Opinion
Continuing curse of 1983 pogrom!
By Dr Upul Wijayawardhana
There is no doubt, whatsoever that the 1983 July pogrom was one of the most shameful events in the recent history of Sri Lanka which irrevocably tarnished the image of the country. How it was viewed then by the foreign media formed the basis of two opinion pieces by Jayantha Somasundaram, “July 1983: As the world saw Sri Lanka” (The Island, 25 July) & “July 1983: Tamils do not blame Sinhalese people” (The Island, 26 July), which was very difficult reading for anyone with a conscience. Though the description of events seems to be mostly accurate, what is in my memory does not tally with the descriptions of some events but then, as the Buddha rightly pointed out, memory can be very selective. Then again, as I pointed out in my opinion piece “Whither Freedom of Speech” (The Island, 28 July) ‘Mainstream media have always been guilty of giving a slight slant to the truth to advance their agendas.’ Considering that subsequent distortions, which were shown to be gross at times which I would expand on later, anyone with a critical mind would be excused for looking at these reports with a degree of scepticism. Irrespective of all that, it goes without saying that what happened was totally inexcusable.
I vividly remember a conversation with Prof. John Carson, who was instrumental in setting up the Department of Management Studies in Sri Jayewardenepura University. He was the Chairman of the Public Services Commission of Canada in 1960s and had great fondness for Sri Lanka, visiting frequently. He became very friendly with us as he was convinced that my wife, who was the senior medical officer of the university, had cured a chronic skin condition he had. He pointed out to us that the incidents of July 1983 not only changed the international perception of Sri Lanka but also ruined the reputation of JRJ. He said “Up to this time, JRJ was considered a statesman by other world leaders but his behaviour during this period completely changed that to his being yet another self-serving politician”
No doubt, JRJ should be held largely responsible because, even if he was not the architect of the ‘reaction’ to the atrocities of ‘Tamil terrorists’, it was launched with his approval. I learned later, from a very reliable source, that the attacks on Tamil shops in Colombo were started by goons of not only Cyril Matthew, which is well known, but also of M H Mohamed. What the government intended to be a limited attack went out of control completely and the subsequent inaction of JRJ as well as his statements to the media were pathetic.
It is a great shame that the entire Sinhala community was blamed for the action of a manipulative government headed by the ‘master manipulator’, whose misguided manipulations led to disaster. Those who took part in the violence were government goons initially, shady characters who took over from them subsequently taking the opportunity to loot shops and plunder from rich Tamils. True, some extreme nationalists too joined but the vast majority of Sinhalese were against this violence, having lived harmoniously with Tamils and continuing to do so even today. They considered their prime duty to be offering protection to their fellow countryman who were being persecuted for no fault of theirs. It is very unfortunate that foreign media failed to report about the vast majority of Sinhalese who protected and looked after their Tamil friends and neighbours.
We were living in the Keppitipola Mawatha Summit Flats, built for the foreign delegates attending the non-aligned summit and subsequently let to senior government servants. The adjoining flat 25B was occupied by the Tamil family of a senior government servant. They had a son of our son’s age and our children were his playmates. Though Summit Flats were shielded, naturally, they were anxious. We looked after them and I remember waiting in Prima bread queues for hours, to get bread for them. As they were keen to leave for Jaffna, I was in regular touch with my friends in high places, and was able to get them accommodated in the first ship leaving for Jaffna. Though I would very much have liked to learn from them that they arrived safely and how they progressed afterwards, I have never heard from them since. I had no way of contacting them but they could have contacted me easily, either at home or in Cardiology Unit, where I served till, I left five years later. Speaking to a lot of my friends, I find that they have had very similar experiences. In fact, one friend, who now lives in London told me that he met one of his neighbours, whose family he sheltered in his house, in London but refused to recognise him! Perhaps, the trauma has evoked a sense of hatred towards the entire Sinhala race. In fact, I have my doubts regarding the title of Jayantha Somasundaram’s second article “Tamils do not blame Sinhalese people”
The biggest distortion of facts since this sad episode is in the reporting of the number of casualties at the conclusion of the war. The British newspaper The Times was the first to report that there were 20,000 deaths and very soon others copied and some doubled it. A relative of mine, when he was the High Commissioner of Sri Lanka to London, had been in close touch with the lady journalist who wrote that piece. Once he had developed a rapport, he had inquired from her how she got that figure. Her reply that astounded him was: “After the conclusion of the war when foreign correspondents were taken on an aerial tour, having seen the devastation, I guessed that 2000 deaths was a reasonable figure!” That guess has been multiplied and continues to be used in spite of evidence to the contrary.
