Economic action is more important than a political settlement for the Sri Lankan national question and future.

TED talks are an intriguing repository of great ideas and innovations. For this reason, I return to their web site time and again to watch newly released talks by a wide variety of people. On one of these visits today I stumbled upon the following talk by Paul Collier on the topic of post conflict recovery of nations titled “new rules for rebuilding a broken nation”.

(His bio and talk hyperlinked above – I suggest/prefer you watch the talk in full before reading rest of this commentary since this was inspired by that.)

The talk immediately grabbed my attention as it was a highly relevant topic for present day Sri Lanka trying to deal with the aftershocks of a brutal civil war that lasted many decades. The talk instantly resonated very much with my own views of post war direction that I believe Sri Lanka should embark on.

Going through the abundance of post war analysis and discussions on various media, many pundits religiously stress the need for a “quick and speedy political settlement” as the key aspect of the “solution” to the conflict. In fact political settlement has been the buzz word in post war Sri Lanka analysis in not just the main stream media, but also the blogosphere.

Paul identifies this tendency at the beginning of his talk and proceeds on to a very pragmatic discussion of post conflict challenges faced by countries such as Sri Lanka and how to prioritise these challenges. His main argument (which I agree with very much) is that economy and long term security should take precedence over a political settlement at the early stages (meaning even up to a decade or so). His reasoning for this is that risk of reversion to conflict is high regardless of political innovation, unless the underlying economic and security conditions are addressed.

One of the biggest fears/concerns right now is the possibility of, after patiently languishing in the IDP camps cleverly concealing sleeper elements of the LTTE hardcore, upon the inevitable release, with the support of the maniac diaspora who still believe in a violent struggle, to resort back to armed insurgency. There could be ripe conditions for such an outcome with the current obsession with a fair political settlement for the Tamils of N&E. Only problem is no one is even clear what exactly the settlement should be (13th amendment/federalism) and those who are clear can’t seem to agree with each other. Thus the resulting inevitable disappointment of a rushed political settlement, not because the right or wrong solution was meted out, rather the failure of a solution due to underlying economic lethargy.

If for some reason the eelam nationalists have given up on a return to armed struggle then they are still quite hell bent on disgracing Sri Lanka through tactics of propaganda using embellished reports of genocide and discrimination shaming and vilifying from the administration down to the general Sinhala populace and their primary religion – Buddhism. While I understand the anger and hatred directed at Sri Lanka after a very bloody conflict where their kith and kin have perished and suffered, it is clearly a counterproductive exercise that benefits none now. Especially not their Tamil brethren still living in Sri Lanka. What they fail to understand is that undermining the Sinhala is undermining the Tamils also and vice versa. The two communities need each other in an economic revolution that is required to lift us from post war torn nation to an independent, progressive, multi cultural trading hub that Sri Lanka should become. This is very hard to achieve when there is a dedicated team out there wanting to discredit Sri Lanka at every opportunity they can seize.

Focusing on what Paul says about maintaining long term security, I also do not oppose the increase of troop numbers in the army for peace keeping purposes. I actually think they have the right idea. In fact Paul highlights the importance of strengthening security by bolstering peace keeping forces. This is also key in maintaining a stable environment to encourage trade and to shore up confidence in markets at any level. We all know that markets are the first to collapse under uncertain security concerns hampering economic growth.

However, it is not uncommon to read doomsday scenarios painted for post war Sri Lanka where a hugely inflated army controlled by a despotic administration (“regime”) holding the Tamil population of North & East in indefinite detention in IDP camps to the much joy of “chauvinist Sinhalese South reveling in a victory fever”. While some concerns are granted – such as the conditions of the IDP camps, of course, any realist would see that this “bleak picture” is rather sensationalised soothsaying for whatever underlying motivation which I will not delve into.

Anyone that is capable of engaging in a quick back of the envelop calculation would come to the conclusion that holding 300,000 or so people in indefinite detention, while providing food, accommodation and other amenities is not sustainable beyond several months at the very best. Especially for a poor nation such as Sri Lanka! So that blows this myth out of the water then and there. Also the “despotic regime” factor also falls untrue as any analyst would agree on the huge popularity of the current administration and their land slide democratic endorsement which will be backed up with an election victory at the present.

