Is it the NGOs in Sri Lanka that

need straitjacketing?
by Dr. Dayan Jayatilleka
- on 07/10/2014

Just as a criticism of the Ministry of Sports or the Cricket Control Board, are in
no way a critique of Sri Lankas cricket team or its sportsmen and women, I
must clarify that my critique of the Defense ureaucracy is in no way a critique
of the Sri Lankan armed forces!
"he low #rowl of the Defense ureaucracy in the direction of the $%&s is a dan#erous
portent! ' #rowl could e followed y snarl and then a ite! (hat applies to the $%&s
could then e tried out on other autonomous ci)ic institutions and associations, which
would include the mass media, trade unions, students unions, teachers unions etc!
(hat is at issue here is nothin# less than the character of our society and state! Is our
society one in which freedom of )oluntary association, e*pression and acti)ity pre)ails
so lon# as these do not )iolate e*istin# laws, startin# with the Constitution+ &r is it a
society in which acti)ity is permitted within rules and re#ulations as interpreted y the
security ureaucracy+ (hat is the role of the state+ Is it to #uarantee and defend
e*istin# freedoms and e*pand the realm of those freedoms or is it to circumscrie the
freedoms we are accustomed to en,oy+ If the former, the state is a democracy without
qualifications- if the latter it is a quasi.authoritarian democracy!
&ne may readily anticipate the counterar#ument of the states security mana#ers,
namely that the (est uses a playook in which ci)il society is used for the
underminin# of security and so)erei#nty! (hile this has a lar#e measure of truth, it is
the case that the e*istence of a lieral democracy rather than an illieral one #i)es the
state a le#itimacy and a profile that makes it far easier to defend a#ainst (estern de.
staili/ation which uses the lack of freedom precisely as a weapon of critique and a
,ustification for sanctions if not worse! It is far more difficult to defend from outside
intrusion, a state that has dele#itimi/ed itself y reducin# the area of social freedoms!
Much more than anythin# 0resident 1a,apaksa has done, it is the doctrine, discourse,
actions and inactions, of the current defense officialdom, that ha)e chan#ed Sri
Lankas tar#et profile from May 2334 when the country had an effecti)e diplomatic
shield! It is the hardline defense ureaucracy and the e)en more hardline Sinhala
Buddhist loies such as the BBS and its allies that ha)e made Sri Lanka less, not more
defensile from its powerful #loal critics and foes!
(hich poses a worse dan#er to the ima#e and interests of the Sri Lankan state, of Sri
Lanka as a country and indeed of the Sinhala ma,ority5 the unchecked BBS, Sinhala
1a)aya et al, or the unchecked $%& community+
"he more le#itimate a state is percei)ed as in the world system, the more difficult it is
for e*ternal actors to tar#et it! "he less le#itimate it is percei)ed to e, the easier it is to
tar#et it! 0anamas $orie#a, Iraqs Saddam and Liyas %addafi are ,ust a few e*amples
"he freer and democratic a state is, the more le#itimate it is percei)ed to e and
therefore the more difficult it is to tar#et it! ' free society and a democratic state are a
hard tar#et, not a soft one!
' free society and democratic state possess far #reater 6soft power than an illieral or
authoritarian democracy! "he #reater the 6soft power, the #reater the total national
power of the state, the harder the tar#et- the lesser the soft power, the softer the tar#et!
It is far easier to defend the so)erei#nty of a manifestly or demonstraly free and
democratic state in which institutions function impartially and independently, than it
is to defend the so)erei#nty of a less than free and democratic state!
I must confess a weakness! My late friend Dr! $ewton %unasin#he, one of Sri Lankas
most rilliant and literate Mar*ists minds 7second only to the #reat %8S de Sil)a9, used
to say when I was a founder memer of the Social Scientists 'ssociation 7in my late
teens9 that my one methodolo#ical weakness was that I :always assume rationality;!
"hat weakness proaly aides! Irrationality in pulic policy, especially in matters of
the national and state interest, troules me! (hen a state acts irrationally in the
strate#ic realm, and does so continuously, with sporadic inter)als of lucidity, it worries
me!
'ny re#ime that could, in the wake of the international outcry o)er 'luth#ama and its
aftermath and while a <$ International inquiry is aout to commence sittin#s, snap at
the ankles of the local $%& community and therey #i)e the worlds sole superpower
another criticism to le)el a#ainst the Sri Lankan state, is actin# more than a little
weird! "here is somethin# wron# with its wirin#! But then a#ain it had to ha)e een
faulty wirin# that sent hea)ily armed soldiers in attle.#ear into 1athupaswela while
the country was under international scrutiny!
"he ominous #rowl of the defense ureaucracy with re#ard to the $%&s raises the
inescapale question5 if thin#s are headin# this way now, efore the elections, what
will the situation of autonomous ci)ic associations and dissentin# ci)il society in
#eneral e, on the mornin# after the parliamentary elections and when the #o)ernment
has won handsomely, as it will if the darlin# of Colomos cosmopolitan ci)il society,
1anil (ickremesin#he, is the opponent and alternati)e+
"he only way to sa)e ci)il society from ein# #round under y the state
security apparatus which will put in place an undeclared 6state of sie#e as the
international inquiry #athers momentum, is if the parliamentary alance chan#es at
the election! ' new ratio in parliament and a new #o)ernin# coalition can appoint a
deputy minister of defense who will e responsile to the le#islature! In any case, the
le#islatures control of the purse.strin#s can hamstrin# the authoritarian apparatuses!
' new alance in parliament is howe)er, contin#ent upon a stron# showin# at the
presidential race! If the oppositions showin# is weak, the presidents )ictory y a lar#e
mar#in will ha)e a domino effect on the election to the le#islature!
Chronic counterproducti)e irrationality is not the preser)e of the states security
mana#ers! Surely there is a clear lo#ical contradiction etween the interests=includin#
the e*istential interests of sur)i)al=of dissentin# ci)il society and its socio.political or
politico.ideolo#ical preference for the <$0s e*istin# leadership which cannot slou#h
off the opprorium of un.patriotism and>or come within li#ht years of the audio.)isual
ad)anta#e, pulic communication talents and social semiotic skills of 0resident
1a,apaksa+