SEPTEMBER - OCTOBER 2007 ROUND IEW G Volume 1 No. 5 V Price Rs. 50.00 Affliction in the A farmer’s Stories of hardship economic body INSIDE story from Puttalam Dr. G. Usvatte-aratchi PAGE 03 PAGE 13 PAGE 06 Provide water for the East By Asvida ater is central to man’s existence. So when one community is deprived of this essential commodity, the very survival of that community is endangered. And supplying water to a deprived Wgroup can come as a blessing in a conflict-ridden zone. The prevailing ceasefire why no one in the Government or at the was threatened when administrative level spoke about develop- the LTTE closed the ing the right bank of the Maduru Oya. Mawilaru sluice gates Mr. Godamunne said the project was put depriving people in the off due to alleged opposition by the LTTE area of water. The mili- and now the Government had an excellent tary forces then launched opportunity to complete the mission of de- Mr. Lalit Godamunne a rescue operation. Sub- veloping the East by providing water to the sequently the mission was extended to province. liberating the Eastern province from the “The System B lies along either side of LTTE. the downstream Maduru Oya reservoir in The military operation to liberate the East the administrative districts of Polonnaru- from the LTTE ended with Forces captur- wa, Batticaloa and Ampara. The Maduru ing Thoppigala and the Government cel- Oya Right Bank development project was ebrating victory by spending millions of meant entirely for the Batticaloa district, rupees. After a few weeks the Government which has a larger Tamil population. My announced the launch of the Eastern devel- personal belief is that the LTTE did not opment project which focused on ensuring like this phase to take off in fear that they democracy, law and order in the Eastern would lose control of the area,” he said. province and uplifting the living standards He pointed out that if the project was com- of people. pleted, thousands of families could have As the Government blew its trumpets about found employment and the area could have liberating and developing the East in a big been better developed. way, former Secretary General of the Ma- “If everything fell into place, the govern- haweli Authority of Sri Lanka, Lalit Goda- ment could have won the INNOCENCE munne expressed his bewilderment as to AND Wijesinhe molds his pots with care. If only our nation could Contd. on page 8 DIGNITY be molded with equal care and diligence. (See story on page 10) Today’s environment only expenditure No new industries or businesses By A.Yapa rade Union Wing bearable rate during the last 18 the reason to come up with failure. Leader of the Janatha months, Mr. Lal Kantha point- such an idea was the dearth of “The environment today is T Vimukthi Peramuna ed out that successive govern- essential goods as well as the only for expenditure. No move K.D. Lal Kantha M.P. express- ments since 1948 have failed high prices. Coincidentally, has been taken to develop new ing his views on the escalating to control inflation. the cause for Sirimavo Banda- industries or businesses. They Cost of Living charged that no “Even the infamous hartal in ranaike’s government to return have no new way of earning government could combat in- 1953 occurred due to the un- to the Opposition in 1977-78 money-only of wasting and flation under the current eco- bearable cost of living. Then also was inflation,” he said. consuming what is earned by nomic system and highlighted there was talk of bringing rice He pointed out that consider- housemaids and apparel sec- the need for a production based from the moon - of course it ing past experience, it is ob- tor employees through hard economy. was fabricated by the Sirimavo vious that neither the UNP labour,” he charged. While noting that the prices of Bandaranaike faction to defeat nor the SLFP alone or in an Explaining the reasons behind all consumer goods and ser- the then Dudley Senanayake alliance could reduce CoL, as the sky rocketing cost of living vices have increased at an un- Government. Nevertheless, the economic system itself is a Mr. Lal Kantha said: 2 September - October 2007 GROUNDV IEW Avoid disaster GROUND V IEW he main theme of this issue of Ground- making it possible for them to live in har- four decades ago explain why we as a nation View is the state of the economy and mony and set their countries firmly on the have now arrived at this critical point. Since the prolonged increase in prices which path to prosperity, we proceeded on a path to Lee Kuan Yew seems to be an acceptable role NO 30/81 1/1, Longdon Place, T is the external manifestation of a problem restore past glory which was in the opposite model for most of