So quickly summarising Paul’s thoughts, which are neither revolutionary nor unprecedented, just common logical sense, he essentially thinks the priority should be Economy, Security and then to concentrate on Political settlement, which I wholeheartedly agree on. Therefore my request to the Sri Lankan community is that while the latter is hugely important in the ultimate address to the genuine grievances of Tamils, not to rush into things or come to pre conclusions. If we properly focus on the first 2 factors I believe a lot of the “kinks would get ironed out” in the long run, leaving the core issues to be resolved in a final well thought-out political settlement. This may take many years to come but wouldn’t you rather have a well worked out solution rather than a bound to fail quick fix?

There is a vast resource of human intellect and labour previously callously utilised for a war effort now currently inactive in the IDP camps that we need to find ways of immobilising asap. This provides a huge opportunity for investment and great returns in the long run. We fought for decades, and we owe it to ourselves to try to make this work genuinely before we go head to head again.

please pay attention to media!

While there is huge commotion in Sri Lanka about media freedom (of which I have my own personal opinions that maybe discussed in a later post) I have been noticing that the LTTE sympathisers are excessively utilising their last weapon – propaganda!

With conveniently rooted connections in certain media outlets (eg. now famous BCC bias debacle) of LTTE sympathisers even the slightest slips are amplified to discredit the Sri Lankan administration by some news sources.

It was only few days ago that AP retracted a story claiming that 300 civilians have perished in recent clashes. However today I saw an article in the UK guardian using that killed AP article to make the following statement despite the previous news story being retracted.

"Dr Thurairajah Varatharajah, the top government health official in the area, estimated that more than 300 civilians had been killed in recent fighting."
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2009/feb/03/sri-lanka-tamil-tigers-ptk

Now this may have happened due to the writer genuinely not being aware of the retraction or plain bias. However there is one thing that we can do.  Almost all news outlets have contact details for their editor or someone who is responsible for news corrections via email. I actually sent an email to the editor of the guardian pointing out the false reference to the above statement in their article.

Whether they will read it or not is another case (I assume they get a fair few emails like this) but if many of us complain of the same errors then they may take more notice than a single voice. So I urge others to do the same if they come across inconsistencies and fallacies in articles relating to Sri Lanka, especially the present war effort to liberate Sri Lankans from a 25 year old terror threat. Unfortunately there are people out there who are desperate to paint a false picture of the Sri Lankan government and the Armed forces in order to gain leverage.

groundviews and censorship

groundviews is a Sri Lankan citizen journalism web site. The site contains ample gloating that can be easily found on the site claiming that it is the no. 1 site in that category in Sri Lanka. It relentlessly promotes human rights, freedom of media among other things. Which is a noble deed.

But as a recent discoverer of the site and a regular reader/commenter I have found several aspects of concern and hypocrisy. No 1 is that comments which make up a great deal (sometimes more articulate than the original articles themselves) of the content of the site are heavily/irrationally moderated – a site that basks in the glory of freedom of expression! While it is understandable comment moderation is a valid stance due to spamming issues and offensive content, even entire comments (which can easily be deemed decent) are randomly removed without explanation.

I will say that it is “their” site and they can run a mock on their own guidelines as they feel free! But when you promote subjects such as freedom of expression and regularly criticize main stream media and the administrations of Sri Lanka it is only fair that they practice what they preach.

In my experience as a commenter there I have on several occasions been edited out or moderated out due to various excuses – most of which were IMO not offensive nor off topic, and I have unhappily put up with it. But I witnessed absurdity especially in relation to unwarranted moderation (even after prior approval) and comment disappearances on this article: Children who lost their childhood.

This piece with the portrayal of few young Buddhist monks playing in what appears to be a back yard of a temple, takes a cheap shot at the Buddhist Sangha establishment. It would be all clear to you as to how if you go to the above link. It basically suggests that these children have unfairly lost their childhood (even though the photos clearly show them playing innocently) and somehow the author attempts to suggest a violation of human rights by making a connection with the commemoration of the anniversary of the declaration of human rights in this piece. Quite a convoluted, subtle effort I know!

Naturally the anti-Buddhist/anti-Sinhala pro LTTE band wagon who regularly leave mantra like, propaganda like comments even at the slightest excuse even if it is completely unrelated to the gist of the article that they’re commenting on jumped on this piece to express their dire criticisms of the Buddhist Sangha establishment. Comments which are now ‘un’fortunately (because I wish they were there to show) deleted but were previously approved.

