Where Hulftsdorp ba Gomes the Centre staga?
The Unity of the Unitad National Party the unity of the SLFP, the unity of the 'Common Front" of the Opposition, the unity of even the smaller partias and mini-alliances are all under the severest strain. That is surely a symptom of a deeper malaise that raises questions ab OLIt Sociat W itself? OT are we seeingtoo much? is it only the confusion and fragmentation of the Sri Lankan elite unable to cope with a multiple crisis-ulltimately a deadly combination of the ethnic conflict, the endless War, the Violence. the rising Cost of living, un employment and the glaring inequalities of our society, as the rich get richer, the poor are slowly divento the Wall and tha OWer middle-class marginalised.
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Page 7
Sri Lanka's search for
Thomas Abraham
T; brooding, reclusive men, hold the key to Sri Lanka's fUture. One Is the President, Mr. Ranasinghe Premadasa. The other is the leader of the Liberation Tigers of Tami Eelam, Mr. Welupiai Prabha karan. The way these two play their cards will determine Whether Sri Lanka will contine to be shown as a single nation on the maps of the world, or Whether it will join the Yugoslavias and the Czechoslovakias of Central Europe and Spliter in to two or mora frid Ctilo LIS pieces.
Both men are possessed of a ruthless determination and are clear about their goals. Mr. Premadasa's is to keep his Country United and to go down in history as the man Whם ended a brutal separatist war and restored peace, Mr. Prabha. karan's is to Carve a separate Tamil State out of the island's North and East and be TEITEITbered as the warrior who TGStored to the Tamils their lost pride and dignity.
Neither man is going to find it easy to achieve his ցըal, Consider thea Sri Lankan President's problems. Mr. Prema dasa finds himself mired in a Counter insurgency war that his military seems incapable of winning, and which the country's faltaring EC010 m y Carlo SUPPO Tt much
Onger,
To see why the war SERETTS unwinnable it is useful to look at the military balance in the island's North and East. TПЕ. current round of fighting broke cut between the Sri Lankan any and the LTTE in June 1990, barely two months Efter the last IPKF soldier |9ft the country. At that time, the LTTE as in political and military control of the region. The Sri - kan army has since pushed a Tigers out of the main
Country's
- Writer was Hinau carres Pாே ? வேறாக // Early
|t} wiחs BחWםI BTI1 Pro WinCE,5 ; rtistorad Gülo ՃWEr the tivi But the LTTE - ed from the E ftrSFltEd into Where it lar With constant ATT bushes ac taken a steady lives, and it the army has r pacifying the L
In the North. the army face an unEasy star CO Fl trolls WaqWLI gate Way to the sula, Mannias is off Jaffna per Chunk of territor բart of Jaffria the heart of th Jaffna itself, it LTTE control, C rity does not ru Sula, and the GOW Bright.
The military's has been its at The Sri Lankan
dro Lund 70.000 s equipped and LTTE. But it Endugh mBr tg periority through conclusion by phy ing the North a
The Governme have the money arty with the needs. Mr. Prer OVer a cash st which depends h national aid to k IMF and the W so far been sup: free market polic WETոmant has fցII been generous w Bricial contributi generosity Wil | no War in face of decisive war. Wi circles of the G clearly understood be extremely diff

peace
ges of the Eastапd to an exten mbo's authority i administration. 1a5 поt disappeагst it has merely : he jungles from SS es the army guerila raids. and mines have toll of military is obvious that 10 t S LICCEEA dadi TTE.
tha LTTE and Each other in doff. The Bלוחח" iya town, the northern peninand, the islands Illins Lila, and a "W in the northern peninsula. But 3 Tamil country, S firmly under յlombo's autho1п іп the репіпTigers are the
main Weakness k of manpower. HTITly, which is trong is better агge than the does not have Dush this suto its logical sically occupyld the East.
2nt does not TO POTO wide te
Tħal fil power it nadasa presides !PpBd economy, ea Willy on inter Bep going. The Prld Bank hawe
Jortive of the ties the GowO Wēd, and hawe 'ith their finDS. But this | Contin Le for
a long, in
thin the innar DWE FT TEt it is I that it will cut to finance
NEWS BACKGROU Nפ
Іha wаг beyопd the end of this Year. Therefore, a quick SOL til either military or political is essential. But as well, St. a military resolution of tՒ1t: ethnic conflict is not On the Gards
The chances of a political and to the conflict 3 fe Tot much brighter. For the last 40 Years, Sri Lanka's Sinha lese and Tamils have been Una ble to FEECH ar understanding on thig Tamil demand for autonomy, Successive Sri Lanka Goversiments, with an eye on the wotes of the Sinha lese majority have taken a hardling on the Tamil demand. Mr. Pramadasa has perhaps shown JTEater Wiling ness than any of his predecessors to reach an agreg. ment with the Tamils, but he is also a prisoner of the Sinhales Wote Mr. Premadasa's Indin faar İş that any concession to the Tamils will make his WLJ In Berabla to Sniping by the main Sinhaese Opposition Party, the SriLanka Freedom Party (SLFP). Therefore, he has chosen not
to indicate what he WOLuld ragard as an acceptab peace package, but has instead left
it to a committee of Parliament t:0 0WO Iwg a Peace package Which he has pledged to adopt.
The parliamentary Committee, in the way of a Such cornmittees, has proceeded by fits and starts. It has Õteg helped by the fact that sileither of the country's two main parties, the ruling United National Party and the SLFP has mai апү serious Contribution to its work. However, despite this handicap. the determination of its chairman, Mr. Mangala Moonasinghe. as Well as the Tami political parties and the leaders like Mr. S. Thondman have BASILI rBdt He. the committee makes a serious attempt to produce a DOitica package acceptable to both the Tamils and the Sinhalasa. There is a general agreement
5

Page 8
that such a package will involve creating a Tamil autonomous region. The dispute is over tha boundaries of this region. The Tamils are firm that . thig Northern and Eastern provinces should be merged to form the Tamil region. The Sia le SE and the Muslims, who form a sizable section of the population of the East, are equally firm that the East should remain separate. The task before the committee is to find a compromise between these two po OSItions. One possible compromise the Tamils could live with is to provide for the Muslims of the East an auton Om OLIS Te9los within a merged North and East. Another compromise the committee chairman has been Working out is to hawe tWO SÉParate Councils for the Northern and Eastern Provinces, with an apex body that would coordinate the work of both councils. This, it is hoped, Will give the Tamils a single body to administer both Provinces, as well as allow the Sinhalese and the Muslims to say that the Eastern Pro WiiCG is separate.
The success of these two compromises will depend on the willingness of the UNP and the SLFP to overcome their political differences and evolve a bipartisan pakage that can be sold to the Tamils, Neither party has shown the courage to do this, and both remain locked in positions that pander to the owest from of Sinha les B cha uwinism. Both continue to use the ethnic conflict as an issue to
beat each other with, as they have been doing for the last 40 years. As an SLFP leader
candidly commented, ''Both the UNP and our party are treating the Select Committe as a cat and TOUSE garné."
Mr. Premadasa therefore finds himself in an unenviable position from where he can produce meither a militar y nor a political solution. One way out Would be to begin direct negotiations with the LTTE. But this once again carries tremendous political risks. The Sri Lankan Pre
6
sident is already hawing ta kad tic armed thern dL part of the PKI Lārikā. Tē Sina the military, the апсd his foппеr p |lith Athlu llathmud mini Dissa na yake, hiri as a traitor Cause. Besides.
made it quite cl be unhappy to talking to the L
Mr. Pra Eoha kari not very much bl chief's deterina separate Tamil S ka is beyond q Willing to comm thousands of Y this cause, and it Clear that Ha i is life for the Eelasill. But it te LTTE Wi|| || push the Sri La of the areas of East it contro S. Hara 5S and ble E prewent Colomb its authority ower But it is Tot militarily and po trol the entire a
Tiger are SEW hawa Teaduced the ability, One ha! OSSES, it Hi5, 5 or three major the агпу, espec PaSS and at ML hundred young and though tha been able to Te fill the gaps, t to how long th Cal Catil UE i LTTES ET The Tigers are the bottom of recruiting nine an
Teir is also ; long the rest of

under fire for the Tigers and ring the latter F's stay in Sri IBSB OppositiQI),
Buddhist clergy artyme, Mr. La| ali MT, GI= WOLld de Ou CC to the Silla||ES 3
Il di hid S äGO ear that it would םנbוחםlםSBE C ו TTE.
II's position is |attēr. The LTTE tión to Crea t9 a State in Sri Laiuestion. He is it tՒ1թ ||WEs Լյf bung Tamils to
he has Trade s willing to stake CaLISe of Tari i5 . Ewidelt til at tot be able to Inkan army Out the North and The LTTE CHIl d the army, and from exerting the Tail areas, strong enough litically to conTé日。
fa | factors that LTTE's fighting s been the large ustained in two encounters with ally at Elephant |llaitivш. Several
cadres died Tigers have cruit boys to here is a limit e Jaffna society to support the for manpower. already scraping the barrel by id ten-year-olds.
וחוסח סII tוחB II | Jaffna can en
dure the hardships of living in a battle zone. For two years the people of of the peninsula have епdured shortages of food, electricity, medicines and transport. Se veral thousands hawe fied Jaffna and live in Colombo or have emigrated abroad. There are definite indications that people's patience with the Tigers is at a low ebb, and they will Tot tolerat e the War Luch IO - ger. The LTTE realises that it Саппоt sqшевze the popшlatioп of Jaffna indefinitely and needs to Win some breathing space. Mr. Prabhakara is looking for a way to persuade Mr. Premada SB to de Care a Cease fire and
in Witte the LTTE for taks, LTTE Spokes The in Jaffna such as Mr. Yogaratnam Yogi and Mr.
Anton Balasingam have made it clear that they would welcome negotiations. The catch is that the LTTE would want to use the ceasefire to regroup its forCBS and prepara for a fresh struggle. A ceasefire Would only be a tactical step on the road to the LTTE's long term goals. ThU5 the Tigers hawe insisted that any ceasefire or talks must
not include preconditions that would force them to lay down their Weapons,
Objectively, both Mr. Premadasa and Mr. Prabhakaran nBad to stop fighting and start talking. The LTTE is looking for an offer from the Government that would freeze the Current militar y balance and all'OW them to Continue to keep their stronghold in Jaffna, Mr. Prenadasa callot afford to Take the this offer, si TCE it would raise an outcry from the Opposition. But with the military getting nowhere, the political process frozеп, апd tiппе and money ruling out, the Sri Lankan President has few options but to talk to the LTTE, and the Text few molt h S C Ould Wall see eitheг ореп or sвствt сопtacts, bet var Goverā and the Tigers as a pгelшde to peace talks.

