{"id":116399,"date":"2013-12-08T00:06:49","date_gmt":"2013-12-07T18:36:49","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/?p=116399"},"modified":"2013-12-14T10:32:02","modified_gmt":"2013-12-14T05:02:02","slug":"sumanthiran-comes-within-slapping-distance","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/sumanthiran-comes-within-slapping-distance\/","title":{"rendered":"Sumanthiran Comes Within Slapping Distance"},"content":{"rendered":"

By Malinda Seneviratne<\/span><\/a> –<\/strong><\/p>\n

\"Malinda<\/a>

Malinda Seneviratne<\/p><\/div>\n

\u2018Moderate\u2019 is a subjective tag.\u00a0\u00a0 Tamil National Alliance (TNA) MP M.A. Sumanthiran<\/span><\/a> may call himself a moderate but not everyone will go along with his self-perception. The same holds for any moderate, self-labeled or labeled as such by others.\u00a0 Politicians, in particular, are notorious for self-labeling and crafting speech with particular audience in mind.<\/p>\n

Despite all these truisms and some contentious assertions Sumanthiran\u2019s intervention in the budget debate has to be labeled \u2018brave\u2019.\u00a0 It is not easy, after all, for a Tamil politician to admit that wrong was done in the name of the Tamil people.<\/p>\n

One can argue that he hasn\u2019t done enough, for example that he cannot be taken seriously until he acknowledges the pernicious role of pro-LTTE elements of the expatriate Sri Lankan Tamils.\u00a0 Indeed, Sumanthiran\u2019s \u2018acknowledgements\u2019 sound bland compared to the listing offered by Rajan Hoole (\u2018A flawed liberation Struggle: Massacres of Sinhalese civilians<\/span><\/a>,\u2019 in www.colombotelegraph.com<\/a>).\u00a0 When he says \u2018We are in refugee camps for 23 years\u2019 and asks \u2018Why is that?\u2019 he could be asked also to ask himself whether the question is less valid for Tamil politicians and militants.<\/p>\n

On the other hand, reluctance to acknowledge crimes done in the name of a particular community is not the preserve of Tamil politicians.\u00a0 Exchange of barbs and listing the crimes of the \u2018other\u2019 has been the order of play for several decades.<\/p>\n

This is why, despite serious silences in Sumanthiran\u2019s speech, it has to be seen as a brave intervention.\u00a0 In all probability he would have been the recipient of much flak from his party colleagues, behind closed doors of course.\u00a0 While it was not exactly an \u2018own goal\u2019 it was certainly a kick in the \u2018wrong direction\u2019 in terms of the general practice of political football, one might say.<\/p>\n

When he acknowledges that was done in the name of Tamils to Muslims was unjust (and adds, albeit as an afterthought, that the Sinhalese also suffered), he puts himself within slapping distance of both friend and foe.\u00a0 This is not courage but double courage.\u00a0 It appears that he at least has understood that few Sinhalese would be interested in listening to any litany of woes uttered by any Tamil politician who pussyfoots around the vexed issue of atrocities perpetrated in the name of the Tamil community.<\/p>\n

He is only saying part of the story when he states \u2018Only when David Cameron<\/span><\/a> spoke, the world heard; otherwise our voices are stifled\u2019 for he cannot be ignorant how Cameron\u2019s ignorance and cheap politicking.\u00a0 And yet, he is correct that certain grievances fall on deaf ears in Colombo.\u00a0 He probably understands that the identity of grievance-articulator is part of the problem.\u00a0 What is important is that name of messenger and his\/her past history should not cause listener to turn away.\u00a0 Even if there is frill and inflation as per the dictates of expediency, there often is a core that is real and big enough to warrant complaint and therefore redress.<\/p>\n

Sumanthiran, let us repeat, has come within slapping distance and this constitutes opportunity and warrants applause. This is why.<\/p>\n

About a year ago, Bishop Duleep de Chickera during a thanksgiving service for the former Vicar of St. Paul\u2019s Church, Kandy, Rev Fr James Amerasekara, said that Fr James\u2019 ministry was governed among other things by Jesus\u2019 extortion \u2018If a man slaps you on your cheek, turn to him the other also\u2019.\u00a0 Bishop Chickera explained that it had taken him a long time to realize that what Jesus meant was \u2018stay within slapping distance, don\u2019t move away; because that distance is also the distance for an embrace\u2019.<\/p>\n

Embrace a member of a party that was once the mouthpiece of a terrorist outfit, a Tamil whose party turned the other way when in the name of the Tamil community thousands of Sinhalese and Muslims were slaughtered in cold blood?\u00a0 Yes.\u00a0 \u2018Yes\u2019 because perceptions aside there was a \u2018real\u2019 that happened in the other direction too.\u00a0 \u00a0Humility is the cornerstone of any edifice of co-existence and inter-communal harmony.\u00a0 Sumanthiran is not always humble and his humility even here leaves out large parts of a very violent text, but that\u2019s not reason enough to dismiss. Rather, it is reason enough to turn searchlight inwards.<\/p>\n

For several decades we have had people speaking on behalf of various collectives choosing to react to slap with slap.\u00a0 Someone must start by refusing to slap-back.\u00a0 Someone has to come within slapping distance.\u00a0 For now, it might be pointed out that Sumanthiran came within slapping distance but took care to hold a shied in front of his face.\u00a0 Still, it is better than what others of his political persuasion has done and better than what his detractors have done and do.<\/p>\n

*Malinda Seneviratne is the Chief Editor of \u2018The Nation\u2019\u00a0and his articles can be found at\u00a0www.malindawords.blogspot.com<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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