True, JRJ let us down badly but it is continuing distortions of the truth that is preventing true reconciliation. The curse of the 1983 July Pogrom seems to live on, unfortunately!
The first and only tsunami that Sri Lanka experienced was on Boxing Day(26th) of December 2004. My wife and I, as usual, went down to Modara in Moratuwa to purchase our seafood requirements of seafood from our familiar fishmonger, Siltin, from whom we had been buying fish for a long time. Sometimes we used to take a couple of friends of ours. But on this day, it was only both of us that went on this trip.
We made our purchases and were returning home and when we came up to the Dehiwala bridge, many people were looking down at the canal from both sides of the bridge. This was strange, as normally if there was something unusual, it would be on one side.
Anyway, we came home unaware of anything that had happened. A school friend of mine (sadly he is no longer with us) telephoned me and asked whether I was aware of what had happened. When I answered him in the negative, he told me to switch on the TV and watch. Then when I did so and saw what was happening, I was shocked. But still I did not know that we had just managed to escape being swept away by the tsunami.
Later, when I telephoned Siltin and asked him, he said that both of us had a narrow escape. Soon after we had left in our car, the tsunami had invaded the shore with a terrifying wave and taken away everything of the fishmongers, including their stalls, the fish, weighing scales and money. The fishmongers had managed to run to safety.
This had been about five minutes after we had left. So, it was a narrow shave to have escaped the wrath of the demining tsunami( the name many Sri Lankans came to know after it hit our island very badly}
HM NISSANKA WARAKAULLE
Sri Lanka has recorded a staggering 375 elephant deaths in the past eleven and a half months due to a multitude of causes, according to the Department of Wildlife Conservation. U. L Thaufeeq, Deputy Director – Elephant Conservation said the deaths include 74 from gunshots, 53 from electrocution, 49 from hakka patas (explosive devices hidden in food), seven from poisoning, 10 from train accidents, three from a road accident, and six by drowning. It makes such diabolical reading!
“The causes of other deaths are due to natural causes or causes that could not be identified. Most of the elephants that died were young,” the official said.
Meanwhile, the human-elephant conflict has also taken a toll on people, with 149 human deaths reported this year.
Accordingly, human-elephant conflict has resulted in 524 deaths of both elephants and humans in 2024.
In 2023, a total of 488 elephants and 184 people have died consequent to the conflict, according to Wildlife Department statistics.
The human-elephant conflict in Sri Lanka has escalated to unprecedented levels with reasons like habitat destruction, encroachment, and the lack of sustainable coexistence measures contributing to the issue.
This is an indictment of the Wildlife Department for just giving the sad yearly statistics of shocking losses of our National treasures !
Given the fact that Sri Lanka boasts of 29.9% of the country declared as protected forests, Sri Lanka is a haven for nature lovers. Boasting 26 national parks, 10 nature reserves including 3 strict nature reserves, and 61 sanctuaries, the national parks in Sri Lanka offer an incredible variety of wildlife experiences.
Taken in that context, the million dollar question is why on earth the Wildlife Department is not being proactive to capture these magnificent animals and transport them into protected sanctuaries, thus effectively minimising dangers to villagers ?
Being a Buddhist country primarily, to turn a blind eye to these avoidable tragic deaths to mankind and wild elephants, we should be ashamed !
As a practising Buddhist myself, I think our clergy could play a major part in calling upon the Wildlife Department to get their act together sooner rather than later to protect human elephant conflicts !
Sri Lanka being a favourite destination amongst foreign tourists, they are bound to take a dim view of what is happening on the ground!
If the top brass in the responsible department are not doing their job properly, may be there is a case for the new President to intervene before it gets worse!
All animal lovers hope and pray the New Year will usher in a well coordinated plan of action put in place to ensure the well being of wildlife and villagers !
