Page 1
V
VV
இரளு
vol. 15 No. 21
AM
THE HUMAN
th
a media and e
the dangers
O SRI LANKAN S
O Soviet Collap
s番ミསྤྱི་S
Buddhist Courg
Sསྤྱི་སྐྱེ་སྐྱེ་ཕྱི་སྤྱི་
Solzhenitsyn -
 

■■
Registered at GPO, Sri Lanka QD/43/NEWS/9
NESTY
AND
RIGHTS TASK FORCE
e press
thnic Co-existence
= Wi@@@if Gl୩୩୭%yଛାif diging)
of self-censorship
= W. Jaya) mesh
OCIETY: The Crack-Up
= АИerуул, de Silva)
S9 — Sumit Chakra varty
@ 一 Jஇது முேஇஇஇl
Voel Fernando

Page 2
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Page 3
TRENDS
Thorn daman istirs . . .
Ραπταίίο η μπίρη δοss Sατιrηναrailurri Thordanian who is also a Cabinet Iritir ister has fhreaIered 'rior co-operation' with the government if it permits the privare comparties which recently (ook over e5 rare marragriters to reduce Work days. Mr Tidari. His to ha ve said that he would nof tolerate any Tonsense 'hich Would affect the interests of plavizta floro Workeris".
The Ceylor Workers' Corgress (CWC) boss delivers a block vote to the UNP conte election tine. Non-cooperafor from hiri could be fore than somewhaг - шлcomfortable for the ruling party.
Journalists arrested
Journalists protesting the sealing of a weekly fabloid press for delay in paying municipal taxes were arrested by the Borella police. They were released a fer the recording of statements. The police said that the protest — picker ing on the Side Walk - 14 as illegal,
India for bi-annual SAARC
India warfs the artnual SAARC summit held only once in tiro years, Loccordsrg so sie well inforrred Irdia r rrredia corrrrriertator Verkar Narayan. Heads of Government of the seven Far for South Asian Association for regional Co-operation first
rret in Bangladesh ir 1985 followed by meetings in India (1986), Nepal (1987) and
Pakistan (1988).
The is rar into trouble. Sri Larka refused to play host. If the Indian Peace Keeping Force cytir is soil. There was no summi hat year (1989). Maldives hosted the regional seader i fir1 – 990. TWg II 99 - F77 fr Pyar 57 schiedled fo Eye Mead in Colombo in Napefriber but Bhutan's King Jigme Syngye Wangchuk was unable to make if ; and Iridiar Prirre Mirister Narasimha Rao kept away too. It was however rescheduled for December, but the three day Psko-Pok" 1vas frirred to orig.
reported
LANKA"S HR
DISCUS
They talked a ka's human r
when the - UN H Соплission me A Working Gro
knowleged that ment had take SLITICS to Cill Tt:
The report cov to October 1992
(Gwelent Colombo WeTe halwe detailccl. t) sessions steps government afte CỦwered by the Te these steps was the severity of
Tegulatis.
NO-GO OM
The LTTE ha negotiate on th free passage acr.
| lago () Il f}T civili
Por neryn army ted, according to Colomb office c Nicolaus, quote Wr II let - C.It News.
Civilians, now tO thı : Tı ail]]ğlıd their liwcs. Fod), are shrinking ir
| sula. '' +If a saf is opened the the Jaffna peni
else”, DIT Njc
A REFERE
CALLED
The et hic C be Teschwedi jf. t. the SLFP recogn for a federal Col allow the peop the issue it a This is the view tional specialist politician Dr N chel Wall. He w at a symposium issue in Colomb
 

RECORD SSED
bolt Sri Lamights record, Human Rights It itin G cnewa, lp TCOtt a C
the govern1 51 1111E IIլ է:H- i violations. ered January
elegates from
reported to
the UNHRC aken by the r the period port. W II long 'one relaxing Emergency
LAGOON
S Tefused to e is suc of a SS the Jaffna as until the сапp is vaca
the UNHCR lief. Dr. Peter
in the gorolled Daily
CISS WCT
at risk to d supplies too the penine passage is
St. Il Sua Shuld als said.
MDUM
FOR
Inflict could he UNP and ise the need 1stitution and le to decide
referendum.
of constitu
and TULF eelan Thirulas speaking In the ethnic .
He said that only a federal constitution in which there Wuld be a clear separation of power between the centre and the provinces could resolve the problem,
KOBBEKADUWA DEATH PROBE SOON
A Commonwealth Commission to probe the circumstances of the death of General Denzii Kobbekaduwa and other mili tary men in an explosion is to be appointed in the first Week of March, legal sources said. The commission was asked for by the general's Window, when an internatio. nally recognised explosives expert's views conflicted with those of a preliminary committee of inquiry.
WILL KEEP HANDS OFF PRESS - SLFP A statement issued by SLFP leader Sirimavo Bandaranalike promised not to interfere with the freedom of the press in future under any circumstances.
(Cred ரா நரச 7)
LANEA
GUARDAN
Wol. 15 No. 21 March 1, 1993 Prie R5 TODO Published fortnightly by Lanka Guardian Publishing
Co. Ltd. No. 246. Union Place, 2-םנLוחםIנGr Editor: Mervyn do Silva Telephon: 447584
Printed by Ananda Pross B25, Sir Ratnajothi SarawanamuLLu Ma Watha, Colombo 13. Твlophone: 435975
CONTENTS
News Background 3 MÉdi 4 Аппе8ty Rерогі (2) 5. POETI O MB dia in Nation-Building (2) 1 1 Global Change (2) 14 Solzhвпitsуп 15 Aung San Suu Kyi (2) 19
Letters 24

Page 4
Why there's so in this rustict
There islaughter and light banter amongst these rural damses who are busy sorting out tobacco leaf in a barn. It is one of the hundreds of such
barns spread out in the mid and upcountry Entermediate zone where the arable land retains fallow during the offseason.
Here, with careful nurturing tobacco grows as a lucrative cash crop and the green leaves turn to gold... to the value of over Rs. 250 million or more annually, for perhaps 143,000 rural folk.
 

ENRICHING RURALLIFESTYLE
und oflaughter obacco barm....
Tobacco is the industry that brings employment to the second highest number of people. And these people are the tobacco barn owners, the tobacco growers and those who work for them, on the land.
ridim the bar TLS.
For them, the tobacco leaf means meaningful work, a comfortable life and a secure future. A good enough reason for laughter.
Ceylon Tobacco Co.Ltd.
Sharing und caring for our land and her people.

Page 5
FAMILY AND class and discord
Meirw yn de Silva
"O" might distinguish a nationalist or ethnic poly partisin, peculiar to countries divided into several traditional ог гасіяI groups: here тacial апtagonisms overlay the social and political, producing extreme complexity. 25 parties' sadly noted Andrassy, Minister of FoTceign Affairs in the Austro Hungary on thic eve of the 1914 WYAT,
Maurice Duverger makes this observation in his classic study In Political Partic5" when hic discusses 'polypartism.
Aparl from the CWC which represents the Indian Tamil plan. tation community geographically confincd more or less to the hill-country tea-growing areas and politically preoccupied for several decades with the single issue of citizenship, there are In ore than half a dozen Tamil parties today - from the secess. ionist LTTE guerrillas to TULF, T. C., EPRLF, EROS, EPDP, PLOTE and ENDL.F. While the UNP and SLFP command the support of the vast majority of Sinhalese, there arc the old Left parties LSSP, CP and MEP, and
such new formations as the NSSP, SLMP, DJWP, BJP etc. The other major character
istic of our party system is the dynastic: two powerful families – the Senaayakes and the Bandaranaikes. While father and son, D. S. and Dudley did dominate three post-war decades, with R. G. Senanayake too playing an active role in party politics, Mr Rukman Senanayake's party has been eclipsed and then reduced to a mere appendage of the parent UNP. Būt it did,
in its time, carn the not-too pleasant nickname the Uncle Nephew Party, a salute once
more to the strength of kinship. The arrival of Mr. R. Premadasa,
Caste :
discord.
PARTY divisi
the first Prime M. Presidential sys' Presidelt i El changed all that.
Not sið til Sri party, brandcd E the Sri Lanka
(SLFP).
UJIl like the UT has failed to em
Family dominatic
In fact the fic has now becom factor, causing s In a ci TE TO TC: SCT. battle between p Bandara naike ani Anu Ta, is thTea: the family apart the party. Mrs Tegards her daug who has Sociallisi Imore ideological l: Ce50r than AIllur: feud is now a fro fact, the battle i columns of the papers and the
The only exc general rule gove haviour of our tions is the Sri Congress which sessions recently M. C. M. Kaleel in the UNP's go DIT. Bäcluiddin M of Islamic Social a close friend of Banda Tanike Minister in Mrs. government, Dr. attended the SLM accommodated i TOW. MOTe inte Iranian Ambassa close to Presid While the Ambas; Libya and PLO D'affairs of the were also presen the CTä of ide:

on and
inister under the em, and now is own right,
Lanka Freedom y opponents as Family party,
NP, the . SLFP ancipate itself. in continues:
la linheritance le à divisive crious donestic ty where there ets, the bitter arty leader Mrs, i her only son, tening to tear and with it, Bandaranaike ghter Chandrika, ideas, as a y reliable sucl. The fauily it page story. In swaged in the
national TEWSWeeklies. eption to the
rning the bepolitical formaLanka Muslim had its annual ... While Dr. has held a post werning council, ahmud, founder ist front, was Mr. S.W.R.D. nd Education Banda Tanaike’s
Mahmud who MC sessions Was In the front :restingly, the lor had a seat ent Premadasa sadors of Egypt,
l, and charge Iraqi Embassy t too. In this,
ntity conflicts,
Islam should be regarded as a regional and international force strong enough to mobilise ewen the smallest community in a multi-ethnic society such as ours.
ldisunity in the United National Party exploded in the face of the island's strongest party when a sizeable group of UNP dissidents-turned conspirators in the infamous impeachment plot against their leader, President Preladasa. The failure of the plot produced the Democratic United National Front (DUNF), He Te it was * * class" Tather family or political beliefs which inspired the plotters - class in
the broadest sense in a society where feudal values and caste allegiances persist. Mr. Prema
dasa does NOT belong. He is not a product of elite schools nor a member of the westernised upper-class. The seeds of Tebellion lay there not in serious policy differences.
The old, traditional as well as modern structures, whether family or political party, cannot withstand the pressures released by a society in deep cirisis. While the ethnic may be its most prominent cause, other conflicts have aggravated the problem. A persistently divisive discord is now a striking feature of society and politics in Sri Lanka. Nothing illustrates that better than open warfare in the family-centred SLFP, where Mrs. Bandaranalike has already a n
nounced that the SLFP is once
Inore the Wanguard of a Leftinclined united front, minus Mr. Dinesh Gunawardea's M.E.P. (The MEP is the largest Southbased party in the ranks of the Opposition, after the SLFP. The MEP is also a staunchly SinhalaBuddhist organisation, closer in spirit to thic pro-Amura HELA
(Сонtiпиғd on page 17)

