Chinthanaya CBK style!

Monday, 25 July 2011 00:23 - - {{hitsCtrl.values.hits}}

By Uditha Jayasinghe

Former President Chandrika Bandaranaike Kumaratunga yesterday strongly urged the political leadership to work towards an inclusive society by giving equal political and other rights to ensure a peaceful as well as an economically prosperous country.

Delivering the Justice K. Palakidnar memorial oration at the Sri Lanka Foundation Institute Kumaratunga recalled the history that led up to the war and criticised many of the actions taken by past leaders.

She eloquently pointed out that the Sinhala only policy as well as the failure of successive governments to introduce power sharing Constitutions including the Tamil minority, spawned the LTTE and set the stage for a protracted conflict.

“Development should be a scientifically assessed process based on the diverse needs of the country rather than the whims of a few selected individuals,” she added.

Despite admitting that she was “happy” that the war was over she nonetheless stressed that unless the present leaders shared political power with the Tamil people it would be a short lived peace. “We have won the war but we have not even begun to win the battle for peace,” she added.

The former President pointed out that unless the different communities understand each other and work towards a cohesive society there was historical and scientific evidence to prove that conflict would be the inevitable result, as main and marginalised communities clash.

She observed that economic development alone is insufficient to bond ethnicities together and that she was “disturbed” when she heard of leaders saying that economic growth would solve the issue.

“I know that if we persist in this policy of winner take all, then we will lose all. Development of infrastructure will help but it will not solve the ethnic issue. Sharing political power will not reduce our strength; rather it will bring together all the diverse talents and skills of a variety of ethnicities to enrich us,” she said.

“Would the Sinhala exclusive society be able to have produced a Duncan White, an Ananda Coomaraswamy, Barbara Sansoni or Muttiah Muralitharan? Bringing these different skills together will help Sri Lanka’s growth, not reduce it,” Kumaratunge emphasised.

Recalling that when her government drafted out a new Constitution as part of a comprehensive solution to the ethnic divide a poll had showed that only 24% of the population was for a negotiated settlement in 1994. However two years later through a concentrated awareness programme they were able to raise this to 68%. “This proves that initiatives taken by the leadership can shape and change perceptions of a society and define it.”

Emphasising that she was one of the few presidents in Sri Lanka that did not abuse her Executive powers she noted that her “revulsion of authoritarian rule” prevented her from using her powers to the full and pushing the new Constitution that would have given broad political rights to the Tamils through parliament. “History will decide whether I was right or wrong.”

“Today the State is clearly not adopting inclusivity but rather the opposite. The victorious government must understand the difference between the LTTE and Tamil people. The latter wishes to live in peace within a united country that gives them equal rights.”

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