Features Monday 22nd June, 2009 11

by guishable Westernized Right and orthodox Left, Perhaps the most striking evidence of his of derision, and dispassionately recorded the to the stirrings of the Sinhala rural masses unique voice was that he sounded the alarm dramatic fall and destruction of Prabhakaran ather’s Day this year falls on the eve of couched as they were in cultural and linguistic and implicitly took a stand on the Tamil ques- with his tragic flaws of hubris and cruelty the tenth anniversary of the death of my terms. My support for President Rajapakse tion long before others, and after the Old Left, which consumed Mervyn’s friends and Ffather, Mervyn de Silva, journalist and flowed directly from the influence of my father. strident in its cautionary notes of the 1950s, acquaintances A. Amirthalingam, Lakshman editor, literary critic and satirist, broadcaster As I told him in the days he became the Leader had ironically been in the very vanguard of Kadirgamar, Neelan Tiruchelvam, and Shri and commentator on world affairs, or as of the Opposition, at a party at Galle Face generating Tamil secessionism and youth mili- Rajiv Gandhi, he would be posing today the Godfrey Gunatilleke put it in a sixth anniver- Courts hosted by a young journalist Farah tancy through its fashioning of the 1972 question of the Tamil condition as key to the sary revaluation, “literary critic, intellectual, Mihlar (now a London based, occasional Constitution which it regarded as crowning Sri Lankan condition and prospect. political analyst and media communicator all Guardian blogger) at which Gen Sanath achievement and acme of progressivism. In 1984 Mervyn committed his Lanka in one”. The founder editor of the Editor’s Karunaratne was also present, I would support Mervyn’s explicit early warning (and it wasn’t Guardian to a venture in partnership with the Guild of Sri Lanka, the award instituted in his name by the industry is the pinnacle prize of him fully, not least because I had no emotional his first) came in a Ceylon editorial South Asia Perspectives Project of the United the annual Journalism Awards ceremony. option but to do so since I knew that was what of July 1st 1972, titled “What’s up in the Nations University, which brought together some my father would have wanted. When Mervyn North?”, several weeks after the new of Sri Lanka’s finest minds in a search for a My first memory of anything was the per- died many politicians had paid their respects, Constitution was promulgated ignoring the six solution. The document that resulted, if imple- spective from the playpen, of my father alone at beginning with Mr. Thondaman Sr, but three point letter sent to the framers and fathers by mented, would have pre-empted the externally the dining table, in trousers and vest, typing, had actually committed their appreciation to Mr. Chelvanayagam and the Tamil parliamen- propelled Indo-Lanka Accord of 1987. Exactly a while my maternal grandmother watches us print that year: Sarath Amunugama, MHM tary leadership, and Prabhakaran had picked quarter century later, its platform of broad with a smile. My last memory of him was see- Ashraff and Mahinda Rajapakse. The up the gun, commencing a cycle of carnage provincial autonomy remains valid and yet dor- mant and only partially fulfilled. To what extent do the causes and condition of "Tenth death anniversary collective Tamil angst and alienation illumined in his 1972 editorial remain, after over three and a half decades of armed conflict? How will these be addressed, who by, and when? Mervyn had the knowledge and lucidity not to confuse war with Mervyn de Silva the issue of ethnic identity.Unlike many affluent Tamil friends who sympathized with the Tigers, Mervyn’s knowledge of history would tell him that war, whatever its character and content, if fought relentlessly to its conclusion, has winners and the Lankan and losers; that the “rejectionist” type of terror- ist or insurgent movement – such as one which could blow up Rajiv Gandhi and Neelan Tiruchelvam—make negotiated settlement impossible; and that if such a movement wagers condition all or nothing and loses, it ends up with nothing. Mervyn de Silva He would know that history does not repeat itself ing him die, through a glass door, clearly, at the Rajapakse article appeared in the Daily News Mervyn de Silva would however in simple cyclical terms and that the threat of a intensive care unit of a Colombo hospital. and recalled his presence as youthful observer renewal of insurgent or terrorist violence would Hours or days later I walked back into his at political discussions between Mervyn and had little patience for Colombo’s hold no fears for a first rate, formidable and fero- study and saw his typewriter, stubbed out his uncles George and Lakshman Rajapakse, critics of the Rajapakse administra- ciously successful Sri Lankan military which cigars, well thumbed volumes of Walter Mervyn’s friends and class mates. He also tion. It was Prof Michael Roberts has destroyed a world class irregular armed Lippmann and I.F. Stone, the empty chair. recounted Mervyn’s and his convergence in sol- force on the latter’s own terrain, just as he knew “Aren’t you going to write anything on your idarity with Palestine and the PLO. who resurrected his three part that no guerrilla or conventional war by any father for the anniversary? Why not say how he As his support for SWRD Bandaranaike, defense in in combination of actors could militarily defeat the might have viewed this time, after the war?” which extended to Sirima Bandaranaike, and 1967 of the SWRD surge of 1956 Israeli Defense Forces within its ’67 borders (as suggested Sanja, my wife, gently. So here I am his open uncritical sympathy for Premadasa distinct from Lebanon, another country). ten years after and ten thousand miles away, (long before my own association with the latter, and its successor project of a broad At the same time Mervyn would stress that typing. whom I first met in our Ward Place