Page 6
/WEDA
1992 : Bad year for th
W. Jayanth
The Lanka Guardian described 1992
Year of The Press'.
For W. Jayanth, C
correspondent of the respected Madre
HINDU,
it was a 'bad year of the
How does a foreign journalist whose SiOna base iS in Colombo See the medi
Excerpts:
The year 1992 seems to have been a particularly bad year for the print media and the journalists in the island. At least 32 instances of attack on or threat to journalists/media hawe been reported by the media organisatiems.
The print media in Sri Lanka assumes importance because the State-owned Rupawahini' telewision and the Broadcasting Corporation (SLBC) have been instructed to completely keep out the Opposition news ("conspiracics' as the ID for nation Minister prefers to call then). Further, the "Lake House' group of English, Tamil and Sinhala news
papers are controlled by the Gwern Illent.
That leaves three publishing
houses outside State control and any number of tabloids or periodicals, some of which arte pli litically oriented too.
The Upali group publishes The Island and Divaria (Sinhala) newspapers, the Wijeya publicarions bring out The Striday Tries and Laika deepa, while the Independent Newspapers publish the Talil Yeera kesari.
Among the tabloids, the GoweIII ment has to Tecko T1 with Ravaya and Yukiya, which constally run a campaign against the Government and come up with many investigative stories, though not fully authenticated Sümetimes.
Things came to a head a fortnight ago when the revenue and
4
tax Wings of along with the cipal Corporatio cended on the “independent’’ pli The Island publi: tive of the Bank
Il T1 the bli djournalists orga been drawing int tion to the serie Working journalis 'goon squads' air where the poli or beat up repo graphers perform
While In mo ac L. coming on these Organisations res Colluts, demonstrat representations. the Cabinet spok nil Wickramasin sidential Advise WcerakoOI LO II WEY.
So a retired ju: of Appeal, Mr. Was appointed it specific case wh pher and a jou: legedly assaulted While covering a DT1 WQTld:HLIm1ä December Ola: is Dow on.
With so much Opposition could the opportunity ade against the what it called "at

e press
as 'The COLOmb O S-based press'". profesSCEE
the Government Clīb Muni1 officials icsffices of thesic Lublishing houses. her is a Telaaranaikes.
up to this, the Thisations hawe ernatiomall attenis of assaults on ts, threats from ld a few cases CC I Illin händled ritērs Lindl photoling their duty.
ion was forth: complaints, the Otted to Walkions and even
It was left to ESTIllin, Mr. Raghe, and the PreT, Mr. Bradman пtсrvene in some
idge of the Court Tudor de Alwis, o inquire into a en a photogra| alist Were al1 by the police demonstration in Rights Day5t. The inquiry
happening, the not let go of to launch a tir. Government and tempts to silence
and intimidate the independent In edia." It has planned a fullfledged agitation.
The Leader of the Opposition, Mrs. Siri mawe Bandaramaike, has lodged a strong protest in Parliament against these tactics and even charged the President with using wille language against a publisher. She described these developments as a threat to the democratic fabric and freedom of expression in the country.
Obviously, the Government could not let her get away with such Wocal criticism. So, the wery next day, the Prime Minister, Mr. D. B. Wijetunga, in a 1-page statement in Parliament, questioned the moral right' of Mrs. Bandaranaike to speak out for a free Inedia. He utilised the opportunity to remind her that she was so intolerant of criticism herself, when in power, that she brought in legislation to take over the Associated News.
papers - or the Lake House group - in 1973.
As for the officials "visiting'
newspaper offices recently, the Prime Minister wanted to know why they should be spared when every individual in the country had to pay taxes,
Adding to the woes was the sudden ban on two Sinhala television serials shown on Rupawa hini. “Awal Sanda” was taken off because the serial was slowly going into the sensitiwe issue of disappearances - which remains a burning human rights subject. The other was dealing with kidnapping.
Under these circumstances, some kind of self censorship' became inevitable for the publishers and journalists to keep the show going. Some groups even complained that banks and leading advertisers were subtly pressured to tighten the screw on anti-Government media.

Page 7
AMWESTY REPORT (2)
Creating a climate
Recommendations to create a climate in which human rights violations are less likely to occur
For effective remedial and preventive measures to be introduced, and for any sense of impunity to be removed, Amnesty International believes it is important for the government to publicly acknowledge that widespread human rights violitions have been committed by guvernment forces, and to makic clear to the security forces that violations of human rights will not be tolerated and perpetrators will invariably be brought to justice. It suggested that security forces officers should regularly visit troops deployed in sensitive' areas, where human rights violations are most likely to arise. It urged the government to repeal the Indemnity (Amend#ಣ್ಣ Act, in order to signal its clear intention to remove any sense of impunity, and to expedite pending criminal cases against members of thc security forces in order to signal clearly that violators of human rights will not escape justice.
The government had said that by publicly announcing its acceptance of 30 of Amnesty International's Tccommendations, and in its statement to the United Nations Commission for Human Rights in Genewa in February 1992, it has Inade the public acknowledgement suggested. And as noted above, the government has become increasingly open to scrutiny and comment by international human rights bodies. However, no statement of acknowledgement of thc type envisaged by Amnesty International has been made to the local population, Indeed the climatic of intimidation which still prevails in southern Sri Lanka - where lawyers inwolved in human rights cases hawe continued to receive death threats, for example, and where fear of repercussions deterred some peoplc from Seeing Amnesty International's represent
atives - suggests tended Ilnessage conveyed interna
Clear orders of human rights cedures to be fo ing and detainir been issued wit services. Copies had earlie bec" Amnesty Intern government. In p important proced for prisoners wh under these ords plemented on th below). Never the hawe been takic incidence of g. and All nesty Int ed of several T where the com had personally i diately on rece that a gross win committed in or protect the wic ample, in Decem Brigadier, in char interwencd immed ing that during Pullul Talai sew cera had been rape About 13 soldie fer Ted from the Dot known. Whe plinary actioп w
Criminal cases security forces p time, Amnesty report was publi 1991) had not The government cases in which personnel have with abduction, Some of these pending for up and have yet to In one, the acc charged after th ed to appear in International u the Witnesses t abducted and during the per accused were on vestigation has the non-appea Witnesses. Not

that the inhas yet to be lly.
in the protection and the prolowed in arrestg prisoners have hin the Armed of these orders in provided to ational by the Tactice, however, lural safeguards ich are required irs are not illLe ground (see :less, some steps 1 to reduce the ross violations, crnational learIlecent instances manding officer Titler Welled immeiving a report lation had been iler to try to tims. For exliber 1992 he ge in Batticaloa liately on learna round-up at 1 young women by soldiers, 5 WETE L'Ilsal Teal, but it is her any disciFil:S tåke.
pending against erSonne at thle International's shed (September Јесп expedited. has listed eight Security forces been charged aբt and IIlլIrder: aSes have been to three years be concluded. used were dis: Witnesses failCourt. Amnesty lderstands that emselves were “disappeared' d that the bail. No ineen hield into Elin CC of the One of these
cases has yet reached a viction for murder.
Recommendations intended to prevent 'disappearances
These recommendations mostly Concerned the work of the Presidential Commission of inquiry into the Involuntary Removal of Persons, which was established for a period of one year in January 1991 to investigate disappearances' occurring after 11 January 1991. Amnesty International also urged that, in addition to clarifying the fate of the disappeared", the government should bring to justice those responsible for disappear. ances and provide adequate compensation to victims or their relatives within a reasonable period of time. Many of Amnesty International's recom. mendations on the protection of prisoners, discussed below. are also relevant to the prevention of disappearances.
O Da
The Presidential Commission on the Involuntary Removal of Persons (CIRP) -
The CRP was created in January 1991 for a period of ont year to investigate and report on “disapp carances"'* occuring in the year beginning 1 January 1991. It is also expect. ed to recommend remedia measures for the prevention of disappeагапсt:5*". Although the government did not enlarge the CIRP's mandate to encimpass "disappearances' committed be
fore 1 January 1991, it did extend the mandate of the CRP for a further year. In
January 1993 its term was again extended for one year. Hundreds of cases remain under investigation by the Commission, and public hearings had been com. pleted in only six individual cases at the time of Amnesty International's visit,
Many of the “disappearances reported to the CIRP occurred before 11 January 1991 and therefore full outside its terms of reference. Indeed, 3,669 such cases had been reported to the CIRP by 5 November 1992. The CIRP informs complainants when they cannot investigate
5

Page 8
their cases, and said it passes thic i DfTm til to the Hilu Iman Rights Task Force (see below), which keeps a list of "disappeared' people. By 30 October 1992 the CIRP had received complaints of 501 ''disappearances' occurring between ll January 1991 and 10 January 1992, and 81 complaints of “disappearances' occurring between 11 January 1992 and 30 October 1992.
As explained by the Commissioners, when complaints arc received, they are first investigaed by a team of ten investigating officers under the direction of the Chief Investigating Officer, which is a retired policeIman. Once they hawe established there is pring face evidence of “disappearance' relatives are called to Colombo to give evidence. Sometimes, however, the investigators wisit the locality.
Once the evidence has been collected, the Senior State Counsel assigned to the com.
mission decides whether there is sufficient evidence available to proceed to a public inquiry before the five Commissioners. Of the 1991 cases, 11 complainants had failed to appear to give statements; 53 people reported to have "disappeared' were t Taced; 10 cases halwe been sent for public inquiry and 421 cases Werc stil und er investigation. Of the 1992 cases, one complainant had failed to appear 24 people had been traced and 56 cases were under investigation.
At the time of International’s visit, the CIRP had completed its public inquires into six cases of 'disappearances", and the seventh case, covering a group of four people who had 'disappeared', was being heard. On the coinpletion of the public hearings into each case, the I CIRP submits a transcript of the proceedings and its findings to the President. All nesty International was informed by the Presidential Adviser in International Affairs that President Ramasinghe Premadasa had authorised publication of these case reports, but that a publication date had not yet
Amnesty
6
been fixed. national unders so Ille of these . Imissio Illers have that the indivi responsible for ace' should be that no decision secutions had ye II] Ille case hea howewer, murder already begun a officer suspected “disappearance". concluded that it establish beyo doubt that the oficer Concernęd custody of the prisoner, the Ca: by the Attirney further Cases hav ed to the Attori decide whether mal charges agai perpetrators.
The cases in we CIRP so far all appearance' in The Commission International th: terms of referen to investigatc. : removal regardle or, in practice only to invest 'disappearance' tody and not in military custc. that it would investigate “disa Cũ11 text_{}f {1TTT1[: als there Was record-keeping i the police it v difficult to coll. that complaints ances' in 11 usually fail to who carried out there: Was Inc.) st investigation. national questio sumptions and e Lihat the Imilita Temain Outside ! the commission. the majority of '' reported during
are from milit the east.
The CIRP - ha;
commended an prevent disapp

Limnesty Interands that in :15es, the Com
recom Theridcd duals belieWed the 'disappearprosecuted, but on such prot be el made. rd by the CIRP, proceedings had gainst a police of causing a After the CRP E was unable to ld reasonable particular police had last had ''disappeared' se was withdrawn General. TW) fe been forwardney General to to bring crimiinst the alleged
stigated by the in wolwe * *dispolice custody. crs told Amnesty at, although their cé Enable thèm any involuntary 'ss of perpetratthey expected igate cases of in policc Cusdisappcaranccs'' dy. They said be difficult to ppearances' in a di conflict; that less stringent In the army than would be: Tlo Te !ct evidence; and of "disappearilitary custody idcntify exactly the arrest, so arting-point for Amnesty interned these preIxpressed concern ry should not hic scrutiny of especially as disappearances' the past year lary custody in
not yet rey Ille-LES to eiram Ccs", AITh
nesty linternational discussed with the Collissioners the possibility of their examining
practices which facilitate 'disappearance", such as failure to adhere to proper detention procedures. These would include the prompt acknowledge in ent and reporting of arrests, transfers and releases an accurate and thorough record-keeping. Allnesty International believes that failure to adhere () the required procedural standards to protect prisoners from abuse, including disappearance", should bք treated as a serious criminal OT disciplinary offence.
Amnesty International Tec Tilmlerded that the establish regional office5, priority to those a reas where Inost “disappearances' occur. Officers authorised to record and transmit cases to the CIRP in Colombo have since bell appointed in each of the follow. ing Government Agent's officers; Amparai, Batticalol, Ha Inballtotal, Jaffna, Mal 1 år, M:ltä Tä. Trincomalee. The complaints åre then processed in Colombo and investigated as described above The regional officers have no powers of investigation, and the Commissioners halwe not held public hearings outside Colombo, although they did not rule out holding hearings in the provinces if they considered the In necessary. But the end of October 1992, 540 cases hård been reported by the authorised officers, 457 of which fell outside the CIRP's ter IIs of refeTerce. Sixty-six of the remaining cases had not previously been reported to the Commission.
In Batticaloa, Amnesty International found that the existence of the authorised officer was not known by Ilenbers of the local Peace CollIInittee orby staff of
häid CIRIP giving
the local Hunan Rights Task Force office. Both these local bodies regularly record coin
plaints of “disappearance' and refer Telatives to other Televant local agencies. Amnesty International's delegates suggested that the presence of the authorised officers could be Illore widely publicised in the relevant