Sunil Dharmabandhu
Wales, UK
This has reference to the article from the Aircraft Owners and Operators Sri Lanka, titled ‘Closer look at regulatory oversight and its impact on Tourism’, published on Tuesday, 24th December 2024.To explain further, in the beginning there was the Air Navigation Act No 15 of 1950 which was followed by the Air Navigation Regulations (ANR) of 1955. This was long before the national airline had acquired pressurised aircraft, intercontinental jets, sophisticated navigation equipment, satellite communication and automatic landing systems, and ‘glass’ flight-deck instrumentation.
Today, civil aviation in Sri Lanka is governed by Civil Aviation Act Number 14 of 2010. Yet the Air Navigation Regulations (ANR) promulgated back in 1955 remain in force.
These outdated regulations still stipulate rules forbidding the carriage of passengers on the airplane’s wings or undercarriage (landing gear). In short, they are neither practical nor user-friendly. In contrast, the Air Navigation Regulations of other countries have progressed and are easy to read, understand, and implement.
To overcome the problem of outdated regulations, as an interim measure in 1969 the then Minister of Communications and Transport, Mr E.L.B. Hurulle issued a Government Gazette notification declaring that the Standard and Recommended Procedures (SARPs) in Annexes to the ICAO Convention signed by Ceylon in 1944 shall be made law.
Even so, nothing much was done to move with the times until updating of the Civil Aviation Act 14 of 2010, while the Air Navigation Regulations remained unchanged since 1955. However, these regulations were modified from time to time by the promulgation of Implementing Standards (IS) and General Directives (GDs) which were blindly ‘cut and pasted’ by the Civil Aviation Authority of Sri Lanka (CAASL), from the ICAO (International Civil Aviation Organisation) Annexe ‘SARPS’ without much thought given. To date there are literally 99 IS’s starting from 2010.
The currently effective air navigation regulations are not in one document like the rest of the world, but all over the place and difficult for the flying public to follow as they are not regularly updated. This sad situation seems to have been noticed by the current regime.
The National Tourism Policy of the ruling NPP states, “Domestic air operations are currently limited due to high cost and regulatory restrictions. The current regulatory and operational environment will be reviewed to ensure domestic air connectivity to major tourist destinations. The potential of operating a domestic air schedule with multiple operators is proposed. Additionally, domestic airports and water aerodromes in potential key areas will be further developed, for high-end tourism growth.”
“The tourism policy recognises Sri Lanka’s potential to develop Sri Lanka’s aviation-based specialised tourism products, including fun flying, hot air ballooning, paragliding, parachuting and skydiving, and scenic seaplane operations. To facilitate the growth of these niche markets, existing regulations will be reviewed with the aim of attracting capable investors to develop and operate these offerings.”
It remains to be seen whether the NPP government lives up to those promises.
Note:
That OPA report talks of two funds: ‘Connectivity’ and ‘Viability’ for a limited period like three or five years to help jump-start the domestic aviation industry.
The ‘Connectivity Fund’ will cap the seat price for local passengers to a more affordable value to destinations while the ‘Viability Fund’ will assume that all seats are occupied and compensate the operator for any unutilised seat. The intention is to popularise domestic aviation as a safe, quick and convenient mode of transport.
Capt. Gihan A Fernando
RCyAF/ SLAF, Air Ceylon, Air Lanka, Singapore Airlines and Sri Lankan Airlines.
Now A Fun Flier
Ervine, Bennett tons headline Zimbabwe’s day
Pakistan lose their way after Bosch bash hands South Africa advantage
Showers may occur in Northern, North-central, Eastern and Uva provinces and in Matale district
-
Sports6 days agoPathirana set to sling his way into Kiwi hearts
-
News4 days agoOffice of CDS likely to be scrapped; top defence changes on the cards
-
Features4 days agoAn Absurd play in Parliament: Qualifications versus education
-
Editorial6 days agoThe games they play
-
Opinion5 days agoWhat AKD and NPP should bear in mind
-
Midweek Review3 days agoEx-SLN seniors focus on seabed mining and Sri Lanka’s claim for the delimitation of the Outer Continental Margin
-
Features6 days agoThe Government’s Term Tests & Results: The Good, the Bad and the Ugly
-
Editorial5 days agoSeeyanomics, rhetoric and reality