Sri Lanka - challenges and opportunities

Public lecture delivered by External Affairs Minister Prof. G.L. Peiris, at Woodrow Wilson International Centre for Scholars, Washington DC, recently.

Robert Hathaway: I have the good fortune of running the Asia programme at the Wilson Centre. Since I see a number of unfamiliar faces, I hope you would permit me to tell you a bit about the Wilson Centre. We are an independent non-partisan institute for advanced research. We were created by an Act of Congress in 1968 as the nation's official memorial to Woodrow Wilson, our 28th President. Some of you might know that President Wilson had a distinguished career as a scholar and an academic prior to entering the political arena. I think this pretty much describes our mission. We seek to serve as a bridge between the world of the scholar and the world of the policy maker to commemorate both the scholarly depth and public policy concerns of President Wilson. I think when you hear me introduce our speaker today, you will appreciate how he really well exemplifies both of these worlds, that of the scholar and of the policy maker.

Three years ago this week saw the conclusion of one of the world's bloodiest and longest running civil wars. Many of us wondered if we would ever see a Sri Lanka at peace, and virtually the entire world celebrated the defeat of the LTTE in 2009. Unfortunately, Sri Lankans have discovered that history did not stop in 2009, but that the world remains full of challenges. We are pleased to have with us Sri Lanka's Minister of External Affairs G.L Peiris. Mr. Minister, like Woodrow Wilson, has successfully combined the careers of scholar and statesman. His distinctions as a scholar are as impressive as his achievements in the political arena.

He is a Rhodes Scholar. He has earned not one but two PhDs. Twenty five years he taught law at the University of Colombo, eventually serving as the Dean of the Faculty of Law and then University Vice Chancellor. His list of publications would be sufficient to win ten or twelve normal professorships, a huge list. And then like Woodrow Wilson, Dr. Peiris abandoned the academic life to take up politics. Since entering the political world in 1994, he has been the Minister or the Deputy Minister in succession of ministries, culminating in his appointment two years ago as the Minister of External Affairs. Mr. Minister we are delighted to welcome you to the centre. We are pleased that you have chosen the Wilson Centre as the site for your principal public address during your visit to Washington this week. I am absolutely convinced that if President Wilson saw your CV he would recognise a kindred spirit, and now I invite you to take the podium.

Minister Prof. G.L. Peiris:

I am very happy to be here this afternoon to share a few thoughts with you on what Mr. Hathaway described as challenges that we are confronting at the present moment. As he said, until three years ago, until 2009, the principal challenge that we had to deal with was the reign of terror unleashed on us by an organisation that was described by the FBI as the most ruthless terrorist organisation on this planet. Contrary to the expectations of the world, the President and the government of Sri Lanka succeeded in eradicating terrorism from our country. The first priority was the resettlement about 300,000 persons displaced by the conflict; and the challenge was aggravated by the fact that we did not want them resettled as embittered, disillusioned, disgruntled human beings, but rather as people who would look to the future with confidence in themselves and the country to which they feel proud to belong. So that is with regard to the internally displaced people. That was a humanitarian consideration which is obviously entitled to priority from any perspective whatever.

Then, there were the ex-combatants. For the most part, these were young people, misguided, and persuaded to take up arms against the state and to espouse a way of life which is characterised by violence. There were approximately 11, 600 such people who surrendered to the state at the conclusion of hostilities three years ago. Among them were 595 child soldiers. We started with the child soldiers and today I'm able to tell you that 90 percent of ex-combatants have been reintegrated into society after the benefit of exposure to vocational training programmes that equipped them adequately to earn their living, to go back to their villages and to their families, to start a new life, confident that they would be able to live with dignity in Sri Lankan society.

Economic revival

One of the other challenges related to the question of demining. This was a very difficult task and still not complete in that part of the country where the LTTE, the terrorist movement, took its final stand. But 94 percent of the work connected with demining has been now completed with very substantial assistance that we received from several foreign governments including your own.

The other task that we had to accomplish was this - economic development. We believe in reconciliation, but economic development is a crucial component of a viable and realistic process of reconciliation. Whatever else you may attempt to do, it is exceedingly unlikely that you would succeed in your objective unless people have access to incomes and livelihoods. Consequently, it is a deliberate decision on the part of the government of Sri Lanka that we have to focus very sharply on the economic development of the Northern region which has been particularly devastated by the atrocities perpetrated by the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam.

Now you would no doubt be interested to hear that the economy of the Northern Province is growing today at the rate of 22 percent when the figure for the rest of the island is at the threshold of about 8.3 percent . This is not fortuitous and coincidental; this is the result of sustained and very substantial investment by the government of Sri Lanka in infrastructure development in that part of the country. Highways, railroad systems, irrigation projects, power and energy sector and a huge thrust in the sectors of health and education, all of this has brought about an economic revival of major proportions in the Northern part of the island. This means there has been a resuscitation of fisheries which is today one of the major means of livelihood of the people of North. This is one of the activities which were, regrettably, not just interfered with, but totally discontinued in consequence of the operations of the Sea Tigers in the Northern waters of the island.

Emergency regulations

The Jaffna peninsula has a climate which is particularly suitable for the cultivation of exotic fruits and vegetables. Sri Lanka has more varieties of mangoes than most countries have varieties of fruits. We have placed a very sharp emphasis on agricultural activities, and on education which is very important to the people of the North. What you're seeing is the singular transformation of a society which just five years ago was gripped by fear. And today, wherever you travel in Sri Lanka, what you will encounter is a new mood of emancipation and of confidence in our people and in their future. This is with regard to economic development which we perceive as an indispensable component of national reconciliation.

We do understand, and there is no doubt about this, that here is an opportunity that has presented itself after a quarter of a century, and we are quite determined to make the maximum use of this opportunity, not to let it slip through our fingers. If that is to happen, it is absolutely essential to have a spirit of inclusivity. All the people of Sri Lanka together, irrespective of considerations of ethnicity, cultural background and religion, have to unite in a common endeavour and a common resolve to use this rare opportunity to move the country forward rapidly. This is the reason why President Mahinda Rajapaksa appointed a Lessons Learnt and Reconciliation Commission. It is a local commission to probe the causes of the conflict and make pragmatic recommendations relating to measures that are necessary to move the country forward in the circumstances that have manifested themselves in the current situation in Sri Lanka.

Just two weeks ago, the Sri Lankan Cabinet set up a strong and effective mechanism for the implementation of the recommendation of the Lessons Learnt and Reconciliation Commission in a structured way: where do we begin? What are the short term measures that can be implemented? What are the other things that can be taken up further down the road? These are the main matters occupying our attention right now.

To be continued