Page 9
areas in order that relatives are aware of all local avenues of redress available. Sixty-nine cases had been submitted to the CIRP by the authorised officer in Batticaloa by thic cind of October 1992, 24 of which fell within the co III lission's terms of Tefe Teilçe.
The Commissit Iers i said that they believe their work has had a deterrent effect, as the number of reported 'disappearances' has reduced since the inception of Lhe CIRP. The Commission's hearings are public and reported in the press so police officers now know that they may mot act with impunity. Amnesty international agrees that publicity is important, but pointed out that the commission may not be aware of the true number of "disappearances' in the east in 1992, as few people in the area were aware of the presence of the local authorised officer. Amnesty International also believes that if a lasting deter tent effect is to be achieved, perpetrators must be bruught to justice whenever they can be identified.
The CRP has been criticised for employing slow procedures. The Commissioners explained to Amnesty International that it follows the provisions of the Commissions of Inquiry Act, and that as the five Commissioners had been appointed under a single warrant, they are required to sit as a single body When they hold public hearings. They are not empowered to sit separately. They pointed out that if thiciT war Tant is altered to cablc the Il Lo hear cases indiwidually, cor if further Commissioners were appointed to expedite the work, they would Iced additional Leams of inWestigating officers and other support staff to service their increased work-load.
Compensating relatives of the "disappeared'
In 1991, the government had told Amnesty International that it intended to introduce new legislation to enable relatives of ''disappeared prisoners to obtain
death certificates period which wo to qualify for TE payments. Anne: had said that th death certificate absolve the gove ponsibility to t. the fate or whe
"disappeared', responsible for to justice and compensate wicti latives.
In October International w; of draft legisla 'temporary dea which, once iss' used to claim co explained by th the Home Minis visaged that the the compensatio be issued throug sional Secretari compension Wou to all persons w Case, Tegardless ÖT (y't whethler L “disappeared' it go Vernment Or Č However, accor Preside til Adv. national Affairs, had not yet dec Would pay com latives of people to have "disap custody of gove for TçES.
Recommendati protect detain families
Special legal diffe fToIII DC procedure are a tical prisoners. edi llu Inder tbl. c. Ei lations or the Terrorism Act () the protections the normal crin is по requiгеппет detainees to be before a magis amples, which m is по legal prov pendent superw detention for lon confessions made officer of the ra Superintendent

after a certain uld allow them lief or pension sty International le provision of 5 WOLIld 10t IT II et of Te5y to establish Teabouts of the to bring those disappearances'
to adequately ms of the re
1992, Atlanesty ds given a copy tion concerning th certificates' Lued, could be impensation. As e Secretary to try, it was Encertificates and in would both hl the Iew Diwiats, and that ld be . 5awailable ho had genuine of ethnic group he person had 1 the custody of pposition forces. ding LO the ri:5er 01 - I'll ter. the government ided whether it ensation to rewho are known peared' in the rument Security
ons intended to 2es and their
provisions which III al Crillimal pplied to poliPrisoners detainIntergency RegulPrevention of PTA) are denied provided under inal law. There ut for political brought propy strate, for exeas that there ision for indeision of their g periods. Also, before a police Ilık Öf AS Sistant of police or
above are admissible under Emergency unlike under normal criminal law which requires confessions to be made before a magistrate in order to protect prisoners from confessing under dures 5. As safeguards to protect prisoners are reduced under emergency provisions, the risk of torture and 'disappearances' increases. For this reason, Amnesty InterDational has long called for
in court Regulåtions,
specific safeguards to protect political detainees.
Amnesty International urged
the government to ensure that mechaniss for Supervising a Tests and detention are establish cd in accordance with the United Nations Body of Principles for thc Protection of all Persons under Any Form of Detention or imprisonment and the international instruments designed to protect prisoners. Further reCollendations concerned the work of the Human Rights Task Force (HRTF), the body established by the government in August 1991 to establish and Imaintain a central register of detainees and to monitor their Welfare; procedures to be followed
by any arresting agency; and procedures specific to military practice.
Detention Procedures
In order to protect detainees from 'disappearance" and tor
ture, Amnes y linternational recommended that all prisoners without exception should be seen promptly after the arrest or capture by Tepresentatives of an independent body, and that detainees should only be held in official, publicly known places of detention. All detainees, whether arrested with or without warrant, should be given prompt access to medical care, lawyers and relatives, and be brought promptly before a judicial authority. In addition, because of the specific problems Telatives of dictimees hawe - had in identifying the agent who has carried out an arrest. Amnesty International recommended that all military uniforms should hawe the insignia of the soldier's battalion or detach ment clearly
구

Page 10
marked, and that all police and military vehicles should be clearly marked as such and carry IIIIber plates at all times. Detailed records should be kept by the military and police of all arrests, transfers and releases of prisoners, and this informa Lion should be reported immediately to the HRTF. As many disappearances' had been re
ported following cordon and search operations. Amnesty International sluggested that a system be introduced by the
army during these operations to issue 'reccipts to relatives stating that the individuals cIlcerned had been taken for questioning, so that there could be no question later about official responsibility for their safe custody, When prisoners are released, Amnesty International recoln II ended that there be independent verification of the release, such as by a representalive of the HRTF.
In order to show how it has implemented these recommendations, the government has stated that arTests a Tc - Illa dc in alcco Tdance with the Emergency Regulations and the PTA and has provided AI Innesty International with copies of orders and circulars issued by the security forces concerning arrest and detention procedures.
For a Trest procedures to comply with Amnesty. International's recommendations, the Emergency Regulations and the PTA I would hawe be i all c1dcd. For example at present prisoners
held II der the IPTA leed Ilot be brought before a judicial authority for 90 days, and under the Emergency Regulations
prisoners can be held for 30 days before a magistrate sees them. Furthermore, under these provisions, prisoners need not be held in publicly known places of detention. Indeed, officials of warious ranks are enim poweTed to decide where detainees may be held without any requirement that they make these places publicly known. The PTA, permits prisoners to be detained for up to 18 months in any place and 'subject to to such conditions" determined
8
by the Ministe The Emergency mit prisoners to wentive detentic any place auth Inspector Genera or a Deputy Ins of Police (DIGP they are susp committed an o be held for up any place aut hc a DGP a S Assistant Supe Police. Whether Illot, there is ewi hawe Sometimes
'safe-houses' it pects. A case c Nuwara Eliya D bel W.
The Human F the University C reviewed the Ei lations for their international st: submitted its government. Til has not announ intends to actic recommendations said whether it the regulations and detention bring them in international Sta sure that the ri are safeguarded.
The circulars
police and arms most of Amnest TeCo III e Ildations encouraging mar desire at senior forces to impro practice. The is dC) es lot in is procedures are corrected in pr Indeed there is for follow-up te TČle want co III al fully aware of hawe beel issue реагеd uпаware that they in tu OrdeTs are Tig Ileted. A III es' believes that lance by Senior panied by pror and disciplinary sary to check a practice.

T of Defecte. Regulations perbe held in preindefinitely in lorised by the 1 of Police (IGP) spector General '). Alternatively, lected of having ffence, they Day to 90 days in rised by the IGP, uperintendent or :rintendent of authorized or ience that police used unofficial 0 t0rtlu ITC SLSIf this kildə FTTİı istrict is given
Rights Centre at If Colombo has mergency Reguconformity with andards, and has indings to the he government ced whether it In the Centre's and has not intends to a mend concerning arrest procedures to to line with ndards and elghts of prisoners
issued by thc d forces cower y International's and are an lifestation of :
levels in the we human rights ssuing of orders clf ensure that modified or actice, however. now great need ) ensure that all inding officers are the riders which d, as sоппе арof then, and 1 rm ceInsure the 'Tously in pleLy International continuing vigiofficers, accolmpt intervention action, is meccsuse and Tefo TITI
Several cгucial primary protections included in the circulars, such as the issuing of receipts by the military during cordon and search operations, had not been carried out it all in the Batticaloa area. The Brigadier who had recently taken charge in Batticaloa confirmed to AmTesty International that the Tecommended procedure would provide a practical safeguard, if implemented, given the system tic way in which cirdon and search operations are carried out, and believed that it could help with the confidence of the civilian population. Instructions had been received shortly before Amnesty Internátið1lal's wisit thät arrests following Cordon and search operations should be reported to the ICRC directly, and AI Innesty International was told that the prisoners' names are also sent to the Directorate of Military Intelligence in Colombo with 48 hours. However no acknowledgement of the arrest was made to prisoners' relatives by the Inilitary directly.
The fact that it doncs i T10 acknowledge arrests directly has led to un necessary anxiety for relatives and embarrassment for the Imilitary in some instances. When Amnesty International wisited Batticaloa there were reports that over 40 men had “disappeared' following a cordon and search operation at KakkachchiWaddai in 19 October 1992. Af. ler they had been detained, the Inch had been taken to the Paliyadivaddai army camp. Relatives who followed them there told Amnesty International that soldiers fired at them and chased them away. The military continued to deny that these men had been taken into custody and the apparent "disappearances" were given wide publicity two Wecks later after a local Tepresentative raised questions in parliament. By then, and without the member of parliament's knowledge, the relatives had learned from the ICRC that the men were held at the military camp at Hardy College in Amparai and that they had not "disappeared. Had the army issued Çertificates of arrest at the time

Page 11
of the cordon and search operation, as required by the circular issued from Army Headquarters on 1 July 1992, and had it not then repeatedly denied these men were in custody, it would have provided relatives with a measure of assurance and sawed itself much adverse publicity. Given the housands of “disappear
ances' in military custody which haye occurred in the east to date, including so Ine from the
Kakkachchivaddai area, it must be expected that relatives and Others Will fear the Worst when arrests which hawe been witnessed a Tc dellied.
Senior military officers told Amnesty International's delegates that at times it may be necessary to hold certain prisoners in una cknowledged detentin, cven hidden from ICRC representatives who visit prisoners at army camps. These prisoners were said to be assisting the military by providing information with direct operational value. Should the whereabouts of such prisoners be disclosed, it was argued, the value of their information would rapidly diminish because the LTTE would altic its tactics and move its camps accordingly. Further, it was said that som c prisoners requested that their whereabouts be kept secret as on their release they feared reprisals if anyone suspected they had cooperated with the army. Opinions differed on how long such a risoner would need to be held in scoret. One officer said that secret detention would only be necessasy for a couple of days, because after that timic the opcrational value of their inforImation would diminish. Others, however, said secret detention might continue for several weeks. It was also admitted that records of such a prisoner's arrest would probably be falsified to hide the true date of their arTest. Almnesty International learnicd of onc prisoner who had been secretly detained by the army for a year, during which time he was severely tortured (see below). Circulars issued by the security forces on arrest and detention procedures state that pris
oners must onl known, official res, and that rel the ICRC and t be granted ready However, no list horised places of been issued. Or the custody of a rity, most detain to be permitted latives, but such start after a p Friticado detentic Orders concern of records on pr requirement that be held without de T, hawe also be nesty Internatio did not exallie kept by the milite registers they say on the days of late October and ber, 14 people under Emergency Kandy police sta police custody in the latter, 14 we Deputy Inspecto Police's office än fabrier District Jil in the Pioncer Ro Two prisoners in been held in since April 1992
In order that a tralised and up-t of detainces coul An Inesty Interna commended that transfers and reli reported to the has the Lask of пnaintaining a c Orders regarding of arrests to th been issued by t the police, but adequately follow military order fa iLifoImation on call be contacted regarding reporti the police was Police Headquar International was arrests are report by local police At police stations nesty Internation the ar Tests are Ti quarters, which i

be held in letention centesentatives of a HRTF, Illust access to the Ill. of officially autdetention has :e they are in civilian authoes do appear visits froll reisits might only riod of inco
ng the keeping soners, and the no prisoner can detention orin issued. Annmal's delegates any Tegisters ry. The police indicated that their visits in early Novemwere detained Regulations at tion and 21 in Batticaloa. Of Te held at the r General of seven at the idge's bungalow ad police camp. Batticaloa had police custody under the PTA. complete, ceno-date register d be compiled, tional had reall detentions, ases should be HRTF, which creating and entral register. the reporting HIRTF hawe he military and aWe I10t been 'd. Indeed, the ils to include low the HRTF The situation g of arrests by confused. At ters, ATTnnesty informed that d to the HRTF tations directly. however, Amil was told that ported to headturn informs
the HRTF. ATrests by the military had only started to be reported to the Joint Operations Command (JOC) shortly before Amnesty International's visit. The information provided by the JOC was variable, was not necessarily up-to-date, and was not in a clear, usable format. The problems this poses for the work of the HRTF are discussed below. Release procedures hawe generally improved to enable verification of the release. In Batticaloa prisoners have been released in the presence of the ICRC, a member of the Batticaloa Peace Committee, or a local member of parliament. In other places, too, prisoners have been released in a manmer which enabled verification.
Although the government accepted Amnesty International's recommendation regarding the wearing of insignia on military uniforns, Amnesty International's delegates were informed by military officers that it is their policy not to Wear anything indicating either rank or unit when conducting operations as they might risk conveying such inforImation to the enemy. Police and military officers assured Amnesty International that their vehicles are now required to carry numberplates and official markings. However, Amnesty International learncd of a Tests Carried out in the south in 1992 by plain clothed police and military personnel who did not identify themselves, and who used un märked. vehicles (see below).
The Human Rights Task Force (HRTF)
The HRTF was established in August 1991 under the Emergency Regulations “to monitor the observance of fundamental rights of detainees'". Its officers have been appointed for a period of three years, and the HRTF can remain in existence for as long as the state of emergency lasts.
The HRTF is expected to maintain a comprehensive, accurate register of detainees, to investigate the identities of detainees, to monitor the welfare of detainees, to ensure their safe

