{"id":105996,"date":"2013-09-18T00:00:52","date_gmt":"2013-09-17T18:30:52","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/?p=105996"},"modified":"2013-09-22T13:40:14","modified_gmt":"2013-09-22T08:10:14","slug":"the-sri-lankan-dilemma","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/the-sri-lankan-dilemma\/","title":{"rendered":"The Sri Lankan Dilemma"},"content":{"rendered":"

By\u00a0Romesh Hettiarachchi<\/a><\/span> –<\/strong><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>

Romesh Hettiarachchi<\/p><\/div>\n

Since the end of armed hostilities between the Government of Sri Lanka (\u201dGovernment\u201d) and the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) in May 2009, I have taken a keen interest in the various efforts to help the war-affected people in Sri Lanka rebuild their lives.\u00a0Driven in part by my leadership creating inter-communal dialogues within the Sri Lankan Diaspora in Toronto, I have particularly searched for initiatives that address (or attempt to address) the needs of all Sri Lankans, regardless of ethnicity, in a non-partisan\/non-political manner. Throughout this search, I have kept my faith in the leadership of the Sinhalese and Tamil communities in Sri Lanka and abroad, hoping they develop the political and social maturity to collaborate in the development of public policies to help their collective constituents.<\/p>\n

The Challenge of Sinhalese and Tamil Nationalism<\/strong><\/p>\n

Suffice to say, keeping this faith has been trying over the past year.<\/p>\n

Though the hyper-partisan political environments in Sri Lanka and in the Diaspora has always been exhausting, these barriers have grown more formidable as a result of increasingly virulent threads of Sinhalese and Tamil nationalism. Inside Sri Lanka, Sinhalese nationalists marginalize the Muslim and Tamil communities, asserting that Sri Lanka ought to be recognized as the global home of authentic Buddhism and the Sinhala people. Outside Sri Lanka, a new generation of Tamil activists criticize attempts to forge alliances between the Tamil and Sinhalese communities, asserting that a creation of a separate state is the only solution for peace in Sri Lanka.<\/p>\n

Interestingly, both nationalist discourses share similar characteristics, the most notable of which is their approach to dissent.\u00a0Sinhalese nationalists in Sri Lanka marginalize dissent by characterizing their perspectives as supportive of the LTTE or Tamil Eelam. Conversely, Tamil nationalists outside Sri Lanka marginalize dissent by deeming dissenters as ignorant and ill informed about the \u2018true wishes\u2019 of the Tamil people.\u00a0A few examples:<\/p>\n

    \n
  1. If any action of the Government is criticized substantively, the Government through its various organs, maligns the critic as being part of the\u00a0\u201cpro-LTTE Diaspora\u201d<\/a>.\u00a0Outside Sri Lanka, Meanwhile, leading Tamil nationalists outside Sri Lanka openly refer to Tamil critics of Tamil nationalism\u00a0as\u00a0traitors<\/a>.<\/li>\n
  2. Justice CV Wigneswaran is a former Justice of the Supreme Court of Sri Lanka who is currently the chief ministerial candidate of the Tamil National Alliance (TNA) in the upcoming Northern Provincial Council elections in Sri Lanka. Fluent in Sinhalese, Tamil and English, Justice Wigneswaran was (to the best of my knowledge) a highly respected member of the judiciary at least until he sought to represent the people of the Northern Province. Since announcing his candidacy, Sinhalese nationalists\u00a0threaten\u00a0<\/a>to not allow Justice Wigneswaran to return to Colombo, accusing him of being a supporter of\u00a0separatism<\/a>. Meanwhile, Tamil nationalists threaten to\u00a0\u201cunmask\u201d<\/a>\u00a0the\u00a0\u201cout of touch\u201d<\/a>\u00a0Justice Wigneswaran as he is focused on the\u00a0short-term interests\u00a0<\/a>of his potential constituents.<\/li>\n
  3. These contending positions are evident in the wake of the visit from the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, Navanethem Pillay. Even before she came to the country, key members of the Government denounced her visit as being biased and prejudiced against Sri Lankans. During her visit, Ms. Pillay was subject to mass protests from Sinhalese nationalists\u00a0condemning the visit<\/a>,\u00a0wanton marriage proposals<\/a>\u00a0from key Cabinet ministers in the Government to\u00a0accusations<\/a>\u00a0that Ms. Pillay is a supporter of the brutal terrorist Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (\u201dLTTE\u201d), simply because Ms. Pillay is of Tamil ethnicity. On the flip side, Tamil nationalists in the Diaspora were\u00a0disheartened<\/a>\u00a0with Ms. Pillay\u2019s denouncing the LTTE as \u201ca murderous organization that committed numerous crimes and destroyed many lives.\u201d<\/a>\u00a0Asserting that her report \u201crevealed her true character of serving the interests of the UN and the larger interests of the Anglo-Saxon world\u201d,<\/a>\u00a0Penang State Deputy Chief Minister P. Ramasamy continued to suggest Ms. Pillay to keep her comments about the LTTE to her or to those “bleeding” heart liberals.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

    The Prisoners Dilemma<\/strong><\/p>\n

    These examples are\u00a0 a sample of incidences demonstrating that Sinhalese and Tamil nationalism, while antagonistic, depend on the existence on the other.\u00a0Assisted by their respective\u00a0propaganda<\/a>\u00a0outlets,<\/a>\u00a0these nationalisms derive oxygen from the other, painting the other nationalism as a cause in ascendancy to justify and support their own existence.<\/p>\n

    The consequences of Sinhalese and Tamil nationalism to the Sri Lankan people may be illustrated in the thought-experiment that game theorists call the\u00a0Prisoners Dilemma<\/a>\u00a0(For more information about the thought experiment and effective strategies to use in the Dilemma, check out this\u00a0podcast<\/a>.):<\/p>\n

    Two gang robbers, Lucky and Joe, are arrested and imprisoned just after they enter a bank but before they commit the crime. Each prisoner is in solitary confinement with no means of speaking to or exchanging messages with the other. Admitting they don’t have enough evidence to convict the pair on the principal charge, the police offer the following bargain to each prisoner:<\/p>\n