7 December, 2024

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AKD’s Resolve To Mend Ethnic Fault-lines Laudable; But Challenges Abound!

By Mohamed Harees –

Lukman Harees

The largest lie of all—that the country depended on the elite rulers, benefits from their rule, and owes them silent loyalty entirely collapsed. The historic election of Anura Kumara Dissanayake as the President of Sri Lanka on September 21st was indeed the beginning of a “radical new path” and a great opportunity for a system change for the crisis-hit island nation. His call for unity amid ethnic divisions, clean politics and pro-people economic reforms resonated well with the people. Compared with the past leaders, people knew that he had the credibility and capability to address issues faced by different communities without bias. With increasing support evident from across the country including N&E post September 21st, AKD appears to in on the way to receiving a more impressive mandate at the November 14th Parliamentary elections. The NPP’s focus now is on winning the Parliamentary election with an overwhelming majority. A fractured Parliament may impede the reform agenda and incapacitate the President.

More than in rhetoric, AKD has promised that his government will radically change Sri Lanka’s corrupt and racist political culture would seemed to lie in its stated intention of having no truck with the traditional parties that have taken turns in power – only to perpetuate the same style of oppressive, corrupt and racist politics. In that sense, AKD’s government will be the last hope to rid the nation of three evils of Corruption, Racism and Impunity. His victory will however only be a beginning and there is a long way ahead.

AKD having a background in socialist politics, placed great emphasis on fostering harmony among the Sinhalese, Tamils, Muslims, and other ethnic and religious groups within the country. He said “the unity of Sinhalese, Tamils, Muslims, and all Sri Lankans is the bedrock of this new beginning,” on the eve of his swearing-in. It is in the interests of all communities that they strengthen AKD’s hands to create a clean and inclusive political culture. Failure may even open the doors to chauvinistic right-wing elements who are waiting in the wings to re-capture power by taking recourse to divisive nationalist politics. How AKD and his government respond to their demands for inclusivity and concerns about institutional racism will shape the minority communities’ perception of his government. For the NPP to become a truly multi-ethnic party, it has to embrace minority communities, and support their struggles for justice and equality. Whether the draconian Prevention of Terrorism Act and the repressive laws introduced during Ranil’s regime will be rolled back is another challenge for AKD to prove his credentials as a reformist leader.

AKD government has pledged to address long-pending issues around war-time accountability, truth, and justice that Tamils seek, by promising to make domestic mechanisms credible and sound, so the Tamil people will be able to trust them. On the pending political settlement, AKD proposes to take forward past efforts towards drafting a new constitution, referring to the initiatives taken by the Yahapalana government and later abandoned.  Countless thousands of Sri Lankans await justice and accountability for serious human rights violations and war crimes committed during decades of civil unrest and armed conflict. They are the victims or family members of victims of arbitrary arrest and detention, torture, enforced disappearance, and unlawful killings by government security forces, LTTE or other non-state armed groups.

Since decolonisation in 1948, there has been legal, political and economic discrimination of both minorities – Tamils and Muslims, including racist violence against them, making Sri Lanka a tinder box of sectarian and ethnic tensions. In fact, in the backdrop of the country’s pogrom-filled history, and in the context of a difficult transition from war to peace in 2009, the resurgence of ethno-nationalism and identity politics produced fresh tensions and fault lines. Islamophobia fostered an environment leading to violent attacks on the Muslims with impunity. Anti-Muslim hate had been on the rise, and came to the forefront of Sri Lankan politics after a series of suicide attacks on Easter Sunday in 2019 by a fringe radical Muslim group. This unfortunate incident worked as a game-changer for Muslims in Sri Lanka. The well-orchestrated yet subtle Islamophobia machinery began to work overtime vindicating anti-Muslim bigotry, in Post war Sri Lanka. Even amidst the Covid pandemic, the same machinery took its institutionalised Islamophobia to another level. Forced Cremation caused anguish and agony particularly among Muslim community, already licking the wounds of demonisation since the ethnic war ended in 2009.

