Tamara Kunanayakam, reviewing Triumph and Disaster: the Rajapaksa Years. Part I. Success in War: My time at the Peace Secretariat, 2007-2009 ... Book by Rajiva Wijesinha[1] ……………On the occasion of the Launch, 18 February 2015 … also presented in The Island, 22 & 23 February 2016. I have taken the liberty of highlighting particular passages in colour so as to guide readers, but, of course, I anticipate that readers will use their own judgements in evaluating the arguments in this important essay. Michael Roberts
Rajiva’s latest book Triumph and Disaster: the Rajapaksa Years is a remarkable documentary of the first Rajapaksa years that constituted a turning point in Sri Lanka’s recent history. The book celebrates the victory over LTTE terror, which had determined almost every aspect of our lives for a quarter of a century.
It provides exceptional insight into the work of a State institution that played a central role, even as it had to adapt to changing circumstances when the LTTE forced a radical shift from talks across the negotiating table to a brutal war in which it transformed civilians into cannon fodder. It is a profound personal account of the events as they unfolded between June 2007, when Rajiva was appointed Secretary-General of the Secretariat for Coordinating the Peace Process, and the end of the war in May 2009. In June 2008, he was also appointed Secretary to the Ministry of Disaster Management and Human Rights, and his account, therefore, also includes insights gained while he was there. Apart from providing fascinating reading, painting as it does a vivid image of the characters and events, the duplicity and the intrigues, substantiated by a wealth of documentation, I found in his book pieces of the puzzle that were missing in my own analysis, from my Geneva vantage point. Continue reading