Page 9
FEDEEAL ALTERVATIVE
Ecology of the questio
S. Sathananthan
1, introduction
A critique of the opposition
to a federal alterative in Sri Lanka (de Silva, 1991) was published by Amita Shastri (Shastri, 1992). In his reply, H. L. de Silva e literated his anti-federa list a55gr tion 5 bout in the process, he added a new, ecological dimension to the antifederalist stand. He clairned: "In a well-reasoned presentation Professor C. M. Madduma Bandara haS adVOCated a redemarcation of provincial administrat I've boundaries on the basis of the major river basins in the Country" which were "eminently fair ad easionā ble If this proposal were to be accepted by the Government the enthu - sias for fedgralism i 1 this country will evaporate sooner than the morning dew' (de Silva, 1992:15). Evidently the reader is expected to believe that Professor Madduma Bandara has discovered the Comprehensive solution to the nationality question, the solution which Was sought by social analysts across many countries for well over a century. The present essay will Examine this 'final solution" to the question of nationalities in Si Lanka.
But first, a brief note on the Finns ""da WOII Lution" and "decentralization'". Devolution of power involves the parcellization of sovereignty which changes the unitary State to a Federal State. Decentralization of authority is affected through delegation of functions Tich preserves the unitary S = E. De Vol Li tion and de Centr
Т= writar, a гвgш/аг салгribufог the L. G. Es Chairman, MANDFL Institute for Alternative Develop,(חטתrafשםםםl Regiong I Gםחם שח = ר
Effra, Sri Lanka,
alization could federal State;
State permits
only. Since the : has bogel 8
from Independen that a dgwo | tt iOT never attempted But this fact ha: by the sloppy u: terms interchang in point is the
titled "Sri Lamika Devolution and - financial impl Provincial COLII (Leitan, 1987).
essay, a clear maintained betw terms and incorr term 'devolution" by the qualificat
2. Неsонгсе сне rights of na
During negotiat after the colla Talks in August to decentralize : Lanka (dated 12 was prepated United Liberatior and Subitted Gard H. THE India (GOT) invi ment of Sri L cosmment on thit Jапшагү 1988 the GSL rejecte апd argued Intel resources of th
(а) "ате а с of all its communities of a right to obligation to II reSources":
(b) "transcend and district bit hawa bo Bell de for administrati,
(c) could be objective and s

of nationalities
D-exist Within a Lit a unitary ecentralization ri Lankan State unitary State :e, it follՃws of power was in the country. been ob SCU red e of the WO eably: a Case геseагch papar 's Proposals for De Centralizatio cations of the cils System" In the present distinction is
"een the tW0 ect use of the is indicated ion ""(sic)".
Velopment vs ti Onalities
iOS cod LCted Se of Thimpu 985, a proposal 1uthority in Sri December 1985)
by the Tami Frout (TULF) to Mr. Rajiv
Goverent of (ed the Governnka (GSL) to proposal. The }b Ser Wations : Of the proposal Giathat natura
C[]LJTltfW.
ritageםh חסוחוח Bople...and a II his country hawa are and an паge aІІ пatuга!
a || prowincia пdaries which arcated purely
po UrposEasʻʼ;
tilized 'on an Brtific Criteria"
only 'under an overal National Plan"; and
(d) "this proposal is in keeping with the concept of the unitary character of the country" (GSL, 1988).
Thus, the planning imperative was invoked and the development of the Country as a whole, it was argued, superceded the rights of different peoples to have access to, and exercise Control Over, their immedia te life-sustaining enwironment. It was implied that the violation of rights of minor nationalities (Tamils and Muslims) by the major nationality (Sinha lese) is a uma void ab e and perhaps necessary cost of development, That the Tinor nationalities Gännot share this wie W should not Come aS a Surprise,
Moreover, Western neo-Colonia is has advanced almost identical arguments to justify exploitation of national resources of "" Hic World" Countrie5. Negotiations on the Law of the Sea Under UN auspices replete With instances Where the West, particularly the United States. as insisted on access to Seabed resources Within the Excl'U- Siva Economic Zones of littoral States of the Indian Ocean on the grounds that outdated notions of national sovereignty and rights of nations should not stand in the way of scientific exploitation of resources in an inter-dependent world for the benefit of "mankind as a whole". The observations of the GSL merely applied this neoColonia | a D proachi tio justify internal colonialism (Sabaratnam, 1986) within Sri Lanka,
3, Domination through
demographic епgiпеering
Tha violation of the rights of people as nationalities can be Sustained only through political
7

Page 10
domination of minor nationalities. Demographic engineering is one instrument of domination through which States have attempted to neutralize the political power of minor nationalities. In some European countries racist policies on settlement have, under the guise of "integration", sought to disperse immigrants from the "third World" among indigenous populations so as to prevent the immigrants from coalescing into politically significant cultural groups. The Welfare" policies of the British State with respect to West Indian and Asian immigrants is a Well known case in point.
In ''third world' countries wherea minor nationalities a TE already established on a terri. torial basis and States articulate the cultural-religious identity of the respective major nationality, the aim of creating a homogeneous "national" society has ed States to pacify and COntain 'minorities" (Sheth, 1992: 425). Towards this end, one strategy used by the State is to finance and in troduce land colonization programmes to settle populations of the пajor nationality among those of the minor nationalities. The intention is to disrupt the geographical cohesiveness of minor nationalities and in time to eliminate the attribute of territorial expression of their identities as nationalities and thereby undermine their political significance. The preferred slogan here is "nation building". In Sri Lanka the land colonization programmes sponsored by the State to settle, on State lands, Sinhalase populations among Tamils and Muslims in the Northern and Eastern Provinces typify this approach (Shastri, 1990).
4. Environппөпta rationality
and demographic engineering
Unlike land colonization which by its nature takes place over a long period of time, a quicker strategy to pacify and contain minor nationalities is to alter internal territorial borders in such a Way to ensure that
B
(a) each new ulוח s aחtaiחםם lation and
(b) the բՃբul։ nationality is largest gгошp і
ThB attribute pression of th Tio r la tio la li affaced; the pli minor nationä| segmented as Segптепt to a new territorial any claim to : bү а пniпor па Ta de redu då
This strategy of anti-federal is TWiTOTTE They Were fir: Bt 3 Semilar : tional || Prowir C which was a 18 May 1991 hosted by The Professie A The Surveyогs Lanka. The pe by Dr Lione I the speakers in to Kodikara Politi CF || Social Colombo), Dr (Former Secret Housing and C A Thanga durai || Prof. C. Maddur partment of Ge sity of Perade DET IS IN FETFE Mr. Thangadurai all others are :
The Writer W Garmi ET.
|| || TE IE
|п his introdi Than alluded to Centralization o broader politic: which deliberati na r Would take Cular, the Wort Stressed aS Ees approach adopt in probing the cial borders v. Here the oti thDught was u: technocratic ap

Limit ODL
" territorial ti-til
tion of the major ույmerically tha
each unit.
of territorial exld identity of a ty could thusba оршlatioп of each ity woLld ba so
tO TEdLJICE Gä Ch піпогity iп each unit. In this way Galf-dater TiB til tionality could be
is at the COTE t a ľgLIT18nt:5 b a Sed Hntal rationality. st aired publicly =ds Ra)חWaיםT" לחו ial Boundaries". Hi im Cը|Լյmէյը Լյր and was jointly Organization of S5 OC Ft OTG ad | 15 titute of Sri ia | WIS CHäired Dassa na yaka and CILI de di Prof Sha(Department of Ев, Uпiversity of Nath Amarakors ary, Ministry of onstruction), Mr. (Mamber, TULF), ma Bandara (Deography, Univerniya) and Mr A do. Except for i, Who is a Tai, Sinhalesa.
as present at thв
опаІ" approach
uction, the ChairEtte TiptS at def authority as the il Context within OS of the Seiplace. Il parti"rational" was it describing the ēd by the pane
basis of provinwithin Sri Lanka. оп of ratiопа Sed to denota a քrtյքth which is
beliewed to ba Scientific and objective and to imply that aпalyses presented by the speakers are politically neutral and un contaminated by national chauWinism.
This faith in an abstract and uniwersal rationality was domiпапt iп Westerп epistвппоIogy up to the early 20th Сепtuгу. However, major advances in duantum physics undermined the Tio tion of al objective scienca which exists outside and apart fram human consciousness, Ser|- ous scholars today are familiar with the landmark contribution of Thomas Kuhn (1970) and kOW that HILI CO15Ci ou5e SS is integral to the social reality constructed by human beings and, therefore, that "rationality"
is rBätjWB. BLIt tB “Tätig lä“ approach Ostensibly pursued at tB, SB minär Wä5 bäSBd On thE archaic belief in objectivity and discredited idea of absolute rationality.
42, sorē tiE"
provincial borders
The title of the Seminar inplied that existing provincial borders are irrational. Prof Kodikara 5LIpported this wiew by arguing, firstly, that the history of changes iп the provincial плар show that provincia borders are Ot "Sanctimonious" and COLIld be altered again in future. Secondly, and with more than a touch of patriotism, it was argued that the provinces were created by the British colonial State, which had its "own realѕопs": паппely, as a Ipolitical strategy to break шp the Kandуап kid ir the Cra higrīds and 'to Weaken the national feeling of the Kandyans". A further change in provincial borders Was thon élévated to the exalted exercise of decolonization although the re-establish ment of the kingdom was not suggested. However, ha ignored the strategy of the Sri Lankan Stato of redrawing district and provincial borders in the North-East Province (NEP) in the context of the strong challe nga it faces from the Tamil nationalist T10 W Bment in that province.
(To be continued)

Page 11
Rethinking Education
Fantasy or Vision?
Premadasa Udagama
here has nie Wer ban a more propitious time to Commit ourselves to provide basic learning opportunities to all the people of the World." So ends the penultimate paragraph of the Declaration made on 9th March 1990 in Jomtien, Thailand by the World Conference of Education. Like all historic documents it abounds in Churchillian phrases and stiTulating rhetoric. One more example "Never before has the World had at its disposal So Tuch knowledge and capacity to disseminate it so widely and ES Such OW Cost." Ola Sreminded of the Bible, Curam, Dhammapada, Bhagavat Gita and even Writing as contemporary as the speeches of Martin Luther King Jr.
The vision of this document has its antecedents in the recent history of UNESCO. The regional programmes that culminated in 1985 in Sophia, the ASPBAE (Asian-Pacific Bureau of Adult Education) seminar in 1983, APPEAL (Asia-Pacific Programme of Education for a II) and in the FOLlth II terlational Conference on Adult Education. Perhaps there were many more national regional and international organisations, institutions and ageпcies advocatiпg апd plaпning "Education for all."
For UNESCO, it appears to be a new path. Наviпg esроused scholastic intellectual and academic type of education and Ecience and Culture of the Eurocentric world for so long, the organisation is now changing its course. Not too soon either. Of course, there Was adult and non-formal education to be sure on its agenda. But the Seminal Grk Sponsored by UNESCO wenty years ago in Learning to be had no reference in its index to 'poor," "under-privile
Tha иутгаг иvas Secretary, Miлfsfгү of Educat ar 'n ffig 75972-77 SLFP) (חםstrariקחו חב=
ged" or "depriv 'unemployed"
NOW апOst missionary CE ha WE OWEST tiāki
elegant prost French. Why siagm? 15 it
impending olc found the pot. embarrassent That elitism the South coul The poor in tries (the was societies) are ( are av en Suff ries, strategies
other intellec of develop The Samma fate til
"Head Start" pr JOHTI SCOn a Wai in educating deprived espe The docum asser tion, "ed al attailable sible? The Di listic as a II || S. the developm to be. The mind, is opti and Eurocent Taalistic.
The declar ignores Social titudes of the education in Once Sir Ed B. B. C.. Reith stated that fic: a kind of Li order to get promotion, S. B Ed Lu CatīOna | OB hark at On a do as mot Івdge or exper Education, t political, econ tual power, polised by th flessionali midd oping societ Cation is thai acy education
 