Those who instigated and carried out anti-Tamil pogrom in 1983, as well as the well- orchestrated spate of violence, hate attacks, boycott campaign and pogrom style campaigns against the Muslims, in the Post-war period had patron saints in the then governments. The fiery hate monk Gnanasara  made  a provocative ‘Aba Saranai’ speech in Aluthgama and the rest was history. While the Governments paid lip service to “equality before the law” principles, in reality, saffron robes continue to guarantee immunity to marauders intent on breaching the peace. The common thread for all these violent acts is a culture of impunity that has persisted in the island from the time Sri Lanka gained independence 76 years ago. Sri Lanka has been unable to hold accountable the perpetrators of these spate of violence, riots or the war that ended in 2009, despite its continued commitments to international organizations, and the then governments continued to shield the perpetrators from any form of accountability.

In a ICJ report titled The Crisis of Impunity in Sri Lanka (2012), it says, ‘..in Sri Lanka,  impunity has over the years become institutionalized and systematized: mechanisms to hold state actors to account for their actions have been eroded; checks on the arbitrary use of power have been diluted, if not dissolved; institutions to protect the independence of the judiciary have been eviscerated; the Attorney-General has become politicized; and political forces have continually sought to influence and interfere with the judiciary. Blatant disregard for the rule of law and the independence of the judiciary has crippled the justice system, leaving victims with little or no prospect of remedies or reparations for serious human rights violations’. Instances of impunity shown above are but part of the story. Unless the crisis of endemic impunity is combated and sorted out, the rot will continue to make Sri Lanka a pariah state subjected to international shame.

The tempo of anti-Muslim hate and violence became worse during Rajapaksas’ rule. In Goebbelsian fashion, the extremist groups repeated ludicrous claims and conspiracy theories such as Wandha Koththu and forced sterilization claims about minority communities, mixed with a healthy dose of hate and fear, until the lies become truth to their followers. Parochial fears within the Sinhala community and failures by some sections of the Muslim community to integrate sufficiently with other communities conflagrate bogus claims made by the BBS and like-minded groups. It was few days ago that Dr Shafi was fully cleared of all charges by the Courts; Question arises when the culprits- Hemantha Dhedunu who wrote the provocative article in Divaina, Ratana Thero, Jayasumana and Wimal Weerawansa who spread the ‘womb-war’ canard for example will be held to account. But there lies also the greatest tragic irony, even when the Yahapalana Government came to power, while it took the initiative to draft a new constitution that guaranteed equality and inclusivity to all Sri Lanka’s people, its failure to act against saffron-clad marauders sent a clear message across the country that some citizens will remain, today and perhaps forever, more equal than others.

Post War Sri Lanka has been sadly steadily moving in the direction of becoming an authoritarian state, with the rule of law and governance under attack, the ascendance of majoritarian ethno-religious intolerance, and an overall decline in democratic and human rights standards. AKD will have to take into consideration the realities and enormous challenges before tackling these issues. Pluralism has been articulated as being the cornerstone of a binding Sri Lankan identity. However, the failure to instill an ethos of mindful coexistence strengthened by the protection accorded through Fundamental Rights, has pushed meaningful pluralistic coexistence to the far future.

True! he called for unity among the various ethnic and religious groups in Sri Lanka and has promised to work for the collective benefit of the nation. However, overcoming the entrenched political interests and long-time political culture of corruption will be a monumental task. AKD will have to work hard to gain the acceptance of the minority communities at a time when they feel increasingly fractured and unrepresented in Sri Lankan politics. Majoritarianism rarely, if ever, accompanies good governance, and Sri Lanka is a case in point. It is a tough challenge to change the entrenched majoritarian and Sinhala Supremacist culture in the State machinery. The Rajapaksas were unashamedly a Sinhala-Buddhist nationalist political machine whose policies were that of racism, majoritarian – nationalist, authoritarianism and centralisation and they used them to divide and rule. Majoritarianism remains institutionalized in Sri Lankan political culture.

As political analyst Neil De Votta says, ‘While political parties and leaders have alternated in power in post-independence Sri Lanka, Sinhalese Buddhist nationalism has consistently triumphed, and this at the expense of pluralism and democracy. Instituting pluralism, and thereby trying to regain the island’s democratic promise, necessitates accepting and learning from the mistakes committed. Yet, the communal trajectory that post-independence Sri Lanka adopted has emboldened Sinhalese Buddhist nationalists, whose longstanding zeitgeist is rooted in notions of sinhadipa, dhammadipa and the attendant belief that majority domination and minority subjugation is fully justified. Consequently, one is unlikely to see the sort of pluralism befitting a liberal democracy taking root on the island. The best one can hope for at the moment is limited pluralism where minorities live with a sense of security and dignity’.