flat when I united front of the centre–left the issue of the alienation of the Tamil people He died just before he turned seventy and was a school-kid) demonstrated, Mervyn (which crystallized the next year at and the complex challenge of accommodating the world moved into the new century, millenni- endorsed and supported political leaders of Bogambara with the inclusion of the Tamil ethnic identity within the Sri Lankan um and (perhaps) paradigm. Had he been alive both mainstream democratic parties who were state and society, reconciling it with historic he would have welcomed Barack Obama at least left of centre or progressive, in twin terms of Communist party). That essay con- Sinhala fears and ancient memories, emphatical- as enthusiastically as he did JFK. What would sensitivity to mass aspirations and the cause of tained a relentless critique of the ly do not lend themselves to a military solution. he have said about the moment that Sri Lanka the Third World. In this he was hardly alone, effete “aesthetic” aversion of the In his travels through the Middle East, Mervyn has arrived at today? Is it possible for us to though there were only a clutch of Westernized saw (and I was there with him) how the scintil- extrapolate what his insights might have been Colombo based Sri Lankans with an elite liber- attitudinally almost indistinguish- lating Israeli military victories of 1967 and to a from a recollection of what he wrote and said? al education, to do so. Most either supported able Westernized Right and ortho- lesser extent 1973 (Sharon’s counter attack) Mervyn would have written about the war, the UNP or the Trotskyist LSSP. Supportive of dox Left, to the stirrings of the turned into an endless quagmire because of the its aftermath and future prospects; the the SLFP and broad center-left coalitions, he policies of permanent displacement, settler-colo- Rajapakse presidency; Tamil politics; the seri- nonetheless mourned the absence of a policy Sinhala rural masses couched as nization of the lands of the displaced and the ous challenge to Sri Lanka’s external relations; elite and coherent moderate ideology for the they were in cultural and linguistic refugees, increasingly fundamentalist religiosity, the erosion or squandering of her “soft power” SLFP. The UNP and Left had their ideology and terms. annexation masquerading as antiquarian arche- resources; and the structure of the internation- intellectuals, but he observed that the centrist ological exploration, and harsh military occupa- al information order as revealed by the cover- SLFP did not – a failure which made it perma- tion with its myriad daily humiliations and lac- age of the closing stages of the conflict. nent prey to pressure groups of one or other that lasted close to four decades. Here are some erating lived experience. He described himself as a liberal and a illiberal persuasion. salient extracts: The widely traveled and enormously literate humanist. He was both these things but not of What made Mervyn rare within the liberal “…The emergence, however hesitant or Mervyn was an admirer of both the American a sort that shied away from the subject of war- or progressive intelligentsia, was that he was faint, of a militant youth group in the peninsu- social experiment of melting pot, meritocracy fare. He would have been a shrewd observer of highly sensitive to both radical Sinhala youth la is a phenomenon about which we have writ- and individual opportunity as well as of Russian the epic endgame of the Eelam wars. He would aspirations and Tamil and other minority sen- ten before. If the observation is correct, it is a and Chinese ethnic regional autonomy, neither have done so with no trace of enthusiasm for timents and aspirations. What made him factor of enormous significance - especially to of which have been adopted or adapted by Sri either side but empathy for both, as would a lit- unique was that while he was prophetic about the government. It is tempting these days to Lanka. His understanding of strategy was suffi- erary critic with a grasp of tragedy or a mas- youth rebellion and strongly sympathetic to the make a fetish of youth movements and youth ciently broad and multifaceted to spur a sus- terful cricket commentator like John Arlott. radicalism of the university educated rural politics. In Lanka, the temptation is almost tained critique of Lalith Athulathmudali’s nar- Though his early columns such — as the series Sinhala youth, (“an angry young tiger at the irresistible after last year’s holocaust. In any rower National Security/“Total Defense” mind- of exposes on his boarding school — were gates”, was the poetically allusive concluding case, this is not only a young nation but a coun- set, and the Lalith-Mervyn debate of 1984 (at the cathartic and savagely satirical, in his mature line of a 1969 Royal College lecture turned title try of young people, as the relevant statistics YMCA forum I think) was a precursor of the middle years Mervyn (unlike his son) kept his of a Ceylon Observer series) he always kept his prove. recent American debate on security between the passions restricted to the precincts of his pri- balance, scorning those Westernized fellow The frustrations of the educated young neoconservative Bush-Cheney camp and the lib- vate life and outside the boundaries of his pub- travelers of the JVP as seeking to regain their Tamil at a time when even science graduates eral Realists including Joseph Nye and Barack lished writing. As Neelan Tiruchelvam told me, lost romantic youth, and dismissing as cannot find suitable jobs do not require much Obama. In his last years Mervyn supplemented someone who did not know Mervyn could read “grotesque”, the description of post-1971 explication. The fact that these frustrations are Henry Kissinger and (Russia’s) Georgy Arbatov his writings without once guessing which eth- Ceylon by Amnesty International’s Lord universal and that they are shared by his as staples of intellectual inspiration, with