The Pirabhakaran Phenomenon Part 11 http://www.sangam.org/PIRABAKARAN/Part11.

htm

The Pirabhakaran Phenomenon

Part 11

Sachi Sri Kantha

[17 August 2001]

1987 - Paradigm Shift in Eelam

One reason why I took some effort to differentiate the muddling
terminology of civil unrest, civil strife and civil war (see, Pirabhakaran
Phenomenon - part 10) is to debunk the logic of some Rip Van
Winkles among the non-Tamils, who still live in fool’s paradise by
not coming to terms with Pirabhakaran’s elevation as a civil war
leader. A typical example is a polemic piece authored by a regular
contributor to Colombo’s partisan press, who uses the pseudonym
‘Leo Panthera’. Under the title, ‘The logico-semantics of Waging
War’, this polemicist had expressed the following argument on
Pirabhakaran. I quote a portion:

“Are we faced with a war, a rebellion or the machinations of a

criminal outfit? Believe it or not there is no consensus on this
foundational issue that must surely determine the parameters of
the counterforce that we employ to quell the disturbance.
By common agreement a ‘war’ is the unhappy result of a
conflict between states that has escalated to such levels that
resolution is possible only through the use of arms. Is the
‘Eelam War’ of this nature? One would think not - but we have
clarion calls from the so-called ‘International Community’
beseeching the ‘two sides’ to come to an amicable agreement.
Here the unspoken assumption is that ‘Eelam State’ exists de
facto or is ‘aborning’ if a poetical expression is allowed.
Indeed, the state-controlled press carried recently a lengthy
statement from the Media Minister (a Cabinet-rank official)
begging ‘the two sides’ to forget the past and make it post-haste
to the negotiating table.
If this is the official position it makes a paradigm shift with
regard to which the public must be appraised and educated - not
slipped in surreptitiously. If that which menaces the state is a
rebellion, foreigners must be asked to keep off. If any kind of
war is contemplated, it must be against those alien powers that

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are aiding and abetting the insurgents. Finally, if Prabhakaran

and his gang are criminals - their unparalleled record of brutality
and terrorism vouches for this - the culprits should be caught,
put on public trial and hanged rather than being humbly invited
to the negotiating table...” [Island, Colombo, June 29, 2001]

This laughable proposition can only appear in Colombo press. This

Pirabhakaran-hater, it appears, has yet to wake up from Rip Van
Winklian somnolence during which 15 years have passed by, proving
that he (or she?) feints ignorance to the international coverage of
events in Sri Lanka, which I have cited in the part 10 of this series. It
is a pity, that this polemicist has yet to glance even what the Sri
Lankan army has presented as history in it’s website, launched on
January 1, 2001. The paradigm shift, which Leo Panthera writes
about, had occurred in 1987. According to the Sri Lankan army’s
history, Eelam War-I had begun actively in 1987. I quote:

“During the past fourteen years, there were many operations

conducted against the LTTE. ‘Operation Liberation’
was conducted to wrest control of the Vadamarachchi area in
the Jaffna peninsula, and was aimed at forcing the LTTE to enter
negotiations...”

In these two sentences, the Sri Lankan army has acknowledged that
its opponent in war was LTTE, and not any other Tamil militant
factions. It also states that, it conducted many major operations
during the past fourteen years (and counting!) and the aim was ‘at
forcing the LTTE to enter negotiations’. By extension, LTTE’s leader
Pirabhakaran has remained the civil war leader of Eelam Tamils for
the past 15 years. The likes of Leo Panthera pollute the partisan press
in Sri Lanka and India, and until they clear their muddled thoughts,
Pirabhakaran-bashing will continue for sure. Eelam Tamils should
comprehend why this happen, and I provide an explanation.

Grief Stages of the Sri Lankan State

In 1969, Zurich-born American medical doctor Elisabeth
Kubler-Ross (born 1926) published a trend-setting book, On Death
and Dying. In this book, she presented her novel idea of five stages of
grief, which occurs in patients who await the death. I was introduced
to the thoughts of Kubler-Ross, when I took a summer course on
‘Death Education’ in 1983 at the University of Illinois. I was taught
by Prof. Barbara Sirvis that the five stages of grief, formulated by
Kubler-Ross are:

Stage 1: Denial - the patient denies the forthcoming loss of life, and

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react by withdrawing from routine and social contacts.

