Sri Lanka's Tamils bolster presence with election win

In searching through an unusually bleak variety of news items this week, an election in Sri Lanka emerged as a bit of good news.

Sri Lanka is that little teardrop of an island, once known as Ceylon, off the the southern tip of India. Its recent history during the past three decades has been one of a civil war between the nation's Tamil people minority and a Sinhalese majority. The civil war came to an abrupt end in 2009 with a collapse of the Tamil forces and a complete victory of the Sri Lankan military.

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Sri Lanka, an island nation of nearly 21 million people, with beautiful beaches, mountainous terrain that supports a tea sector, and the scene of a tragic civil war for 30 years pitting the two largest population groups against each other. map is from Encyclopaedia Britannica used at www.citelighter.com

A recent provincial election (the first since the war's conclusion) resulted in an overwhelming victory for the Tamil National Alliance (TNA). The first words from the leader of the party, TNA leader R. Sampanthan, were conciliatory, saying "his party is ready to participate in the Parliament Select Committee appointed to resolve the national issue if the government agrees to a meaningful measure to devolve power." At the same time, addressing a media briefing in Colombo, Sri Lanka's Economic Development Minister Basil Rajapaksa, who is in charge of the development in the war-torn North, said the government is willing to work together with the TNA within the framework of the Constitution. "Minister Rajapaksa stressed that now the TNA has received the power they have responsibility to fulfill the needs of the Tamil people. He expressed hope that the Tamil party would not lead the northern people to another separatist struggle."

Tamil National Alliance leader, R. Sampanthan, now has a political platform from which to negotiate with the national government. Photo from dbsjeyaraj.com


Sri Lankan Economic Development Minister Basil Rajakaksa, has been overseeing the aftermath of the Sri Lankan civil war, and was the first to respond on behalf of the national government to the victory of the TNA in the northern provincial elections. Photo from www.onlanka.com

A quick summary. The defeated Tamil people, concentrated in the north of the country, have a stronger more unified voice now, and want their elected leader to pursue a policy of greater autonomy for the "distinct Tamil people" in their historical lands. The Sri Lankan government, overseeing the victory over armed separatists four years ago, also want to move forward in a positive fashion - one thinks that elections themselves is a step forward.

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The rusting hulk of this tank (personnel carrier, etc.?) along Sri Lanka's northeast coastline is a reminder of the recent civil war, and the continuing efforts of the Tamil and Sinhalese peoples to find a different path this time. Photo from http://blog.naver.com

As Teatree thinks about it, there are some similarities between this story and the previous post about the Philippines where separatists have moved to seek autonomy in practical aspects of government, in spite of sporadic outbreaks of violence. The temptation of advancing a cause through violence.

One also thinks back to the Muslim Brotherhood winning elections in Egypt within a year of the former Egyptian President Mubarak's loss of power, and how quickly the new President Morsi attempted to move beyond constitutional limits by issuing decrees, etc. So many ways to instigate violence and further instability rather than carefully treading a path that avoids them.

The Philippine's long running conflict flares again ...

The Philippines, located in the South China Sea, has a population of over 98 million.

The Philippines (officially The Republic of the Philippines) made the news this week due to a flareup of violence between one faction of an Islamic separatist movement and the national government. The conflict comes, unfortunately, at a time when there has been a recent agreement between the state and the main Muslim separatist group in the South which is set to bring greater autonomy to southern lands.

The most recent incident is apparently a local faction at work, but it has its roots in a long history of unrest that is complex, to say the least. Insurgencies in the Philippines have run for decades - government oppression and corruption to varying degrees over the past 50 years, communist influences, a rise in Islamic militancy - have all intertwined and morphed with various alliances, understandings, and support from a variety of other nations and ideologies. A short history of these streams of insurgencies can be found at http://www.historyofwar.org/articles/wars_philippines.html

The long running Muslim separatist movements are in the South.

An article in the New York Times captures the essence along with the context,

"In August 2011, President Benigno S. Aquino III flew secretly to Tokyo to meet with the leader of the Philippines’ largest Muslim separatist group. The meeting, with the chairman of the Moro Islamic Liberation Front, Al Haj Murad Ebrahim, led to a landmark October 2012 framework agreement for peace. But in the year since, Mr. Aquino has received a rough reminder that the quest for peace in the southern Philippine island of Mindanao, one that goes back more than a century, remains as difficult as ever.

The most recent fighting, in Zamboanga, began last Monday when several hundred armed members of the Moro National Liberation Front, a rebel group that was not included in the 2012 peace deal, entered the port city by sea and, the police said, declared an independent Islamic state. Under attack by police and the army, the rebels took hostages and retreated to the poor Muslim areas outside the city, where on Sunday they were fighting house to house with the security forces. Officials said that nearly 100 rebels had been killed or captured, and that many had cast off their military fatigues in an effort to blend into the civilian population. Over all, more than 50 people have been killed, and nearly 70,000 displaced, in the battles during the past week between the military and the rebels, officials said."

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The 2012 agreement with the MILF granting greater autonomy to the southern islands remains in place, and the current conflict is isolated to some degree with one faction (MNLF) who did not sign the plan.

Unless the reader wants to get deep into the weeds, perhaps it is just as useful to consider the challenges that face this nation. The most unique aspect of the country is its geography. North to south, the length of the country is about 1000 miles (1609 km), which in the US is similar to Chicago to New Orleans. But the Republic consists of 7100 islands, only 154 of which are over 5 square miles, and if all the landbase could be compressed into a square it would be similar in size to Arizona. The two largest islands, Luzon in the north and Mindanao in the south, comprise about 65 percent of the total land area of the archipelago. Info from www.nationsencyclopedia.com And to emphasize the diversity that island legacy brings, Wikipedia notes, "According to the 2000 census, 28.1% of Filipinos are Tagalog, 13.1% Cebuano, 9% Ilocano, 7.6% Bisaya/Binisaya, 7.5% Hiligaynon, 6% Bikol, 3.4% Waray, and 25.3% as "others""

Let's hope that the government can continue to honor the agreements it has made, and that the Muslim movements in the South adhere to the spirit and letter as well.

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Article and photo in the NY Times, showing the despair of an individual "in Zamboanga City on Thursday as a standoff between rebels and the Philippine military continued ..."

The Philippines has many challenges on its plate. The country, along with a number of Southeast Asian nations, is challenging China's claims to expanded jurisdiction over the region's seas - and there have been confrontations. With over 7100 islands, international recognition of the the Philippines claim to the seas and waters around its lands is crucial for a peaceful Southeast Asian future.

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Map showing the Philippine's claimed (and recognized) zones of economic sovereignty regarding its territorial seas. from wikimedia