The role of the media in building unity and amity among the people was brought into focus by President Mahinda Rajapaksa at the first meeting he had with the Private and State Media Heads earlier this week.
In a free and frank exchange of views with his guests from the Media at Temple Trees, the President explained that the challenge faced by him in the New Year was that of development, and went on to emphasize the importance of the media carrying out its duty to help build amity and unity among all sections of the people, and to move away from the fostering of ethnic and racial hatred.Sustainable peace
The President's appeal to the media to play its role in the building of a sustainable peace in the country came in the context of the many charges being made in the media, both local and foreign, that the Government was not doing enough to meet the needs of the Tamil people of the North. He was also responding to questions raised about reports of a rise in crime in Jaffna and whether this was due to poor management by the Government. President Mahinda Rajapaksa held discussions with Heads and Editors of the Private and State Media at Temple Trees on Thursday. Picture by Sudath Silva |
There were some important home truths about the situation that prevails in Sri Lanka that the President placed before his guests from the media.
The most important was that the emergence of crime and related situations was not strange to a society emerging from a prolonged conflict that affected the entire nation, and particularly the people of the North.
Major issues
Although not dismissing the issue lightly, the President was quick to point out that serious crime was reported from other parts of the country too, of which he gave sufficient examples, so that the situation in Jaffna was not unique or special.However, he did point out that in the absence of deeper issues, as the widespread violence that prevailed earlier, and the once pressing issue of re-settlement and reconstruction, there was a tendency for issues such as crime to be brought into sharper focus. He pointed out that in all post-conflict societies there was a tendency to turbulence, until events settled down.
One major difference in Sri Lanka, compared to other countries and regions that had emerged from armed conflict was the resolution of major issues such as the resettlement of IDPs and provision of livelihood facilities to the displaced and conflict affected people.
This had been done with considerable success and at a much faster rate than in several other areas that faced such issues, particularly in the Balkans, after the break up of Yugoslavia, and the conflict that saw the emergence of Bosnia and Croatia.
While underlining the fact that more than 5,000 of hardcore LTTE cadres who had surrendered had been resettled after nearly six months of rehabilitation, and more would soon be similarly resettled, he did raise the possibility of their being forces that would try to get such persons back into the trend of former thinking, for political purposes that were more in keeping with the expectations of the defeated separatists.
National unity
The President did recall how it took three years for those who had been arrested or surrendered in the first JVP insurrection of 1971 to be rehabilitated, and that in the second JVP rising of 1989, there had been no rehabilitation at all, and the only solution found was that of the 'tyre-pyre'. He admitted the difficulties in those who had been brainwashed or otherwise accepted the separatist and terrorist ideology of the LTTE to readily give up such thinking and be a part of peaceful society, but the effort was necessary to bring them back to society. Similarly, it had to be admitted that there were forces that would want to draw them back to the old habits and thinking, which had to be overcome through the process of reconciliation and restorative justice, for which development was very important.In this context President Rajapaksa was emphatic that whatever the strategies that may be used, having defeated the separatist expectations of Prabhakaran and the LTTE, he was not ready to give in to the same demands from whatever source it came again.
The President had a special appeal to the Tamil language media to move away from policies of racial hatred and consider the duty they had to perform in the tasks of national unity and development through unity and communal amity.
GSP plus concessions
He called on them not to sow hatred among the Tamil people, with a reminder that the tragedy of 30 years was long enough, and also posed the timely question: "Where would continued hatred lead us to?" Another matter of concern that the President placed before his guests from the media were the attempts made by some sections, both here and abroad to portray Sri Lanka as a failed State.He said the reportage of events in some sections of the media, particularly the electronic media, was aimed at encouraging countries of the West to consider punitive action against Sri Lanka and its people.
While supportive of the freedom of the media and its rights to criticize the government and leaders, the President was of the view that the narrow agenda of such groups should not be used against the people of the country, who are in fact the victims of moves such as those that sought to deprive the country of GSP plus concessions and the continued moves to impose various hardships on the country.
He stated that some of the countries that were taking a 'holier than thou' attitude towards Sri Lanka, were those where major acts of violence against minorities, politicians, judges and social leaders were very much in focus today and where armed attacks on schools killing children and teachers had become almost commonplace.
President Rajapaksa concluded his meeting with a clear plea to the media to perform its duty by the people by doing all within its considerable power to build amity and eschew hatred.
Courtesy - Daily News
