“Extreme positions are not succeeded by moderate ones, but by contrary positions.” 

- Friedrich Nietzsche

It is so sad that we have failed to build a Sri Lankan identity that is inclusive of all the multi ethnic, multi religious and multicultural communities cohabiting in the country even seven decades after we got independence from the British. Periodic outbreak of violence and civil society disturbances have been a part of our rhythm of life.  Social capital has not been directed towards investment on building trust and goodwill to enable and strengthen societal coherence through the building of peace and contentment in society. Much of the focus has been on strategies that contributed to divisive politics and very little on bringing people together. This has created the inflammable environment for frequent outbursts of hostility and violence based on fragile causes.

Politicians with their ‘default’ agendas.

Sri Lanka has not been fortunate in her leaders.  The leaders we had since 1948 have been content to think for short term advantage for themselves and their associates rather than the welfare of its people. Constructive approach towards nation building was not a part of their agenda.

In fact much of the strategies used by the political leaders since independence encouraged primacy of the Sinhala ethnic majority while giving prominence to Buddhism as the religion of the majority in the country. Unfortunately our leaders regard longevity in the political space available to them more important. Preoccupied with this factor they constantly search for ways and means to make it sustainable for their longevity in their chosen office.

To this effect the leaders in this country from the inception, even as early as 1948 looked for ways and means to secure sustainability in their political career.  The legislation introduced to disenfranchise sections of the plantation workers was one of the first bold attack on the Sri Lankan multi ethnic society.  Since then there has been several bouts of civil disorder of a violent nature stemming from provocative strategies adopted to entrench the majority ethnic community and the Buddhist constituency.

Majoritarian mindset

In this they were supported by the elites and a majority from among the Sinhalese community. The leaders have empowered these groups with the majoritarian mind set which also had liberal doses of hate and mistrust thrown in and used liberally to prevent communities from forging simple friendly linkages such as putting basic cooperative effort for the common good.

Political parties

The political leaders used the party system in the country as their vehicle to fulfill their mission.  Political parties came into being for the specific purpose of rallying people on the basis of putting different policies and strategies to build a nation, an institutional arrangement to organize people around their respective leaders.  However, the political party system has taken on a life of its own. The need to stay ahead of the other created loyalties and enmities, blind backing among the party supporters. Even at a later stage, well into the 50’s when the lines demarcating the sharp contours of policies and strategies of political parties had merged the hostilities did not ease off; in fact antagonisms among the parties are maintained as a political ploy by the leaders to keep their support base from drifting away from them. 

National and personal security threats

Propaganda instilling fears of threats to national and personal insecurity are two other areas touted to encourage the Sinhala majority and the minorities to stay together in antagonistic postures. It is claimed that threat to the national security concerns arise from the ethnic links that are available to the minorities in the adjoining countries within the region. The Sri Lankan diaspora is yet another feared entity seen as a source able to provide financial, arms and international support to their different constituencies from the countries of their domicile.  National security on the other hand was deemed to originate from the devolution of powers to the Northern and Eastern provinces in particular which it was feared would bring about a division of the country and enable the formation of Eelam by the Tamil minority. The Tamil minority leaders did rally support around this even if at a later date a pointed denial for separation was given by the Tamil minority.

The Buddhist clergy

The hostile approach to other ethnic and to a lesser extent to other religious communities was as mentioned the personal and political agendas of many.  Unfortunately there are several outspoken Buddhist monks who are in denial of the major concepts of mindfulness, tolerance and compassion in the Buddha’s teachings.  They in the name of the selfsame religion exhort the need to rally together against other communities and often raise the bogey of security threats to the majority from the minority. 

The extremist factor introduced to an otherwise benign philosophy

Even among this group a more lethal entity called the Bodhu Bala Sena whose members speak a racist language that should never be heard from any religious order. A lot of hate speech is given vent to creating disharmony and fear among the people.  It is hinted that organized activity is behind the recent communal upheaval between the Sinhalese and the Muslims. So many lives and property had been destroyed and the country’s leaders for fear of upsetting their vote bank have been reluctant to condemn their action. 

Many are the stories put out to gather by the forces of hate mongering. The Sinhala extremists fear population explosion in the Muslim community submerging the advantage of majority held by the Sinhalese. One that gained credence in the recent violence is of a pill that is made available by the Muslims to sterilize women. The medical profession in Sri Lanka had denied such a possibility. But once such wild rumors are spread it takes root and is difficult to disabuse the minds of the people.  

Legislate against hate speech

The government after much hesitation is perhaps now ready to bring in legislation against hate speech.  The partisan monks and the people who accept these wild stories have forgotten the Buddha’s exhortation not to act on hearsay without investigating all the pros and cons.  The Buddha graciously said not to accept without questioning even what he says prior to verification.  It is the clergy that should make all effort to put this thought of the Buddha and popularize it; instead some of them are the culprits who act without considered opinion to back their actions.

Society disorganized

This platform gives way to a break up in the law and order situation and civil society organizations that should uphold order in a conflict situation become a party to biased behavior and take sides in the matter on dispute.  Breakdown in law and order help in the ensuing chaos. A somewhat dismembered society gives space for the growth of authoritarianism and corruption grows where there is no accountability.

In the background where there are numerous complaints that many of the leaders who are elected to office are without a sense of integrity or responsibility to the effective functioning of the key roles they hold. Often to cover up for endemic corruption in the system, the constitution, the justice process and the police and services are often bent to suit the agenda of tangled leaders. Inequity in society gets grounded, the leaders who are sidetracked with their own agenda’s   hold centre stage and the people are driven into partisan paths.

Two terms for Political leaders -reentry possible after gestation period.

It is to curtail the ease with which intemperate behavior is possible that there is a popular outcry that political leaders should be reigned in by reducing the term of tenure to two years in any position political leaders’ hold.  It is one way of throwing up fresh blood into the system, else a few persons remain forever, getting stale in their roles and bringing stagnation in the advancement of the country. It should be possible for those who move out to reenter politics after a lapse of a 5 year period. This will give the system an irrigating period with new people and new ideas thrown in. It will be good for the politicians and good for the country. It would also be advisable to introduce some level of basic educational qualification so that it would be easy for politicians to understand the processes of responsibility and accountability and there will be less of the frivolous conduct that the country has witnessed for quite a while. Educated and experienced persons will understand the value of letting systems and officials function as per their role. This would be a healthy trend when Constitutions will effectively become the primary law of the country and the public officials able to work without fear or favour. Let us hope this will see the beginning of invigorating civil society organizations to obey the diktat of political rationale. Democratic decision making will follow. Impunity from accountability and legal process must become something of the past. This should usher in hope for the future for the country as new persons will be attracted to enter into the role of leadership.

 Bold Leadership

In this context it is vital to make reference to leadership quality detected in one of our ex service chiefs who in all  honesty paid tribute to the Muslim community from among whom intelligence officers were drawn to work during the recent 30 year war. Their tri lingual capacity made them effective individuals to work in intelligence. The ex service chief said in no uncertain terms that the nation owed gratitude to these persons for saving the country to defeat the LTTE through the intelligence they had gathered in the process of their work.  It needed a brave officer to give thanks to a community that is under attack and this also compels us to recognize that communities working in unison contribute significantly to nation building by binding all together. Emancipated leadership is the key to the future.