gd." It had "Poor" and "devaluation."
a Messianic and ncept seems to 1 it:5 Suller but in English or this Sudden Enthurealisation of its age? Or has it | in the World an and a nuisance of the North and | поt easily ignore? developing counmajority in these verwhelmed. They cating from theo| projects and the
tual paraphenalia Perhaps the הזוך hät ovartook the
oject of President ts this new thrust the poor and the cially of the South.
ent contains this ucation for all is
goal." Is it posaclaration is ideaIch declarations of nt of humans tend declaration to my mistic, simplistic C. It is tha least
tion consciously and political atruling classes to poor countries. плuпd Leach iп а Lecturg in 1962 ra I ad Location is decared War. In employment, a icial recognition, advantage of even вn examinatioп, sha T3 Orne's kno'W- i Encas With oth BTS. at gives social, OTC and intellecis virtually monoelite or the proa classes in deveBs... "Good" a d'U- s by right, Literand populist adu
cation are the only educational remnants for the poor, powerless and forgotten classes of the South. Will they share this education?
To expect the 'owners of education' the elitist groups in developing countries is asking their leaders to em Lula te a BUddha, a Christ or a Gandhi. There are no signs of such changes in the political World of the SOLIth. However, UNESCO's rhetoric in education has produced in developing countries a populist" type of education as has happened in Latin America so Wall documented by German Rama). Sinilar results can ba seen in SAARC Countries and S. E., Asia. Only few of the countries have developed a mass system of education, distinctly different from populist' education. Most developing countries hawa doled out doses of elite education to the masses. It is of no use to them in thair per - sonal lives or in their community and certainly of no advantage in employmant and in Wocational or recreational activities.
Freira Has Tallinded LIS that
every act in education is a political one. Even the Faure COTrmi55i On a 55 Erted that ed U
cation "is a domain whare politicians in developing countries after iпdependвпce had шпquestioned faith in education as a nation building and a development process. After nearly 40 years the euphoria is losing its clout in the minds of the ruling Classas and eWEarn the TāSSES, Nationhood had not belē, achieved. Development has not taken place as hoped. The decline in the GNP devoted to education is but one aspect of the loss of faith in aducation. Tho55 Who Hawe ber1afited from EdL
cation are those Who always had it - the middle and upper classes.
Iпdia is aп example of а сошпtry which honestly believed and planned to remove illiteracy in four decades. What is the result? Tertiary education has extpanded at the cost of primary and adult Educati01. EdLICE ti On fuпdiпg goes to the powегful
9

Page 12
group of voters and not to the Si lert masses. The largest posSi E la Umber Of ear Or5 BS been left behind while the highest possible level of knowledge is given to the chosen few. Why do the UN Agencies think that the futura Will be different? BECa USC they a dvocate SUch policies. No privileged group in any part of the World has wolLintarily abdicated from power to help other groups in Society.
The poor and the disadvantaged, if ever they perceive their goal of a better life for their Children, if mot for them, haựe always beeп fooled or beaten up or destroyed or lectured on the political virtues of observing democratic norms in fighting for their rights. The intellectLal, the educated and the power groups in developing countries CaOt tea chi Surviva Skills to the poor. The survival skills of these power grQUES a Te of a different order, They area in readiness to pack their bags to go to Yale and Harvard' as a German publication said of their scholars, The Su rwiwa | Skills of the power groups in the South are to search for greener pastures on the other side of the fепсе апd пот паcessarily iп Yale or Har Ward.
Nearly two years has gone by since this document was first issued. We do not see much public interest generated in 'education for all" in this part of the World. This region incidentally, remains the largest reserVoir of the World's poor and illiterate. Leaving aside this document, even the concessions given to the underprivileged classes and castes Were opposed by the upper classes in India. Even in Sri Lanka the positive His Crisid til ShoWF to TLIT areas in university admissions is under attack by the urban groups. There appears to be по groups or leaders any mor 9 to speak on behalf of the poor, the il literate and tha na Edy. Some NGOs and churches still do so. But where do they end up? In creating encalves of power and even destroying politics to suit their own struggle.
O
The cost of ed ting. Increasing education is Ker has njt increa SË Educatiola Sti fim. ES e Edua provisions for pr is di Werted tg tg The education o по priority. Some of the S adult educators to be a healthy adu Cato T W rota, prisé the larges tgräg5 in th19 - W WOTE E TE COTICE the rest of the gather." Anoth adult Educators i perorations and Origi armi mart and LI
fided to the Wri ago. "They bL aimidst as DicÉHIII
a particular state Tles its are Coimis. from an organisa Worked for over
in adult educatio
The ilcres in ginal in all Soul Trias, Ewen in SI has a high lite literacy rate has last few years, from this coun "Schoolgd | iterat for Tha Schools failing in their b OCCassional SLICCE education hides the Than y gra SSTC for equity, socii human dignity, l märt if the Wo O Educatio foT motiwa te ad Lu Catili EðLurea Lu Cfats and educate all the countries, it will to Luis is tha FrBT for "Liberty, ed tarnity.'
C E O CLI provideo a fickel the adult illiterati schooled poor? . it:SC|| f 31 LITETEåtEOS problems of hun ding 'the bruta Civil strife and , With an impend

ucation is mOUninvestment in Fila, for example, ld tolent in tutions. Sometioпa1 bшdgetaгү imary education rtiary education. f the poor has 1 this ԵDritext ef criticism of in India saams sign. One such ""||S COTIt group of illi:- ord. As for as Trıéd, WE 5Wamp World put LOar stated that indulge in "lofty sweet Words," || tad Luciat OT CONTter some years HIt a tollege of illiteracy in ". These stateg from activists tion which had half a century
literacy is marH1 Asia GOLIM| Laka Which racy rate the declined in the O le research Er try wrote of :y." Even the appear to be laisit style. The Is story ir adult the failure of STOETELS a justice and this el Wii Torrd Declaration A is a to onal plaппегs, politicians to people of their HF Els TDITE Il1GH RBWolution uality and fra
Tellt ält IE 8St, r of hopa for 35 and the UnTE LITET
the pressing nankind, in Clulities of war, riolent Crime". іпg world re
cession or awan a da pression and with a heavy burden of debt can the developing countries find the resources for gducating all their citizens? The adult education process in deweloping countries is a conserWatiwe Lunchanging missionar y process without much dynamism. It is like the study of geriatics in thesa Societies, No medical student studies it as there is пеithвr moпеy ог ргestige iп practising geriatics. Adult education is similar. It has no prBstigE unlike sciance education, management studies, and cornPOLITETS.
THE WHO Will immo Wata? Who will promote a new order in
a, political, есопопnic and social liberation of the poor Linschooled and the Lettered in developing Countries:
b. promoting specific modern and scientific techniques in educating the poor:
C. recognising the special needs іп вducatioп culture, sciепсе and technology for these disadvantagEd grՃLIբs:
d. ensuring sustainable dawelopment for the silent masSESP
The populist education for the Tasses With a Watarea di do W classical type Curriculum does поt provide employmвпt for them.
Can the non-formal education for tha ilitĒfātEG a CdL. It OT a formal education. With a un
qualified teacher, an old book, a blackboard under a crumbling =rםםטים EntוחWidB. EmpIDWםrנן לfםםח tunities for the poor in the deweloping world? If formal elitis education is not easily changed for 21st Century living, what fak2S LIS EDEgli EW E3 that tha ilter|BC tu 815 and tBachers i adult education Will Change O Em power the poor and the disadwantaged in the South,
Cliches in education promoted by international bodies are scattered in a sections of the documents. Some are useless cliches at that. "Learning begins at birth I thought learning begins
(73 ל-agaם חם שEשחתfחםC)

Page 13
The Problem of Sri Lar
Zeth HUSSain
he writer has earlier argued
(LG of 1 May 1992) that in Sri Lanka there is freedom of expression for the representatives of the people, but not the people. It has since been shown spectacularly, that freedom of expression for the representatives is also limited. The Government refused to allow parliamentary debates on Lha Auditor-General's report On the Central Bank, on the Elections Commissioner's report disclosures about rigging at the last General Elections, and or the Udugamբola allegations. The refusal was made in each of the se cases om grounds that practically everyone recognizes as thoroughly specious. Evidently the Government's position is that parliamentary debates will be allowed only to the extent that they will mot be to O BT1= barrassing to
The Government's position makes nonsense of democracy. Sri Lanka's peculiar Version of democracy might be called “quasi democracy” because it -tably t#Eםח טוחנgs Have stםם Tocratic features, but that Seets too naut Tal a term to describe something so patently non Sen= Sica, Sri LEkar de T10 Cracy WaS
made nonsensical by the 1977 Government. It will be remembered that under that Go Wern
ment We Were de luged by an Un relanting torrent of rot about Sri Lanka's far-famed five-star democracy, a performance that was vastly impressive for its sheer za minēSS. The more a Poporopriate term might therefore bia
попsensa dепnocracy". In the
interest of brevity, we shall
cell it "non-democracy".
A ||Lt|B reflection Will ShIOW
that the present Government is п по way to blame for Sri L= n ka's non-democracy. During the furore provoked in Parliament by the Government's disray of поп-democracy, aп Opposition politician asked whe
the Governet.
ther the Governme to kill democracy. of which the .Centםחlly inםWh ki|| || only what something that years ago. The ment assaulted d MS Bandaramaik its feet again and fair Election: ext Gowere about brutalizing
led a ReferandL General Elections see in the ng MTS Thatcher C refereld Urm,S a S demagogues and fact noited Elliso long ago. By ferendum, chara was by malpract stantiating the Thatcher and M denocracy Was in mania cal glē the corpse of S ппосгаcy has b= wanced state of the autopsy has Se wera I ti TBS 3 r Well known, So
19 ceSSaTV t0 g0 What has now dd is that the ment is merally of the norms of WHII amri thorՃւյլ by the previous further point t
Tāde is tat a C spread perception parties are also and it is confi that should they power they too devoj tio t Why then shou Government ald non-democracy?
Städ of blar Irient, and andlE the fate of Sri cracy, we could Whether there advantage in TherB is a grВ

nka’s Non-Democracy
Int was trying It is a charge Government is For it can is a live not was murdered 1970. Goweremocracy, but set it on y holding free in 1977. The I bri5kly Set Hemocracy, and m instead of | in 1982. We wspapers that ince de,5 cribed a "device of dicitätors", a by Karl Marx the 1982. Recterized as it ices fully subcharges of arx, Sri Lankan
kicked to death
B Sirl Lit them ri Laikal deHe is an ad
decomposition, been performed d the facts are that it is not ito de tai | har B. to be recogпіzTëSent Governacting in terms non-democracy ghly established Government. A at as to be cording to wideis the opposition To-daro Crätlic" dently expected WE COThe to will show great non-democracy. ld the present he blamed for
ming the Goversissly bemoa ning Lkā drītry to establish might be some non-democracy. at da to B
societies
said for looking at the cheery side of things, particularly in Sri Lanka where the people, according to one researcher at east have attained the secondhighest, possibly the highest, suicide-rate in the entire World. it is relevant to mention also that in the matter of disappearances, we have greatly impressed
that rest of the world. In this situation we must trY 10 Pro mote cheeriness rather than
alarm and despondancy.
Before examining a possible , racyם סdem-חסadvantage in n West state that there could be great value in merely recognizing Sri Lanka's dem O = Cracy for What it is, non sense, because that is the truth. For some reason, all known human have attached high at to Truth. Why this should be so is perplexing because, bviously enough, fase Hood is so much more useful in making one's way in lifa as shown by the careers of successful polifans. It may have something to do with a species characteristic, the human drive to seek out the facts, which varies in intensity but is there in practically all human beings. Wիցtever the explanation, the recognition of Sri Lankan demO= cracy for what it is, nonsense, should hawe great Value for us.
The possible advantage Of non-democracy that we hawe in mind could turn out to be a very substantial one. This idea has been prompted by a reading of Islamic political theory. the earlier period of Islam, there was a strong insistence by jurists and others that rulBIS should justify themselves in terms of legitimacy and justice. How
ever, the Islamic World BW Bf managed to sort Out the problem of legitimate dynastic
succession, usurpers took power quite often and the focus in political theory came to ԷյE exclusively on justice as Pro widing the legitimation for rulers.
11