nicity, nationality or religion he belonged to. Avebury in the Guardian (London) as “an Sinhala counterpart does not make the Tamil increasing references in his columns to Prof Joe That is the objectivity, maturity of attitude and Island Behind Bars”. youth’s psychological load lighter. And if he Nye. Mervyn would have cautioned that design- consummate journalistic professionalism he Unique also was his combination of the feels, in fact, that the educational system and ing the postwar order in Sri Lanka through pure- would have brought to bear on his comments defense of popular peasant based nationalism system of recruitment to the public sector have ly or primarily National Security lenses, and on the Rise and Fall of Prabhakaran and the and the sovereign state in Sri Lanka and the been deliberately contrived to reduce his worse still, attempting to impose Sinhala over- Tamil Tigers. Third World, with an explicit warning in his chances, he has more reason for anger. An lordship on the overwhelmingly Tamil North, Mervyn de Silva would however had little important Daily News debate of November 1972 anger that reaches the limits of tolerance would erode Sri Lanka’s standing and legitimacy patience for Colombo’s critics of the Rajapakse with Regi Siriwardena, of the dangers of disre- makes inflammable material for a certain kind even among its neighbors, undermine the nation- administration. It was Prof Michael Roberts garding or derogating that of universal value of politics. al interest and de-stabilize national security who resurrected his three part defense in the within the Western literary and artistic canon, …A movement of militant youth rooted in itself. Had he been around long enough, it would Ceylon Observer in 1967 of the SWRD surge of in a striving for greater grounding and rele- the soil of Jaffna and nourished by material have been typically Mervyn-ish to write, perhaps 1956 and its successor project of a broad united vance. Thus he balanced an understanding and frustration, a feeling of humiliation and bitter- as columnist Kautilya in the Island, that Sri front of the centre–left (which crystallized the appreciation of majority nationalism in Sri ness could be another kettle of fish.” Lanka’s problem is not an ancient, pervasive next year at Bogambara with the inclusion of Lanka with a warning against too far a swing This 1972 editorial tells me very clearly that Sinhala Buddhism, but an obsolescent, linger- the Communist party). That essay contained a of the pendulum. For Mervyn de Silva, the uni- while Mervyn would have warmly supported ing Sinhala Bushism. relentless critique of the effete “aesthetic” versality of the human condition was the high- President Rajapakse, brushed aside his cosmo- (These are the purely personal aversion of the attitudinally almost indistin- er value and loyalty. politan and Western critics with some measure views of the writer) ! Greece demands return of Elgin marbles before Acropolis museum opening

Greece increased pressure on the opening of the building that Greece’s Statements of support for the Greek “The British said we don’t deserve the and other Government members politely London to return the Elgin marbles culture minister said is the physical cause were issued by various organisa- Parthenon sculptures because we have turned down an invitation to attend the ahead of the opening of the new embodiment of a campaign dating back tions and politicians around the world, nowhere to put them,” Mr Samaras told opening. So did all other EU member Acropolis museum in Athens on to 1983 to secure the return of the but Western abstention was taken as con- the foreign press. “Now, though, we have state leaders and ministers responsible Saturday night. Parthenon marbles from the British firmation of a general fear that accept- one of the best museums in the world.” for cultural affairs. Museum ance of the Greek claim by Britain would Last week Mr Samaras dismissed an About half of the Parthenon marbles by Paul Anast in Athens The most obvious absence was that set a global precedent for Western muse- offer by the British Museum, which - fifth century sculptures, inscriptions of European Commission President Jose ums housing antiquities taken from claims ownership of the Parthenon, or and architectural columns from the rime ministers and ministers of Manuel Barroso, who had been expected around the world. Elgin marbles, to lend them to Greece for Parthenon and other buildings on the culture from around the world, by the Greeks as one of the most politi- At Saturday’s opening ceremony, three months on condition that Greece symbolic Acropolis hill - are intact in the Palong with the president of Unesco, cally significant visitors. Antonis Samaras, the Greek culture min- recognised the British Museum as legal museum. gathered in Athens to witness the open- Rayip Erdogan, Turkey’s prime min- ister, repeated once again that the top owner. Of the remainder, most are held in ing of the 130 million (£110 million) glass ister, made a last minute cancellation of floor of the 260,000 square foot museum, “To accept that condition would be the British Museum after they were and concrete building a few hundred his own trip for the Acropolis museum’s which offers an unparalleled view of the tantamount to legalising the crime of hacked away in the early 1800s on the yards from the foot of the Parthenon. opening, claiming illness. But he was nearby Parthenon atop the Acropolis, theft and vandalism that has been com- orders of Lord Elgin, under a deal with However, there was a conspicuous seen on Saturday at several high-profile has been reserved for the marbles, when mitted,” he said. the then ruling Ottoman Empire. absence of British and European Union public functions in Turkey, apparently they are returned. Until then, replicas According to Greek government © The Telegraph Group senior ministers who had been invited to healthy. will be displayed. sources, Prime Minister Gordon Brown London 2009