Stage 2: Anger - the grieving patient becomes furious at the person

who inflicted the hurt (for instance, who transmitted the disease) or at
care-givers (doctors misdiagnosed the malady).

Stage 3: Bargaining - the patient then makes bargain with the God,
pleading like ‘If I repent for the sins, will you allow me to live a little
longer?’.

Stage 4: Depression - During this stage, the patient gives up hope of

survival, though undercurrents of anger and sadness still persist.

Stage 5: Acceptance - The final stage of grief, during which anger and
sadness prevailing in stage 4 tapers off, and the patient learns to
accept the impending reality of death.

To remember these five stages, I ‘acronymized’ them as DABDA

stages of grief: denial, anger, bargaining, depression and acceptance.
Later it dawned on me, that not only people but even nations or
states can die, for which history provide many examples. When
states are in such a moribund condition, the citizens of such states
also pass through Kubler-Ross formulation of five stages of grief. The
current Sri Lankan state is a good example.

Repetitive outbursts on Pirabhakaran by the Sinhalese in the

parliament, multi-media and Internet can be understood, if we tag the
five DABDA grief stages to the impending death of the Sri Lankan
state. Some polemicists like Leo Panthera (quoted above) are in the
first stage of grief - Denial. These folks can be labeled as Rip Van
Winklians of Lanka. Many of the Buddhist clergy and media
scribes in Sri Lanka are in the second stage of grief - Anger. They
identify Pirabhakaran as the one who has caused the grief and vent
their anger on him. Quite a number of Sinhalese politicians
(belonging to SLFP and UNP) are in the third stage of grief -
Bargaining. For the past 15 years, Jayewardene, Premadasa and
Chandrika Kumaratunga have been making use of ruses to bargain for
power, with Pirabhakaran. In my view, Sri Lankan military personnel
fall into two stages. Politicians (the big-wigs) among the military are
in the ‘Bargaining’ stage of grief. The foot soldiers (and their families)
who face the brunt of LTTE’s power are in the fourth stage of grief -
Depression. From what appears in the partisan press in Colombo, a
notable percent of non-affluent Sinhalese public also have reached
the Depression stage. See an example illustrated below. As of
mid-2001, only a minority among the Sinhalese have reached the
final stage of grief - Acceptance of impending death of Sri Lankan

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state.

Some recent examples of Depression (as revealed in

Colombo Press)
It is a good exercise for anyone, who come across any commentary or
criticism on the current plight of Sri Lankan state, to comprehend the
mood of the writer by classifying the commentary’s tone, according to
the five stages of grief, formulated by Kubler-Ross. Three examples
are given below.

An opinion-piece, which appeared in the Island (Colombo) of August

9, 2001, aptly authored by a “Depressed Citizen, Mt. Lavinia”,
illustrates my point. It commented on the recent Katunayake raid by
the LTTE’s commandos. Excerpts:

“It is reported that the Bandaranaike International Airport and

the adjoining Air Force Camp were guarded by more than 300
security personnel on that fateful day (24.7.2001) when our
aircraft received massive damage from only 20 LTTE cadres.
Instead of firing at the terrorists, some security men were
sleeping, some hid themselves, and others ran away to save their
lives, leaving the terrorists a safe passage to destroy everything at
sight...
The security staff, of course, had come back to lock the stable
door after the steed was stolen, and gain the commendation of
the president for restoring normalcy in double quick time! This
had been the ‘modus operandi’ of our security officers even
when the LTTE attacked, inter alia, the Central Bank, Oil
Tanks, Galadari Hotel, Harbour and Dalada Maligawa...
By the way, let not the Minister of Tourism waste the
hard-earned money of the tax payers in trying to promote more
hotels, and particularly in advertisements till the end of the
accursed Eelam war. However much we may advertise, the
foreigners are no fools to rush in where angels fear to tread, at
the risk of their life and limb....”