Page 14
That is to say, they were required to act justly in terms of Islamic precepts and norms. In others words, rulers were expected to legitimize their power not by a legitimate process of coming to power, by their performance and nothing elsea.
In the good old days Sri Lankan governments came to a power through democratic elections the legitimacy of which Was never questioned, except of course that there were minor infractions which led to elections petitions. After getting elected democratically, they came to behave more and more un
democratically, and pola Cidly enjoyed their term of power how awar poor their performance. The rationale behind that was that as the Governments had come to power
legitimately, nothing could destroy their legitimacy and there Was no case for throwing them out before the next elections. The situation has changed after 1982 as the legitimacy of our Governments has become POTO= blematic, both in terms of the process by which they came to power and their non-democratic behaviour. It is a situation, just as in the Islamic world at ne time, in which only performanca and nothing else can provide legitimacy to the Govern. ment. The great advantage one can see in this situation is that it provides a strong incentive for a government to become performance-oriented.
It must be acknowledged, however great our commitment to democracy, that there can be excellent performance outside the framework of democracy, as formerly in South Korea under militar y dictatorship, It is Conceivable that President Premadasa, who is pre-eminantly the doer and not just another talkar, may take the corrective measures necessary for good governance, provide legitimacy for his Government through performance and bring Sri Lanka through eventually. This prospect cannot be ruled out, but a question arises. What happens
12
after hir? W 1977 Governme gets drunk W proCOPds to W аgаіп,
It has beer down the ages should depend if it is to secu quote by way from a source this is what headed realist in his Discours
"Herce it C kingdoms dep vigor of one slot Very lastim Wigor departs W
an. . ." This ha WB to astabl system under has a reason: SeCUring its fut really is to es Lu i der Which Controlled as Lui can become mi pend Under oli Tlat. I EFFF how tгy to est democratic syst
In trying to tČD take sewe account, such
Constitution W provisions whic like ar alltid trosity, our p Which has ap non-democratic opposition whic Some is coming hiberпatioп, ап ternal input W Out to BB CFLIC Or a borting dem Set these iппрот for tha present retainder of it the question President car to establish de
The prospect rather bleak. obvious that fg if any, сап || readily agreg t of their own reason that ror for power grow.

Carl hawa anothar ht, which quickly rith power and eck the coшпtry
understood right
that noe State on just опв man re its future. To of illustration
near, at hand. |E brilliant hardMa Chiwe II i Wrote BSG
Im es about that ending on the
man a long dre g because that with the life of
The as that We ish a political Which Sri Lanka ]blE Cham CĐ. Cf u ra. The problem ablish the norms PO OWE" Can bF2 controlled power ania Cal, as hap1977 GowerWe Trust some ablish a proper em in Sri Lanka.
do this We hawa a factors into as changing thea hich ha Some *h make it IOok emocratic Tonsolitical culture parently become the role of our sh according to out of its long d a possible ex1ich could turn kial in promoting to cracy, We will "tant issues Easide
and daal in the his article with If Whether the Bally be expected NOCra CW.
for that looks It should be W gO W Bern TertS, be expected to o a diminution O War, for tha nally the appetite S in the eating.
The attitude to power of most governments, right through history, was put succintly by the Renaissance Pope who on assuming office proclaimed to his friends, ''Gentlemen, God has given us the Papacy. Let us enjoy it."
It looks particularly un realistic to expect a non-democratic government to agree to a democratic system because that involves a far greater diminution of governmental power than under any other political system. Some degree of democratization is on a thing, a full-fledged democratic system quite another. The record shows that most governments in the Third World countrias hawa fiercely resisted democracy, until the pressure became too great to be resisted.
What is most important to realize is that even in countries Where democratic ideology has taken hold. Governments and their supporting elites have resisted, and fier Cely rasisted, actual full-fledged democracy for protracted periods. In the modern period, as distinct from the ancient Greek period of democracy, democratic ideology se tams to have begun during England's Puritan revolution of the seventeenth century with tha LeWellers and Diggers and others approaching the revolutionary idea of the sovereignity of the people, and thereafter it became powerful during the eighteen th Centur"y, Iea ding to tha American and French ReVolutions. But it is only in this century that a fundamental requisites of modern democracy, uniwersal adult franchise, has been realized in the West. Since the U. S. today is the foremost champion of democracy, it is worth recalling that notwithstanding the magnificent Declaration of Independence, enshrining tha noblast democratic principles, and the American Bill of Rights, both of them way back in the eighteenth century, the American blacks and women had to wage a heroic and protracted struggle to get their democratic rights, which became possible only in

Page 15
the course of this century. The truth appears to be that rulers and their supporting elites have
never really taken kindly to democracy, perhaps for two reasons at least. One is that
under democracy it could be. come difficult to keep the people, more particularly the lower classas, in their place. The other is that it do as mot alloW
sufficient power to make its abuse worthwhile. That Renaissance Pope, who so pithily
expressed the purpose of government from the ruler's standpoint, would probably hawa disdained to take power under a demo
cracy, except of course to subvert it. Democray, it appears, is something that has to be
extorted from Governments.
If such has been the travail of democracy in Countries where democratic ideology took root long ago, what are we to expact in Sri Lanka where instead of democratic ideology we hawe democratic rhetoric, form of Orwellian duck-speak in which the noises made about democracy are not much more meaning full than the quacks of ducks. We must remember that in Sri Lanka democracy broke down without a shot being fired, whereas in other Third World countries coups were required for the purpose. Furthermore, both the Government and the Opposition ara widely regarded as non-democratic. We Sri Lankans have not exactly been consumed by a grand passion for democracy. It is a situation in which the prospect of the Government taking to democracy like a duck to water looks remote, The continuance of duck-speak on democracy is more likely.
Let us assume, however, that President Premadasa decides that a properly democratic System is required to secure Sri Lanka's future, and proceeds to install it. He will probably be opposed by his own supporters. Here we must note the significance of the impeachment move against him. Factors such as caste and class could have been important. but probably more important
Wā5 thg fCt til the powers ar the UNP big henchmen. In major part of for the impaa CF they were expe
Taller fitti contin Lie to mi
On-democratic they had beco What we mig
Fantasy . . .
('Corri'r Lland Mr.
before that ew ning partners Of the forma partnership but lationship of апоther. Expert ship is not a ra lationship of
Partnership ii all government other social sec ing education necessity. Partir Cal structures i amphasized in iS a Sin E9 quo | ing action and
ETE.
The proposal plan in obtaini of 'community, operatives, relig other поп-gover ations" is welc many developin ligious institutior h to educatםטוח Buddhism and and of Christi times in the is Tlasses should to new possibi ing basic educa
But I wish for the statemen

at he was curbing ld privileges of
wigs and their Other Words, the
the motivation lment Was that
Cted to hawe in 9 dвпосгасу, поI Sbahawa i tha maler t0 Which T1ë a CCustOmed. ht expect from
the Government side is darnocratization, stopping short of democracy, to the extent required for "good governance" as understood by Sri Lanka's aid-bosses. For democracy, pressur has to mount from the other side, that is to say not just the opposition political parties but the Sri Lankan people who are supposed to be sovereign.
in page fO)
ant, "StrengthEsp5." Education type is not oп а
based o r l a rea - dominance ower
advice or donorOartners Fhipo blut ä depвпdепce.
education of departments and -tסוחסrs in prסt. is an absolute Iership in Wertieducation well the "Guidelines. -tם וחםחם חםf חיםח planning in this
in the actio rtסg the Suppחו ESSOciatio 15, COious bodies and nmental organisOme indged. In g CO Lutri ES reTS Still Contributg ion. The rolց ըf Islam in the past inity in modern Iducation of the Open our eyes lities of providt|O for II.
O find evidence | "GivBI the im
portant Contribut lom that basiC education can make to national development and to resolving major global problems. . . ." This is the missionary section of the document. But in spite of it all this attempt to promote the education of all is a worthwhile gift to mankind, at east to those living in sullen societies. These Societies refer to quality and standards in education and not the education of all their peoples. There is a sustained myth in education that more means low quality education and that equity апd excellепсе агg diagoпally opposed and that both cannot
be achieved. This is a propagated educational mythology of the educated a lites of Colonial
COUntriës.
| hawa read SOFT19 Where that the average literacy of the Third World was 56 per cent. To achiеve a literacy rate of 100 рег cent for all Third World coun
tries Will perhaps ta ke a mother Century if We reta in that as a goal in the 21st century. The document is, therefore, of historical importance as were the Karachi, Addis Ababa and Sad drawn up about good archiwal material and not easily imple
Tented.
Diego plans three decades back,
13

Page 16
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Page 17
The suppression of Ta
D. P. Siwaram
ne of the first concerns of the British as soon as they conquered the southern parts of India was with the ancient and ingrained "habits of predatory war" among the Tamils. The extirpation of these 'habits" and culture was considered essential to establishing their authority in Tamil society. The Tamil region was ceded to the British in July 1801; a proclamation Was issued by them in Dесепmber the same year whereby the use of arms was supressed and the military service traditionally rendered by the Tamil military castes was abolished. It was stated in the proclathation that "wherefore the Right Honourable Edward Lord Clive, ... with the wie W of preventing the occurrence of the fatal evils which have attended the possession of arms by the Poligars and Servaikaras of the Southern provinсвs... formally аппошпces to the Poligars Servaikaras and in habitants of the southern provinces, the positivé de termination of His Lordship to supress the Luse and exercise of a II weapons of offence" and that the Palayams would be turned into Zarnindari estates for the purpose of preventing the Tamil military castes from engaging in their customary military services. The British proclamation abolished the Palayam system 'In the confident expectation of rede eming the people of the southern provinces from the habits of predatory warfare' and in the hope of inducing thēm to take up "tha arts of peace and agriculture". The ban on carrying weapons was crucial to the urgent task of depriving the Tamil military castes of their traditional status in the southern provinces. The woods and fortresses of the turbulent Poligars were destroyed and removed from all maps and
official documents (they remained so until the time of Karunanidhi). Lushington, one of the
first British off to tha Tami I TE that the military ing ar med amic population w agriculture Sto
east India Co and the vast r land. (Caldwell
The da militarizat region did not Kallar Caste wh valuable service in the importan Carnatic by Wh ted the whole The heriditary military caste wi Pudukkottai -- tt who had sided against Hyder A. son Tip U Sultan tha Gary Wars th on behalf of the in south || 1 dia, mada Lup a si zabili forces, But the Other Tam II mili to be di fra 1Chi SE society of its and culture of fare. What did by the Tamil ha War) Tha Tami contain treatises and the conduc it as Tha Turu undertaken on Manu TL thioli|| takan on bg half commander)-To thina iyiyal-60. U | martial CastBS tinent the Kalla War Were not ye who dropped t the sword only They had to se Whel their ki WES Olt at WaT hero-stomes foun COTTCOrtE SL Ween groups of war. Some of th who are Wors day in Souther afe Marwa Ti Wh the T15C VeS in Su took placa even

mil military castes
icials to be sent gion, had noted Castes by remain ist an unwarike Holly da voted to od between the
impany's coffers We Les Of te :1888, chapt, 9)
ion of the Tani Soare ewê the sich had randered
O til Briti t Wars of the ich they sujugaof south India. chiefs of this bere the kings of The Thorndaman5 With the British Ali and later is I. Iп maпy of 19 British fought Na Wab of Arcot the Kallar had e portion of their Kallar and the tary Castos had id to rid Tamil an Ciant Faboits predatory Warthe British mea Dit of predatory | Works which or martial life t of war define tholi (a task one's own) and (a task under of the king or kappiyam, puralike many other if the subconad the MāraDIT T1 pe3Sats le plough for n timas of War. k battles even Ig - Or Ch gifta
Most of the in Tamilnadu h battles batKallar or Mara2. Warrior gods ippвd to this | Tam II madu distinguished h battles which fter thig British
began to abolish the culture of predatory war. The bo W-song of Elenamuth up Pandian, a Tam
demigod, describes the martial life and heroic deeds of that Maravar Warrior who lived in British times. The warriors Virtue was to desire the biss of the heros heaven; it was degrading for him to seek fortile - lands. The Puranaanooru (an anthology of tami heroic
poems) derides the newly arisen kings for their interest in rice Yeilding fields (verse 287), War Was the sole occupation and aim of the Tamil warrior clans. A mother describes the Tami martial ethos - "To bring forth and rear a son is my duty: To make him a warrior is the father's duty:
To make spears for him is the blacksmith's: To bear bright sword and do battle, to butcher enemy elephants and return, that is the young man's duty" (verse 312). În many seventeenth and eighteenth century British reports the epithet 'fierce and turbulent" is very often used to decribe the Tamil military classes. Their ancient and deep rooted cultural hвgemony in Tamil society was seen as a positive threat to the perpetuation of colonial rule. To eradicate it the British adopted a dual strategy. On the one. hand they attempted to destroy the social structures which sustained this culture; on the other they promoted CăStë5 which stood to gain from the suppression of the military castes. The most important structura which gave the si Kallar and Mara war immense power in the Tamil countryside was the system of Kawal. It was abolished in 1832. This has been the traditional means by which the Kallar, Maravar and Ahampadiyar derived their livlihood in times of peace when they were not employed as soldiers. The manual of the Tinnevely district described the origins of
15