Page 12
release from : custody, tot ca Try out regular inspections of places of detention and tj record collplaints and take in Ilmediate Temedial action. In addition, the HRTF keeps a list of people reported to hawe " "disappeared"". It checks this list against the Danies of detainees it has see in custody in order to try to trace “disappeared' prisoners. Only those areas of the HRTF's work Irelati Ing to the pTotection of detainees from "disappearance' and to Titu Te are discussed here. Amnesty International had recommended that the HRTF should be given un Testricted access to prisoners held by the military and that all detainees should be seen promptly after arrest by representatives of an independent body such as the HRTF; that it should establish regional offices and a 24-hour information office; that all arresting agencies should inform the HRTF immediately and directly of any a Trest With or Without Warrant, and also inform the HRTF of any transfer or release of detainees; that detainees should be released in the presence of a representative of the HRTF; that the annual report of the HRTF should be made public and widely publicized.
Annesty International's dellegates Inet the Chairman of the HRTF, Justice Soza, and visited the HRTF offices in Kandy and Batticaloa. At the time of their visit, HRTF offices had been opened in Colombo, Kandy, Matara, Anu radhapura and BattiCalova; i a n office was planı edin Trincomalee, and a slub-office in Kattankudi, near Batticaloa.
The HRTF has compiled a list of detainees, but this list cannot be considered comprehensive or up-to-date. For a central, publicly-available list of detainees to sulfil a protective sunction, all arrests must be i Teported to the HRTF promptly and the list Inust be regularly updated with information on transfers and releases, which should be promptly reported by the custodial authorities as a matter of routine procedure. If this is mot done, accurate information
O
cannot be giv about the whereal -arrested people Lally at most Ti about the place prisoners who h The ability of Iaintain such a pered by the fa aml al Titled si TC ply it with the nation. Police thorities should inform thé HR and in an agri format, of all d feiTS ad relea: could then Cold to ensure that : detai Tees a Tc in The HRTF by - visi Ling polic camps, detention and rehabilitati cording the nan tainees seen in p Tactice, the wis been done by t self, a retired j Teme Court whic public respect, s pa nied by anotl Čer, Practice V,
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c to relatives bouts of recently , who are usisk of abuse, oT of det el Liol of awe bee Illyed. the HRTF to register is ha II1ct that the police es do Incot supnecessary in forand military aube required to TF immediately, eed and l'15able etentions, transses. The HIRTF luct spot-checks full reports about deed being made. sts is co I il piled ce stations, army centres, prisons yn camps and Teles Of the deeach place. In iting has mostly le Chairman himudge of the Supcommands great Oil etimes accomIce HRTF TTLries in the dif
ferent regional offices, however, depending upon local conditions. In Kandy, the local officer wisits police stations, but not army camps, himself in Batticaloa, the local officer had only visited prisoners in the company of Justice Soza, who wisits the town approximately once a month. It would appear that the police and a II ny forces I may not prowide other officers of the HRTF the access they provide to Justice Sciza himself. HOWe'WCT tirelessly Justice Soza pursues these visits, it is impossible for hill to record all detentions promptly after arrest by this II ethod. He has wisited an illpressive number of police stations and ally camps, but has not visited them all and it would be unreasonable to expect him to do so. FullTthe TImore, as no list of authorised places of detention has been published, he could newer be sure whether he had visited all such places. Until the HRTF as an institut
ion is accorded the facilities granted to Justice Soza individually, local officer will not
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U. Karulatilake

Page 13
AAFT 2
The Role of Media in
Wictor Gunewardena
INFORMED DISCOURSE
The foregoing discussion on the conceptual basis of the melia, their rights and responsibililies and their role as purveyors of socially relevant information, of educating the public on the various aspects of the country's development process. of providing fora for informed discourse to as Inally citizens is possible who choose to avail themselves of that facility, and of maintaining wigilance to check abuses of power or excesses on the part of the State, should give us a better idea of what functions the Imedia a Te expected to perform. Whether in fact they do so, and the causes or constraints responsible for failure or inadequacy are another natter altogether. The limitations of space precludes fuller discussion of this aspect of the subject.
Sri Lanka being a multi-ethIllic and II multi-religious society, SCI11e measure of recognition of that fact is civident in the functiy) ning of the country's IL1edia. At the level of language, there a Te mainstream newspapers, both dailies and wecklies in the three languages, Sinhala, Tamil and English. The Sri Lanka Broadcasting Corporation, too, broadcasts programmes in the three languages and the State-run Television Corporation screens its program. Les also in a similar ITl:II GT
However, one pertinent criticis In f this linguistic division of the ledia is the lack of openness of the particular language II edium to the culture and ethos of the other language media. Consequently, the respective newspaper, radio and television audiences are inadcquately cxposed to the other group's cultural identity, perceptions and concerns, hopes and aspirations, and their problems and challenges.
An unfortunate outcome of this narrow orientation is that the
audiences in the guage media h to a partial pictl reality of Sri L ger is that Ima T Lo accept un crit perate Inedia pI Correct Teflecti) reality.
The greater di: the particular pi
the edia, be ethnic, religiou eI1o1)IIıic. IInWa partisan and and/or prejudic their particul: Further, when
un frece in that 1 tisanship they : to the particul news and wicw. supportive of it: task of media in becomes increasi
The inforled One expects the for is not for colling because flow is fouled distortion or bla tant partisans
HETEROGENET IDENTITIES
A Theliu III of cation which cla nal in its scop and in its reacl and is said to b of the public i I stly recognise Ll teT of Sri Länk only is it multi-religious ideologically div differentiated in class, income and Further, ewen wi' ethnic, religiou social groups t. degree of hetero kinds. In fact, hawe multiple i make für diver own pгіпnaгу gr sity Dotwithstan

Nation-Building
respective lanawe access only ire of the Social anka. Th1c , da Illy persons tend ically Such des'esentation as a in of the social
inger stems from olicy stances of they political, 5, cultural or riably, they are “eflect the bis ce arising from L orientation.
besides their paralso shut access lar medium of մther than thost own then the nation-building ingly difficult.
discourse which media to provide is it forththe i Ilfo II TmatioT by bias, slant or is restricted by :hip.
TY OF
Imass CommuniLitls to be natie and concerns h and coverage, c il furtherance 1 terrest, Immust firhet plural cha racan Society. Not
lulti-ethnic and but alsk) it is erse and is also
tells of social .mic powerטnסטט I thin olur separate is, linguistic or here is a large gen city of various most Sri Lankams identities, which sity within their oup. This diverding, there is a
sense of belonging to the primary group, which transcends the intra-identities. At given times, the person's sense of belonging and identity within his primary groups may wary, depending oп the circumstall Ces.
Fог ехаmple, one can be a Sinhalese, a Buddhist, belong to a high income group and be ideologically a believer in the free market economic system.
Another can also be a Sinhalese, a Christian, belong to a low in come group and be ideologically committed to a socialist system of society. There is no inherent incompatibility of indentity in either case.
Both persons have a strong sense of identity as Sinhalese, which is an overarching sense of unity with the primary group transcending other particular identities.
Thus, the primary identity of ethnicity in this instance is large enough to accommodate other identities. It does not, however, preclude the persons concetncd from emphasising his/her identity with other categories — religious, ideological or social class etc.
Likewise, a Sri Lankan identity which expresses itself in a strong attachment to this country as the land of one's birth and upbringing and the repository of one's cultural heritage does not necessarily deny the validity of other identities which are as strongly experienced and as stead fastly sought to be proImoted. The different identities could co-exist and mutually enrich the large, overarching identity.
RIGHT TO EQUALITY
The popular understanding of the term "nation' implies a collective identity of people inhabiting a defined territory, sharing its resources and interacting among themselves in an interdependent manner, being

Page 14
adminstered by common forms and institutions of gover Ilance, and evidence of a Consciousness of belonging to a socio-cultural and politicin-geographic entity with a history and traditions special to it.
Nation-building does not imply the acceptance if ethno-cent Ti
city. While there could be an ethnic group which is numerically the largest, there could also be several other ethnic
groups, some large and others smalli. No matter to which ethnic, religious or linguistic group one belongs, what is fundallental is the recognition by law and in society of every persull's right to equality.
It is the right to equality, which the media would be expected to articulate, protect and promote. It must do so in the very excercise of the right of freedom of speech, expression, publication and information, Media that C controlled by the State and are used primarily to serve the State's publicity purposes, often also crudely propagandist, lose their credibility because of their blatant partisanship. Likewise, other media, although owned and managed by it private corporate bodies or persons, do not necessarily make for freedom and responsibility in the exercise of the right of expression or as vehicles of socially relevant information. They too could be biased ideologically and restrictive of public access to the particular medium and could manipulate public opinion,
This is not to deny to a particular medium the right to ideology or a political option. While it is entitled to do so, its claim to be a national newspaper, radio or television medium would not carry conviction if its news and views are restrictive and exclude expression of opinion that is not supportive of its own stance. A plural society requires media that a Te plural in expression and promote people's participation in the use of the media or in interaction with them.
It has been said that "a free press is a condition of a free
2
society’’. This di mean that the troduce and I e II legislation in the rights of ol to protect the
But those identic norms which th intended to prot must be equall: State-run media
There are th that a regula for thic i Illinedia necessary becaus freedoi1 is the and that the II depended on t own functioning perience does in contention. Al freedom is ip Tew, in i Sri — L:a, nkä èY media institutio being a regulat
It has been e55 ence of free fof Grder. Selfmeans by which However, where lacking the di must prevail.
INFORMATION NECESSARY
A furth çT T clearly-articulate o information; Such a policy tive of access t a social right a the functioning freedom and a Tesponsibility.
This paper h some length the of freedom of sp publication and because a clea of those conce and is a pre examination of it in nation-buildi also important fluence hul II nan t their value-orie mative principle
Besides what said in this p role of ITmedia ir it must also be a paramount է։ In edia should wards achieving

oes not, however, State cannot in Iforce regulatory 1rder EC) en5'll Te hers as well as
public interest. a principles and le legislation is cct and promote y applicable to
Lose who argue tory framework is not at all e an essence of absence of law, media should be o regulate their Howe Wer", el cxot support that buse of Thedia alent to this day ven by State-Tuin is, despite there жry framework.
argued that an lnm is the Tneed regulation is one to en sure order. it is absent or scipline of law
POLICY
2duirement is a !d national policy and om the media. Tlust be pro 110D information als ld seek to foster of media with due sense of
as discussed at conceptual basis eech, expression, in for Illation r ii understanding pts is essential requisite to all he Tçole of Illedia Ing. Concepts are because they inbehaviour through itation and nor
S. has already been aper about the nation-building, emphasised that bjective of the }e to striwet tothe objective of
an informed citizenry. Not only inst the inflation be accuratic but also the presentation of news must be balanced and objective, in other words, factual and fair.
Sri Lanka clairls to be a Tepresentative democracy, “assuring to all pciples freedom, equality, justice, fundamental rights and the independicince of the judiciary..." in its Supreme Law.
Further, the Directive Principles of State Policy and FundaIlmental Dutics State iInter alia.
"The State shall strenghthen national unity by promoting cñoperation and mutual con fidence ancing all sections of the People of Sri Lanka, including the racial, religious, linguistic and other grups, and shall take effective steps in the fields of teaching, education and information in order to climinate discrimination and prejudice' Article 27 (5) Sri Lanka Constitution].
The elimination of discrimination and prejudice through the action process is thus seen as a necessary task in order to strengthen national unity by promoting cooperation and mutual confidence among sections of the people. This is a special responsibility of the media, an aspect of their social accountability.
The II edia must be authentic and credible in their functioning, must ensure access to the public, recognising also the people's right to dissentand express contrary views. The media must so function that no section of the country's plural population would feel marginalised or alienated by the policies or performance of the media.
Positively, the media must
strive to promote a corporate unity within Sri Lanka which, while recognising distinctive identities and steadfast group loyaltics at different levels, would seek to achieve an overarching solidarity as a nation, trans Cending thể multiple identities of the people who inhabit this land

