WE WILL SET UP OUR OWN DOMESTIC

MECHANISM - FOREIGN AFFAIRS

MINISTER, MANGALA SAMARAWEERA

by Manjula Fernando-2 April,

2017
Rejecting allegations that the government is dancing to the tune
of pro-LTTE diaspora in Geneva and making blueprints to drag the
countrys war heroes before a hybrid court, Foreign Affairs
Minister, Mangala Samaraweera says, on the contrary, their
expectation is to put the country in order so that the domestic call
for a hybrid court which led to the UN High Commissioners
recommendation, could be put to rest within the course of the
next two years.
Minister Samaraweera was exclusively interviewed by the Sunday
Observer upon his return from two important visits, to Geneva
and Russia.
The excerpts of the full interview:
Q. Do you believe the Government can fulfil the main pledges
made at UNHRC within the extended two year period?
A. These are not pledges made to the UNHRC. They are pledges
made to the people of the country at the last presidential election.
Item No.93 of the 100 day program clearly states, we will not
agree to an international inquiry but in order to look into various
allegations, including war crimes, we would set up our own
domestic mechanism. That was our pledge to the people.
It is with that intention that I went to Geneva, just one month
after the election of President Maithripala Sirisena in January
2015. I requested them to stop the international inquiry which
they had already begun with the blessings of the member states.
The Joint Opposition and the Mahinda Rajapaksa clique
conveniently forget to mention that. It was passed
overwhelmingly by the member states, in Geneva. They were
going to look into the allegations with or without the cooperation
of the government.
Thanks to the election victory and the newly earned trust we
managed to alter that course and come up with our own road
map for reconciliation and transitional justice.
It was a four tier road map. The first year talks about the truth
seeking mechanism, then, the accountability mechanism, the
reparation mechanism and mechanisms to ensure non-
recurrence.
Both, the US and the UK and other countries decided to co-
sponsor our road map, in 2015. That in itself is a huge victory for
Sri Lanka.
In keeping with this we have set up the Office of Missing persons
(OMP). There was absolute pandemonium created in Parliament
when the Bill was taken up, by this small group of unruly and
racist thugs, as I would call them. But, despite that we passed it.
During that commotion we were not able to include one of the
amendments presented by the JVP on funding aspects. It has now
been approved by the Cabinet and we hope to present that
amendment in Parliament soon.
Already, Rs. 1.3 billion has been allocated from the last budget to
operationalize the OMP. We will work out the modalities of the
truth seeking mechanism and the reparations unit in the next few
months and also the mechanisms for non-recurrence, for a wider
reconciliation.
Even though we need time, we are very much on track. We call
our reconciliation road map, Festina Lente, it means, Making
haste slowly in Latin, because this is a problem that had been
there for decades and one cannot expect the issues to be
resolved overnight.
Q.What will be the immediate priority of the Government within
the next two years, with regard to implementing the resolution?
A. It is important the OMP is given life to look into the cases of
missing persons, it can investigate into persons who went missing
during the JVP insurrection as well.
We must also remember the OMP does not have any powers to
prosecute. It will simply be an office to look into complaints of
missing persons and decide if they are really missing, dead,
travelled overseas or just living out of sight. This needs to be
done for the sake of the mothers and wives who are still waiting
for their loved ones to return.
In the 1980s both, Mahinda Rajapaksa and I were fighting for the
same cause as co-convenors of the Mothers Front, Sri Lanka. I
cant understand why he is against the same cause now.
The next stage is the truth seeking mechanism. We have still not
worked out the final contours of this mechanism, but certain
committees are working on it. We have a steering committee
headed by Prof. Savithri Gunasekera looking at various
possibilities of setting it up. We are also sharing experiences with
countries like South Africa, which has vast experience in this area.
But, our mechanism will not be an exact replica of the Truth
Commission in South Africa. We want it to be uniquely Sri Lankan.
Q.What progress have you made in this area ?
A.As I said, the steering committee is working on it. In the next
few months we would be able to finalize the actual architecture of
this mechanism.
Q. There is an allegation that the Foreign Ministry is taking the
public for a ride, in regard to the UNHRC resolution. Your
comments ?
A: Those who are making these allegations are the ones trying to
take the public for a ride. We have now proven that not only by
words but by deed we have managed to save Sri Lanka from a
huge catastrophe.
Had the earlier resolution been passed during the previous
regime, probably, it would have been followed by economic
sanctions against Sri Lanka by individual countries. By now there
would have been travel bans imposed against some of the leaders
of the previous government. If so, the former President would not
have been able to gallivant around the world in this manner. In
the last two years, I helped him with the visas to all the
destinations he had been travelling to - Japan, Italy, China, etc.
Q. Do you see it as a mistake by the Government to give him the
freedom that he currently enjoys?
A. I dont think so. We are not here to persecute people, we have
not started a political witch hunt against persons, but on the other
hand, we will allow the law of the land to take its course. Anyone
who has done wrong and stolen national assets, stashed away
money in foreign countries will be dealt with according to the rule
of law. Until such time, as a Member of Parliament, he has certain
privileges.
But, I remember, when he was the sitting President, he made the
life of his predecessor, Chandrika Kumaratunga very difficult.
Once he stopped our mission in Britain from picking her up at the
airport and dropping her at her daughters house. She was asked
to pay for the taxi ride. If they have done any wrong, nothing in
the world will save them from the law taking its due course. But,
we are not a Government which persecutes people for their
