By Meena Kandasamy

04 March, 2009

Siritunga Jayasuriya, a trade unionist and leader of the United Socialist Party is best-known for being a high-profile Sinhala dissenter against the war on the Tamils in Sri Lanka. A fierce critic of the current regime and an ex-Presidential candidate, Jayasuriya has survived several attempts on his life. His unwavering voice of dissent cannot be silenced wherever he is. During a recent visit to India, he spoke to Meena Kandasamy about the situation in the war-torn island and bravely answered questions on India`s role in the war.



Meena Kandasamy : You were telling me about your friend Deshapriya who had to flee Sri Lanka because he happens to be a mediaperson with his own individual and independent opinion. Right now, a lot of coverage especially in the Tamil Nadu press is about how Sinhalese journalists have been forced to flee their country just because they are dissenters. What is your take on that?

Siritunga Jayasuriya : You see that is a very good point to start, because not many journalists started their discussion in that angle. Now, many people think Sinhala people live okay, and that the problems lie with the Tamils. I think that is not the correct picture. Of course, Tamils are the worst-hit victims, but at the same time, the Sinhala people are also victimized. The first victim of war is democracy, followed by rights of all the people. For example in the last few years, particularly in the last few months many independent trade union sections like health, the railways, the teachers, came out with their own demands. The government immediately started a vicious campaign through the media and accused union leaders of being supporters of the LTTE. Then the members of the unions, their families asked, Your leaders are supporters of the LTTE, is that so? So they had to resign from their unions.

Journalists, who come out with their own opinion, who bring out the inside stories of the battlefields, what is happening within the army, what are the grievances of the army, how many soldiers are being killed and what is their problem when journalists comes out with such things, the threats come to them. Within the last two years, excluding Taraki Sivaram (who was killed three years ago), nine journalists have been killed, 29 key journalists have been beaten up, more than 20 journalists are behind bars without proper charges, and three main media institutions, printing presses and TV stations like MTV, Sirasa TV have been banned. So now, there is no room for people to say what they believe or see in Sri Lanka. There is no room for the people to come out with their struggles, everything has been suppressed showing the war`s victory. After the killing of Lasantha Wickramatunga on 8 January 2009 I was one of the main organizers of his funeral and I played a key role we have come together because we know that this war is not going to end after defeating the LTTE, but instead the guns are going to turn against the Sinhala people as well. The people who are going to criticize the government, those who are going to put forth different viewpoints are going to be suppressed. This is the situation there. That is why, now, in spite of all the political differences all the major political parties in Sri Lanka, together with social, civil and human rights organizations, including intellectuals and lawyers have come together to form a platform which we call the Platform for Freedom . This aims at freedom for whole Sri Lanka, including the South where we live. We seek the right to live, the right to freedom of expression and an end to war.

Meena Kandasamy : I read that you were beaten up by a 300-strong crowd of thugs when you contested the Presidential elections. . .

Siritunga Jayasuriya : Yes, that happened towards the beginning of this Government. I contested the last presidential election and I came third. We are a very small party, please don`t think that we are a very big force. I don`t want to create any wrong picture. Many people demanded me to come, to take up the leadership. So we entered the fray. We knew this war was going to take place, so we thought it was better to come forward than to simply agitate against the war. So we held a big meeting in Colombo and I was supposed to chair that meeting. A hour before the meeting was scheduled to start, a group of thugs in vehicles openly invaded the stage and smashed everything. The Labour Minister in the Sri Lankan Government Mervin Silva led the group openly. The meeting was about to begin when I saw a group of people coming. So, I started running and I narrowly escaped. Some people were coming behind me to almost catch me by the collar. I managed to board some vehicle and get out to some other place. This is only one incident.

Meena Kandasamy : Mervin Silva was also responsible for beating up other journalists.

