Topic started by The Straits Times (@ on-tor-blr-a58-03-507.look.ca) on Tue Nov 11 20:08:06 EST 2003.
All times in EST +10:30 for IST.
In Canada - which, surprisingly enough, has the largest Sri Lankan Tamil diaspora in the world - the French-Canadian minority has its own designated province. It's not heaven on earth, perhaps - many on each side still disdain the other. But, on the whole, the system works: It provides each group with respect.
That's fundamentally what the Tamils want - respect. But they won't get it with more bombings, and those won't stop if the majority's rule remains oppressive. Sri Lanka should try the Canadian way. They may just like it - and it's a lot better than more civil war.
http://www.tamilcanadian.com/pageview.php?ID=2106&SID=52
Sri Lanka should take a leaf out of Canada's book
By: Tom Plate
Source: The Straits Times - November 12, 2003
SRI Lanka, a nation of about only 20 million people, has caused a lot of grief to itself and its neighbours.
Fifty years ago, this island country off the south-east coast of India was more advanced than Thailand, Malaysia and Indonesia. But two decades ago, a vile civil war exploded, and 10 years ago, the Tamil Tigers assassinated the prime minister of India. Now, the former Ceylon is one of the world's poorer countries.
And it will stay that way if its President continues to sabotage peace talks with stunts like declaring a state of emergency the week the country's Prime Minister was in Washington, seeking aid and support for efforts to end the civil war.
Sri Lankan President Chandrika Kumaratunga fired ministers allied with the Prime Minister, suspended Parliament and declared a state of emergency. Whatever she is gunning for in her public quarrel with Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe, it can't be the Nobel Peace Prize.
Peace with the Tamil Tigers, who have been holed up in the country's north-east for 20 years violently resisting integration with the central government, can't occur unless Mrs Kumaratunga behaves more civilly.
But even though more than 60,000 have died since 1983, when minority ethnic Tamils challenged the oppressive rule of the majority Sinhalese ensconced in the capital, the President, who lost an eye in 1999 after a Tamil attack, apparently doesn't trust the Tamils sufficiently to make peace with them.
That judgment is not that widely shared. By and large, the citizens of Sri Lanka are sick of war. A stop needs to be put to the carnage so the country can get back on its feet.
A lot of nations are trying to help. The Japanese made a huge effort to bring the two sides to the bargaining table and sustain the 20-month ceasefire through a foreign-aid process; the Norwegians with their Oslo process have worked the political-settlement side.
As for the United States, President George W. Bush deserves enormous credit, especially when you consider what is in his foreign-policy 'in box' these days, for the recent meeting at the White House with Prime Minister Wickremesinghe, leader of the effort to open formal negotiations with the minority Tamils.
In effect, he endorsed the only process that can return Sri Lanka to normality; more war is not the way. The US President might now wish to nail down this point with President Kumaratunga in person by inviting her to Washington for a chat.
In truth, while the Prime Minister has the vision, as the constitutionally elected President, Mrs Kumaratunga has the power and must sign off on any deal that's reached. She slammed on the repression just days after the Tamils tabled their first formal peace proposal.
To be sure, the Tamil document was a wish-list for autonomy that had no chance of being granted in Colombo. But as the opening volley in what is sure to be a long and difficult negotiation, it was a lot better than a grenade.
The truth is, the Tamils will never accept an oppressive government run entirely by the Sinhalese, and the Sinhalese will never permit the north-east to become a separate country. The answer to this political stalemate is not exactly rocket science, however. Notwithstanding the heartfelt efforts of the Japanese, Norwegians and Americans, the answer lies with the Canadians. It's called federalism.
In Canada - which, surprisingly enough, has the largest Sri Lankan Tamil diaspora in the world - the French-Canadian minority has its own designated province. It's not heaven on earth, perhaps - many on each side still disdain the other. But, on the whole, the system works: It provides each group with respect.
That's fundamentally what the Tamils want - respect. But they won't get it with more bombings, and those won't stop if the majority's rule remains oppressive. Sri Lanka should try the Canadian way. They may just like it - and it's a lot better than more civil war.
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