Ask the Minister: Matters of Public Interest 

A chat with Vijayakala Maheswaran, State Minister of Child Affairs 

Some of our readers will be very interested in getting to know the progress of the present government and the future plans of the Ministers. With the endeavour of creating awareness in this regard, Daily Mirror Life met up with some Ministers and asked them a few questions. Their answers will be carried in this weekly column. This week, we speak to Vijayakala Maheswaran, State Minister of Child Affairs. 

Many children in the Northern and Eastern Provinces were orphaned due to the war. What is the situation with these children now? 

After the war, in the Northern Province alone there are twelve thousand children in orphanages. That is in the districts of Jaffna, Mullaitivu, Killinochchi, Mannar and Vavuniya. Whatever happens the ruling government should be responsible for the security, health and education of these children until they are 18 years of age, but during the previous regime none of this was looked into. We couldn’t ask for anything. We couldn’t even talk to the media then. Now with this national government we have the freedom to request for what the children need. 

We try to ensure that these children have the same facilities as the children with parents, so that they don’t feel any different when they go to school and are with other children. For example, the children coming from homes would wear socks and shoes but the children coming from the orphanage wears rubber slippers. 

Do the other Ministries support the work done by your Ministry? 

The Education Ministry, Health Ministry and Finance Ministry gives us the maximum support. In the 2015 budget the Finance Ministry has given triple the amount of what is normally given to this Ministry. 

What are the problems faced by your Ministry? 

It’s seven years since the war was over but in certain areas in Mullaitivu there is no furniture in most of the schools. There are issues like this that we still have to address. 

Substance abuse and drugs have become a new problem in Jaffna since of late. Why is that? 

Yes. We have a huge problem with drugs now. We have to stop it at any cost. Even with the presence of the Navy and Army in Jaffna, these drugs are coming in. People say that it is brought in by boats. Why can’t the Navy catch these boats? I don’t know how this keeps happening. We never had a problem with drugs before. It is from the South that drugs are being brought to the North. There were small boutiques selling drugs near schools which we have removed after complaints from parents. 

How are the authorities handling these issues? 

It is after this government came into power that the Police are even looking into these matters with the help of other officials and trying to solve them. With the previous government, people were scared to do anything. Even the Police didn’t take any action, they didn’t even answer telephone calls from us. 

Also, I am so thankful that we have some very honourable Judges in the North and because of that the people can live peacefully knowing that justice will prevail. Now they are working without pressure from politicians. The Police Force also works closely with them to maintain law and order. 

What about the children with special needs? What does the Ministry do to support them? 

Rs. 3000/- per month is given to every child with special needs. But of course the parents have to get the details verified and confirmed by the Gramasevaka, and only after this certification is obtained can they receive this amount allocated by the Ministry. 

Why do sexual and domestic lawsuits take so long? Especially in child abuse cases. Don’t you think we should have more stringent laws to deal with paedophiles and rapists? 

We discuss this every week at meetings. New laws have to be made regarding these matters and it should be dealt with more strictly. They should have a special desk in police stations and finish these inquiries in 3 to 4 days and put it to courts. 

What steps can you take to ensure that schooling is actually made compulsory? 

The Divisional Secretariat has field officers who check on this. In the North they go on their bicycles or motorbikes and check if children are working in shops and different places. Even the general public are very supportive in this endeavour. If they see children working in boutiques or kovils or see children just playing around without going to school they inform the authorities. Even when I walk around the villages and see any child working during school hours, I ask them their name and parents' names and they willingly answer because they don’t know who I am. Then I inform the Divisional Secretariat to take the necessary action. We find out if they have a genuine problem as to why the children are not sent to school and try to solve that particular issue. But of course if they have come to the South to work in households, then it’s a bit difficult to locate them and monitor their whereabouts. 

Your husband who was a politician was killed, and you have 3 children to look after. In spite of that what made you come into politics? 

My husband Maheswaran was a businessman in a shipping company and subsequently got into politics. He would talk boldly and honestly about issues inside and outside Parliament. If you watch his last Parliament speech which is in the Hansard, and we have also released CDs of it, you will know why he was assassinated. In 2004 during elections, when he was contesting for Colombo, he was shot at. After that he was allocated 15 MSD personnel for security. In 2007, on the last day of the Parliament budget, he spoke very strongly about the plight of the Tamil people in the North and East. Some people in Parliament couldn’t take it and they removed his security. Within two weeks of removing his security he was assassinated. I was just 35 years old when this happened. 

After that I thought I must be strong and fight for justice for my people. So when the UNP asked me to join them I agreed. I was a private secretary to my husband so politics was not new to me. 

You made a statement recently that the Tamil people had more security and they were happier when the LTTE was controlling Jaffna. They would take action in 24 hours you said. This makes you look like an LTTE sympathizer. Can you elaborate? 

That statement I made on the ‘Satana’ programme and Derana was totally misunderstood by the media. Yes, I know that they think I’m a LTTE supporter.  I was referring to what the Tamil people faced before 2009 as against what they faced during the period after the war - from the 18th of May 2009 until the 8th of January 2015. That is a period before this Yahapalanaya government came into power. During that time if anything happened to children, women or elders, such as rape, abuse or any form of injustice, the LTTE would find the perpetrators and punish them within 24 hours. Fights among family were not tolerated and keeping away from work was not allowed. People could not steal or have brawls with each other. People couldn’t take electricity on the sly by doing some jugglery and cheating the Electricity Board. This happens everywhere and even in politician's offices, and is a common offence, but at that time nobody did it. When they hear the name LTTE, they were scared. 

If you check the ranking of education before 2009, and how it dropped between 2009 and 2015 you will be surprised. Even with claymore mines and overhead bombing by Kfirs everywhere, the education went on. We were all dead scared and would run into the bunkers praying to God every time there were overhead bombings. In my own home in Karainagar four family members were killed while running from the house into the bunker. These were just very very basic not luxury bunkers. What I’m trying to say is, even under these circumstances, in spite of the fact of being inside overcrowded bunkers, the children studied well. 

It is not that I want to praise Prabhakaran or anything like that, but what I said was that there was law and order properly implemented during that time and not so in the period of 18th of May 2009 to 8th of January 2015. Now it’s different. All connected Ministries and authorities are very supportive towards the Tamil people and together we are trying to make things right. Unfortunately the media didn’t understand what I was trying to say. 

Did you know? 

• She is from Karainagar and was educated at Karainagar Hindu College. 
• She is one of the United National Front for Good Governance’s candidates from Jaffna District. 
• She is the widow of T. Maheswaran, a Member of Parliament who was assassinated. 

Questions for the Ministers can be emailed to [email protected].