Page 15
APAAT P2
Democracy and the So
Sumit Chakravarty
". . . Any sustained rule by a
state of siege inevitably leads to arbitrary rule and has a Corruptive effect on society. . .
"Decrees, the dictatorial power of factory overseers, severe plu [nishment and t crToT arc all
palliatives. The dominance of terror has a very demoralising effect. The only road to revival
is through the school of public life, unlimited democracy and public opinion."
These Words have a remarkably familiar ring in today's context. But in the light of
Rosa Luxemburg's criticism of of Lenin and Trotsky one only Wonders how she would have responded, were she alive, to Stalin's insensate display of violencc and terror that became the order of the day only a few years after Lenin's untimely death in 1924.
Let us now turn to a highly il teresti Ing cwaluation of the Soviet denoucment published in the September 1992 issue of the well-known independent Americ:11) socialist publication, Marthy Review. In his article, "The Direction of Sovie Economic Reform: Fron Secialist Reform to Capitalist Transition", David Kotz, a member of the Econ). mics Department at the University of Massachusets, Amherst, writes in the journal: "It is tempting, particularly for socialists, to attribute the Sowjet collapse and turn toward capitalism to external pressures. Pressure from world capitalism was a factor all during the life of the Soviet system. However, the collapse came after the USSR and its allies had finally achieved military parity with the capitalist world, ł. an end Lo Western lrcamis of eliminating socialism by military conquest. A CIA that was Llewer ble to eliminate Fidel
Castro right on step cannot be engineered the lapse of the Sow
According to external pressur factor iI'll this ewents hawe bet Inarily by forces štíte 3 citli 5t bachev understoc ment and spelt book, Peres frk. in 1987; lack The solution, in **bräd dell OCrl aspects of socie he was certain Will be it st isIm, Tncot repla different system.' course adopted based on a gramme' rather, was a tensil potentially diff foT reforming th Kotz put it. was that of dem mic institutions, prises and the | The Second dire
was the introdl Tlarket elements my.... Certainly
contenance of enterprises in th Indeed, Gorbac "Socialism and p On which it is virtually unlimit for progressive cesses". (ք. 69) democracy and easy task, and process develope of marketisation the plan expa influence, and to define te i Tc happened, the it on maintaining ship of enterpris and replaced by to "privatisation

viet collapse
the US doorsupposed to hawe TcImåTkåble Coliet superpower.
Kotz, **while has been a process, thest
en driven , priinternal to the
system,' Gor. bidli i the Teal lillit cut in his
7, that i Calle Kult of democracy. his view, was tisation of all ty”. (p. 18) and that the result rength en Socialçe it with a " However, the by him was not consistent praWhat surfaced 1 between two relt di Tections Lic economy' as "One direction ocratising econ (n- including enterplanning system, citin of reform 1ction of more into the econdthere was lo privatisation of fe original plan. hew Wrote that ublic ownership, based, hold out ed possibilities economic proBut combining markets is no as the reform d, the elements contained in
Inded, grew in :ventually came form. As this nitial insistence
public ownerses was dropped a - CoimTitlelt Instead of
reforming and democratising socialism, the process turned into one aimed at replacing it With capitalism.'
In order to realise how such a turnabout tok placc it must be appreciated that democratisation of the state socialist system was imperative for the very purpose of carrying out reforms. The vehicles of such a democratisation was the instrument of glasnosi (open ness) which was responsible for the emergence of a "civil society" in the USSR. The media biccame articulate, and presented all kinds if views - nationalist, anti-Semitic, anti-socialist In fact thise who trenchantly criticised the failings of the old sy 51 CT1 cv en fribrim anti-socialist psitions evilked a sympathetic respon sic from the people. This provided a measure of the public revulsion to the undemocratic and lawless rule they had been subjected to for 70 years. Thereafter the process of democratising political institutions that began in 1989 was the C immunist Party humiliated in several elections at the hands of opponents who were openly critical of Communists and some of whom were openly critical of socialism. For generations." Kotz notes, socialism“ had meant the existing state socialist system and rule by the Communist Party; thus antisocialist positions became popular despite the public's overwhelming acceptances of what I can only be regarded as socialist Walues."
Kotz classifies three major groups that spearheaded the move towards capitalism. First was the relatively small interest group of the Inew class of entrepreneurs. Second came the bulk of the intelligentsia. In this context Kotz Lakes the following observation: It is
13

Page 16
striking how many members of the Russian intelligentsia are true believers in capitalism. Many of then believe in an idealised, nineteenth-century picture of capitalism, which they see as a system of economic freedom and opportunity for all. Milton Friedman probably has more adherents in Moscow and St. Petersburg than in New York and Boston. This Inay be partly an ideological phénomenon; as the ideology associated with the old system weakened, many intellectuals were attracted to its opposite. If the official media had previously not been telling the whole truth, perhaps the whole truth was the opposite of
what they had previously been told.'"
But it was the third group
which gave the protagonists of capitalism a dominant political position in society. This was the group representing the political and economic elite of the state socialist system. It is worthwhile to quote Kotz here again: "On a trip to Moscow during July and August 1991 received a first hand report of a weekend dinner at the dacha (countryhouse) of former President Leonid Brezhnev's granddaughter in the exclusive vacation willage of Jukowka. This report says something about the cwolution of some of the leading families of Soviet coIIIlulism, which were represented at the dinner. According to my informant, all of the people present had shifted from the high positions in the institutions of the old system to becoming business people. The grandson of Mikhail Suslow, the former (indow deceased) chief ideologist for the Communist Party, is a commercial banker working at a bank that is currently converting from state to joint-stock Corporate ownership, Brezhnev's granddaughter had become a businesswomen. Ironically, even Dmitri Sakharov, son of the
famous physicist and dissident.
Andrei Sakha row, was lipresent at the dinner and turned out to be a businessman. Others present were working in joint ventures of trading companies.
14
They had traded Ladl automobiles Benzes. Their . was that they Wei ing harder thar Source: Fred Wei journalist, inter ilin August 2, 1991. in Moscow for : märriel L() a Rilu and knows Brez daughte T.)
Kotz Lries to b a major differenc talism and state si capitalism faced the Great Depres ruling class of ci Inlined to sa We whether by Tcp ri Germany and It cession (as in S United States). system threatenin; within, socialism meant complete privileged positio!
* Like capitalis iSİT1 Eylülved a Tu ran the systell vileged position N unlike that of the ruling group İSİm did 11'ıt o Wrı production. Furth ing to the cofficia Tuling grup of was supposed t economy and gi lessly for the di the working pen systČITI 1 Was Illi 1. authoritarian, th were the suppos had no power t official status as til The group that from democratisii the working clas ed the power to cess. The only . ing class was ab betw cel different ruling group. Y SS) ES WCT C E leadership, with support, by W opposition to and their claim democratisation after his electio dent of Russia, turned out to bi the part of the

in their luxury for Mercedesnly coInplaint Te now workpreviously.' T, a Canadian
interview - Weir has lived six years, is issian citizeil, h incw's grand
ring into focus a between capicialis I ll + "When
the crisis of sin, it had i pitalists deter
the system, ission (as in aly), or Con
weden and the The alternative
g them from , would hawe loss of their
n in society.
l, state socialling group that and had a priwithi I it. Bult, capitalism, the of slate socialthe Teans of Lermore, accordideology, the statc sociallis II o operate the wcriment selfrect benefit of ple. Since the emocratic and e workers who El beneficial ries enforce their le Tuling class. .. stood to benefit 1g socialism was 5, but they lacklirect thic prohoices the Workle to make Were factions of the eltsin and his ble to seize the initial majority irlue of their the old system to favour the of society. But n as the PresiYelt5jI scb) E1 the leader of ld elite that
clearly saw capitalism as its best option.
i Wille various accidental events and personalities played a role in the developments, the underlying structural factor at work was the fillu Te of lui democratic state socialism to develop a ruling class with an abiding interest in protecting and defending the system over which it presided. Once the system went into a moderately serious social and cconomic crisis, the bulk of the ruling group deserted the system and opted for capitalis.il. If this analysis is valid, it explains how such a seemingly stable and relatively successful socioeconomic system Եւյն1 ti collapse so rapidly and peace
fully."
This analysis needs to be qualified with two points; the system's relative success', as mentioned in the analysis, does not take into account (a) lhe economic crisis generated by the tenacious efforts to achieve strategic parity with the US - resulting in massive burdens øn the exchequer at a time of substantive fall in oil prices, one of the principal sources of TeWEDuc for the Sowjet Stäte and (b) the grotesque deformities of the system wrought by the depredations of Stalin and his cohorts on practically every sphere of life, In fact the Soviet people were rendered sick as a result of the brutalities of the Stalinist regime that su rwiwedl the death of the great dictator.
As a Russian friend, writerintellectual Marill Salganik (better known as Mira), under lined, not only had Stalin killed more people than Hitler, he did something Hitler was never accused of cxcept in TelliJ Il to Jews, indiscriminate assault on his own people. Lately Yeltsin has by a decree rehabilitated the former prisoners of Hitler's concentration camps. None has cared to publicise it
since few are aware of its significance. But, as Mira informed, it revealed a lot and
reopened old scars: the prisoners of Hitler's concentration camps
(Carr inited or page 22)

Page 17
SOL ZHEWYSYLW
Literature as Dissent
MOe Fernado
Sło: the Russia
novellist and historian, was born the year after the Russian revolution of 1917. He graduated in mathematics and physics at the University of Rostow and took correspondence courses in literature from Moscow University, indicating his early interest in Writing. Salzhenitsyn joined the army in World War II rising to the post of captain of the artillery and was twice decorated.
It was during the latter part of the WaT i 1945 Lihat SolzhcIn itsyn began his confrontation with the Soviet authorities and system. He had been critical of Stalin in letters to a friend, He was arrested and sentenced to 8 years hard, labo lur and the spent 8 years in a special prison in Moscow and in the Karlag concentration camp near Karaganda in Kazakhstan.
On his releasc from the camp in 1953 i Solzhenitsyn was again sentenced this time to perpetual exile, which he spent in SoutherIn Kazakhstan. He Was there striken with a severe cancer of the stomach, which was successfully treated in a hospital in Tashkent,
Solzhenitsyn was released from exile in 1955 and Ichabilitated in 1957. He then moved to RyaZain about al hundred Thilles froIII Moscow and taught mathematics at al local School. The Te le started to write. One day in the life of Iwan Deniso wich
Solzhenitsyn wrote a short lowel and submitted it to the literary periodical Nowy Mir. The novel was accepted and published in the journal in 1962 and the first printings were immediately sold out. It is based on Solzhenitsyn’s own experiences and was one of the first truthsul accounts of camp life to be published in the Soviet Union. This was during the era of Nikita Krushchew Whe t ble Te was Some relaxation of restraints on Writing. The novel is written in
simple, direct l; cribes the thoug of a prisoner day from early at night. It ex rial hardships camplife in Sta Towel was imm the Sowiet Unic
The First Circle :
TIL 1944 KIT15 power and co Soviet Union Solzhenitsyn h Imajor novels,
lid Cancer Wai HTitl 1957,
The first circ and conditions Scarch institute prisoners are en work for the st in particular t of wices record ping of telepho Tll rise "ht: T է:քլ: are under con tIT315 fer to Jim I
() Ille of the c: first circle stati
"For a cult Writer is like government' applicable to S self and exei life a Til work.
Cancer Ward in an hospita treatmelt of This is again b experiences as : in a hospital il SeWeTe ÇamceT of his successful
ClflLE“
Both books straight-forward as Well as alli the Soviet Unic senting suffering
Solzhenitsyn : both novels p Soviet Union b through the ba ship. His writi widely circulate Union by the S yourself — publi