our leaders let us consider Colombo 07, SriLanka that affects a vast majority of our people. direction. As Professor Gunnar Myrdal in his two of his observations made in his memoirs. Tel: (94-11)2506855, 2598415: How did we embark on this stampede to- three volume work- “Asian Drama - an in- First is how important it is to adhere to laws Web: www.humanitarian-srilanka.org E- mail: [email protected] wards disaster? The stampede of course is of quiry into the poverty of nations” published that the government itself imposes. He states recent origin. Yet the march towards destina- in 1968 noted in his comments on Ceylon, with great pride how critics compared Hong- tion “disaster” was consistent since Indepen- “The goals of political stability and national kong and Singapore as financial centres. “In dence. We did have leaders with unimpeach- unity, which involve regularizing relations Hongkong ,what is not expressly forbidden For contributions, information and able integrity. They had a genuine desire to between the majority and minority commu- is permitted; in Singapore what is not ex- advertisements please contact: develop the country and improve the living nities within a system of representative gov- pressly permitted is forbidden.” The other 0112598413 or 0112506855 standards of our people. Free education, free ernment seemed as far away as ever.” That is observation he makes is even more relevant. Views expressed in Groundview are the contributors’ own and do not necessarily medical care, food subsidies and develop- not all. “An inability or unwillingness to plan “It is easy to start with high moral standards, represent the opinions or policies of ing land settlement schemes for the land less on a national level was the price paid for, or strong convictions and determination to beat the CHA were their priorities. Creating wealth for the a reflection of, the particularisation form of down corruption. But it is difficult to live up Nation was not a priority. While many other nationalism that has imbued Ceylon’s poli- to these good intentions unless the leaders are Asian countries molded nations out of soci- tics and absorbed the interest of its politi- strong and determined enough to deal with eties that had a history of multiculturalism, cians.” These remarks made in 1968 nearly all transgressors , and without exceptions.” o write even a brief essay on peace is simultaneously both a walk in T the park as well as a walk through a minefield. It is a walk in the park because at face value one could assume that everybody knows what peace is all about, and it is sim- alisms along with other interest groups that clearly, the LTTE’s definition of peace con- entrenched civil society networks hardly ply inconceivable that someone who has not doThinking not take ‘nationalism’ as their point of tains within it the entrenchmentabout of its own represent a people’sPeace movement in the sense taken leave of his senses might not appreci- departure agree on what peace is at a very hegemony and the clear marginalization of of mass movement for peace that has clear ate peace. On the other hand, it is a walk basic level. This includes the LTTE, the other voices within and beyond the Tamil popular support across the country. In fact through a minefield because in specific lo- State, JVP and so on. It is at this point community. Interestingly, it is clear that even though Sri Lankan people may want cal situations what different individuals and that specific cultural and politico-national- both the Government’s and LTTE’s defini- peace, what it lacks is a dynamic all encom- groups refer to as peace might mean very ist definitions of peace have emerged. Cur- tions of peace are based upon foundations passing peace movement that can attract different things. It is precisely because of rently, among many such specific meanings of violence and hegemony articulated pri- a large public following. At the moment, this state of affairs that peace has become Sasanka Perera marily on military terms. I simply cannot see such a reality. While such an elusive commodity in the contem- University of Colombo some of the awareness works of civil so- porary world replete with multiple forms of The more dominant civil society defini- ciety groups surely help contextualize the conflict. What I hope to do in this brief es- tion of peace consists of a simple technical consequences of war and the need for peace, say is to articulate some of the ideas that meaning of peace. However, the dynamics they hardly expand beyond an amalgamation come to my mind when I think about peace of that definition are not devoid of poli- of professionally organized projects, vigils, in our specific context.