Page 18
the Marawar Kawal karas thus "As feudal chiefs and heads of a numero US class of the population, and one whose charactaristics were eminently adapted for the follo Wars of a tLEOLI Et Chieftan, bold active, enterprising, cunning and car pricious, this class constituted themSelwes or were constituted by the peaceful Cuti WatOTS th Gir protectors in tilles of HGOdshed and rapine, vien no centra authority existed. Hence arose the System of Desha and Stal Kawal, or the guard of Seperate Willages. The feudal chieftan
(and his Kallar and Mara war) TECEiwed Ed Contri El Lutico from the a rega aro Lund Filis fort in C15 idaritið of protection
afforded against arried invasion" The Willage and district Kawa|| sysтеппе реппneated ппапү levels of rural Tamil society and hence was ide race to the effective implementation of new form of Eadministra tion and reven LIB C0|lection. In SOIThe In Stan CBS KBWa| Wa5 tak90 OVET from the Tilitary Castes and Was hand Bd ower to the Shanar (Caldwig||: 1888 p. 224) or anti-Kaval movements were encouraged among non-military castes to coerce them to give up Kawal, Sell their lands and leave. (Madras presidency. Polica administration 1896) Many efforts were taken t0 put Ed Stoo to the Kawal services of the Tamil military castes in the countryside in the first half of the integrith Century culminating in the organization of a new police system in 1860 which recruited mostly from a mong Castes Which Were Considered fawo Urable to the British.
The Adi-Dravidas or Parayar were recruited heavily into the Indian Army. The Nadu
Amb3|akarar institution of the Kallar by which justice Was traditionally dispensed in regions dominated by thern was also a bolished to rilake way for tha penal and judiciary system introduced by the British. Depriv. ed of their traditional occupations of Kawal and soldiering and in some instances of their lands a large section of the Tamil military castes became in
the eyes of the colonial govern
16
TEt, i de|| danger to the A body of at ethnքgraphic li this perception lO pOr tra y lar Tamil martia c. It also relegate Targins of Tar Culture. The Ki who had been the military Southern prov British writors 35 CF irrinā| tri E ënd of the mir
The task of
Tamil military c troying the st traditional pa. Society was
the prtյrրըtitյր Shamars (Nadar and the Nattan trasted fawo Mara var and su T8W en LIB, SëCLITij Among these tht ed the TOSE fa the following r
a) They were the 1871 Madr "E բE HEE Iւյալ industrious peo es Sentia | to :
BW FEELE tiwe man Lual (C that the Weld the backbone It is thay who try and fruga develope weat administration, топ вy for iп trict damd5."
b) It was a "a CCOrding to husbandry was t means of lively they had по е: tions of kings Mara Wär. TH3 N noted that Ary the great gener teeht century froпп пmakiпg | Ճn the ground ought to be a
c) They were for the expan needs of British They were L

quent mass, a ural social order, ministrative and Eerature TOSE C01 and on the need d classify the stes as criminal. d thịGm to the hil history and |lar and Maria WaT refered to as tribes of the inces by early were classified es towards the teenth century.
disfranchising the astes and desFu Ctres of their Wer in TaTi| strengthened by of the Well a la 5, s), Adi Dravidas padis Who Con'ably with the itad thig aims Of y and coversion. 3. We || alas acquirOured status for EESOS.
, according to aS CenSUS repOrt ng, frugal and ple“. They were insolidating the and administraoimbatore) notad las Were "trully of the district. by their indusility create and h, support the and find the perial and dis
5Certained that native ideas' heir only proper iood and that stablished tradihip lika Kallar Madurai manual anayaga Mudali all of the sixWa s dissLI a ded himself a king that to Wallala king.
found suitabla ding man power i administration. пsшrpassad ES
accountants and many of thern Were amployed as Karnams or Willage accountants.
d) They Were extremely Conser Wative in their outlook. The Tanjore manual observed "in religious observances, they are more strict than the general iry of Brahmins; they abstain from
both intoxicating liquors and meat'
It is in this milieu that the
Draydian movement took shape as the pro-British of the demartialized Tami Social order.
Lette
VVFFFifaris FTP and Gasée
With the réfgrer). Ce to the above article in Lanka Guardian (1/7) 1992. In the article the Writer Mr. D., P, Siwara, some facts are incorrectly stated.
Tha Statge it a Strong, narrative is found in Myliddy is CofE Ct.
The names of the " Chieftains are Weeramaniccathawan, Periyamadduthewan 8 Narasin hathewan.
The Statement that the marawa Chieftains and their Casternen
married among Karaiyar of the village is also correct.
But the Statement ab Out
Thuraiyar and Panivar is incorrect.
The facts:
The clans known as Thuraiyar and Paniwar in this village are the des Cendents of the ancient families of My liddy.
The martial arts of ma TV a ara popular among these two clans
though the Thuraiyar is considered as superior.
Thuriyar as well as Paniwar
Were connected by marriage to Ramnad the home country of thig Mara War for Which e Wild GT1Ga is available,
| aT one of the di GSC andets of the ancient family of the Willage and the Writer of an article titled as "Ancient Willages in Jaffna which appeared in Eelaadu on 13.07.1986.
M. Raja Joganantham Colombo 6,

Page 19
SA LAMMA
Democracy: Strains an
Bruce Matthews
or almost 20 years Sri Lanka
has regarded itself as a socialist democracy. In order to express what this means, it has dramatically changed its Constitution in 1972 and 1978, adjusting the latter amendiments in little OWer i a decade. It has done this at a time when the country has been wracked by ethnic communalism, іпsшrgeпcy and much accompanying social and economic distress. Yet despite this disorder and the fact that one-third of the island is still in much turmoil that it is beyond the reach of representative government, Sri Lanka in some sense sustains a political democracy. It can be argued that it is quasi-democracy or a democracy under siege but nonetheless a system of multiparty elections remains in place at four levels (presidential, parliппегntary, provincial апd local).
Wo discuss here the un CGTtainties of Sri Lanka's current dilema of democratic goverппепt by focшsing especially оп its Parliament. The authority of Parliament in particular has BEET TITUCh radu CEd sinca 1978 (an almost total concentration of power in the office of an executive president reinforces this impression), but it neverthe less continues to invovle itself significantly in several levels of political power and influence, In this regard, a major Confrontation between oppositional elements in Parliament and PresidЕПt Ramasinghe Prema dasa in the autumn of 1991 made it evident that the legislature was not altogether impotent. This incident deserves analysis.
Brice Marrhe His Is the C. B. LHIrisder Fraserrar of Carparafiye Religilar OH S LTTMG S S CLOLLYS LLCHLOH CmekTS ரோரர்.
With 17:
It showed that e CLI tiwe presid declaring itself depended for its Wiwa both O. democracy and Which must Wor harmony with executive.
ROe Of Pai
The question role and prestigi arose largely be its power was t executive-style 1978. When cor presidency, with fully independe Parliament may r all that importa of Sri Lanka's most citizens eq dem Cy with the Sri Lanka Tathar Parliatent. Criti Sent SWStem բՃimt Ճut hՃW t חWEr iםם fם חםi has CDmpromised Wery ra fiscar efre. ioning that a pra putatively introdi the political st for economic g vestment, and pressure of pa: winds has trar into a sort of Paradoxically, fc J. R. Jaye Wardei blished the execu was referred to parliamentarian" : personally the bu
Tent's avish But Jaya Wardena forward measure part of Sri Lam pendence experie requiring signed letters of resigna 140 of his mem ment. The integ

di Peris
Sri Laka's exfם tחםy, Shםח. a dictatorship, political Surinternal party a legislature k in reasonable an OmniբՃtent
TetE
of the present e of Parliament cause most of ransferred to an presidency in pared to this its large and t sвсгвtariat, not appear to be in the context olity. Indeed, uate the presi"government" of than With its Cs of the preof government hê - CO solidatthe presidency of Parliatent's
There questsidential system ced to provide ability required OWith and in"freed front the ssing political sformed itself authoritarianism. Ter President ne, Who estative presidency, as a "Committed 2wen owerseeing ilding of Parliae W premisés. also brought hitherto Ot ka's post-indenCe, Such as
but undated aII וחסfr וחםtiו bers of Parliarity of tha || 977
Parliament was also Weakened when, in December 1982, President Jayewardene cancelled the proposed 1983 parliamentary elections and by use of a dubiously conducted referendum, Extended its terri for another five years.
Parliament was to a degree kept alive during these years by the sheer dynamism of the then long-time prima ministar. Ranasinghe Premadasa, who had to struggle constantly with other cabinet Ministers to Taintain his pre-eminence. Parliament was their forum, the place for MPs to work up the necessary political support and achieve high public profile. It might be noted that President Jayewardene appeared Willing to share som E of his powers with ministers. His venerable age and gentlemanly style helped him exercise
his presidency without overt challenge from his party or from the public at large.
What makes the present Parliament so different is the fact that there is no longer a strong prime minister, litt la
devolution of presidential power to the cabinet, and lostruggle for doппlпапса аппопg the cabiпеt ministers themselves. This being so, thé authoritarian character of the executive presidency has becoппа evеп пmore apparent. Iп Som a quartBTS thre is axity and passimism about a perceived lacklustre role and a declining relevance of Parliament,
Some will maintain that in a systern Where there is an electEd president, pariamentary ele Ction is merely a confirm etion of the President's popularity and public image. In the case of Sri Lanka, however, the introduction of proportional repraSantation 1988 has
17