linguage and deshits and activities irl Ole WilliteT"5 morning till late plores the mateand rigours of liI's RL55ia, The ensly popular in
di Cancer WTd
Chich cw fel froIII Inditions in the hardened again. di WTitte two TE fiT5 t Circe 1 EWEEl 155
le describes life
in a prison rein Moscow, where gaged in research :cret police and he identifica til led by the tapThe conversatis. ise to cooperate stilt threat of e brutal camps.
ha TaciteTS , il The
5 y to have a great having another This collment is Solzhenitsyn himplifics his own
describes events
ward for the cancer patients. Sed til his own |d caпсет patiспt 1 Täshkent With1 the stomach and treatment foT
can be read as reālistic Inovels egories of life in Il Can CCT TCpTe
and death.
attempted to get ublished in the ut failed to get rriers of censorngs were however d in the Soviet amizdat - do it shing System. Un
der this system it was possible to circulate material not officially permitted, usually in the form of typewritten home done repro
ductions of books or portions
of books.
Eventually both books were
published abroad in 1968. This
was followed by increasing and vicious attacks oD , Solzhenitsyn in the press and by the literary establishment. His position now steadily deteriorated and Solzhenitsyn was expelled from the Sowjet Writer”5 Union in 1959. The Gulag Archipelago
During the years 1958-1967, while also working on his novels, Solzhenitsyn was engaged in Writing a monumental work on the wast system of prisons and labour camps which had been established in the Soviet Union shortly after the revolution of 1917, and which were enormously expanded during the regime of Stalin (1924-1953).
This work, Tunning into 7 parts and ab ut 2.000 pages was
written in the greatest secrecy With lit any normal reseaach facilities. Knowing he would be
unable to publish such a work in the Sowict Union, Solzhenitsyn had sent a manuscript to his publishers abroad for safe keeping. His intention was to pub1lish this Work - at some future date cwen after his death, to protect persons mentioned in the work. However a copy fell into the hands of the KGB after they had interrogated the woman who had typed the manuscript for Solzhenitsyn. Thereafter she committed suicide. Solzhenitsyn promptly requested his publishers outside the Soviet Union to bring out the work which was
published in 3 volumes from 1973 - 1978.
The gulag archipelago is a
literary-historical work. The cruel and brutal prison system is catalogle with a wealth of detail, description, comment and analysis. Sections of the work record the procedures of arrest, interrogation, conviction, transportation and in prisonment of the wictims of gulag in chilling detail Solzhenitsyn uses a wariety of Sources and of forms of writing:
15

Page 18
autobiographical narrative; testimony of other in lates; official Soviet documents and publications including trial records and the works of Lenin himself; and historical research. Much of this material he retained using only his photographic and prodigious Il CIT10Ty.
Again, as in other work, Solzhenitsyn Writes the truth as he sees it. Without any concessions to ideology or thic rulers. He
Writes in a nolc to the book:
"“In this back the Te are 11C fictitious persons, Inor fictitious
events, ... It all took place just as it is here described." Millions of innocent persons who were victims of the gulag, are coinmemorated in this epic work.
Expulsion from the Soviet Union
The publication of the gulag archipelago so disturbed the Soviet authorities that Solzhe
nitsyn was arrested on Feb. 12th 1974 and threatened with illprisonment once again. He was deprived of citizenship and expelled from the Soviet Union the following day by decree of the Supreme Soviet. The Nobel Speech on Literature - 1970
IIլ 1970 awarded the literature for
"The ethical force with which he has pursued the indispensable traditions of Russian literature"
He was unable to receive the prize personally in Stockholm as he feared to go abroad and run the risk of his being refused to come back to the Soviet Union. In due course he issued the text of his Nobel address in which he discusses and defines the purpose and function of literature as an art form.
"But woe to that nation whose literature is disturbed by the intervention of power. Because that is not just a violation of 'frecdom of the press', it is the closing down of the heart of the nation, a flashing to pieces of its memory."
"Morcover, Writers and artists can do something more: They can Wanquish the lie. Wherever else it fails, Art always has won
16
Solzhenitsyn
Nobel
WS prize for
its tight again Will always win. be obvious, irr to all III e II. T! stand a great d but it clIl Dot
Solzhenitsyn ( "TI" Russit Il Towerbs a Tc ab express the nr. andi bitte eX people, sometim shing force. OI clutweighs the w In Slich a fa II the la w of c015 and energy are to the Writers { Open Letters aп Solzhenitsyn, Sakha Tow and , was constantly Struggle with th ritics and litera on behalf of w. who were subj sion and persecu Illent in prisons and psychiatric LetteT to thic Un 16th May, 1967 Solzhenitsyn Temüväl of lit and the gagging Wanted to writic and truthfully conditions in th “Literature ca betwcem the cal ImiLLed" and * "about this you "about this you T: Llire that is сопtempuгary so not transmit the of that society, warm in time ag: In oral and soci: literature; it is
Solzhenitsyn the chronicle of wilification, pers Id exter Illinti teerized the
literature:
"There were Writers whom t
obediently hande: fate in prisons :
Solzhenitsyn the Stridelt wor,

1st lies, änd it Its victory will :vocably obvious he lie can witheal in this world withstand Art.'
Concludes he most popular out truth. They
t in considerabic perience of the les with astonile. Word of truth 1 ole World. And astic breach of serwatico II of miss based my appeal if world.' d Statements
together with other dissidents. engaged in a E. SowjeL authory establish inct riters a Tcl others 2cted to represtion and Confimelabour camps hospitals. ion of Writers -
demanded the eray censorship of Writers who freely, frankly about life and e Swiet Union. in not develop in :egories of “pernot permitted", may writic' and may not". Liteot he breath of ciety, that dares pains and fears that does not inst threatening al dangers-such Only a facade.'" eXposed to wicw Tepi tission, exilc, i.ecution, suicide Il that characistory of soviet
110 TC that 500 he Union had 2d Ower to their and camps'
concludes ds:
With
"I am of course confident that I will sulfil my duty as a Writer in all circumstances from the grave even more successfully and more ir-refutably than in my lifetime. No one can bar the road to truth, and to advance its cause I am prepared to accept even death. But may it be that repeated lessons Will finally teach is not to stop the writer's pen during his lifetime.'"
Letter to the Union of Writers - 12th November 1969
This letter was written following his expulsion from the Union of Writers and concludes:
It is high time to remember that we belong first and fore
most to humanity. And that man has distinguished himself from the animal world by
THOUGHT and SPEECH. And these, naturally, should be FREE. If they are put in chains, we shall return to the state of ani. mäls.
OPENNESS, honest and coplete OPENNESS - that is the first condition of health in all societies, including our own. And he who does not want this openness for our country cares nothing for his fatherland and
thinks only of his own inter. rest. He who does not wish openness for his fatherland
does not want to purify it of its diseases, but only to drive them in Wards, there to foster
Statement in Defense of Jaures Medvedev - 15th June, 1970
In 1970, Jaures Medvedew, a Soviet biologist was taken by force from his home and con fined in a psychiatric hospital for 19 days.
'Without any arrest warrant ог ншу шLdical justification fouT policemen and two doctors comic to a healthy man's house. The doctors declarc that he is Crazy, the police major shouts "We are an ORGAN of FORCE! Get up!', they twist his arms and drive him off to the madhouse.'
Solzhenitsyn concludes.
"lt is time to think clearly: the incarceration of free-thinking healthy people in madhouses is

Page 19
SPRITUAL MURDER, "it is a
GAS CHAMEWEL III'e Cell: the torture of the people being killed is more malicious Thore prolonged. Like the gas chambers these crimes will NEWER be forgotten.'"
Letter to the head of the KGB, Andropov - 13th August, 1973
Solzhenitsyn coImImences
"For many years, I have borne in silence the lawless Thess of your employees: the inspection of all my correspondence, the confiscation of half of it, the search of many correspondents'
Wariation on the BER, but is
homes, and their official and administrative persecution, the spying around Iny house, the
shadowing of visitors the tapping of telephone conversaLions, the drilling of holes in ceilings, thc placing of recording apparatuses in my city apartment and at Illy garden cottage, and a persistent slander campaign against me from speakers' platforms when they are offered to employees of your Ministry. But after the raid yesterday, I will no longer be silent,
Letter to the Minister of the Interior, Shchelokov - 21st August, 1973
"Four months ago I for a residence per Imit so that I might live with my family. after long consideration of such an indisputable matter, I have now been informed of the Tejection by the police and by you personally. I would express my bewildern ent over the human or legal considerations that could possibly keep a husband from living with his wife, or a father with his two Small Sons, if I did not know from löng experieçe that in either Consideratiol exists in our political system.
Solzhenitsyn concludes
applied
"I want to remind you that serfdom in Tour country was abolishcd 112 years ägo, - and, it is said, the October. Revolution wiped out its last rennants.
It would seem that I, like any other citizen of this country, am
neither a serf r khi luld be free I find it necess IOL EWEIl te ties, should haw right to separat family.'
Appendix to th
W
Solzhenitsyn c of a w TitleT:
. . . it is not WTiter ty defen or another nod the social produ or criticize on of government The task of t Select Im Te Lliw questions, the huma lil heart : Ini confrontation of the triumph ower the laws of the kind that wer depth of time i that will cease the su 1 ceases
Not
After his expulsio
Union Solzheritsyn
SCICL de ett iTI " and working on as the period of the Word War I.
Following the eve 1ern Europe and flfte h::5 bg-Il illvited F his works are now.
Creating. . .
(Carri ffrired fr necessarily be a in any emergen tives report a ft disappearance' a person has bit
The lethod b detailees see were lade avail improved shortly International's w it had take ab the information wisit to Battical cessed on the Colombo Tid - T Batticaloa HRT the new proce HRTF officer act Sozia o his vis theIl Tecord

hor a Slave and to liw e. Where Went агу, апа по опе,
highest authorie the proprietary eme from my
e novel Cancer
le fines the task
the task of the or criticize one e of distributing ct, or to defend ĐT lIOthET form C) Tgal nization. he writer is to ersal and eternal secrets of the i conscience, thic life with death, spiritual sorrow history of man2 bu Corn in thc III lemah Tial ändl exist only when O shine.'
in from het Sowiet has been living in Wetmont, U.S.A. and rt of novels covering Russin T: Wolutiom
Tits of 1989 in Eis. Twards, Solzhenitsyn Jack to Russia and eing published thcre,
? ']] page : 24) ble to intervene cy, should rela2ar of torture or Wery schon after ten arrested.
y which lists of
by the HRTF able publicly was before Amnesty isit. Previously, Out a month for gathered on a oa to be procomputer in
eturned to the
'F office. Under dure the local compa nies Justice ts and both of the names of
prisoners and other relevant in
formation. diately
One copy is available
immelocally for
public information and the other is taken to Colombo for pro
cessing.
(To be continued)
Family. . .
(செராசரி ரீரr ரத்து 3
URAMAYA Karuna ratne.
led by Mr. Tilak
Mr. Anura Bandaranalike sent party secreta Ty Dharmasiri Sena
Inayake a letter on the ewe
f
his departure to London and the U.S. Copies of the letter hawe
been sent to all MP's and party organisers. Mr. Bandaranaike says:
** hawe heäT
Tom Teliable
sources that urgent steps are being taken to draw up a constitution for a connon front and get it registered in a secret Inan
I E IT. Will cause a
SLFP membership which constitute 95% of the
front". Mr.
Кагшпагаtne
If this is the situation, it
to the will plan ned
injustice
said that
Mrs. B. has fallen prey to what
he called an
group committed to
THլ է: had forgotten the
theology'.
"internationalists' 'liberation leader, he said, SLFP base,
Sinhalese, Sinhala Buddhists and
Musliiins.
Mr. Karuna ratne was
replying to strongly worded state
ment by
Mrs.
B. and Other
SLFPers who brand Mr. Karuna ratine as an agent of many
multi-national
firTITs, Mr. S.L.
Gunasekera, an articulate spokes. man of the Sinhala-Buddhist line Was also a target of Mrs. Ban
daranaike.
-Briefly . . .
"പ്പ് -
(CarrrirTFred frar71 paga 7)
Commenting on the Government's repeated accusations about suppression of press freedom by previous SLFP governments,
Mrs Bandaranalike said:
I
is not the task of a governIn ent to keep highlighting the
dulge in
so-called past wrongs and inWrongs
of Iluch
greater proportions'.
Mrs Bandaranalike also said that no journalist disappeared during her government.
17