Not only that the comment I left which offered a different perspective of what the piece seemed to be otherwise suggesting was also deleted without any explanation. Luckily however this comment was saved on my intense-debate profile which is now implemented on the site so I can post it below.

“Children who lost their childhood? Hardly! Photos itself show them playing with other kids doing what kids do. You guys do know that they’re free to leave the Sangha if they don’t like it? They’re not given away. They’re enrolled into a school that gives them an education and a respectful path in life. Think military school, Christian colleges and convents that are quite common even in the western world. Just these kids’ uniforms are different. They still play, they learn and they do it all with great humility and respect. I’d say considering the fate of some kids in Sri Lanka nowadays these kids are lucky to have that guidance.”

Anyway the comment isn’t important, nor is that piece. They seem to be doing what ever they please with their user comments anyway. Point of this post is to express my concern about the agenda of the groundviews web site. While they sometimes approve even the most unrelated pro-LTTE anti-government user comments on their articles, a simple comment like the above was just deleted! More disturbingly this happens on a site that promotes freedom of expression! Because to me, the moderation seems somewhat lob sided.

So keeping in mind that all articles and and comments are filtered, handpicked, sliced and diced, is this site really portraying the independent people’s view as the site suggests? Or is there a more sinister agenda? As the site states no independent organisation hasn’t come forward to fund the site as of now. Is it because they see the same flaws I see in their contradictory nature and operation of some aspects of this web site?

Dear groundviews, why can’t you handle criticism? Why did you delete all of the comments to this article which was a pathetic excuse for even a citizen journalism standard article. A lot of commenters left some harsh but decent and fair criticisms of that article which were quite interesting to read. [update: I managed to get a cached version of this article from Google cache here] Are you deleting these comments which were even approved by your self previously because you are after some awards?

Anyway you be the judge I just wanted to express my criticism here because over there they just won’t have it! Sad to say I have lost respect for groundviews.

Technorati Tags: groundviews,citizen journalism,freedom of expression speech,blogs,censorship,comment moderation

wow.. if the conservatives win the upcoming presidential elections, then god better save u.s.

Now the bologsphere is somewhat a buzz about the Biden/Palin debate, most calling it a draw (conservatives) while the rest are saying Biden clearly won it. The point of the matter is that no one is bald enough to say Sarah Palin at least edged the debate.

I personally think that McCain made a huge mistake and he’s most likely going to pay for it by losing the upcoming elections. Before, the 2 presidential candidates were pretty much head to head in the poles. Ever since Palin entered the picture it has been downhill for the McCain camp. So much so that they have restricted access to her in the media because she has been causing some serious damage lately. See below!

Can you even follow some of it?? The gaffes are soo bad! How can you expect her to be the VP of US?

Part of the CBS Katie Courich interview. Minute 2 to 3 is an absolute train wreck!

What CNN’s Jack Cafferty thinks.. exactly what I think!

http://caffertyfile.blogs.cnn.com/2008/09/29/will-mccain-ask-sarah-palin-to-step-down/

On a more light hearted note, thought I’ll add this. The SNL skit featuring Tina Fey as Sarah Palin. I though it was hilarious! Bear the add please.

Arrghh.. The dammend thing won’t embed.. Here’s the url

http://www.nbc.com/Saturday_Night_Live/video/clips/palin-hillary-open/656281/

geo tagging war news on windows live maps

For a little while now I have relied upon Windows Live maps to keep track of the daily happenings in the Sri Lanka war front. It became harder to visualise the daily feed of information coming from different sources and put it together in order to get a strategic perspective of the situation. So I needed some method to geo tag the news bulletins thus a picture of the overall situation could be unveiled.

This is where I started using WL maps because many of the towns and cities of Sri Lanka are already listed in their maps. This makes it much easier to pin point news stories. So over a few weeks now I have sketched a rough picture of where the current action is happening and where the battle fronts are.

My collection can be browsed at http://maps.live.com/?cid=859F8CFEEC4B7B69!129

[edit: i am no longer maintaining this]

Now I know there are maps on defence.lk and army.lk that depict the front lines in the current battle. This map has an overall coverage of the current troop movements and recent host spots. I will keep updating the map for my own use, but feel free to subscribe to the geo feed if you find the map useful as well.

http://maps.live.com/GeoCommunity.asjx?action=export&format=rss&mkt=en-us&cid=859F8CFEEC4B7B69!129