Article written by David Balikowa, The Monitor, Uganda following the Forum 2003 in Kandy.
9 March 2003

In Sri Lanka, the elephant is friendly, the media is free.

Hello Mr President

By David Ouma Balikowa

Two weeks ago while visiting Sri Lanka, I came face to face with one of Uganda's most dreaded animals - the elephant. From all I have been told since I was a child, if confronted with an elephant, say in the Luwero bushes, or the Queen Elizabeth National Park, you are best advised to flee for your life.

You are also advised to keep making abrupt turns as you run. Because the elephant is so massive and will not maneuver sharp corners, you could succeed at making a narrow escape.

I have no scientific proof to support this belief on how to escape from a charging elephant. But while in Sri Lanka, I came face to face with the dreaded animal, climbed on its back and even rode on it for some distance!

As the elephant began to move, I started to feel like I had made the biggest mistake of my life. The vibrations created by the elephants walking makes you feel like you are sitting on the cap of an angry volcano ready to spill you into the skies. In Sri Lanka, they have succeeded in trying to tame the dreaded animal. The elephants are part of public entertainment. One evening, we sat by the street side to watch dancers and elephants moving in one line.

But the Sri Lankans have not only learnt to tame the dreadful elephant. They have made a lot of progress in getting off their statutory books the dreadful laws being used to stifle the media in the third world. Listening to their Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe proudly talk about how their country has scrapped the law of criminal defamation would make many journalists in Uganda salivate.

Mr Wickremesinghe on 25 March told the Commonwealth Press Union conference in Colombo that the law of criminal defamation is inconsistent with modern democracy.

A country with laws of sedition, libel, publication of false news and criminal defamation still on its books has no place among civilised nations. These draconian laws infringe on freedom of speech and media, and consequently democracy. The good news in Sri Lanka has not been limited only to the media. The Sri Lankans are trying to tame another world's most dreaded beast - war.

My visit coincided with a very unusual event. On 22 February, Sri Lanka was marking one year of truce in one of the world's bloodiest wars between government forces and the Tamil Tiger rebels.

The celebration was understandable. One year without bullets being fired is no mean achievement in a war-torn country. In most places, ceasefires will not last beyond a couple of days.

Here in Uganda, ceasefires have hardly been achieved in the recent past beyond the empty declarations. But as the south marked the one-year truce, the Tamil rebels celebrated in different style. The rebels roamed the northern and eastern provinces staging protest campaigns against what they saw as a slow progress in implementing the agreement. Shops were closed while public transport came to a standstill. The rebels asked the public to raise black flags in protest. Many people ended up staying indoors.

Nevertheless, the truce seems to be holding. Both the rebels and government side are hoping the remaining obstacles would be overcome.

At the time of my visit, the rebels had just received satellite communication equipment for their radio station. The issue was not even whether the rebels should have the equipment. Rather the debate was on whether the equipment imported by the Norwegian Embassy in Colombo on behalf of the rebels should attract customs tax or not.

But even as the debate on whether the equipment should be taxed or not raged on, it had already been installed and operational. The gesture demonstrates a rare tolerance level and perhaps the best indication of the determination to tame the dreadful war this time around.

Sri Lanka is also land to the famous tuk tuk - the three-wheeler motor bike. It plies most of the streets offering public transport just the way our boda boda (motor bikes) do.

The only difference with the tuk tuk is that it can sit two or three passengers at the back seat, well protected from the hot sun or rain. And unless you tried to peep, the people on the streets would not even recognise that it is President Yoweri Museveni who just passed by in a tutu.

In Kampala you would not catch me sitting on the boda boda. The riders are notorious for making daring turns and overtaking in a scary manner. Many times I have witnessed passengers hit their bottoms, backs and heads on the tarmac in Kampala. Strange, but between the boda boda and the Sri Lankan elephant, I'm still inclined to trying a ride on the latter.