Comedy of errors at Chogm

When the British PM started hurling the first ‘rock’, he forgot to anticipate that it could boomerang and return to smash Britain’s own ‘glass house’, observes Rakyat Jelata.

British premier David Cameron calls on Sri Lankan President Mahinda Rajapaksa at Chogm 2013 – Photograph: chogm2013.lk

In typical colonial style, British Prime Minister, David Cameron censured Sri Lanka for crimes of humanity committed against Tamils during and at the end of the civil war in Sri Lanka.

Some heads of state present at the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting (Chogm) in Sri Lanka may have applauded this while others may have, for the sake of diplomacy, remained stiffly silent.

Yet, this outburst of righteous indignation was countered by Sri Lankan President Rajapaksa with a less than cool, “People in glass houses must not throw stones” (Reuters, UK).

It looks like, in giving in to such an emotional outburst, the British Prime Minister appeared to have forgotten that this is 2013 and not the 1800s – and that Sri Lanka now hosts Chogm as a sovereign nation, not a British colony or protectorate. The alleged atrocities against Tamil guerillas and civilians by Sri Lankan forces is certainly not justified and must be investigated as were the war crimes and atrocities committed in Rwanda in the 1990s.

Pointing a finger in return, the Sri Lankan President reminded Cameron of Britain’s own dismal human rights record during the troubles in Northern Ireland, where 14 unarmed protesters were gunned down by British police in 1972. Britain had also put in place detention without trial for terror suspects which still subsists today (in the form of the Terrorism Act 2006).

The miscarriages of justice, even by the highest British courts, of Northern Irish terror suspects remains a scar on the lives of the innocent who had served almost half their lives in prison for crimes they evidently did not commit, e.g. the Guilford Four and Birmingham Six; to say nothing of British cooperation and participation in the Gulf War debacle, and the invasions of Iraq and Afghanistan led by the United States

Cameron promised to wield Britain’s influence in the UN Human Rights Council and push for an international inquiry if Sri Lanka failed to hold a probe into the crimes against humanity committed by its government forces, by March 2014.

But the issue of Britain’s own accountability for similar crimes in the past is still outstanding.

The furore raises the spectre of the Batang Kali Massacre which took place in Selangor on 11 December 1948, when a platoon of British Scots Guards gunned down 24 unarmed men in Sungai Remok rubber estate on mere suspicion of their involvement with communist insurgents. No evidence of such involvement has been brought to light, and the killing remains an open wound for relatives and descendants of the victims of this massacre.

The British government has not yet provide closure for the relatives, by acceding to their request of an official apology and some compensation to set the record straight and to clear the names of the 24 accused and executed without trial, for allegedly supporting the communists during the Emergency. The case brought by the relatives and grandchildren of the Batang Kali victims is still pending in the British courts.

Turning the spotlight to the reaction of the Malaysian government; Prime Minister Najib Razak was seen to throw support behind Sri Lanka on the premise that Chogm was a meeting in Sri Lanka, not about Sri Lanka. Malaysia, always ready to lend support to countries merely for economic advantage while disregarding their poor bad human rights records and lack of democracy, did not seem to bother to raise even a whisper about the Batang Kali incident to the British government.

Malaysia has been acting in contravention of a number of international human rights laws concerning forced repatriation of UNHCR confirmed refugees and asylum seekers and in introducing draconian and oppressive laws like the Prevention of Crime Act (PCA) and Security Offences (Special Measures) Act (Sosma0. It has progressively suppressing freedom of expression, information and assembly. Then there is the well known absurdity surrounding the prohibition of the use of the word, “Allah” by non-Muslims in the Peninsular.

Last but not least, the erosion of the right to freedom of religion for certain sects of Muslims appears to be in contradiction to citizens’ rights under the Federal Constitution.

Ironically, a number of countries sitting at the Chogm table are realistically aware that no government is completely free of any wrongdoing in the recent or historical past, and they were wise enough not to hurl the first rock. Some like Mauritius, India and Canada cautiously stayed away, in apparent protest. So, when the British PM started hurling the first rock, he probably forgot to anticipate that it could boomerang around the room and return to smash Britain’s own ‘glass house’ as well.

In hindsight, it might have been wiser to call off the Chogm assembly and deal with the outstanding issue of Sri Lanka’s human rights record before going to the neighbour’s house to shout at him, create embarrassment all round, and come away with egg on one’s face. As the saying goes, “in war there are no winners”.

Rakyat Jelata is a regular contributor to Aliran