De Votta comments on realities about pluralism in Sri Lanka, ‘Sri Lanka did have many opportunities to change the island’s “hardware” and thereby control the manner in which ethno-religious and cultural sentiments were fanned (i.e., how its “software” operated). But Sinhalese Buddhist nationalism rooted in mytho-history, British shortsightedness, misplaced and displaced trust among elites, political opportunism, and the hardening of attitudes as ethnic tensions transmogrified into terrorism and war crimes ensured this did not happen. The lack of constitutional protections for (minorities), coupled with no institutional mechanism for limiting majoritarian rule, meant that political parties adopted electoral strategies that appealed to the Sinhalese Buddhist majority. The reality in Sri Lanka is that while governments may promote policies supporting pluralism, this will only take place in ways that do not threaten the majoritarianism now in place’.

According to Global Pluralism Monitor Report (completed in 2022), ‘The ability to compete and contest are fundamental aspects of democracy, and, in this regard, Sri Lanka ranks highly. But one cannot envision a non-Buddhist becoming president of the country. Political participation and contestation within Sri Lanka’s polity ensues amidst a well-entrenched Sinhalese Buddhist nationalist ideology that claims minorities live in Sri Lanka thanks to Sinhalese Buddhist sufferance and should not make undue demands that may challenge Sinhalese Buddhist supremacy. This majoritarian ethos is obvious when one looks at the Sri Lankan bureaucracy’.

In the past, usually a sense of communalism was most evident during parliamentary elections, when people vote for parties along ethno-national and religious lines. Post-election, however, parties who competed along ethno-religious lines became coalition partners depending on the election results. However, this time, there appears to be a paradigm shift evident among both Tamils and Muslims regarding their voting patterns with much dissatisfaction about ethnic parties and their leaders, which trend benefits the NPP. AKD has a clear opportunity here in retain their trust by making them feel equals in law and practice.Both political leaders and State officials have a key role to play in building a pluralistic society in which there is equal voice irrespective of number and in which members of diverse ethnic, racial, religious, or social groups maintain and develop their traditional culture or special interest within the sphere of a common citizenship. It is important that the state acts with justice and equity at all times in serving the people.

As it is often stressed, Parliament however is not the only venue where the next five years of Sri Lanka’s future will be charted. As a country with a vibrant history of protest and dissent, where people’s struggles have played a pivotal role in shaping the political consciousness of the citizens and even led to radical changes in the political landscape, how communities mobilise themselves for change and justice will have a strong impact on the future of Sri Lanka even under this new political dispensation.

Latest comments

  • 11
    1

    With the ascension of the NPP as the governing party and its noble culture, communal politics will become redundant. There will no longer be a need for “Tamil” parties or “Buddhist” parties or “Muslim” parties in Sri Lanka. In the years to come, there will be one common identity for all Sri Lankans that do not highlight ethnic or religious affiliations. Everyone should prepare for and work towards this objective, so that exploitative, divisive and wholly destructive sectarian lines will forever be erased from a land which will eventually become prosperous and free. One has only to look at all the destruction and lack of unity in West Asia (Sunni vs Shia, Jew vs Arab etc) at the behest of the Great Satan to learn from those horrible events. Sri Lanka deserves a much better future.

    • 7
      5

      There may not be Tamil or Buddhist or Muslim or even Christian parties, but certainly there will be Sinhala parties which will serve Sinhala supremacism. Racism has to be eliminated all round like in Singapore with equality and meritocracy. You cannot have equality with Buddhism being given prominent place and you cannot have meritocracy with standardisation in university entrance in place. Racism has to be eliminated from all quarters. Worst racism is Muslim claim for eastern province when their ancestors went as refugees and next is Sinhala claim for the entire island, where emerging evidence show that original people were Veddhas followed by Dravidians. Restore land and power to Tamils without which you cannot mend ethnic fault lines and to talk of such is hollow.

