Nation building in Sri Lanka: some reflections: Part 1.

-By a special correspondent from London-

 “Ask not what your country can do for you – ask

What you can do for your country,” John F. Kennedy. 

These historical words of John Kennedy should be elicited and provoked today in Sri Lanka. Different Sri Lankan communities should profoundly think about these words. If we want to build a peaceful Sri Lanka today these words could be a political motto of each Sri Lankan individuals.  Since the independence, communities in Sri Lanka have been taking about communal rights and yet, we have many times forgotten about our duties and responsibilities to our nation. We have forgotten to ask? What I have done to my country? What is my contribution to my country? What did I do for my country? Have I made any contribution to my mother land? These are the questions each Sinhalese, Tamil and Muslim in Sri Lanka should ask? Yet, we are very much keen to get all our rights from government of Sri Lanka and gravely failed make any meaningful public services. Some public servants enjoy all facilities and luxuries of government employment and yet, they offer very little in return for Sri Lanka. Some public servants are milking government apparatus, some officers are taking bribes openly, some officers are doing all sort of frauds and some officers are taking fat salaries from government of Sri Lanka without any good performance in their duties. If these are the prevailing conditions of Sri Lankan public service sectors, how could we dream about nation building process in Sri Lanka? 

Ironically, Tamils people have been fighting for their own communal fights and yet, they have forgotten that they have been enjoying all government facilities such as free education, free health service etc. Muslim community has been fighting for its rights and yet, it has been very often forgotten its duties towards Sri Lanka.  Singhalese have been dreaming to milk government apparatus.  They have failed to realise their duties and responsibilities to their Mother land, otherwise, how could Mahinda and his cohorts engaged in a huge amount of corruption and frauds unpreceded in the history of Sri Lanka. No government in the post-independence history of Sri Lanka, robbed the national wealth of Sri Lanka as Mahinda and his cohorts did in recent times. All sort of corruptions, mismanagement and frauds were widespread in Mahinda’s time in power. It is divine intervention that protected this beautiful country from the grip of this ruthless regime. People in Sri Lanka have forgotten their duties to the nation building process rather they have been dreaming to milking out from Mother Lanka. This applies to all individual communities in Sri Lanka. This mind set up has to be changed and rectified. If we want to build up this nation as a “Pearl of Asia” all communities should equally contribute. All equally devote to the nation building process. Skills, talents and richness of human resources of each communities should be taken into account in this process of nation building. Marginalization of any community in Sri Lanka will dearly cost the country in long term. Continuously Tamil and Muslims people have been marginalized since independence. Sri Lanka dearly paid the price for this grave mistake. 

When LTTE was defeated in 2009, people were relieved, panic and fear were assuaged. All communities celebrated this gracious occasion yet, since 2011, the phenomenon of “Grease Devil” and BBS were created to send waves of panic and fear into minority communities. This time it was not LTTE or any other militant groups that created fear and panic in the communities rather it was the legitimate of Sri Lankan government that created this fear. It was reported these illegal and illegitimate activities of BBS were carried out with the support of Goata: former defence secretary. Today, minority communities in Sri Lanka reckon that defeat of Mahinda government is a divine punishment for Mahinda and his family for creating panic and fear in minority communities. Tamil, catholic Muslim communities prayed for divine intervention to save them from BBS. 

Now Mahinda has been defeated. People think that a new era of reconciliation will be instigated in Sri Lanka by new administration. That is the expectation of people. People of all communities believe that peace, security and prosperity will descend on Sri Lanka soon. People pray for peace to prevail in Sri Lanka. There would not be any meaningful talk of nation building in Sri Lanka without taking on board minorities’ community. There would not be any talk of long term peace and prosperity in Sri Lanka without finding some sort of solution for ethnic problem. Peace and security of Sri Lanka is prerequisite for nation building. I shall discuss some of the challenges in the nation building process in Sri Lanka. Nation building is a collective efforts of all citizens in any country. Politicians, policy makers. Civil servants and public all should contribute to the nation building process. Today, Ethnic disharmony is the biggest challenge that Sri Lanka faces today. This ethnic disharmony is the biggest obstacle in the process of nation building in Sri Lanka. New political administration has rightly realised this fact and has begun to take some meaningful steps to resolve this problem. 

The primary objective of this article is to gauge the complexity of Tamil and Sinhalese conflict within the context of prevailing political changes in Sri Lanka. This paper examines the possibility and viability of finding some sort of permanent solution for this Tamil and Sinhalese ethic conflict. Can President Maithripala make some sort of reconciliation that is acceptable for both parties in conflict? Can he win the hearts and minds of Tamil community while not isolating the majority of Sinhalese population?   Making a meaningful and everlasting reconciliation is one of the demanding and daunting tasks in front of President Maithripala. He should neither anger Sinhalese nor terribly disappoint Tamil people’s aspirations and hope. How could he march on this balanced and neutral path without creating any more chaotic situation in his attempt to find solution for Tamil issue in Sri Lanka? 