Page 20
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Page 21
AU MWG SA AV SUU KYI (2)
Buddhist Courage
Jane Russell
haya-gati is the corruption
induced by fear. This she argues is the Worst of the four corruptions "for not only does it stifle and slowly destroy all sense of right and wrong, it so often lies at the root of the other three kinds of corruption'. Sluc cotilules:
"The effort necessary to remain unco II upted in an enWirnment where fear is an inLegral part of everyday existence is not immediately apparent to those fortunate cnough to live in states goverIled by the Tule of law. Just laws do not merely prevent corrupti. Il by I leting allt i Lillpartial punish Linent to offendeTs. They also help to create a society in which people can fulfil basic Tequirements necessary for the preservation of human dignity, without recourse to corrupt practices. Where there are 1) such laws, the burden of upholding the principles of justice and common decency fall on the ordinary people. It is the cumulative effect of their sustained effort and steady endurance which Will change El Datin where reason and conscience are warped by fear into one where legal rules exist to promote humanity's desire for harmony and justice, while restraining the less desirable, destructive traits in human nature.'"
She notes further that "there is a compelling need for a closer relationship between politics and ethnics at both the national and international levels. And in following the path of other 'War. riors of the Spirit', she argues that "The quintessential revolution is that of the spirit, born of an intelectual conviction of the need for change in those mental attitudes and values which shape the course of a nation's development. . . Without a revo. lution of the spirit, the forces which had produced the iniquities of the old order would cotinue to be operative, posing a
ConstalIit thTcat of reform and is not enough for freedon, de m;ln rights. Th united deterlin; integrity in the st sacrifices in the ing truths, to Te ting influences Will ignorance since Marti Tı LL. any public figur El Call to the hi tull wallues of I dom fra Ill Fear" “P Talwada". J.
That Suu Kyi been running all for some years hl çer il "Woolweile:Trt tics, is obvious this essay, 'Free Written while lin with her book " dia - SIThe Asp tual Life Unde Written in the Shima in North years earlier. In makes a telling Ween hier father San and Gandh used by Jawaha scribe Mahatid Well be applies. The essence of fearlessness and t allied to these, the Welfare of ** wםriו
Suu Kyi herse pared, with som [[] Nehru. It: 18 gore, who emerg es” of Suu K Indian inellectu dom from Fer“
"Nehru, who instillation of people of Indi: dhi's greatest was a political as he assessed twentieth-centu dependence, he looking back phy of ancie greatest gift f (bT a l Trıatio I1 . .

to the process regeneration. It Imerely to call
mocracy and huere has to be a lition to preser We ruggle, to make name of endur:sist the corrupof desire, illand fe:Lr'''... Not ther King has e Imade so clear gher, more spirinankind. ('Freeappearing in 1992, pp. 32 f). 's thoughts had ing these lines , even pгіог to in Burlese poliwhen comparing dom from Fear", der house-arrest, “Bll IIIla and In. Ect of litellecT (Colonialis II", "elative calm of 1. Il dia several her essay, she comparison betBogyoke Aur", g i. "The Words lal Nehru to deGHTitlhi titյլIltl il to Aung Sam: his teach ing was Tuth, aПl action always keeping the Ilasses in
lf may be comle justification, Nehhi Tul and Taleas the "heri's analysis of :lls. III **FTEEshe Totes this: considered the courage in the ia one of Gamachievements, modernist, but the Il ccd foT al ry move for infollindi hii Ilmself at the philosoit India: "The ir an itil diwidual was 'abhaya",
fearlessness, not merely bodily courage but absence of fear from the Ilind.' ('Freed on from Fear", Pravada, Jan. 1992, p. 33). Nehru, although a modernist like Suu Kyi, was the Indian politician who came closest to embodying the Asokan ideal. Non-alignment and the proposal for an Indian Ocean Peace Zonic were part and parcel of his "Asokan approach' to politics. If his Asokan mantle has fallen on a nyone, it is on Suu Kyi who, alone of all Asia 1 politiCal figures, has the necessary moral authority to wear it - wide this paragraph, which equals any of Nehru's writings:
"The Wellspring of courage and endurance in the face of unbridled power is generally a firm belief in the sanctity of ethical principles combined with a historical sense that despite al setbacks, the condition of humanity is set on an ultimate course of both spiritual and material advanceIntent. It is the human capacity for self-improvement and self-redemption which most distinguishes us from the mere brute. At the root of human responsibility is the concept of perfection, the urge to achieve it, the intelligence to find a path towards it, and the will to follow the path, if not to the end at least the distance Teeded to rise abwe individual i limitations and enwiron Ilmental impedin il cents. It is the vision of a World fit for rational, civilized humanity which leads people to dare and to suffer to build societies free from want and fear. Concepts such as truth, justice and compassion cannot be dismissed as trite when these are often the only bulwarks which stand against ruthless power'. ('Freedom from Fear", op. cit. p. 33).
In contrast with such lofty ideas, the everyday practice of post-independence Burmese politics seems as absurd a leap as that from the sublime to the Igor blimey". But Suu Kyi traces in her book some of the real
19

Page 22
sons for Burma’s jeju ne political state. She points out for example that the Burmese, although firmly wedded to the Buddhist philosophy, were a militant race “unaccustomed to regarding the boundaries of their kingdom as a variablic dependent upan the ability of the indiwidual moarch”. (p. III).
Their pride in their invincibility was supreme. For well over a millennium, the Burmese had lived in a peaceful cultural isolation which had encouraged a sense of superiority: "An indifference to developments in the outside world was a charactcristic . bf the . Bu Trm1eSe — ITh,) T1 = archs, who traditionally held sway from the land-locked heart of their Kingdom'. (p. 13).
(A comparison with the Kandyan kings seems almost inevitable at this point, and indeed throughout this book, there is the constant reiteration of themes that would be as applicable to Sri Lanka as to Burma). The impact of the "novel experience of complete political conquest, soon to be followed by cultural subjugation” was therefore trauI maltic.
Secondly, she makes the point that: Traditional Burmese edulcation did not encourage speculation. This was largely due to the wiew, so universally accepted that it appears to be part of the racial psyche of the Burmese, that Buddhism represents the perfected philosophy... (therefore)... why should the Burmese people absorb elements of Western culture?" (p. 27/29). The upshot of this attitude was that the Burmese developed an indif.- ference bordering on xenophobia towards the British rulers and the train of western ideas which they carried in their baggage.
The Burmese sense of national identity was also very pronounced. Thus, while Indian nationalism may be regarded largely as a product of British rule, "there had always existed a traditional Burmese nationalism arising from its cultural homogeneity'. (p. 34). While this autarky in nationalist thinking made Burma straigely modern in one sense, it led to
20
a cultural challwi tively engendered "Alien concepts defined in Burm they could be a strange Way the
value their cu almost Illo Te tha identity. They ci greater affinity f who had adopted the Burmese way for a Bullese W. ced an alien cre Tli5 Stil 5 e C1: - at least Wher junta are conce mese constitutio bids any Burmes giance to a fore Kyi's marriage Ilese therefore a disqualified her the junta from 2 in the govern Il One of the ques yalty test" given in 1991 was 'S married to a for of State? If yes the situation of This rampantxer just a reaction sharp shock' . British imperial reactioa that co" to that suffered consequent to "opening up' States in the but also to the migration of Chi into Burmese cili towns during th Not only did acquire a stral BluTIT1čSČ ČC0 ľ10IT1 up homes with striking at the Bull TTimese Imah purity.' (p. 35).
When one co tent to which S tary junta) villif "ul-Burmese', thinks she is Burmese”, it se Inost revolution: to maгry an Er if of Greek forb ing an unwritte Lillards that Burim tain the purity impression is uI

nism that effeca closed mind. blad to be Tcese termis before |ccepted. In a BurInese seeI11ed ltural integrity their ethnic ould often feel Dr a foreigner | Buddhism and 's of living than di embT:i- :ed." (p. 35).
to be the case the Illilitary med. The Burn expressly forc to have allign power. Suu o a non-Burppears to have in the eyes of iny participation ct of BuTI Ill. tions in the loto Civil servants thւյլuld 5th metյTit: cigner be Head what would be the country?" hophobia was not to the "*sh,I"t elivered by the occupation - a uld be compared by the Japanese their enforced by the United 18th century, - large scale imnese and Indians ties and larger Le colonial years. hcs.c immigrants Iglehold on the ly, they also set BLITTISE WOITET
very roots of od and Tacial
siders the CixLORC (the miliy Suu Kyi as "a woman who superior to all :e15 as if heT ary act has been nglishman (even) cars), thus breakin code that deesc women Imainof the race. This lderscored by the
nature of the punishment SLORC Illag Illeted out to her': that is by isolating her for several years from "foreign' husband and children. And yet in legal terms, Buddhist Wille il Blu Tillä Te expressly protected by the Buddhist Women's Special Marriage and Succession Act of 1954 when they contract a marriage with a -Bullīst. The Ticis f SLORC officials is herefore Imot Teflected within the cultu Te at large. But there is no denying that BuIInese Culture is chricterised by an impermeable quality. A nation so turned in upon itself requires a person of the intellectualunderstanding and stature of Suu Kyi to open it up to the outside World and direct the outgoing energies of the rising generation of educated Burmese, interested in joining the world, along the path of nonwiQEDC.
The path of non-violence is tortuous. It requires infinite patience, infinite belief in the higher values. There are no quick breakthroughs, no ego-satisfying acts of wengeance — the Te is al Te simply repeated acts of suffering. But there is also no traumatising of society as a whole, no degradation of the young, no scaTrig of the old. Nonviolence el Dobles these who fillow its doctrines; its exponents are the role-nudels of mankind; its martyrs are enshrined within the Coscices of meil. Suu Kyi is setting an example, not only to her fellow Burmese but to the whole world in taking the non-violent path of dissent. Her courage, her resistance and endurance is being tested to the limits but it is from such Tesistance - 'the disobedience that leads society from the mire of habitual stagnation' to quote Oscar Wilde - that societies can be re-born.
Suu Kyi has come to embody the ideal of Buddhist courage. Courage was viewed by the allcients as the political virtue par exccllcrnce. But Courage in än intellectual, and especially in an intellectual as sensitive as Suu Kyi, remains remarkable. What Hannah Arendt wrote åbout Waldemar Guriam, the German wri

Page 23
ter and philosopher, is true of Suu Kyi:
is Curage, understood in the fullest sense of its many meanings, probably drove him into politics, which Inay appear bicwildering in a man whose original passiowas doubless fr ideas and whose deeper concerns were clearly the conflict of the human heart, To him, politics was a battlefield, not of bodies, but of souls and ideas, the only realm where ideas could take form and shape un til they Would fight each other and in this fight einerge as the true reality of the human condition and the inmermost rulers of the hu I ImI In heart. In this sensc, politics was to him a kind of realization of philosophy, or to put it mo Te correctly the realm where the There flesh of material conditions for men's living together is consumed by the passion for ideas". (Hannah Arendt op. cit. p. 2547255).
Like Gurian, Suu Kyi has been driven into political action by a passion for a ideas. Her comparison of nationalists in colonial India and Burma encouraged her to evaluate "those trends which might be considered the product of the human creative impulse independent of the national setting' (Suu Kyi op. cit. p. 9). In Burma, she notes there was even at independence "a lack of a philosophy that could hawe guided national efforts" (p. 51). This vacuum in the world of ideas had led to a society that was characterised by political apathy and confusion. The lack of integration between traditional Burmese ideas and modern western scientific thought and democratic norms had resulted in a dearth of leaders capable of critical assessments of themselves within the world, of blending traditional Buddhist values with modern democratic mational ideas. Suu Kyi, as the only Burmese apparently capable of such integration of ideas was therefore catapulted into leadership to fill the vacuum.
But as the junta make a point of never forgetting that Suu Kyi
equally
is the daughter Aung Salı, — F “SE place as Aung S So much leniency to her" (Geer this includes all in her Own hous have access to casts, a piano, li and ewe: Jane tapes") - so doe self never forget the most privileg ciety. Returning risco II of it ellect mil and India era, she Imakest that "it is surel that II e I like Wi and Gandիi who privileged home more on practic India's problems lectual speculatio level:... (p. 57). S ment is that the ged IIndia Ins ten the chips on the ders by a narrow. alism, bordering quickly replaced aspirations of the the aristocracy 1 Rny who had st thesised east and tes from Stephen scholar of Tagor the different ap aristocrat like Ta such as Bania at came from Illidid "India in the thia Wald Bamia, servative Jin-V gious and Rajp ditions appear ferent India fr by a Bengali E LIITthodox fam ered in assim Weste Tl ideas the With Hill artistic traditic image of India also reflected : experience withi
TIles. His Colonial outpos Of Statuth Africi macists had be Tagore’s welcoi CiTcles of Weste leading metrop exhilarating'. (