Page 20
provided Parliament with a substantial political opposition. Therв аre cшгreпtlү 225 пnembвгs of Parliament 196 are elected on the basis of proportional representation and another 29 аге арpoiпted from a "Natioпа! List". With 125 seats, the United National Party holds a modest majority. The Sri Lanka Freedom Party has 67 seats, and the remaining 33 belong to a variety of political parties did alia C35, TF1L5 in al inportant Way, Parliament con tinues to refect the public Will. And because only Parliament сап pass the budget, it provides some degree of check and balance to an all powerful presidency.
Further, as the Constitutional crisis of August 1991 demonstrated, the President needed the goodwill and support of his MPs to hold on to authority. It was not a question of how much constitutional power the
1989 Parliament had, but how
Tiuch seal is lif|Leslite it could
exercise over the polity.
The constitutional authority
of Parliament was tested to its Lutost in the Crisis Which Lfolded on 27 August 1991, when 127 MPs, including Supposedly 47 from the governing
UN P, signad a resolution of impeach ment against Prasident Prema dasa, Fifteen paragraphs
of allegation of abuse of power were detailed, including charges of extravagances and corruption, of operating a police state, and of arting the Liberation Tigers Of TT || EET
The petition which sought the rewal of the President was suddenly (and at the appropriate astrological hours) submitted to House Speaker M. Haniffa Mohamad, WHO at ОПСЕ informed President PТЕПаdas a that hé Would "Entertain' it. Because of the secrecy with which the impeach ment plans were worked out between disSiderit UNP for C35 and thig Opposition SLFP, the action took many by surprise. According to
18
the Costitutio has the pOWer a reSOlUtiOn ä EJgfOľg Parlia The by half of the of MPs and if that such all inquiry and Supreme Court. edly, the respo
Prehadasa was Sive. He isIme Parliament for allowed his support and strategy. The follo WE WETE invective and no clear indicti WOLId Unfold.
The impeach a complicated four steps: ent FEsolution by passing of the Parliament by majority, provil before the Sup passing the res. Pat Wit. majority. By appeared a lor di SC ChatEd the SLFP, not fore the Crisis to in Wolve fu O CORh fidence TEt ad 10 C: Speaker. In S from late Augus Os T 991 VES but it was als the power of in particular th: — held the pol the country in tailed accounts of the oppositi the Fra sidenta the 59 restless DB fOLIrld BlSi3M Eeen rUrmours about the poss mentary "coup"
ESLFP of the UNP, Was Worked before the in E İOn Was hade the Tebe UM рагӀіаппепtariапs TalkSG.

in, the Speaker to COI sider SLICH nd to place it nt if it is signed Whole Liber he is satisfied egation(s) merit геport by the Not unexpectrise of President
SWift and de Cidiately prorogued
t. Ti time to gather worked out a four weeks that ԷյIIITimլtitl ԱմitՒ1 With ,חםLiם וחווחם: on of how events
rent process is involving 3 Titain TEt of E
the Speaker, 3 regSO ILI tion ili a two-thirds g the allegations ir-Emme Co LI rt arid iolш1іоп again iп a two-thirds any count it g shot for the JNP group and impossible. Bewas over, it was tller mtյԼigns of in the governOnfidence in thg um, the period it to mid-October haotic and tense,
a tire Whig Parliament and at of the Speaker iti Cal destiny of its grip. Daof the actio ion groups and forces during fel W. Weeks Can here. There had for over a year ibility of a parliainvolving the a ginger group At last a plan out. Two days a Chelt reStoud to the Speaker, NP Ead SLFP quietly closed
Oetile Cabile Minister Gamini Dissana yake dropped in a cabinet re-shuffle in 1989 регhaps for questioпable loуаity to the President Prema dasa im the latter's eyes, and the allIsland organiser of the SLFP, Mr. Anura Bandara naike, reportedly met at the funeral of Rajiv Gandhi in May 1991.
Not all SLFP meTibers of Parliament Could be counted OIT to support the initiative of an it peach Tent order. Former SLFP Speaker Stanley Tillekerating геfшsed to епdorsв the proposal and Other SLFP MPS Werg to approached because of шпсегtainity ower their disposition, Of the Waious smaller political parties represented irn Parlia riment, support was mustered from the
USA and the MEP. Finally, With the Critica backing of three UNP Ministers (Lalith AthLi la thirT udalai, G. M. Pri erTma
chanda and Chandra Galkanda) and 44 other UN Plebers of Parliament, a petition with the signatures of over haf the House Wis Secured. Without a twothirds majority, Speaker Mohamad might have straight away rejected the resolution but the Opposition must have deter
milled that ha WÖLld Copt to
exercise his powers of review,
which he did.
The initial predicament for
President Premadasa was his not knowing who had signed the resolution from the UNP. A 'wanguard of eight MPs clearly
acknowledged their link With the Opposition. The other 39 signatories had to be sought
out for possible recoversion." By Thursday, 29 August, the President had ՃԷյtained for signatures of support from 90
MPs, leaving only 35 rebel parliamentarians. In due course, most of th959 recanted. In the
meantire, the President secured an understanding from the arted forces that they would not inter Wene in the Crisis. Het BISO made an important visit to Kandy for an audience With the two powerful prelates of the Siam Nikaya the Mahanayakgs of Asigiriya and Malwatte. Two weeks

Page 21
|latar, in mid–Septembвг, the UNP dissident Gamini Dissana yake also Want to Kandy to explain the position of the rebel group to the monks. There is soma indication of a split in the attitude of the sangha (the the collectivity of monks) over
the crisis. The possibility of their political in Wolwe mant, although unlikely, cannot be
entirely disregarded.
By mid-September Speaker Mohamad appeared to be lending his support to the impeachment procedures. He rejected an advisory opinion from the Attorney General that the resoution had tapsed by virtue of the fact that Parliament had been prorogued and that the resolution had not been placed on any parliamentary Order Papar. Resisting requests from his suppor ters to per finit a motion of no confidence in the Speaker, President Premadasa instead preSentad Mohamad With a list noW signed by 116 loyal UNP members of Parliament - well over half the HEuse. Ha further obtained the parliamentary support of the SLMC, TULF and EROS, Although EROS hadsplit into two factions in June 1990, With Om9 branch returning to Jaffna and the other loosely aligning itself with the government, in early October the Jaffna group returned to Colombo, ostensibly to end further Weight to Premadasa" s struggle for Survival.
Even as late as 24 September, Speaker Mohamad gave avery indication that he would eventually proceed (possibly by secret ballot, although this device is not in the Standing Orders of Parliament) on the impeach== In TBSolution on C Parliament Econvened. Enormous rallies in ta Big of ta UNP re big 3 tracted both the Committed the Curious. Two more UNP inisters joined the ranks of te Teballs, while others wa Cil=ted, tгуіпg to determiпе which
the tide was turning.
Parliament was ceremoniously econvened by the President on
24 September. je ering, hecklin the first time. S indicated that about the Walii the signatures ment resolution Would rule Of th On 7 October, ha accepted t notified Mrs Ba had given the solution) and th there were not signatures and cent matter be entertained decisioп appearє Opposition off-g submittad a fu 1 October Of m tחmBחWBrםthe g that it had art Tigers of Tamil
An attempt W pone this secon instead declared Speaker. On 1 ( final attempt to the Opposition Speaker Moham - חםח tion ofסוח was accused of согrшptiоп in гE tial motion o After a full day aker Mohamad : tion by 1 23 vot det Prana dassa mentary allies h the day - but r affort and Cos|| whole, the incii ded EJLut Exhiär a HDլISE that mic ers it had probat no longer in its
For the SLFP, tary challenge t Could õt ha We time, as the in an unresolve logical and powe Wg|Corned the C crisis providad, fair to BSSLIm B leadership never singhe Premada occupant of the is so becaused ably conducted tion Of Da Cebo

It was a wild, g session. For peaker Mohamad he had doubts dity of some of оп the impeachI, but that ha he matter shortly. 40 days after he notion, he ndaranaika (who 10 tice of the reE P TEGEL THE
enough valid that the impeahad "ceased to by him. The d to catch the Uard. They had rther Totion on O COlfi dece il on the grounds ed the Liberatio
Eelar.
as made to postTotion; it was invalid by the October, in a force the is SILE, tried to oust ad in a third Cofide Cg. He dishonesty and tjecting the iniזEnוחחםBa מוחf I 's debate, SpeSurvived the moEs to 85. Pre5and his parliaad at la St Wol ot without great Taken a S a ent left a divated legislature, W enjoyed powlly thought were
grËSp.
the parliaптепthe President COB at a better arty was hired i internal ideoT. Strugg|B, ThBỵ Ver 5-i) t Flat the although it is that tha SLFP: accepted Ranaa as a rightful residency. This the questionresidential glacr 1989, which
Mrs Bandara naike narrowly missed Capturing. It is also because of habitual expectations in the matter of the social background of the head of state.
UNP involvement
At this point it is important to consider the causes that lay behind UNP involvement in the affair. The first allegations stated to have been supported by the 47 non-conforming UNP parlia matarian 5 W Era basad o the charge that the President had 'knowingly and intentionally violated" many Articles of the Constitution. In our opinion these charges focused, in essence, on three features. First, taking over the powers of Parliament to the extent of reducing the role of cabinet ministers. Second, carrying on a secret pact" with the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam, thereby "imperiling the security of the state". Third, what was generally alleged as Presidential corruption, Wasteful expenditure and Vanity. Ouite remarkably and gratuitously the document suggested that this was due to 'mental infirmity". Some of the charges concerning corruption were crudely phrased. They diminished the importance of other, more urgent issu GS. The charges associated with how the President was responsible for arming the LTTE to fight the Indian Peace Keeping Force and rival Ceylon Tamil groups (and ultimately the Sri Lankan army) were likewise not what was really at stake. Unfortunatelỵ, thay hawe Since been used not only to discredit the President but to fan the divisive fires of communal chauvinism.
It is the first of these charges which warrants careful review. The crisis was primarily the result of an internal UNP party rewolt ower style of presidential leadership. At the heart of the matter is confrontation between the old elite of powerful families (walawa des hapa Kakas) and that Of a new Order which claims to transcend class distinctions and tradition. President Pro
19

Page 22
Пајаša a Vers that this "class struggle" is What caused the attempted COUp, The incident
was representative of a genuing dislike by Certain key elements in the UNP for the way in which power had come to be exercised by the incumbent Pre: sident. On the question of a 'class struggle" within the UNP leadership it can be argued that the majorily of UNP parliametarians selected by President Premada sa in 1989 Were from more collic place or less-thanprivileged backgrounds than those MPs from former UNP governTents. Such representatives have loyally supported President Prenila dasa's political wision for the Country, and hawe been supportive of him in Parliament. A
process of what James Jupp Orlog Caled "FETatioflåligation" has taken pola CE, Wwith the re
Sullt that tan y MP5 and even LLLLLaL LLLL LLLLL S CLLC LLLLLL LLLLaLS educated, less sophisticated and LSLLL L S SS SLLLLL LLK LLLLS S S LaL S aL predecessors in previous parliaments. This is, ho WÉwar, mot a matter of caste adjustment. Our studies of caste affiliations for both MPs and cabinet ministers indicate no important caste shift in this regard. Further, it is not a matter which affects only the UMP. Ne W. Tlembers Of Par| ia Tibet for the IS LIFP Taf | act a similar background. As a consecqшепce many from all parties remain vaguely informed about national and international issues, and the lewe | Of Constru Citi WE parliamentary debate remains low. For the UNP, in particular, the parliamentary political system of Choosing Candidates has por Cowed incapable of throwing up a new generation of thinkers or leaders.
Conformity End 'relation a lization' has EEEI achieved, but 8it a por iC9. POSSiboly many morg UNP parliamentarians than signed the impeachment petition resent The Const Taint 5 put up of them by the President. Although the prerequisites of office remain attractive, clearly there is dismay
over the declining significance of parliament in Sri Lanka's polity. The dictatorial trend in
the UNP had become unbear
20
able", claims yake. Ministers Flair about bein authority they been given ove presidential adw
Et SECTEtäri G5 member of pai Wanni Samara, observed that
reduced to a that of a Griff (a local gove
hn B. C.0 Luild Wrig || ig for dozens This marginaliz: lessness of parl Sealta Lliw 35 il gOWET I 1 ITT EL TESI Sent Crisis 5 Tonths of the The rewolt Wadi Prasid Erit Pre refusal to Cons tia | Sections of the UNP majori it further appea east, that the fully respect t his Cabinet arit mEntary majori
expected thern his vision, his strategies. Not
teгпal party dеп followed inevita of party discip
Presidentia
Finally, there of personal pr This related in of the Preside arוח ulist, aם סp The type of been Charact grizE Yat an Other int ed a Git Lation i "cultivates a se sonal political b of the party". times termed : Sident Premiada: alWays been CE his ties Wiih th as former Milis and Constructio Prasident. O TE was through the ing" (Gam Uda a leading C Ten EkoC de SC Country Wide por old villages are {