In contrast to the verbal gymnastics of ‘Leo Panthera’ (who is in the

Denial stage of grief), this ‘Depressed Citizen’ makes no bones about
the moribund state of Sri Lanka, by yearning for the ‘end of the
accursed Eelam war’. I provide another example of fush depression-
tinged writing from C.A.Chandraprema, a regular commentator to the
Island newspaper. Excerpts from his commentary entitled,
‘Katunayake debacle: Incredible power of total indifference’ are as
follows:

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“The LTTE has in the many years since 1983, grown as an

organization and they have carried out many spectacular attacks.
They have bombed to smithereens the one and only Central
Bank, they have bombed the one and only oil refinery. In their
attacks on military bases, the number of Sinhalese casualties are
at World War Two levels. Nowhere else in the world does one
find trained soldiers getting wiped out by their thousands in one
go in internal conflicts. The casualty rates in the Sri Lankan
army are enough to even frighten India....
The foreign media and the international community probably
thinks the Sri Lankan polity may now be literally tearing their
hair in anguish over the [Katunayake] Air Base attack. But those
living here will know that this is hardly the case. Of course if an
attack like this had taken place in the USA or the UK, the public
will be feeling humiliated and furious. To feel humiliated, one
has to have a sense of shame.
But the Sinhalese have no sense of shame. They lost it long ago.
The country’s main air base has been reduced to ashes but
nobody in the Air Force or the government has resigned, nobody
has been court martialled, nobody has been sacked without
pension, nobody has been demoted. After the Katunayake
debacle the President even thanked the armed services for their
efficiency. All that will happen is that the debris will be cleared
after the insurance companies have looked at the remains and
life will continue as usual. You see, the Sinhalese cannot afford
to have a sense of shame. If they had a sense of shame,
considering all the things that have happened over the past two
decades, they would all be dead of apoplexy by now!...”
[Island, Colombo, July 28, 2001]

Another regular analyst K.Godage wailed on the same day’s issue of

the Island newspaper that the LTTE attack on Katunayake was a
revenge attack. When one reads Godage’s analysis, one can see how
he describes his stage of depression, which was filled with
undercurrents of anger and sadness. Excerpts:

“Shock, deep sadness and insecurity pervades this country

today, for we have been badly let down once again. The
questions being asked are, ‘Who is responsible for our security?’
‘Is anybody accountable to anybody, leave alone us the people,
whom they are least concerned about?’ The words
‘responsibility’ and ‘accountability’ have lost their meaning in
this country...
‘Disgraceful, quite unbelievable, shocking, pathetic’ were some

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of the words that came to mind, when I first heard of the attack.
These thoughts were overtaken by anger and I am certain that
millions around this country felt the way as I did. In recent years
we have had six major attacks by the LTTE in the city. Does not
the sheer ineptitude of those responsible make you sick in the
guts? And we are said to be on some sort of war footing... Do
not those responsible feel ashamed of themselves? Is there no
self-respect left? I suppose SHAME is something unknown to
the authorities. The LTTE leaders may be considering us as a
pack of morons and imbeciles - and who can blame them? ....”

After providing his ‘two penny-worth’ of advice, such as upgrading of

Intelligence of the state’s security apparatus by enlisting ‘foreign
assistance’, to the authorities concerned, Godage concluded his
sermon to the ruling mandarins,

“If the country’s main international airport cannot be secured

from terrorist attack what more? Can any foreigner have any
confidence to even visit this country, leave alone invest. The
hotel cancellations are just coming in - and we can expect doom
and gloom in the months ahead. What a let down!”

I would add that Godage should focus more on upgrading the

‘intelligence’ of politicians who cling to the ropes of power in Sri
Lanka.

To be fair by K.Godage, he had included in his commentary, nine

specific massacres perpetrated by the Sri Lankan army on Tamils from
July 1983 to 1985, with a qualifying note that “The LTTE in their
charge against the armed forces of Sri Lanka [has] cited the following
instances of mass massacres. I cannot vouch for their authenticity of
some of the incidents cited but according to them the following
massacres occurred.”

Taken together, what one can gather from these depression-tinged

writings of Sinhalese public is that they circumstantially pay
compliments to Pirabhakaran’s strategic skills as a leader of an army.
But Eelam Tamils should not forget that Pirabhakaran earned his
merits the old-fashioned way; by trial and error, by experimentation
and improvisation, and by specifically adhering to the three
components of Edison’s formula for success - ‘stick-to-it-iveness’,
common sense and hard work. What is remarkable is the fact that,
during the past two centuries, he never had the benefit of a military
role model among Tamils in India, Eelam, Malaysia or Singapore, to
follow.