if the revered e has a reserved an's daughter. has been shown l Khin Nyunt: wing her to live e, letting her verseas broadcal newspapers Fonda exercisc Suu Kyi herthat she is fril Sd strata of soto her compalife in Burin the colonial be telling point no coincidence dyasagar, Tilak came from less 5 concentrated cal solutins to that on intelin at a universal uu Kyi's arguse less privileded to exercisc ir social shoul-minded nationon racism, that the uniwersalist ise Indians froll ike Ra T111 hun uccessfully synwest. She quoHay, a western e, in showing roaches of an gorc and men di Gandhi who e-class origins: eyes of a Karaised in con'aish nava Teliut political traed quite a dif. 'm that see Brahman Whose lily had pioneilating modern and synthesising du religious and Π5. Gandhi's and the West very different individual WestTeatment in a t at the hands a's White supreen als brutal als me in literary In civilisations"s Polis had been р. 58),
Suu Kyi's sympathies most firInly lie with the universalist approach of Tagore rather than the chauvintsm of intellectuals like Bankimchandra Chatterjee, in whom perhaps she sees the same petty-mindedness and narrow patriotism as can be found in the Burmese junta's leaders. She suggests that an author like Bankin was torn between his intellectual admiration for the English and his emotional attachment to his Bengali traditions. Being unable to integrate these conflicting attachments within his own personality, he chose an intense nationalism which glorified violence. She quotes from the "Bande Matram", the famous poem in his novel 'Ananda Mall':
Who has said thou art weak
in thy lands When the swords flash out in twice scwenty million hands And seventy millions voices roar Thy dreadful папе Гrom shore
to shore. Thamu Tt Queen With her hands that strike and
her Swimrd of Sheen"'. Other than noting that the 70 Inillion which must have sounded so threatening in the 1910s have now become 450 million, there is the unspoken thought present throughout Suu Kyi's book that at a certain level patriotism is indeed the last refuge of the scoundrel. It is her argument, albeit very subtly suggested, that the truc patriot synthesises cultures effortlessly without the emotive prick of hatred or negatiwity which seems at all times to be the hallmark of the megalomaniac, whether masquerading as terrorist guru, democratic saviour or military messiah. Mcssianism in Suu Kyi's I ubric is always anti-Buddhist and therefore unacceptable.
Suu Kyi's reasons for empathising most of all with Tagore spring from her abhorrence of the megalomanic. She writes: “the sentiments of "Bande Mantrain did not appear to have appealed to Tagore who abhorred the extremism which could be perpetrated in the name of patriotism. In his novel "Home
Durga, Lady and
2

Page 24
and the Word, Tagore's views are represented by the gentle Nikhil who feels that "to Lyrannise for the country is to tyrannise ower the country”. Sandip, who has no moral values uses nationalism to satisfy his own ego and laughs at Nikhil's scruples. He is an opportunist, clever and Cynical: Who says Truth shall Triumph? Delusion shall win in the end... Bengal Illust now create a new image to Cnchant and conquer the World. *Bande Mantram', (p. 60).
In Aye Kyaw's article, which was quoted earlier on the "Buddhist Legacy to Modern Law", the author IT entions that according to Buddhist law, a government should ensure that the three places (1) Court, vinicchaya sala, (2) cemetry, sus ana and (3) jail, bandhanagara should not be crowded', (Aye Kyaw, op: cit. p. 8). It will be a sign of Bu TT ma's return to good I gowernance within the Buddhist tradition upon which it so prides itself when the SLORC releases Aung San Suu Kyi from housearrest. Meanwhile, in trying to avoid the karma which is inevitably going to bring about its downfall at some stage or another, the junta has changed the name of the country from the anglicised “Burma" to the traditional Myanmar'', has chased out members of the Muslim minority in a bout of "ethnic cleansing and is busy Wooing Japanese and Asean economic and moral support for its bankrupt regime.
But for as long as Suu Kyi remains incarcerated in the heart of Rangoon, there is a rose blooming in a moral desert and the fragrance of that rose spreads daily wider and wider. It would perhaps be appropriate to cпа this essay with the verse from Tagore's Gitanjali which Suu Kyi quotes in full on page 50 of her book. It seems to symbolise a cry from the heart:
"Where the mind is without fear and the head is held high;
Where knowledge is free;
Where the World has not been broken up into fragments by narrow domestic Walls;
22
Where words ci the depth of Where: Li reless 5 its arms to WE Where the Cl: Teasom has II in to the di Teä of dead habi Where the mi
ward by The ning thought Into that heaW. my Father, awake'.
Democracy. . . (Caririred far were regarded as Stalil and were his labour camps lease. If they camps they were lives of fugitives to the facilities ordinary citizens Te to be treate War Weterans wh of place in the life. This has make amends f. of Stalin's Inui Steps.
The Te is - i te ower the crimes past. That wou It is take when O: understand the changes that halı" about in what Unio And th to the Count Ti Europe that we carry the Stalini
shoulde Ts.
In an inter wie only last mon
Mira said the
in Russian life
fCtt13t : “ "I1 e" ratio is ente life' - a general of the policemar Ila that he w
away". Ånd til uuttered: “II Cor stand the mag
change, honestl to be isisted that II stand the past SLITre of the cha f'And that p; blմըd, ''

The out from truth; triving stretches irds perfection; a stream of lot lost its Way ry desert sand
nd is led forinto ever-wide
and action; el of freedom, let my country
நg )
traitors' by packed off to on thicit Te5urvived both forced to lead deicid access Te SciTwrcil for 5. Now they 1 at par with o enjoy pride
country's social
been donc t0 r yet another nerous criminal
indency to gloss of the Stailist ld be a gross ne is trying to
phenomenal we been brought was the Soviet e sаппе applies les Of EasteTIl re compelled to st yoke on their
W. given to me th in Moscow
biggest change today was the W fearless gene
ring the social ion is not afraid LOT the KGB Iuld whisk. The len she slowly der to under
gnitude of the Sumit, you hawe
LS." "We e must underto get a meatLnge, she said: ist i5 in our
it You haүё been
Thereafter she told ine: and many others thinking about the victims of Stalinisin. The figures wary . . . But did you ever think how many people were the warders in the camps ? Well, somebody
Пmust have been killing them, doing the job. Those people are still alive. They thought they had been serving their
country. And violence has been made a part of their lives.
The problem this country is facing is this: how does it get out of the violence which has been injected into its bloodstrea II'? This is the biggest problem the country is facing. The nation has been crippled by it. . .''
One must try to fathom the pain associated with those words while trying to analyse the changes the ToIII met Soviet society is undergoing today. It was the failu Te to under tåke a thorough introspection of the past misdeeds, not a partial one as was initially tried by Nikita Khrushchev through de-Stalinisation (before it was abandoned by the Suslov-Brezhnev combine that ousted Khrushchev in 1964), which led to the present denoue
Itinent including the , mowes to effect a systemic change.
However, despite the wide
popular support given to leaders who openly attack socialism, the people at large are not opposed to socialism. This has been testified by several surveys, And this is completely contrary to what Jeane Kirkpatrick asserted in her paper, "After Communisill, What?', presented at the 40th anniversary conference of the journal, Problers of Cori77 Iuris 777, held in Washington in October – 1991. ': * tibı ilk cümmunism in Eastern Europe and jI the former Swiet Unið Il has left no discernible legacy in the affections of the people," she said. But what is the reality?
In May 1991, Kotz writes, “an American polling organisat in undertook an extensive study of public attitudes in several countries, including the Russian Federation.

Page 25

tṣṭEls|W. Loss

Page 26
(
LETTERS
Utopia in Federalism 2
What a change two decades can make? I met N. Shanmugaratnam who had contributed the article entitled, "*Na Trow Nationalism and Militarism" (LG, Feb.1) for the first time in 1974. Then, hic had i recently returned from Japan, and I was an undergrad at the University of Colombo. I was a supporteT of S.J.W. Chelwanayakam and his principles of federalism then, though Shanmuga ratimam vehemently criticized the then Tamil political leadership for their parliamentary politics. In ou I dialogues, Shanmugaratnam advocated that what Tamils needed were a Chinesc nodel of collImunism bascd con Mac. Ze Dong's ideals. Now, the Tamils are under the leadership of LTTE which shuns parliamentary politics. But Shanmugaratnam had cone a full circle aid in W finds utopia in the federalist II lodel.
We need not g 12th centuагу і king, Raja Raj find a IIlodel for How about look times For their ruthlessness and other competing see parallels in of Mao Ze Don karan. Chelwana) the Gandhian fooled by both UNP between-1 His failure gave b karan's militancy Gandhi was repla Il pose this que mugaratnam; W Whel Prabhakara: what Mao did and 1949. Ewen T Chinese are beii Mau's colleague, was a ooterToristo
Islamic Fundamentalism
The Pakistani Envoy Mr. Hussain Haqqani has said inian interview with the Sunday "Island" of 7/2/93 that the Carnegic Endowment Report anticipation of an islamic fundamentalism may not be all that prophetic. This fear as a Muslim not the rise of an islamic fundamentalis II but the capability of the West (traditionally referred to include the European states but now includes the most dangerous and un predictable elle
ment in the UI reptitiously impo: plan prepared b am judging from pressed and cc ganda by the W free and indepen nity of nations Britain's senior doing a tour of the CIS rcgion a II on thic Islamic Asian Muslim c. tention is weake
Shanmugathasan
Shan, the unrepetant Stalinist
and arch enemy of Trotskyism, in no more. Still, we - Trotskyists of the Fourth International pay our respect to him as he remained loyal to the proletarian
revolution and the socialist project in general. He never joined a capitalist government
and never accepted bribes from capitalists.
24
Albania.
HOWëWEr h6 hd as his idols fel åfter the Othe then Mao, final Inspit Of Wind he rel conviction. Th lure.
In 1978, wher May Day Rally

back to the Imperial Chola a Cholan, to Prabhaka Tarmi. ing at recent reputation for intolerance to groups. One Can the leadership g and Prabhaaka followed path and was hic i SLFP and 958 - and 1968.
iTth to PrabhaaId=Mahat Illa ced with Mao. stion to Shanlat is WTo Ing in does exactly between 1927 low, one billion ng Tuled by a who himself
ited States) sursing a diabolical y the West. I 1 the fea T5 exinsistent propaest against the delt CIS fait CT
we remembcr Cabinet Miliste
some states in dhis comments bomb" and the untries. The incompletely the
di difficult i Tes from grace one r, first Stalin, ly looking toward of the Change ained ructo his at was his fasi
we had a joint , we proposed
Shanmugaratnam reports that Muslim people have been illtreated by the LTTE. I am
su Te he should hawe carmt the fatic of 6.6 million Uighur MusIli Tmis and - 4.7 Imi11in Tibetan Buddhists in China. I would suggest that he should read the cover-story which appeared in the Newsweek of April 23, 1990. Why Dalai Lama, the 1989 Nobel Peace laureate, has to circle the world like a vagabond since 1959 rather than Ineditating in his native Tibet? And why the self-protectors of Buddhism among the Sri Lankan ruling elites have ignored China's actrocities ir Tibet? mugaratnam explain why Muslims and Buddhists have becn illtreated by the Chinese power holders
Sachi Sri Kantha
Osaka BioScience Institute, Japan.
Muslim potential for assuming a wital role in world affairs.
I would of course advise the Weste Till PoweT5 to CICEIt Tate on the 2 World War WeteransGermany and Japan - and discipline them; especially recominended for the good health of the United States.
Mohamed Fareed Pakeer
Maharaga na.
him to the chair. Many had misgivings. But on that day he proved to be a non-Sectarian
inspite of his strong convictions. That was the climax of his career and We of thc : NSSP could be happy that we gave his due in time.
Wickra Inabahu General Secretary, Nawa Sama Sanaja Party.
Катшпаratле
Can Shan

Page 27
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