a mini DiSSanaOntinue to COTpowerless; the did have has to a fe'W Close sors and permaWhen a UNP liament, Weerareora, similarly MPs had been BVG || LOW er than Salva Wiado fari, ment official), hawe been speakif his colleagues. tion and powerаппепtaгү тергеhe processes of յlted in the preortly after 33 new presidency. precipitated by na dasa's a lleged It with influenhis Cabinet and ty in Parliament, Ted to SOThë, at President did not he auton OT1y of the UNP parliaty and that hig to confort to programme and surprisingly inmocracy decayed, bly by a decline ine and loyalty.
Style
is the Tatter esidential 'style". part to the issue it's image as a of the people. vernment hasסנ: id as Bonapartist. erpreter describin which a leader Jara ta and perase independent This is someW.S. Prea however, has | reflu | to n LI riture e ma 5:SGS both ter of Housing in and OW as way he did this 'village awakenма) scheme. In
ritique, Serena ribed this as a gramme where
rebшilt, reпапned
апd "гetшгned" to the willagers. In addition, models of buildings and religious sites are made to scale (all of which also point to President Prema dasa's progress to the presidency over 40year period, including his local government phase in Colombo City Hall, his various official residence as Prime Minister and President and places of Buddhist pilgrimage Visited by him). Lavish festivals are conducted to depict this career.
These flourishes are relevant to the a CCIÓmpanying image of a somewhat be leaguered president so very dedicated to his coun
try but increasingly strident about perceived foreign interferences in the state. Perhaps
consistent with the ever-present undBrcurrant of SinhäB5B nationalism and Cult u re pride (jfa fih ika chintanaya), some recent presidential actions suggest an inWard-turning presidency.
Thay are not similar to the patterns of former heads of state, who had international connections of one kind or alother, aven if only with neighbouring India. It is President Premadasa's uncertain response to the Outside World that rust confuse sectors of his own party. On the one hand he seems to indicate that he Wants Lanka to be a modern nationstage, integrated into the World economy and recognized as geopolitically consequential. On the other he appears to retreat into a narrow interpretation of how this is to be done. With foreign access to the President extremely limited and his own Worldview and politics shaped largely by pressing internal matters, President Premadasa has had no opportunity to generate either a strong international profile or many significant overseas allies. Both the UN P and opposition Critics al lege that this is a Weakness, and they will exploit it. The situEditio results i eWe furthar populist manoeuvres on the President's part, as he seeks support where he can find it.
Next: Constitutional Crisis

Page 23
| WOMEW ||
Gender gap hindrance
Sakuntala Narasimhan
PERSISTENT Development.
IN EO U ALLTIES: WOTE E
By Irene Tinker, O.U. P.
s the preface describes it, this book offers an overiew of the past and present debates
on the Subject of Women in development, through a set of 15 essays by authors drawn
fron different regions, ideologies and specialisations-theoreticians. actiwlist5, Ten and Worllen èxperts froT the Third World and the developed countries. '"The unifying therine is women; the unifying problem is the persistence of inequalities in the face
of development, the unifying goal is the identification of approaches that will improve
". חםtditiחםs G"חBוחסW
As societies move from subsisteпce to high technology есоnomies. Women's Work, their roles in and out of the family, their perceptiопs as well as social perceptions of their place in the scheme of development, all undergo a change. This change, in one sense, benefits (some) Women; in another sense, it harms (some) women. The ho W- and -- Why Of this porČCeSS. is What these essays offer insights into, each from a different angle.
Women are now able to engage in outside Work without bвіпg dерепdent оп регпmissioп from their male guardians, but these guardians still, largely, remain the masters Of her actiwities, with the right to appropriate her eатпіпgs if they choose to. In addition. Women's household obligations, pregnancy and infant-and-child Care duties restrict the scope of her есопоmic options. For this reason, and as part of a vicious circle, improved techniques, whenewer and wherewer Introducad, get monopolised by the man (who either channelise the inputs to their own areas of Work, or
ппоve iпto апd areas that Were Wormen's do Thair g a D bet WBBTi dB velopment tak,
Tensions, SOC familia, T3Sult; pressures to rei tional pattern, in the Status quO W threate nad by Y circumstances. the rise of fun the middle-easte
ēr Tilker". the dawa lopmēr |015 - Like W| Development) W thg de finition ventionally S. eWE WOIT W hours per day kitchelor fetc. fuel and foddE Working"). WID in bringing abt to be knoWn Amendment to O USA, U Assistance Act
CIL de "the inte ]סde WBl סtחi חBוח in the aid rect as one of the
Shв tracas th of women's C eyes of the po
חסtiסוח חSBt i bringing wome! margin to the
national effort,
World conferenc It was these C initiated sex-dis Or warious basi highlight the բ поt епошgh пет per capita nutri tio facilitiB5

ind World
take ower Work է բrawiՃusly th E h) widen ing the tha Sex SS as es place.
ial as well as this often brings force the tradi
Order to retail
which is seen as Women's alter BL
(Fог вхаmple,
da Terta isrl in rn regions.)
S e SSay tra CBS it of organisaD (Women in 'hich challenged Of Work, Con(under which, ho spant 12-14
On the fa TT or ling water and
3T, WETE "Tot also had a hand Lt What CITÉ
as the Percy
the guidelinas HEr the Foreign of 1973, to ingration of woTental activity" iwing countries Critaria.
e legitimisation incerns in the licy makers, to the process of i from tha
mainstreat of following three ES O WLOTT. onferences that aggregated data c indicators to Joint that it is 'ely to say that tion Or a du Ca}r Work oppor
tunities had improved; it is also necessary to see if this Imргоvеппепt was bвіпg reflected Bmũng Bill sections, including Women who form half the population.
事 朝 惠
JANE Jaquette's paper examines Ester Boserup's Well known work oп мопепа пd developTet, While Susan Borque ad Kay Warre deal with technology and educatioп in geпdeг perspectives (the constraints on these two counts on Women, and how they work). Women's work in export factories is the
the The of Linda Lim's pa por which examines the at erotype ( of exploitative conditions)
against the reality (of women enjoying some undeniable gains through such industries).
One of the longest papers in this collection is by economist Amartya Sen, who offers an
academic analysis of gender and co-operative conflicts in dвvelopппапt. Дпоthвr iпtвгes
ting essay in this sub-section on intra-house hold distribution and control, is that of Benjamin Senauer who examines the inpact of the value of Women's time on food and nutrition (what happens whвп a wоптап"s oрportunity costs rise with education, and sha has to choose betweеп sрепdiпg her time cooking conventional food for the family, and taking up work outsida and goig in for commercially prepared food?). This is a dilemma familiar to mamy Tmiddle - ClaSS households irn Iпdia, апd aп агеa of гвsearch worth undertaking.
The title of Hanna Papanek's paper, To each less than she гїввд'5, frблт вас" лттогв : fтал sig Ca 7 do: a/sociations, erfit/s- ments and value Says it all. One of tha - more readabla papers in this wolume, this one refers to cultural customs like foot binding in China, and genital mutilation of females in
(Солtfлшаа алдарта 24)
21

Page 24
The Role of the Medi Multi-Ethnic Society
A. M. Macan-Markar
L. The begin with a confession. During my short stay as a reporter for the Observer. | Wrota five Stories about ewents in the North. Ai I of them deas With violence, a situation that provided a neophyte journalist with an opportunity to obtain stories with minimal work. At that time, it was CLIStamary to depend on the Police, the ΑΓΠιν, or a Government spokesman for information. Further, I acquired the habit of writing the IEբDrt in Colombo, which was made easy because of the tElephoneThe distance between me and the scene of the events in ITC St cases Jaffna, did not appear as a problem. And as I recall, any
acts of Violence against the State sufficed as news.
Among my reports was a Story on the autopsy of K. Navarat Tajah, who was found dead iח his cell at the Gurunagar агпу camp. I began this account by identifying the dead man s terrorist, and went on to add that there was no indication of Violence on the body of the prisoner. This story had one source, a military man, who explained that if violence had occured "a ruptured spleen, kidney, or broken rib would have been noticed while the a LItՃpsy was being conducted." By the way, the Police investigated the cause of this death.
Last year. during a research assignment for thē Marga institute, I happened by more information about the same K. Nawaratnarajah. It stated that on
10th April 1983, the victim, who was also a Trincomale farmer, died with 25 internal
injuries. Prior to his death in military custody, he was forced to crawl on broken glass, then hot chillie powder was stuffed LUPO his nostris.
Forth Ka MelOria
JLe 1
Iп твtrospect, there Was no d the wara city of | WTO ta tait 5 a la LLIra Elias si ted the status the de al Tla Who I could and there was The for his per the conditions, motivātad i action. This Tental Withedral nizing, of a wi Violence. It is Very Comportabl that he had wi and la W. El raak punished. Wa is that I did II nature of the that instal CE W Of Terroris AC
This il ||Lustrati my failure to Su With Suffic gt ir death of Mr. Often, deadline not prowide jou luxury of elicit facts. However, CUS e for a Cons for he or she story by subsвд follow-up. In
cited, that was it was a violati пепtal teпet о
18 W S TE port II E balan Ced and at Bnable a citizen independent cor to nāk ār But what did
play judge, pros

孢 吋 3礁
Inthasamy | Le Ctur6
7,1992
realized that esire to examine my source when
tory. This was rice he representqLIO. MOTEOwer, WES E person
Tot relata to no empathy in Sonal anguish or if ever, that had into political distance fed my Wil, my dehumaCLIm of politica likely that I was E2 With tha idea lated tha llaw, Br's led to be is most certain Ot CqLuE2stiO T1 the law, which in as the Prevention it Of 1979,
in is to reveal pply the readers formation on the Navaratna rajah. po reSSuTE3 does ralists Wittle ng a diwa rsity of that is no excientious reports, can develop the Uert reports, the
the example
поt the case; O of a fundaf journalist: a eds to provide CLIrate facts to to arrive at a clusion, helping Licated decision. accomplish? To acuting attor ne y
and jury; thereby influencing the reader to my own prejudice, denying him or her the truth.
It is relevant to disclose that my editors lewer Corrected пе. Their silence encouraged me to blatantly pursue a preach of faith and trust the public has of
the press. Our collective negligence contributed in a small|| way to the widening Schist
between the Sinhala and Tamil .ityחשוחוחםם
The man we are honouring today, Mr. Kant hasa my, Was conscious of this dichotomy by 1981. He responded by publishing the Saturday Review, which rolled off the press in January 1982. Although not a journalist, he realized that the media in the country were failing to upold a primary responsibility to society. There is little doubt in my mind that he had the SE WWW and perspīCEI City to Lurderstand the process by which in
formation is gathered by the Tedia and disseminated to the public. This is evident in his
own Writings to justify the creation of the Saturday Review:
"There are no less than 13 daily newspapers published in Sri Lanka in a three languages, апd with one solitaгу вxceptioп, thвy are all published in Colombo, in the South. (The exception is EeVaria du, a Tamil tabloid published in Jaffna, in the North.) This in effect means that news happening in the North or East are sent to the South, where they are filtered, processed, edited often doctored or distorted, published in the South and sent back to the Northern reader. ... Whild a minority of perceptive readers in the North could at least be in a posi

