No imported model will fit SL – Anti-apartheid activist Dr. I. Jenkins
Friday, April 10, 2015
Ivor H. Jenkins of Pretoria, South Africa, received a honorary doctorate from North Park University, Chicago, USA for his years of anti-apartheid activism.
Since the end of the apartheid era — for his efforts in justice, reconciliation and democracy-building within and far beyond the borders of South Africa, and he has been involved in reconciliation and peace building initiative for Sri Lanka for almost eight years.
During apartheid years, Dr. Jenkins was deemed an enemy by the regime in power. He was harassed and threatened by government forces and 13 shots were fired into Jenkins' home in Pretoria under official orders. Through the nation's Truth and Reconciliation Commission (TRC), Jenkins participated in reconciliation with the attackers on his home; in due course he accompanied them to safety out of the country as part of the witness protection programme.
He speaks to Ceylon Today exclusively:
Following are excerpts of the interview:
You have been playing an active role in South African politics using political facilitation skills to assist conflict management, governance, systems transformation, etc., and has been studying and involved with Sri Lanka for more than a decade. What is your assessment of Sri Lanka's 30-year war and eradication of terrorism in 2009
A: Countries at war and in conflict, be it South Africa, Ireland, Burundi, Colombia or Myanmar , get opportunities or moments during these wars, struggles or conflicts to 'stop for a moment and fix their problem'. In our view, Sri Lanka is right now at such a moment and has such a golden opportunity to 'think clear and sober' and grab with both hands this 'possibility of finding a peaceful political solution' for your beloved country. If not grabbed now – it might take another 40 years before the next 'moment of soberness' comes around.
South Africa's moment for peace came when 10 apartheid leaders at the time were removed by a stroke and that opened doors to create new opportunities for peace. Sri Lanka's opportunity might be now, after ending a 30-year struggle and a brutal war, followed by a democratic intervention of citizens on 8 January 2015.
Wars end in destruction and Sri Lanka is now struggling to reconcile and has taken efforts to initiate a peace building process. How different is Sri Lanka's position compared to other conflicts around the world that you have seen
A: The one significant difference Sri Lanka currently has with those countries still at war, or starting to enter transitional moments, is that there seems to be a maturity that has developed, since the war, amongst your leadership in terms of the realization that a political settlement and solution is within your grasp and that the 'Tamil ethnic question' can indeed be resolved through talks and negotiations to everyone's satisfaction. The key question is how to ensure that trust continues to be built between all the political negotiators, as well as between the citizens of the different communities until such time an agreement is signed and accepted by all.
You have played a critical role in guiding transitional societies towards peace such as the DRC, Sri Lanka, Bolivia, Palestine, Nigeria, the Basque country and Zimbabwe. When did you start work on Sri Lanka and what was the outcome of your participation all these years
A: South Africa's involvement in the Sri Lankan peace process dates back to the early 2000s. As then and still today we are quite firm in our stance that we are doing two things only in terms of our role in your country, namely sharing the South African peace making story, with the view that there might be lessons of things we have done right and wrong, that can be useful in the process of finding a political solution in Sri Lanka. Secondly, we see ourselves as supporters and advisers to your process. We continue to make the point that it is for Sri Lankans themselves to find home grown solutions and to ensure their process is all inclusive and not an externally imported model forced on them. That kind of a solution has never and will never last.
Although you have been involved with Sri Lanka, why couldn't Sri Lanka see a political solution but had to witness a bloody war where the credibility of the efforts has been questioned
A: President Mandela in his wisdom said something along these lines that people can fight, and fight and kill and destroy to try and reach a political objective, but at the end of the day, at the end of the fight, the killing and the destruction, they have to come and sit at the table and talk to each other. This we have seen over 40 years in Sri Lanka – we are saying that it is time to sit at the table now and find a lasting solution.
What is your assessment of the previous government in Sri Lanka – the UPFA? Did they really push hard to work on a reconciliation process and peace building efforts after eradicating terrorism
A: Governments have to realize and so did the UPFA Government at the time that after the war–You cannot set the agenda for negotiation all by yourself; determine the solution and outcome of talks all by yourself; decide who sits on the other side of the negotiation table, all by yourself; be an equal negotiator and the facilitator of the talks (referee and player), all by yourself.
Usually governments realize these important rules of engagement too late – and so did the UPFA.