      • 5
        4

        D. GS

        You are Repeating your WILD and BASELESS ALLEGATIONS against Muslims. Please show your evidence for your LAUGHABLE Claim ” Muslim claim for eastern province”.

        If Muslims went to the Eastern Province as “refugees”. how did they become “refugees”?

      • 6
        3

        Dr. Gnana Sankaralingam


        “….. where emerging evidence show that original people were Veddhas followed by Dravidians. “

        Alright, why don’t you encourage Tamil and Sinhala speaking people to leave the island? Let us have a peaceful island.

        “Restore land and power to Tamils without which you cannot mend ethnic fault lines and to talk of such is hollow.”

        No need if we send the descendants of kallathonies back to whence they came. The island will remain very peaceful.

      • 1
        3

        Hello Doctor,
        What is an original inhabitant? We are all “Out of Africa” people. The Blombos Caves in South Africa have the oldest paintings by Humans (so far) from around 70, 000 years ago. The mix of Genes from other species of Hominids (Neanderthal, Denisovan etc) is much more complicated than previously thought.
        https://www.yourgenome.org/theme/evolution-of-modern-humans/
        Scotland is a mix of Vikings, Anglo Saxons, Scots, Picts, Beaker Folk, Corded Ware peoples and Hunter Gatherers from the Iberian Peninsula. So who are the “Original People” and do you get a vote which depends on a DNA Test?
        My DNA is R1b1a2 and is shared by many in Europe all the way to the Ukranian Steppes (probably from the Yamnaya). I believe that some of the Brahmins also have this, but I could be wrong.
        Best regards
        On your evidence the Veddha should be in charge. They were here first.
        Best regards

    • 2
      1

      “and its noble culture”
      Something yet to be seen.

  • 10
    1

    “AKD government has pledged to address long-pending issues around war-time accountability, truth, and justice that Tamils seek, by promising to make domestic mechanisms credible and sound, so the Tamil people will be able to trust them. On the pending political settlement, AKD proposes to take forward past efforts towards drafting a new constitution, referring to the initiatives taken by the Yahapalana government and later abandoned.”
    Tamil Speaking people welcome the efforts taking by the NPP government with caution and expecting a permanent solution before the end of this government. NPP should realise the safety of Tamils and Muslims is important similar to the safety of Sinhalese. It should also realise that the change in the system include a system change of the constitution which cannot be turned down by any other governments after this government. Under the democratic system and unitary government there is also a possibility of Buddhist Sinhala majoritarian Fundamentalist government coming back to power and go for another ten decades.

    • 6
      0

      What is needed is a constitutional change of introducing term limits and age limits to Elected Office to get rid of the culture of impunity that seem to be engrained in the present poltical culture since independence.

  • 4
    2

    Thanks, Lukman Harees, for a beautifully written article; I tend to read half of yours, and all of Ameer Ali’s. You are two practising Muslims who are able to take a broad view of politics in this land.
    .
    You are quite right to repose all the trust that you do in AKD. Please see these two articles by Jeevan Hoole, where I have made this point:
    .
    https://www.colombotelegraph.com/index.php/integrity-against-unfettered-authority-lessons-for-the-npp-the-federal-party/
    .
    and
    .
    https://www.colombotelegraph.com/index.php/the-federal-partys-final-election-rally/
    .
    In his Jaffna speech, AKD acknowledges that his speaking only Sinhalese has been a drawback; how many others would be as honest? I wouldn’t have him one whit different from what he is, but in the area of nominations, there just are no Muslim candidates in Uva, and only one (out of 21) in Colombo. I have highlighted this where possible (with my concern being more with the lack of Hindus). At a meeting in Bandarawela held between Presidential victory and nomination day for Parliament, I made the point tellingly. That may have been partly responsible for both Ambiga Samuel and Kitnan Sellasamy being nominated.
    .
    You make the point that we ought not to consider what community a candidate is when voting. I absolutely agree, and that will be seen in how I vote on Thursday; however, if the net result is going to be that nobody from certain communities is nominated, then that won’t do. It is best, Lukman, that you leave it to a Sinhalese like me to make the point.
    .
    Panini Edirisinhe

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