MINDSET OF EXCLUSION IS NOT THE PATH TO PEACE

by Jehan Perera


"We look to the time when the Power of Love will replace the Love of Power. Then we will have the time of peace." If this statement had been made by a philosopher or religious personality it could be dismissed as just another well meaning and impractical utterance. But if it has been said by the head of government of the dominant world power of that time, it might need to be taken more seriously. William Gladstone who made this statement was Prime Minister of Great Britain in the second decade of the 20th century. At that time Britain was wracked by the Irish rebellion that eventually culminated in the establishment of the Irish Republic.

This statement of William Gladstone was highlighted at the introductory presentation of the CIMA World Conference which was held in Colombo last week. The Sri Lankan division of the Chartered Institute of Management Accountants needs to be congratulated for its efforts to promote knowledge of national peace building to its membership. It appears that the torch of business leadership and willingness to address the most traumatic national issue is being taken on by a new generation, of which CIMA president Aruna Fernando and Chairman of the Technical Committee Sutheash Balasubramanium were youthful representatives.

William Gladstone is remembered for his championing of "Home Rule" as the solution to the Irish question. He was farsighted to see the solution to a conflict that continued for another eighty years without being resolved in its entirety. The Irish question was finally resolved with the Good Friday Agreement in 1998 that laid down referendums, power sharing and the disarmament of armed groups as the three pillars to a lasting solution. It took nearly another ten years to implement the Good Friday Agreement in its true spirit. This alone shows how long and arduous are the processes that finally lead to solving protracted ethnic conflicts.

Although he was Prime Minister of Great Britain, William Gladstone could not take the rest of his government and the opposition with him in resolving the problem in Ireland. His concept of Home Rule, which entailed the devolution of powers to Ireland, proved too controversial and divisive at that time. The Irish poet W B Yeats in his Meditations in Time of Civil War wrote "We have fed the heart on fantasies, the heart's grown brutal from the fare, more substance in our enmities, than in our love…" Eventually Great Britain was partitioned and the separation of the Irish Republic took place. But the example set by William Gladstone was to prevail in coming generation of British leaders about the manner in which their internal conflicts had to be resolved.


BIPARTISAN COOPERATION

Minister of Science and Technology, Prof. Tissa Vitarana, who also chairs the All Party Representatives Committee that is mandated by the President to find a political solution to the ethnic conflict was the main Sri Lankan presenter on peace building at the CIMA conference. He referred to the Good Friday agreement and to the role that bipartisan cooperation had taken place in the United Kingdom in facilitating the political solution. There have been many vain attempts to obtain such bipartisanship in Sri Lanka, including one attempt which was facilitated by the British government in the late 1990s, but they all came to naught due to intense partisan rivalry and mistrust.

If one may paraphrase Gladstone, the "Power of Love" is to include those perceived to be opponents and enemies and not to exclude them. By mistrusting and refusing to negotiate on Home Rule, the British government effectively excluded the Irish nationalists. This eventually led to complete separation. Learning the lesson from the past, in the 1990s, the British government faced the challenge of rising nationalism in Scotland and Wales in a positive manner, and actively facilitated the establishment of autonomous and devolved units within the framework of a unified United Kingdom.

Unfortunately, the Sri Lankan experience of conflict resolution is full of examples of mistrust and exclusion. There are hardly any examples of comprehensive inclusion as yet. In 1997, the government of President Chandrika Kumaratunga produced a draft constitution that was much superior to the existing one in terms of power sharing and the protection of human rights. But it was formulated as a tool to win over the Tamil people and to isolate the LTTE. In addition, the government was not able to allay the mistrust of the opposition that the President's intention was to lengthen her tenure in office. As a result the opposition bitterly opposed the draft constitution when it came before Parliament.

Another missed opportunity came soon after the election of President Mahinda Rajapaksa. He was able to reach agreement with the main opposition party led by former Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe and obtained an assurance of its bipartisan support to a political solution to the ethnic conflict. But shortly after the agreement was signed the President became party to the breakaway of a substantial number of Parliamentarians from the opposition in contravention of the letter and spirit of the agreement. Inevitably, this act of political bad faith, which reflected the "Love of Power" to use Gladstone's term, has eroded trust and possibility of bipartisan government-opposition cooperation in the national interest.


HOPEFUL MESSAGE

The organizers of the CIMA World Conference spared no effort or expense to make the session on peace building a success. Two of the scheduled speakers, Nobel Prize winner, John Hume who led the largest Northern Irish political party and Professor Kader Asmal, who was a Minister in the South African government of President Nelson Mandela, failed to make it to Sri Lanka at the last moment. But they were able to make live presentations from their offices in Northern Ireland and South Africa and answer questions due to an interactive video hook up that connected them to the audience in Colombo. Dave Steward who heads the F W de Klerk Foundation in South Africa was present at the conference.

What came out of the three presentations was that conflicts that had lasted for even longer than the one in Sri Lanka, and which had been even more intense and hate-filled, could be resolved rationally and peacefully, if there was a combination of commitment, leadership and courage to include all major parties and population groups in the peace process. In both the Northern Ireland and South African cases the political leadership had demonstrated these qualities. Dave Steward said, "Whether we liked it or not, there could be no long term solution that did not involve all the major parties and population groups of our country."

Unfortunately, at the present time, Sri Lanka is going on a journey that is in the opposite direction to that of Northern Ireland and South Africa. The government strategy of conflict resolution relies primarily on fighting militarily against the LTTE and defeating them. The war against the LTTE, and its enormous costs, are being justified on the basis that the LTTE is unprepared to enter into negotiations in which a political solution and disarmament are the goals. There is validity in this observation, but it is only part of the truth. The other side of the matter is the repeated failures of governments to offer a credible political package as a solution to the ethnic conflict which has marginalized the mainstream and moderate Tamil political parties.

Currently there are two political initiatives of the government that have the potential to be pillars of a peace process. One is the more complete implementation of the 13th Amendment to the Constitution that the government has put forward through the All Party Conference process as being an interim solution. The government's success in bringing in the TMVP, the breakaway eastern faction of the LTTE, into the Eastern Provincial Council set up under the 13th Amendment is an important first step. The next steps will be to devolve sufficient powers and resources to make the Provincial Council system work effectively, at least in the east.

The second governmental initiative has been its invitation to the TMVP to join the APRC and work with the other political parties to arrive at a political package for a longer term solution to the ethnic conflict. The government also needs to consider inviting the TNA, which is by far the largest Tamil political party in Parliament, to join the process. The spirit of inclusiveness that the Northern Ireland and South African peace processes demonstrated suggests that the TNA, whose services are also utilized by the LTTE to get its political messages across, should be brought into the All Party process. If the propaganda and expenditures being devoted to war are channeled into producing a credible and inclusive political package, the time of peace that William Gladstone anticipated will surely be closer at hand.