A similar, but a more suitable home-grown model of South Africa's Truth and Reconciliation Commission has been suggested for Sri Lanka throughout the talks between the two countries in the past. And your organization, the In Transformation Initiative (ITI) of South Africa has been involved for some time. Can you elaborate ITI's role in this process
A: As indicated earlier – South Africa is very clear that the TRC model created and implemented in our country is not a one model fits all. We are clear that this model will not suit Sri Lanka since your context is dramatically different and so too is international law, 20 years later, within which context Sri Lanka has to create a reconciliation model. But we do share our TRC model with you, because there are values in it that we think are universal and will be of guidance and example for you, while yours are under construction.
Who are the funders and paymasters of your organization, how is Switzerland assisting you
A: ITI's sole objective is to share the SA peace making process to countries across the world that are entering transitional or currently are within transitional moments. We therefore receive funds from a wide range of international aid agencies that believe in this goal and who believe that peace-brokering and peace-making is an honourable task.
Arguably, it's a complicated peace initiative having the UN Human Rights Council and the US pushing for a credible internationally accepted domestic probe and to bring the criminals to book whereas for SA it is forgiveness. So what specific experience can South Africa share
A: Our advice to the leaders in Sri Lanka is that in their efforts of building national unity and reconciliation, they should ensure that the end product will promote Truth, Justice, Reparation and the Guarantee of Non-recurrence.
Government of Sri Lanka, the Government of Switzerland and the ITI had held a meeting with a group of political, civil society, academic, diaspora and other international stakeholders including an observer from the Government of Australia in Singapore a few days ago towards promoting reconciliation and strengthening of democracy in Sri Lanka. Can you tell us who they were
A: You have indicated the diaspora list hereunder. The political formations present were members from the UNP, SLFP, TNA, SLMC and four academics and a few Civil Society leaders.
We hear that the Global Tamil Forum (GTF), Canadian Tamil Congress (CTC), Australian Tamil Congress (ATC), Norwegian Council of Eelam Tamil (NCET), Swedish Tamil Forum (STF), Malaysian Tamils and the US Tamil Political Action Council (USTPAC) were there too at the meeting. What were their main concerns and what role will they play in the future
A: The meeting in Singapore consisted mostly of current Sri Lankan politicians (in total a small group of less than 20) who wanted to, amongst numerous other agenda points (and a lesser one for that matter), craft out a process of future engagement with the broad international Tamil diaspora groups. The next step of the process is not in our hands but in the hands of the Sri Lankans, and we will be led by them. The June elections seem to be the watershed moment about what the most effective next step will be.
The ITI is run by four prominent figures involved in the transition from SA apartheid, including the then National Party Government's chief negotiator, Roelf Meyer, ANC figures, Mohammed Bhabha and Ebrahim Ebrahim and you. At the end, the success of reconciliation depends on what
A: Our messages to all those at the Singapore event, and to all other Sri Lankans we engage in within Sri Lanka and across the globe continue to be one that promotes ownership of the process by Sri Lankans, inclusivity of all key political stakeholders in any process and trust building, pleading with leaders to embark on confidence building actions through symbolic steps towards peace, so that the citizens of Sri Lanka can see a sincere commitment of these leaders to find a lasting solution for your country.
How will you work in the backdrop where South Africa's involvement in Sri Lanka's ethnic conflict was criticized by Sinhala political parties like the JHU which said that the Tamil struggle should not be equated to that of apartheid and the Tamil Diaspora is tarnishing the image of the country with baseless allegations
A: There should be no effort made to try and equate the Tamil struggle to that of the Black African struggle for freedom in SA. The Tamil struggle stands on its own and own arguments and it does not need that qualification.
We are urging both the JHU as well as the Tamil diaspora to come to the table and talk. Both are important players in securing a peaceful solution for Sri Lanka. Let me once more quote from our peace process in SA: 'An inclusive process provides a better platform for stability, acceptance of the new political order and loyalty to the nation. Even a small minority, standing outside the political framework can seriously destabilize and disrupt a constitutional state'.
US Assistant Secretary of State, Bureau of Democracy, Human Rights and Labour, Tom Malinowski who visited Sri Lanka last week told the media the US is keen on learning the SA initiative and is willing to provide support in the form of forensic investigation, helping with exhumation of graves, it can take the form of technical assistance to prosecute overall bodies and that is again up to Sri Lankans to determine how to go forward to bring a closure and justice. So, will such technical assistance needed in the SA initiative
A: This particular technical assistance referred to is a request that Sri Lanka, or the UN will/might ask South Africa to assist with based on the fact that SA has built up significant expertise on this area of work – because of the huge amount of disappearances of SA activists during our struggle for freedom.
Ceylon Today