Sri Lanka: Five things that upset Sinhalese

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 03 COLOMBO 000101

SIPDIS

DEPARTMENT FOR SA, SA/INS; NSC FOR E. MILLARD

E.O. 12958: DECL: 01/17/13
TAGS: PGOV PTER SOCI CE NO LTTE
SUBJECT: Sri Lanka: Five things that upset Sinhalese
extremists

Refs: Colombo 90, and previous

(U) Classified by Lewis Amselem, Deputy Chief of
Mission. Reasons 1.5 (b,d).

SUMMARY
=======

1. (C) Always a lively crowd, Sri Lanka's Sinhalese
extremists have been raising a ruckus over five issues
of late. They have demanded, for example, that (#1) the
Norwegian Ambassador be expelled from the country, and
complained about (#2) a pro-Tamil movie that opened in
Europe recently and (#3) a BBC poll that gave pride of
place to a Tamil nationalist song. Constructing
strawmen, they are also demanding that no effort be made
to change (#4) the flag or (#5) the national anthem as
part of the peace process. Although their anti-peace
process tirades have generated little impact thus far,
the extremists' use of these five issues highlights how
they continue to nibble away at the margins of the body
politic. END SUMMARY.

===================================
Issue #1: The Norwegian Ambassador
===================================


2. (SBU) In addition to their usual anti-peace process
tirades, Sri Lanka's Sinhalese extremists have been
raising a ruckus lately on five peace-related issues.
(Note: FYI. About 75 percent of Sri Lankans belong to
the Sinhalese ethnic group, which is mostly Buddhist.
Sinhalese extremist groups maintain the support of
somewhere over 10 percent of the total body politic.)
One of the issues that has them up in arms is Norwegian
Ambassador Jon Westborg, who they want kicked out of the
country. They charge that Westborg illegally allowed
the Norwegian Embassy to import radio equipment for the
Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) in a diplomatic
consignment. (Note: In fact, the Norwegian Embassy did
this only at the specific request of the government's
Peace Secretariat. This issue has prompted a recent
exchange of letters among the GSL, President
Kumaratunga, and the GoN -- see Reftels. End Note.)


3. (C) Upping the pressure in a January 13 press
statement, the Janantha Vimukthi Peramuna (JVP) party
demanded that Westborg leave the country immediately.
If this did not happen, it threatened to launch an
"agitation" campaign against him. Commenting on the
situation, Taranjit Sandhu, polchief at the Indian High
Commission, told us that this was quite a "threat"
against Westborg, given the JVP's proven ability to
raise a crowd. (Note: The radical JVP, the country's
largest Sinhalese extremist party, has thousands of
disciplined cadre, including many from its lively labor
union wing.) More generally, Sandhu thought that the
JVP's anti-Westborg invective was an attempt to ramp up
its long-standing campaign to undermine the Norwegian
government peace facilitation effort, which the JVP (and
other Sinhalese extremists) consider pro-LTTE.

=======================================
#2 & #3: Anger over a Movie and a Song
=======================================


4. (SBU) Another issue that has the extremists spun up
involves a movie called "In the Name of the Buddha,"
which apparently opened in Oslo recently and is now
showing in the UK. (Note: The movie was reportedly
filmed mostly in the UK by Sri Lankan Tamils.) From
what Mission understands (we have not seen it),the
movie takes a pro-Tamil slant on the Sri Lankan
conflict, accusing the GSL's security forces of
committing widespread human rights abuses. In a
decidedly heavy-handed and inflammatory linkage, the
figure of the Buddha is reportedly super-imposed on a
Tamil cemetery at one point in the movie.


5. (SBU) The showing of the movie in the UK has
garnered widespread negative publicity in Sri Lanka. In
particular, it has enraged the JVP and the Sihala
Urumaya (SU),another extremist political party. Both
parties have publicly demanded that the GSL work to
ensure that the movie is no longer shown. In reaction
to the JVP and SU protests, as well as those of some
Buddhist groups which call the movie "blasphemous," Sri
Lankan High Commissioner in London Faiz Mustapha has
complained to the British Foreign Office and other HMG
ministries. This effort has been to no avail inasmuch
as the movie is apparently still being shown.


6. (SBU) Extremists are also angered over the results
of a recent poll on a BBC website. The poll, which
asked people to register their favorite songs of all
time, listed the Tamil-language song "Poovum Nadakkuthu,
Pinchum Nadakkuthu" at the number five slot. A rough
translation of the (rather prosaic) title is "Even the
children are displaced, the children are not spared."
The song is strongly pro-Tamil and anti-GSL, and recites
an account of Tamils being displaced due to an attack by
the Sri Lankan military. Similar to the uproar against
"In the Name of the Buddha," the song has served to stir
up Sinhalese extremists, who have demanded that the song
be taken off the BBC website. According to press
accounts, Mustapha was reportedly ordered by the Foreign
Minister to study the text of the song as the first step
before the possible launching of an official protest by
the GSL against it. In response to the attention, the
BBC has stated that the poll was open to the public on
its website and it just published the results. (Note:
The "top ten" list was extremely eclectic: the number
one song is called "A Nation Once Again" by the Wolfe
Tones and the number eight song is "Believe" by Cher.)

==========================================
#4 & #5: The Flag and the National Anthem
==========================================


7. (SBU) The JVP and SU have also criticized the
government heatedly for allegedly trying to change the
flag and national anthem. Both parties accuse the GSL
of maintaining a "secret plan" to adjust the flag and
the anthem so that they represent a more cosmopolitan
nation and not primarily a Sinhalese Buddhist one.
(Note: The Sri Lankan flag is dominated by a lion,
which is a symbol of Sinhalese Buddhists. The national
anthem is also rich in Sinhalese Buddhist associations.)
In a letter to the Minister of Cultural Affairs, the SU
also accused the GSL of trying to re-do the anthem to
"suit the so-called proposed federal state." (Note: In
the ongoing GSL-LTTE peace talks, both sides are
discussing transforming the constitution and making it
federalist in structure, as opposed to unitary.)


8. (C) In a recent conversation about the JVP and SU
complaints, Kethesh Loganathan of the Center for Policy
Alternatives, a well-known local NGO, told us that both
parties were creating strawmen. He noted that there had
been some discussion "over drinks" in academic circles
of these issues, including whether the country's name,
"Sri Lanka" (a name rich in Sinhalese associations),
should be changed back to the more neutral "Ceylon."
Nonetheless, there was no "secret plan" by the
government to change the flag and anthem, and he doubted
that there was any intention to do so.

=======
COMMENT
=======


9. (C) Tirades by Sinhalese extremists against the
peace process seem to have generated little support for
their cause, thus far. The extremists' use of the five
issues reviewed above, however, highlights how they
continue to nibble away at the margins of the body
politic. It is unclear whether their constant attacks
and forays into cultural nationalism are having an
effect at the village level in the Sinhalese hinterland
in the south. If they are, it is possible that the
extremists could be putting themselves in position to
make political gains if the peace process hits a
stumbling block. At this point, however, with the
process still buoyed by widespread public support, the
JVP and SU remain decidedly on the outside looking in
despite their best efforts. END COMMENT.


10. (U) Minimize considered.

WILLS