Page 25
tion to question their credibility, the bulk of the readership in the rast of the island the majority of whom are Sinhalese, tend to accept the printed word. This process has been goiпg оп the past 25 years. In some small way, through the columns of our Weekly, we hope to reverse the flow of information and tharab y correct the por Essent imbalance."
The topic of this year's ComErmoration lecture, ""The R DIE LL LL SLaLLa S S L SSY L S LLS Society," gives life to an idea affirmad by tha lata K. KanthaSam W., Indeed, it is an honour fOr le to EDG a GSO Gitgid With his ideas through this lecture. As we all know, there were abrupt ends to the lives of many Sri Lankans in the 1980s, and the abduction of Mr. Kanthasamy was typical of the human degradation that proliferated on his land, which some Still call para disse. To Con til Lue to refer to this iad as al Ede, il think, is to ignore the macarba environment that denied people like Mr. Kanthasamy a full lifa. And history offers Lus amplea Evidence of the fate of peoples who ignore the realitias, the social forces, during their time.
In Sri Lanka, the media, too, сопtribшted to the prevailing attit LudēS äTld beliefs. Rät har
than serve the community as a force of enlightenment, the press, the radio, and the talwision hawe blinded people from the truth.
An example that comes to mind is tha one-sided, bias reporting that preceded the killing of 13 soldiers in July, 1983. The public perception at the tim B, thanks to thB media, Was that the Sri Lankan forces, most of whom hapened to be Sinha
g Sa, Ware tha Wictims Of a brutal Campaign by armed TamiI O Luth, Not T U Chi Was WrittEn about lifa in the North under Emergency Laws, nor were the public informed of alleged attacks by the Police and Army or non-combatant civilliams. Tha little that was
Written cale out Priet
For this actur tify the respon: חi חEthia, as aוח multi-ethnic soci gard, wе пеed t the role of the nalist in gatheri processing it, an to the public? A
I shall highlight porting, since it the topic.
|bחחreaם Wוח ח| thB riiCE I CIL dia: informatio. LUIS WHO W Ft Chi ti to the radio, or ri Im Ed til E SETT C inforted, educat tā ir ēd. dē ing societies, i been recognized {grBםrם סt LחBחםם of knowledge se COTT LI I1 ii CH ti Or IT Ludas of the mat tura Of the Soci
As it appears, T1B dia is a COWG b) E COTE part of c for lät of Social HIG EWO W Gd to erant feature of : Ofte thig istitul 5 (ESCHEd d5 t: .tחeוחחWBrסthe g but stressed Iri stil is that it ser Was as for the people. T the right of fra e ion, a concept | wider currency W. of people's right
Our Court example of the p the people again glt Cag tra CI last Carl t U TWIL Ir ГЕЈВIliЈП ЈFOkВ against The ha! Colonia Gower Torriginton respont law. However, loca | population Christophar Ellio! Observer at that Of life Wis is

of debates in
Be, I Shallid Bri – sibility of the Siti L LI tiO I - 11 a ety. In this reO BSk: What is ndividual journg information, d presenting it And an area that
is politica I rg
is relevant to
3, | refer Tad to Irry of the reBut those of elevision, listė ead newspapers Iommodity to be 3d, and enterIl for Code Frizformation has as a wita I COTTss, and the body IEC tad för TTSS irrors tha attitdia and the aety it serwes,
the role of the tion that has ur reality. This
COTT ITT LI rlicatio a Corme al ilапy dеппcocracy. tion of the press 'watchdog" of
What reeds to | ch a description
the 'watchog" is flows from om of expressthat has gained ith the evolutio
S.
"y, the earliest ress fighting for 1st the governed back to the
1848, when a
Out to protest rsh tBx eS, the TB1L LIII der LOrd ided with artial
tha Wictilizgid found an ally in , editor of the time. Tha | 55 allying cry, and
he called for an inquiry, which was opposed by the Governor. But the latter's recall to Britain windicated the principles that guided the editor.
That confrontation highlights the un Written social Contract batween the press and the people: the media is accountable to the public inter est only. Although much has happened since, the idea that aligns the people and the press remains a hallmark of a wirile medium.
To uphold such an obligation, virtually making the media the unelected representatives of thes citizenry, men and women in this field need to determine that Communication exists in their particular medium. For a medium to communicate, it should serva as a forum for ideas, ensuring a WO-Way transmission of information and opinion, Сопsequently, journalists become active players in portecting the citizens right to information. This right is guarantead in Article 19 of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights.
It states:
1) Eveгүопеa shall have the right to hold opinions withdut interferencia.
2) Ewaryone sha || hawe the right to freedom of expression; this right shall include the freedom to saak, receive, and impart information and ideas of all kind. regardless of frontiers, either orally, in Writing or in print, in the form of art or through any other media of his choice.
3) The exercise of the rights pro Wided for in paragraph two of the article carries with it special dutiøs and responsibilities: (the need) for the respect of the
rights and reputations of Others.
Judging from these provisions, it is clear that the emphasis is un equivo Cally to protect the right of the citizen. On the one
23

Page 26
hand, the structures of governITT EIt B TÉ Expected to guarante 5 the Social right for information. On the other hand, there is a bearing om the ma dia as an institution, too, since nowhere in Artice 19 is there a clause to protect the right of the media to exist as an institution. Rather, it is in the interpretation of the provisions that provide the basis for the edia to claiour for the right of free expression.
In Sri Lanka, the Tedia regularly violate the obligations of Article 19, by not providing the Citizens With diverse informati O. SOIT1g ties this Wiola tiOIl, E) Orders on the ridiculous as happened in August 1981, Wher a leading Sin hala language newspaper justified the State imposed ceSorship by blaming Tamil news papers for "false reporting." This S3 TE DE Wspaper mirimized its coverage or ignored altogether
acts of rāci viet tā Ot
Since independence, the ethnic question has remained a cЕПtra theme in the political agenda of the Country. What is more, nationalism as political rallying point. as a means of political expression, and as a method of organizing has not been limited to one group. Both Sinhala and Tamil politicians found in their respective linguistic Communities a powerful elect - orate. Given such a reality, the institutional responsibility of thig Tedia is hightened. It has the framework to link different groups together. That could only be achieved if each medium tolerates different views, beliefs, and ideas. Here again, the media has been far from liberal, a phenomenon that was even around when the press was independently OWIEd. Such an attitude Was typified during the coverage of the 1956 General Election, where th9 newspapers and the ruling class. After his victory, the пвwly elected Prime Ministar. S. W. R. D. Bandar rhaike, described the press as a dictatorship.
There is no do Libo't that a T1 LultiEthnic society Will hawe its Share of political disagreements. It is an inevitable featurë, since each group will identify with its culture. But the challenge for
24
the TG dia is t temptation of be Before elabor ion. 1 reed te Element irl LIII position of the ni aly, We are a De The problems face in such sc differst fror t their counterpar Developed multi
te k L/otугла//5ѓ5, A. reporter deals e. WWOFIT FILI. H automatically Hiss ple, that there Wii in the outlook of that his or har E buy same amou Week, or that po be om to TUIf the BWspapers or from the broad
|rh CoLur trie:S SLI erty is not limite there is poverty f WWere tõch ion of and acco ir Sri Lanka, the reWEa | Bin Luna War пntпогitү впјoү а ledge and the IE limited offerings, is due to the exis the domestic T limited bBCE, LISe in Westlet and costs needed to EWET, ES WE POfOg ition is bound resulting in a gr. of infortion. in Crease Will pro Tedia for the ci from, and it wo 35Certain tha
TE JW5 and flow to the T. S. would invariably գuality of pub пatioпal policy.
Bg that as it rin DE VEloping CCLIII EGT Chl for EXCLUSES W and COmet Of i fa Lult. One Carlo bet Ween thia met nation and the While the former failed for reas вxplaiпеad, thв |; the commitment

O tras Cend the coming partisan. a ting this functi St TBS5 dlother derstanding the nedia. Economicveloping country. that journalists cieties are quite e Condition S. Of ES WHO Work i -ethnic Societies. for T Wory Hester: "The Јегу сlay with a e or she callot une, for exambe consistency political leaders, ay che qua wil rt of food each Wer will a|Ways presses in the for tra SrTi55io casting Statio." = Vםם ,ursם Eh BS ;micsטחסac סdt of information. rt thE distr|HLItSS to information pattern would | State. Where a Weath of knowjority depend on This disparity sting structure of O dia, Which is if the substantial high operating fLIC tipli . HopWrress, the Condto improve, DW th of outlets A quantitative wide a variety of itizen to select uld help people a CCL racy of
յբirlitյris that Ich a cordition " improwa the
lic debate on
3 y reporters in tries cannot sowhen the quality formation is at El dra W a para el Um of dissemiSubject ratter.
may be costOns that I hawe atter thrives of by the individual
journalist gadd,
Those who report in countries like ours do impact significantly the perception made by the people of incidents and events in their environment. Further, knowledge that is transmitted through the media gives it legitimacy, authority, and authenticity. It is essential, therefore, to prowide the citizen With thea facts: divetsity of news sources makes for a fuller and richer content of knowledge. To accomplish such an objective, a reports needs to distinguish he tween quantifiable fact and opinion, to scrutinize the Veracity of information, to guarantee the legitimacy and credibility of the Souge, to ensure confidentiality, to offer comparative opinion, and to report the news free of bias.
(To be continued)
Gender. . .
(Салffгтивd /голт да7в 2 т) S0 TE COTT LI niti 9S. AS SHE 5marks, "conscious and un conscious experiences shape the way one thinks the world works" as evidenced by women (mothers) justifying and perpetuating Customs that they have themselves suffered but nonetheless, impose them on their own daughters. Likewise, Christine Obbo's essay describes what exactly happens in African Countries, through a couple of Case studies that make the point very nicely about women losing out in the process of development.
She says, "Development never will be, and never can be, defined to uniwersal Satisfaction. development is more than passage from poor to rich, from a traditional rural economy to a sophisticated urban one. It carries with it not only the idea of economic better ment but also of greater human dignity. security, justice, and equity."
There cannot be a better justification for studies of this kind that sensitise us to the differences between the effects
10. sвгув the public
of development on men, and those on women. Development will occur when poverty is
reduced, and the only way of reducing poverty is to reduce gender inequality.

Page 27
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Page 28
STILL LEADING
Mr. William Thompson o and established the first in this island on
01st June 1841.
He called it “ Bank of Ceylon '' That was 150 years ago, but that was not we. We opened our doors in 193
only to capture our rightful place in Banking
and are proud to say tha
LEAD
Over the years banking profession
shared our expertise and BANK OF CEYLON became Sri Lanka’s SANDHURST TO BANE
Ban
Bankers

btained a Royal Charter
Joint Stock Commerical Bank
9
9.
at we still
N
KERS.
k of Ceylon
to Nation
eASASASAMAASS AASASASASeeMSAeASAeALAeMeMeSMLeMeeSeSeeSeSeeSeSeeSSASSASSASLSALSLMeSeeAeLSeASeeeSLLLLLLLAAASLLLLAAAASLSLLLeSeLSLeSqeAAeSeSeSMeMMLMMLeSMeSeSMeMMeSeSeMSeLSeMSAeSeLSAeSASLSALSLSALLLSALSSMSAALLSSLSS