Recursive Positioning of the Systems

Whilst threat of secession is argued on race lines, the most controversial issues are land based territorial issues and their associated waters under the convention of the Law of the Sea. So far most of the canvassed resolutions based on devolved power have been expressed in terms of autonomy that will accrue to Provinces. The question thus becomes - what cohesive-autonomous role do the Provinces play and where does that fit in the recursive model especially given the underpinning sectarian current that pervades provincial power sharing models?

Based on the premise that Sri Lanka occupies R0 the question is - what recursive position do the Provinces occupy in their relationship to the races? Do the individual Provinces belong to R-1 or are they below the recursion level of race making Provinces R-2 with race being R-1? Or is the amalgam of Provinces an S1 on the same level of recursion as the amalgam of races or some hybrid thereof? Does the level of recursion to which Provinces belong make a difference in the context of Peace Negotiations compared to the resolution of the quest for peace? From the perspective of the design of the peace process, this is of relevance in understanding who earns the right of representation - is it Province based, race

Chapter Three 117 based or some hybrid thereof? In positioning these systems in the recursive model, it can be perceived from three perspectives:

• Currently as it pertains to the negotiations at the Peace Talks,

• Ideally what the design of the process of Peace Talks would seek to achieve, and • What the Peace Talks agree upon in terms of devolution of power.

To prepare for the diagnosis as covered in Part II of this Chapter, the positioning is addressed from the perspective of the current status as demonstrated at the Peace Talks. Discussed next is the reasoning which supports the recursive positioning.

Given that people populate Provinces, it means that both race in their amalgam and Provinces in their totality cannot as systems belong to the same level of recursion because the lower level of recursion of either of these systems will require the other system to be higher. Furthermore, in Sri Lanka this does not make sense as neither all the Provinces nor all the races cohere in this manner as evidenced by the need for Peace Talks.

The permutations that remain are that R-1 are the Provinces which then cascades into R-2 being the different races within each Province or it is vice versa. The other permutation is that we have a hybrid where we have a race occupy R-1 which cascades into a Province based R-2. This means concurrently having a Province at R-1 which cascades into a race based R-2.

Bear in mind that any system is a subjective phenomenon (Beer, 1990:316) and that at these high logical levels of systems it is difficult to identify all the elements that the VSM requires. Indeed some elements may be missing which explains why the system’s viability is threatened. For example, whilst the various races are easily identifiable their S1 Management Unit is not necessarily confined to one system. Given that politics in Sri Lanka is largely ethnic, and sometimes religion, based, a political party frequently finds itself representing a particular race and in this as an S1 Management Unit for that race. However, this role may be occupied by one or more political parties or religious apex bodies.

Chapter Three 118 Returning to the permutation, one option based on R0 being the State is for R-1 to be the individual Provinces which cascades based on race (R-2) within each Province. This mapping has merit for it reflects the concept of devolution of power to Provinces as promulgated in the 13th Amendment of the Constitution. However, I agree with many others who contend that such devolution of power has not been meaningfully achieved by the Constitution because the devolved power is more administrative than financial and scarcely results in any policy decision making. Also, the lower level of recursion is not race based. Importantly too, the conflict-torn Northern and Eastern Provinces have been defunct in their 13th Amendment devolved capacity almost from its onset. The expectation however, is that if meaningful autonomy based on ‘non-ethnic provincial’ grounds, is agreed upon then we could see the provincial structure appear as the layer of recursion immediately below the system Sri Lanka.

Another permutation is for each of the races to form R-1 and the layer below to be Province based (R-2). With the Tamils this makes sense both in terms of the sole representation concept argued by the LTTE and the distinction that R-2 will reflect the reality of the provincial distribution of Tamils – Estate Tamils in the tea and rubber plantations, Eastern Tamils, Northern Tamils and the Colombo Tamils. It could also work for the Muslims given their logical composition unified by religion with R-2 showing the distinction between Eastern Province agrarian farmers and the business-traders of the Southern and Western Provinces. The Sinhalese race, however, is currently less structured to reflect sub-systems based on Provinces. As a sub-group they present more as distinguished on religious grounds (Buddhist, Christians) or as rural/city dwelling although there is the distinction between Kandyan and Low Country Sinhalese.