political beliefs.
Q.Many people suspect that a two year extension was sought to
accommodate foreign judges, by amending the Constitution. How
true is this argument?
A.What is this obsession about foreign judges? First of all, we
must understand why the call for foreign judges came. It came
from sections of our own citizens.
Because, during the last ten years, the Judiciary virtually became
servile to the whims and fancies of the Executive.
We saw how a Chief Justice was unceremoniously thrown out after
a midnight sitting of Parliament and one of their obedient
servants offered to succeed her. As a result, a call for a credible
international probe was given birth.
During the past 18 months, we have begun the process to restore
a credible independent judiciary. The call for foreign judges
implies that we have to come up with a credible independent
mechanism that can win the trust of all stakeholders. I believe we
can do so.
The High Commissioner, during a press conference in Colombo
last year said, this is the best possible action, but he said these
are recommendations, and the final decision of doing it or not,
rests with the government of Sri Lanka. However, the final
decision must consider the views of the minorities, if it is to
succeed.
Q.Sri Lanka has co-sponsored the resolution, how can we
implement only the chosen recommendations?
A. Id rather you say, the world has co-sponsored our resolution.
The earlier resolution was forced on the Mahinda Rajapaksa
government since they refused to cooperate.
In many other transitional justice mechanisms the courts were
appointed by the UN Secretary General, but here, this whole
process is in our hands. It is only fair for them to make requests
on areas they think that we are weak.
However, for this process to succeed a final solution must be
evolved through the engagement of all stakeholders. That
includes the moderate Tamil voice, even within the TNA. We must
remember that it was the moderate Tamils, Muslims and
Sinhalese who elected the Government. We dont want to see yet
another generation being pushed into the hands of extremists.
Q.Are you being driven by an expectation that there will be a call
within the community for a domestic mechanism ?
A.We have another two years. We are not going to touch the
judicial mechanism straightaway. The constitutional process is
equally important.
The devolution proposals are important. They must be given
priority this year. If our truth seeking mechanism and Missing
Persons office gain confidence of all concerned, the demand by
the people, for such a judicial mechanism may also drift away.
Q. Dont you think that the government failed to exploit the
opportunity that resulted due to the change of US political
administration?
A.This is again a lame, nave and ignorant argument put forward
by the so called pundits of the Joint Opposition.
They think, with President Donald Trump they could get away with
anything.
But, in countries like the US, despite changes of government, their
basic commitment to certain values continue.
That is one of the reasons why President Trump and the White
House dispatched a special person to meet me in Geneva, Ted
Buk.
He assured that the US will continue to support and assist Sri
Lanka and that our request for a two year extension will be
agreed to.
If they think things have changed, why did the US invite Sandhya
Ekneligida to Washington DC and bestow this years woman of
courage award on her ? The atrocities committed by the previous
government were highlighted at this event.
Q. There is also a very serious allegation that the government is
dancing to the tune of the pro-LTTE Tamil diaspora ?
A. Actually, it is the opposite. The pro-LTTE diaspora is very much
against this government. When I went to Geneva this March, one
of the members of the extreme group TETG was shouting slogans.
It is simply evident that the extremist Tamil diaspora are working
with the Sinhala extremist elements.
When Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe was in Australia, there
were two protests on either side of the road, Tamil diaspora on
one side and Sinhala extremists on the other, putting on a big
drama. We are targeted by the Sinhala extremist websites,
because we have won the trust and confidence of people like,
Father Emmanuel.
He has openly said, they are willing to work hand in hand for the
betterment of the country.
This is a huge step forward. One of the main recommendations of
the Lessons Learnt and Reconciliation Commission (LLRC) is to try
and win over the diaspora.
We have done so. We can forget about the extremists and choose
to walk with the moderates.
Q. Is asking for more time from Geneva a political stunt by the
Government in the hope that the heat would fizzle out by then
and the call for war crimes probes will be forgotten?
A. As I said before, we are not playing to the gallery. We have our
own transitional justice road map. We want to fulfil our
commitments to the people.
Only by winning the trust and confidence of the Tamil people,
especially, in the North and East, can we ensure that the
tragedies that may have happened in the past will never happen
again.
Q.You said, a referendum to test the will of the people on the new
Constitution is a risk ?
A. I said it is a risk worth taking. It was our fundamental promise
to the people that we will present the third Republican
Constitution for Sri Lanka introducing further democratic changes,
such as, abolishing of the Executive Presidency. I think we owe it
to the people of Sri Lanka.
President Sirisena will be the only person who has the courage to
do that. Within the first 100 days he took action to dilute the
dictatorial executive powers of his office. People must believe that
he is turning out to be a Nelson Mandela figure.
Of course, many people are fearful about referendums, especially,
after Brexit. There is a risk attached to it. I am confident, if we
have a good campaign, if we go to the people and explain the
benefits of a new Constitution, we can win them over. I am 100
per cent sure it is a winnable risk and that will most probably
mobilize the Rainbow Coalition which brought us into power in
2015.
Q. Could the Constitution making process be the governments
ultimate test that might even cause its downfall?
A. No, I dont think so. Not at all. In fact, it will strengthen our
Government. The country needs a new Constitution, a new
direction and a new vision.
Pix by Rukmal Gamage

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