When this election result was declared I asked a Tamil colleague of mine at work, what do you think Maithri won this election? Her prompt reply was whoever wins it does not make any difference for us. She is a highly qualified lawyer by profession and now lives in London. I asked why then Tamil people voted for Maithri in the North and East, she said it is mere protest votes for what happened for Tamils in the past and it is because people do not like all Tamil politicians who were with former president Mahinda  that is why they voted for Maithri this time. Yet, she believes he would not be able to resolve Tamil problem not because of him rather due to extremist political force among Sinhalese. I could not disagree with her. I could notice how profoundly Tamil people are psychologically wounded due to the fact that for the last 5 five years since LTTE was defeated they have been offered any recognition or there was no any meaningful reconciliation between Tamil people and Sri Lankan government. There are millions of Tamil people today who are ready to forget and forgive what happened in the past. Tamil people are ready to reconcile the differences peacefully and amiably yet, it is up to new government in Sri Lanka now to reconcile or continue with resentment and bitterness my friend lamented. 

Some Tamil people have already lost hope and optimism in the Sinhalese political leadership. Today, a meaningful reconciliation between Tamil, Muslim and Sinhalese community is a must. It is timely needed to proceed nation building process and development projects. 30 years of war has already took the country into the brink of economic bankruptcy.  Still today more than 60% people are suffering economic hardship or are struggling to make end meets daily. So, there must be a meaningful reconciliation to take the country forward. Now Sri Lanka badly needs a solid political stability to take the country forward. It was said that in 1957 Sri Lanka’s GDP was far better than Singapore and Malaysia and yet, today we are far behind those two countries. We have all potentialities and credentials to take this country forward. Sri Lanka is rich in its human resources.  If we have good programmes to develop our human potentiality we will be able to see rapid economic growth and development with a couple of decades.  

To do that, all communities should be united and work hard as one family members of Sri Lankans. Sri Lankan Identity and national feeling should prevail over our communal or ethnic feelings. All of us should be proud to say we are Sri Lankans. Minority should not have inferiority complexity over the majority community.  Majority community should not have superiority complexity over minorities. Today, unity among communities is paramount important in Sri Lanka for the development of this nation. Tamil people’s aspiration should be met and should be given priorities to take this country forward. What is the problem in giving Tamil language official language status? What is the problem if Tamil people do their official works in Tamil language? Why cannot make learning Tamil and Sinhalese as a compulsory subject in primary and secondary schools?  Sinhalese people feel that they do not need Tamil and yet, they expect Tamil people speak Singhalese.

 In the developed nation power is devolved in regions. For instance, In England we have Wales, Scotland and England different assemblies. This does not threat the integrity of United Kingdom at all. Same like that, there is no harm in devolving some power to North and East under united Sri Lanka. No Tamil wants to divide Sri Lanka today and yet, what they want is some devolution to administrate some of their local political and administrative affaires within united Sri Lanka. To get these political concession Tamil political leadership should work with Sinhalese. They should integrate and fully participate in nation building process. They should take ministerial posts in cabinet so that they could build trust and confidence of Sinhalese leadership. I think that Tamil political leadership should forget and forgive 60 years of antagonism and should be ready to work with Sinhalese leadership to work out a meaningful mechanism to take this country forward. 

A cross section of Tamil and Sinhalese academics have argued for and against Tamil Eelam.  Kandiah Sarveswaran argues that “The political history from late colonial era shows that the Sinhalese rejected the rights of Tamils and made every efforts to establish their supremacy over the Tamils, and Tamil constantly resisted such effort and asserted their rights. The Mahavmsa (Buddhist chronicle) based on ideology of Anagarikatharmapala that is “Sinhalese are the Sons of the soil” and the “Island belongs to Buddhist” seem to be the rational for the antagonising relationship between the two communities. His preaching dubs Tamils and Muslims along with colonialists as aliens” (K. Sarveswaran. 38). Contrary to this, it is argued that Tamil are exclusive historical inhabitants of the North and Eastern Provinces. Some historical, anthropological, archaeological, epigraphic and linguistic studies indicate that the Saiva-Tamil civilization is the oldest civilization of the Island and with the introduction of Buddhism, a section of Island’s society divided and evolved as Buddhist – Sinhala civilization (K. Sarveswaran p.42).

These historical arguments are not relevant in this virtually globalised modern world. Neither Tamil nor Sinhalese community is going to benefit if they drag on in these types of arguments. All historical evidence tell that Tamil lived in north and East and Sinhalese lived in South.  yet, today’s reality is that more than 2/3 of Tamils live in the South. Politicians of all sides agreed that some sort of political reconciliation is needed to resolve this issue. It is up to political leadership of both sides to decide what type of power sharing is good. I do not propose any modules of power sharing here.