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Brearley’s Thoughts on Leadership

It is opportune at this moment to introduce the thoughts on
leadership, as presented by a sportsman, who knew his beans. Mike
Brearley (born 1942) was a former England test cricketer, who is
recognized for his winning record as a captain in the 1970s. Clear
thinking, calmness under pressure and decisiveness were his fortes in
delivering success as a leader. Currently, he practices as a
psychoanalyst, and I enjoyed reading his recent essay, published in
the British Medical Journal. I introduce this essay on leadership for
the readers, to assess Pirabhakaran’s performance during the past 15
years.

Brearley’s eight thoughts on leadership skills are as follows:

1. Seen from a distance a successful team may look well

organized and cohesive; get closer up and you see, in my
experience, the vigour and rivalries of a group of strong
personalities. It is like a lively argumentative family.

2. The aim of a team is not to remove individuality but to

harness it in the intents of the whole.

3. When a team works well all its members share aims.

Selfishness is modified when our ends and identifications
broaden.

4. The good leader gives weight to both forces, the needs of the
individual and those of the team. He or she will foster an
atmosphere in which members of the group feel free enough to
have their heads, without slipping over into selfishness. It can
be a fine line.

5. These tensions - self interest versus group interest, freedom

versus equality, conflict versus cohesion - appear in all teams.
Both elements in the contrast need attention, and a sensitive
leader helps the balance to veer in relation to the prevailing
wind, keeping the boat on course. The leader’s task requires
flexibility. He or she needs to be firm and capable of strong,
decisive action but has to listen, consult and give people their
heads.

6. Another area of flexibility lies between delegation and taking

decisions (and responsibility) oneself. In the ordinary running
of a team the confident leader can allow, from moment to
moment, different individuals to be in charge, provided always

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that he or she can when necessary reassume control.

7. There are always tendencies within a group to go against the

task of the team, and at such times the leader’s responsibility is
not only to listen and facilitate, but also to persuade, enlist and
confront. At such times a leader needs courage and a
willingness to fight the source of infection, as well as tact and
freedom of mind.

8. Another requirement is to have the capacity to free oneself

from the prevailing emotional valencies...Team leaders need, as
Freud said of members of his profession, courage.

In my opinion, Pirabhakaran scores well in each of the eight demands

of leadership, presented by Brearley. What is noteworthy is that,
Brearley had the benefit of a first class degree from Cambridge
University before he embarked on his success as one of the two
winningest test cricket captains (the other being, Ray Illingworth),
England produced in the past five decades. But Pirabhakaran’s formal
education was limited to secondary school in Jaffna. In addition, the
level of risk and responsibility is more daunting for Pirabhakaran than
what was faced by Brearley during his captainship of the cricket team.
First, whereas Brearley led only 10 men, Pirabhakaran has to lead
now around 10,000 young men and women. Secondly, whereas
Brearley’s opponents in the field consisted of only 11 men at any
time frame, Pirabhakaran has to face an opponent, who is ten-fold
higher in head-count. Thirdly, whereas cricket, for Brearley, is only a
summer game; but civil war for Pirabhakaran is a more serious effort.

Being a Classics scholar, Brearley closed his essay on leadership with

the following paragraph, which is worth reproducing:

“Good teams, in whatever sphere of life, require a wide range of

qualities that are in creative tension with each other. The Greek
historian Xenophon, writing about the situation in 504 BC when
the Greek City States were faced with threats of invasion from
Persia, listed the personal requirements for an elected general:
‘ingenious, energetic, careful, full of stamina and presence of
mind...loving and tough, straightforward and crafty, ready to
gamble everything and wishing to have everything, generous and
greedy, trusting and suspicious’. The situation has not changed
much since 504 BC”. (British Medical Journal, Nov.4, 2000;
vol.321, pp.1141-1143)

Judging from his track record, since 1987 to the most recent
Katunayake raid (which generated the above-mentioned depression-

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tinged breast-beating by the Sinhalese public), none will dare to

question if one asserts that Pirabhakaran fits the bill - word for word -
of what Xenophon wanted in an elected general. [Continued].

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