Siritunga Jayasuriya : Mervin Selva is a well-known person for assaulting journalists. He led the attack on the government owned Roopavahini radio station and beat some of the senior journalists. He assaulted them inside their government office. But, the workers gave him a good treatment after that. In a live programme that lasted four hours they kept him hostage. Even the police couldn`t take him back. Even very recently, he has assaulted many TV journalists. He was dragged to court, where he finally apologized and even paid the fine for damaging somebody`s camera.

Meena Kandasamy : I heard that only those media persons who are within Sri Lanka, but even those who have left the country are afraid to comment about what is going on there. They are afraid that their families, their relatives and their close friends will be threatened and put to hardship. Why do you think the freedom of the Press is being curtailed in such a big manner?

Siritunga Jayasuriya : I would like to explain a little bit of the background for the present situation. In Sri Lanka, as in India and other countries, extreme nationalist forces were there. There was a lot of it going on: campaigning, this and that. It was not a major matter. Because of the capitalist power politics, Chandrika Bandaranaika (who came to power in 1994 with a programme to find a solution and a political answer to the problem) lost strength in the Parliament and she dissolved it prematurely. The Government headed by Ranil Wickremesinghe`s United National Party was the counter-capitalist party in Sri Lanka. I have nothing to do with that party, but I have to say the truth. They won is 2002 and they went ahead with the Ceasefire Agreement (CFA). A lot of people felt that the CFA was okay, that the country was going on the path of peace. Everyone agreed that there was a lot of mutual understanding between the North and the South, our people who were living in other countries decided to come back. Many politicians believed that if this peace process was going to achieve its end, then it would be the end of existence for their political parties. That might be the reason why in 2004, Chandrika prematurely dissolved the Parliament. Not only that, she invited extreme Sinhala nationalist communal elements like the JVP (Janata Vimukti Perana) in order to capture power. These extreme Sinhala nationalist parties also shared power. In 2005, when the Presidential elections came as Chandrika`s period was over, Chandrika selected Mahinda Rajapakse as the Presidential candidate. We understood fully well that Mahinda Rajapakse`s programme was purely based on Sinhala nationalism. Ranil was coming out with a more neo-liberal programme which was pro-Western. So, we had no other choice except to contest the election even though we are a very small party. We didn`t have any money, we didn`t have any strength, we didn`t have any forces behind us. And I would like to mention here that when the official election result was declared, in front of the diplomatic community and the international media like the BBC and CNN, I expressed my views about Mahinda Rajapaksa. I said, Well, the election is over, Mr.Mahinda Rajapaksa has won. But, I will have to say something more. For the first time in Sri Lankan history, the President has been elected only from the Sinhala voters. So we have a President now who is the Sinhala president. Earlier, even though we have had only Sinhala Presidents they have got some votes from the Tamil people as well. I told him to his face, I think your election campaign has been conducted undermining the aspirations of the Tamil-speaking people. But as President you have to look at everyone`s problems. If you are going to conduct the war, then all the citizens (and not only the Tamils) will have to pay the price.

Meena Kandasamy : Only within Sri Lanka we observe that some of the radical left parties have taken on a major chauvinistic and extreme nationalist position. How do you reconcile to this, being a leftist party?

Siritunga Jayasuriya : The original base of the JVP was Communism. One of their main motives was to work against Indian expansionism. They said that the unemployment problem was because of the Tamil plantation workers who had come from India. They were not this bad at that moment. They had some sort of Marxism, some sort of Socialism. They had photos of Marx, Engels and Lenin behind them. They are the biggest Red, but from the beginning, they are not socialists. During an earlier period, in the 1980s, the JVP leader Rohana Vijayaweera accepted self-determination to the Tamils. It was in one of his minor publications. But the present generation leaders say that he is misrepresented totally and that their leader never said anything like that. That`s how they are. Right now they are centrists: mixed with the socialists, but also mixed with the communalists.

Meena Kandasamy: You say that the JVP at some point of time has accepted Tamil self-determination. What is your opinion of Tamil self-determination?

Siritunga Jaya...