Ceylon Today Editorial

RTLTP, don’t be money guzzling, lie generating

07 March 2017

There are many who claim that democracy is a failure. As a concept it might seem foolproof but in practical terms it's not so much. Despite its flaws, humanity has no other alternative that has proved somewhat successful compared to other governing systems.

Not every day does, a democratic society rebuild some faith in its citizens but recently something happened that notched the faith levels up in certainly considerable amounts. That is, a group of rehabilitated LTTE cadre members launched a political party with the aim of winning their rights.

A group of more than thirty former military personnel, calling themselves the 'Rehabilitated Tamil Liberation Tiger Party' or the RTLTP, has vowed to stand beside those who have received or are still undergoing rehabilitation, in order to be recognized in a political frame. The political party, which has already garnered the support of over 12,000 rehabilitated ex-militants, have claimed that the idea behind the party is to represent those who had undergone the brutal and crippling war training of the LTTE and have survived it through rehabilitation.

They are, in other words, survivors of a different kind. However, they claim that their rights have been overlooked on more than one occasion. The Chairman of the RTLTP, Kandasamy Inbarasa has said that this party was launched because those who were rehabilitated had not received any assistance from the government or the society itself, to re-enter a normal life as of yet. At the same time, he has said that a large number of members were living with physical injuries and some were still in prison.

This is why the RTLTP has been formed and joined the political stream. Inbarasa has said that through this party they will attempt to obtain their rights.

The Eelam War in Sri Lanka has produced a large number of veterans and other ex-militants with complex physical and psychological traumas over the last three decades. The war trauma has created potent barriers to their lives and these barriers obstruct recovery and personality growth. Combatants with war trauma experience problems in their living, working, learning, and social environments. The psychosocial well-being of these combatants has not been adequately addressed during the war and in the post-war period. The veterans who became the casualties of the Eelam War need effective psychosocial rehabilitation to acquire functionality, recovery and reintegration.

In the aftermath of the Eelam War a large number of combatants sustained physical and psychological wounds. The most common psychological injuries experienced by soldiers were Adjustment Disorder, Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PSTD) and major depression. Combat related psychological ailments increased over the past three decades in Sri Lanka. According to the 2008 World Health Organization (WHO) report and survey that was conducted with the help of the Ministry of Health it was revealed that there is a high incidence of mental illness in Sri Lanka. The mental health experts suspect a strong correlation between the armed conflict and surge of mental illnesses. A large number of Sri Lankan combatants have experienced the profound effects of war trauma that drastically impacted their mental health and long-term functioning. The four-year study by Drs. Neil J. Fernando and Ruwan Jayatunge on Sri Lankan soldiers who experienced war trauma reveals that PTSD is emerging among the combatants.

Post-war researches of the Vietnam, Iraq and Afghanistan wars have also shown that the combat exposure could negatively affect the mental health of the combatants. Research conducted by Dr. Charles W. Hoge et al (2004) indicates that exposure to combat results in considerable risk of mental health problems, including PTSD, major depression, substance abuse, impairment in social functioning, an inability to work, and the increased use of healthcare services.

In such a backdrop, the establishment of the RTLTP is essential. The Government of Sri Lanka as well as several other parties such as the Joint Opposition, who has on numerous occasions cried out in the favour of former military men, could learn to do what is necessary through these actions. Not just the rehabilitated militants who have been deprived of their rights but also a large number of military veterans as well.

It's a wakeup call to all parties in fact, a call that tells them to do what is necessary without boasting of deeds that could have been done. Furthermore, the RTLTP should be commended for taking the path less violent in order to resolve their problems – they could have easily taken up arms, but decided not to do so; a wise decision indeed.

Finally, we would like to suggest to the RTLTP and any other political party who can pay an ounce of attention, to help your people and not just yourself. Don't be a typical money guzzling, lie generating political machine which is useless at the end of the day. If you have a cause, stand by it and work through everything so that it might see the light of day.