By Jehan Perera
A little over ten years ago large parts of the south, such as the town of Kamburupitiya in the Matara district, were even bloodier than the north-east today. The loss of life was more intense. In the space of two years an estimated 60,000 people were killed, which is the present estimate for the 17 year long North-East war.

Both sets of figures are estimates. There has been no authoritative count of the casualties when it concerns the civilian population about which neither of the conflicting parties cared. They have had no reason to publicise the numbers of their victims, who disappeared into army camps or into the jungles.

Each of the conflicting parties (despite the labels of state, revolutionary and liberation fighter) have engaged in utmost brutality to those perceived to be on the other side and been callous to the suffering on their own side. Nowhere can this be seen better today than in the tortured peninsula of Jaffna. For the past several weeks the army and LTTE have been seeking to destroy each other and the towns therein with their horrific long range weapons. But what happened on Sunday(Oct 1) in Kamburupitiya was a world away from the tortured reality that was, and remains, Sri Lankan politics and the quest for political power. The town was relaxed and composed, with an everyday look about it, even though one of the biggest election meetings in the country was taking place within it.

On the main road from Colombo to Kamburupitiya there were several election meetings that could be seen. The numbers gathered were small, probably reflecting the lack of great public passion in the ongoing election campaign. Each of these meetings had decorations of just one colour, be it blue, green or red. But the election meeting in Kamburupitiya had all three colours, and in equal proportion and prominence. The organiser of the remarkable event that took place in Kamburupitiya was Dullas Alahapperuma. He was a former member of the JVP, but had left that revolutionary party many years ago to join in the mainstream of poltics. But his ideas are still revolutionary, though not in a topsy-turvy or bloody-minded way. Those who are close to the people and are humble could be expected to be so.

REVOLUTIONARY POLITICS

The revolution that Dullas Alahapperuma engineered was to bring in the two main opposing candidates from the UNP and JVP onto the same stage as he to conduct their election campaign. The two district leaders of their respective parties, Lakshman Yapa Abeywardena of the UNP and Jinadasa Kithulagoda of the JVP agreed to the new concept. With the big three agreeing, the smaller parties also wanted to join in. The revolutionary Kamburupitiya approach to political campaigning has many benefits. The large police force that had gathered to quell any possible breach of the peace was unnecessary. There was peace and quiet in the town, except for the candidates’ voices which were amplified by the loudspeakers wired throughout the town.

In addition the cost of campaigning was dramatically reduced. The contestants were not permitted to bring in any promotional posters or literature into the meeting. They also shared the costs of organising it. But the main benefit was that the election meeting was conducted according to an excellent set of ground rules. Each of the speakers pledged not to attack the others on personal grounds. They had to confine their criticisms to the policies and practices of their rival political parties. This was done in great style and sparing no quarter. The main PA onslaught on the UNP was on the grounds of the UNP’s disregard for democracy. The human rights abuses that took place in the south in the 1988-90 period was attributed to the UNP’s abuse of the democratic process. Even the origin of the ethnic conflict was located in the UNP’s contempt for democracy. The example of the Jaffna District Development Council election in 1981 where crude and widespread rigging took place for the first time was given.

The UNP’s case rested on the unfulfilled promises of the PA, which commenced with the pledge to restore peace in the North-East. The long list of broken promises, and the inability of the PA government to have a clear set of policies was highlighted. The deterioration in the country’s political and economic situation was shown to be a harbinger of the disaster that was to come if the PA was re-elected. The JVP was passionate about the sale of the country to multi-nationals, and the bogey of the United States was brought in fearsomely. It was argued that the draft constitution, and the devolution package within it, had been masterminded by the United States to divide the country. The present provinces would become eight little countries that would not be able to withstand the rapacious multi-nationals. Despite these harsh judgments on the rival political parties and their respective programmes that took place at the joint election meeting, the contrast between the election campaign at Kamburupitiya and in the rest of the country is vast. There were no incidents of violence, there was no massive expenditure on election propaganda, and there was no breakdown of personal relationships.

The value in the new approach is that personal relations between the rival political candidates would not be destroyed. Regardless of who wins and who loses at the forthcoming general elections, these are politicians who can continue to work with each other in the future.

LEADERSHIP REQUIRED

It is interesting that one of the more creative innovations in election campaigning should come from a part of the country that suffered most during the violence of the JVP insurrection. Sometimes it seems that a society might have to go through the greatest of suffering before it can collectively resolve not to permit the conditions for such a situation to arise again.

But leadership is needed for the overcoming of the past to become a reality. The example of Europe’s two wars in the last century come to mind. In World War 1 millions died and there was great destruction. There is no doubt that millions of people were sickened by war and wished its permanent end.

But barely twenty years after it ended, World War 2 started. More millions died and there was greater destruction. Once again there is no doubt that people were sickened by the war and wished its permanent end. It is not the people’s aspiration by itself that can bring peace. It also requires conscious and deliberate leadership. By last Sunday, apart from the event in Kamburupitiya, it appeared that the war in the Jaffna peninsula had subsided again, for the time being at least. Further hundreds had died and been injured in the fighting that took place earlier in the week between the government troops and LTTE, and thousands of civilians were displaced once again. All of this fighting has taken place for two main reasons. One is the LTTE’s determination to regain control of Jaffna city. The other is to influence the outcome of next week’s general elections. It is inhumane, callous and unacceptable to try and influence elections by sacrificing the lives and property of one’s own citizens and one’s own people. Democracy means that the people of Jaffna must rule themselves through the representatives for whom they vote in free and fair elections. There can be no dispute about this. What is at dispute is the national framework of powers and laws by which they will exercise this basic right of self-determination.

Hopefully, the spirit of Kamburupitiya, where the PA, UNP and JVP came together to contest each other in a sane and acceptable manner will also infuse the national leadership of this country.

In Kamburupitiya three district level leaders in the form of Dullas Alahapperuma, Lakshman Yapa Abeywardena and Jinadasa Kitulagoda came together. There can be another tripartite agreement, this time in the North-East between the PA, UNP and LTTE, which the other parties will also be wanting to join in, like they did at Kamburupitiya. The question is who those enlightened leaders will be.