Sri Lanka celebrating independence in chains of its own making

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FOR the Asian media, what is happening in Sri Lanka should be intriguing because it reflects a Western mentality that has not changed since the 19th century. One of the first foreign policy decisions of the Sirisena government was to co- sponsor a resolution at the UNHRC in Geneva in September 2015, to submit to accountability for war crimes, even going to the extent of agreeing to have “hybrid” courts consisting of foreign judges to try Sri Lankan soldiers for alleged war crimes. This has horrified most Sri Lankans and President Sirisena has recently been trying to backtrack on it.

In addition, the government has agreed to constitutional changes that would make the country a federal state with police, land and education powers given to the provinces, that would give the LTTE supporters the separate state they could not get through terrorism. But, the biggest threat is not the decentralization of powers but its ability to politically destabilize the country as a nation state, making it easier for foreign powers to manipulate it.

Constitutional remaking project

Social critic Shenali Waduge has compared these moves by the Sirisena government to the 1815 betrayal by Sinhalese chieftains, when they handed over the Sinhala nation to the British. “Within no time these chieftains became sidelined and the white masters began rule over the servants using sepoys and lascoreens who were ready to betray their own for titles and perks,” she noted, comparing the current government to such “faithful sepoys” who are happy to deliver a new constitution that would “remove the history and heritage of the Sinhala Buddhists who built this nation over 2,600 years.”

The US government is insidiously involved in this constitutional remaking project with a multi- million- dollar program over a period of three years starting in 2016 called the Strengthening Democratic Governance and Accountability Project (SDGAP). The job has been subcontracted to a private US company DAI (Development Alternatives Inc.), which Sri Lankan investigative journalist Lasanda Kurukulasuriya claims is a CIA front that was kicked out of Venezuela.

The US, which has been howling about Russian interference in the US democratic system, is no stranger to such involvement in other countries. Kurukulasuriya, writing in the Daily Mirror, has listed a number of USAID projects in recent years, that interfere in the domestic political system that have been outsourced to private US companies.

“It may be seen that US government-funded ‘ projects’ over the past several years run the whole gamut of Sri Lanka’s institutions, including local government, the bar association, the judiciary, parliament and the Constitution,” she noted. “While many would agree that there is need for improvement in the country’s democratic institutions, shouldn’t the political leadership be concerned that this task is being ‘outsourced,’ outright, to foreign agencies – and that programs are being contracted to private US companies, selected by the US government and not accountable to the people of Sri Lanka?” she asks.

US State Department statements and information that had been obtained under the Freedom of Information Act by US-based Sri Lankan journalist Hassina Leelaratne has exposed how the US government through its embassy in Colombo is targeting ruralbased NGOs with project funding grants. Sinhalese rural communities are the strongest supporters of former President Rajapakse. It will be interesting to see whether this has had any impact on the islandwide local government elections on February 10, which Rajapakse supporters regard as a referendum on the current government.

US military ties

The US is also seeking to deepen ties with the Sri Lanka Navy ( SLN). Since the election of the Sirisena government, there have been frequent US warship visits and training exercises with the SLN. The ‘ first ever US- Sri Lanka naval exercise’ took place in October in the strategically located natural deepwater port of Trincomalee, under the tutelage of the US Seventh Fleet. Earlier last year, the Americans set up and trained an elite Marine Battalion within the SLN, described as “a master of amphibious operations,” and “fully fledged in undertaking any form of threat coming from the seas…”

Since Sri Lanka has no enemies who are likely to invade the island, this could mean that the SLN is being trained to support the US in any perceived threat in this region. Which is China, on account of its maritime expansion. “The question arises as to why the government of Sri Lanka is committing its highly professional and respected armed forces to someone else’s anticipated battle, most likely against a longstanding friend of Sri Lanka, and to what end?” asks Kurukulasuriya.

The China issue

The Western media has made a big issue of China getting the Hambantota harbor— which the Chinese helped to build in southern Sri Lanka— and some 1,500 hectares of land surrounding it, on a 99-year lease in exchange for the debts that Sri Lanka incurred in getting the Chinese to build it. This is seen as a sovereignty issue akin to the British taking over Hong Kong from the Chinese in the 19th century

But, it’s useful to recall that when Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe visited Beijing last year, China pledged over $ 300 million in development assistance to Sri Lanka for the years 2018- 2020. While it is true that Sri Lanka has gotten into a debt trap over Chinese infrastructure projects based on loans, it is also true that China does not make its money conditional on internal political and system change within the country. “It could be argued that if Sri Lanka failed to negotiate skillfully in securing the Chinese loans ( which it had the right to do as a sovereign state) and its bureaucrats and politicians were involved in corrupt deals, it has only itself to blame for those lapses,” argues Kulakurusuriya.

War crimes allegation

Meanwhile, the Sirisena government is coming under heavy pressure domestically to exploit a statement made in the House of Lords in October by Lord Naseby who has questioned the 40,000 figure in the war crimes allegations. Using UK foreign ministry documents, he has questioned this figure and claimed the truth is about 10 percent of this. He has called upon the UN to drop these war crimes allegations against Sri Lanka. He has disputed the claims in Ban Ki- moon’s POE report that was later used by the UNHRC. The UN— which often calls for transparency from governments— has put a 20- year ban on disclosing the names of those who have given evidence to the POE.

While Naseby’s disclosures have been welcomed by most people in Sri Lanka, the government has been muted in its response. The

newspaper’s editor Shamindra Ferdinando revealed in December that a Cabinet spokesperson has told him the issue has not even been discussed in Cabinet.

“Having plunged feet first into co-sponsoring the UNHRC resolution, based on the POEs unsubstantiated claims, the government does not want to make use of Naseby’s compelling arguments because such action will be tantamount to admitting that it blundered by subscribing to the US- drafted resolution,” argues Ferdinando in an editorial. He adds that “national reconciliation will never be possible unless tangible measures were taken to disprove lies propagated against Sri Lanka. The Tamil community will never pardon the Sinhala leadership as long as it believed that a slaughter had taken place on the Vanni east front ( at the conclusion of the war).”