This brings us to the hybrid permutation of R-1 comprising a S1 of the Tamil race which at R-2 cascades to Provinces wherein the systems that evidence themselves are Colombo Tamuls, Eastern Tamils, Estate Tamils (represented by Thondaman’s CWC party) and Northern Tamils (represented by LTTE and TNA party). The rest of the S1s at R0 would be each of the functioning Provinces (R-1) with their R-2 being the race of Sinhalese, Muslims, and the tiny minority communities like the Burghers and Veddhas.

Chapter Three 119 It needs to be admitted that the Provinces have a peculiar race based recursion cascade as like R0 they are Sinhala dominated. This trend is changing in the context of the Peace Talks. The absence of the Muslims at the Peace Talks is giving distinction to the Muslims as a distinct group in the Eastern Province that is not to be lumped in with the Tamil race of people, albeit that the Muslims in Sri Lanka are categorised as a Tamil speaking people. The other difficulty is whilst the Tamils are evidenced as a definitive race with autonomous status courtesy of the LTTE-run de facto state the functioning Provinces do not have that hallmark for they are run (essentially) by central government than by provincial governments. What this means is that there is little discernable difference between the S1 Management Unit of the S1 Provinces at R-1, and the S1 Management Unit of the S1 Sinhalese race at R-2. They both are represented by the Sinhalese political parties. Note that the representation is stated in the plural. As Sri Lankan politics is essentially race based, the political parties can be considered to be a lower level of recursion (R-3) embedded within the race groups (R-2) with the political party who wins at the elections serving in S3 functionality in R0.

In view of this and the emphasis of race in Peace Negotiation the scales are tipped that Provinces are a level of recursion below race. Yet opting out of the hybrid composition within a recursion level is a very close call. In this sense as the diagnosis to follow reveals, it reflects some of the problems experienced with selection of stakeholder involvement in formal negotiations.

Having established the concept of principle based negotiations, I propose a set of the necessary and sufficient principles (borrowed from the VSM) to achieve the goal of viability, the systems involved and their recursive positioning. The preparatory work has been laid to undertake the diagnosis.

Chapter Three 120

Part II – Diagnosis of 2002-2006 Peace Negotiations

The 2002 Peace Talks were a significant watershed in stakeholder recognition. They mark not only the era of a sole representative for the Tamil race of people but that the only stakeholder provided with the formal channel to negotiate at the Peace Talks with the GoSL were the Tamil race of people56. Additionally, given the effects of war which did not exist in the early decades of Tamil demands, negotiation content at Peace Talks was prioritised to address interim issues of relief and rehabilitation. These trends continued into the Peace Talks that commenced in 2002 and to the extent that the GoSL’s wish to address core issues was heard it was limited to articulation of autonomous requirements as evidenced in the ISGA proposal.

These combined considerations prompt the enquiry - who performs the cohesive role and is there a shared understanding of the identity of that supervening system? From a design perspective, this is a critical question so that autonomy is balanced. It also needs more than the glib answer that the GoSL is the representative of that supervening system, Sri Lanka. The question is not whether Sri Lanka is the supervening system, for the answer is yes. The question is - who is representing that supervening system and is that representative seen as such by its embedded systems? There is a subtlety implied here, where a system is seen by the supervening system as embedded but where that embedded system does not identify itself as being embedded within that supervening system.

With these opening considerations I have chosen to commence the diagnosis focusing on the principle of the balance between cohesion-autonomy in the context of various important events that have taken place. The principle of Error Controlled Feedback processes is then addressed, followed by diagnostic findings pertaining to variety absorption in the context of different levels of recursion.

56 _{Until then the perception was that the Muslims were included by virtue of them being Tamil speaking.}

Later, political leaders like Late Hon. Mr. M H M Ashraff clearly delineated themselves as Muslims, who whilst being Tamil speaking, were a race distinctly different to the Tamils.

Chapter Three 121