{"id":124426,"date":"2014-05-12T12:05:50","date_gmt":"2014-05-12T06:35:50","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/?p=124426"},"modified":"2014-05-18T12:40:33","modified_gmt":"2014-05-18T07:10:33","slug":"regaining-national-unity-five-years-on","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/regaining-national-unity-five-years-on\/","title":{"rendered":"Regaining National Unity Five Years On"},"content":{"rendered":"

By Jehan Perera<\/span><\/a> –<\/strong><\/p>\n

\"Jehan<\/a>

Jehan Perera<\/p><\/div>\n

The government has made plans to celebrate the fifth anniversary of the end of the war with a \u201cVictory Day<\/span><\/a>\u201d celebration in Matara in the Southern Province.\u00a0 But at the opposite side of the country\u00a0 there will be no such celebration.\u00a0 The government has prohibited any public commemoration of the war\u2019s end in the Northern Province.\u00a0\u00a0 Speaking on behalf of the government, the military spokesperson has said that “Individuals may have religious services to commemorate their loved ones killed in the fighting, but there cannot be any public events.”\u00a0 The government has been concerned that public events could be used to praise the LTTE<\/span><\/a> in the guise of remembering the war dead.<\/p>\n

While the government\u2019s concerns may be real, the contrasting manner in which the May 18 events will be remembered in the two extremes of the country will highlight the polarization that continues to exist in post-war Sri Lanka.\u00a0\u00a0 It is likely that only the government and its political allies will be present at the Victory Day celebrations, which include a victory parade by the military in Matara.\u00a0 The rest of Sri Lanka\u2019s political plural and multi-ethnic polity will be missing.\u00a0 The failure of national reconciliation will be manifest in the government\u2019s celebration and victory parade.\u00a0 It makes it seem as if five years after the war, the war victory over the LTTE was the only real thing that happened.<\/p>\n

The disparity between the government\u2019s treatment of the North and South shows that the ethnic and political conflict remains, despite the end of the war.\u00a0 The country is geographically and administratively unified but remains politically and ethnically divided and in a state of conflict.\u00a0 In recent weeks there also appears to be some signs of opposition appearing from within the ranks of the government itself.\u00a0 This might be seen as signs of a coming implosion, which is a scenario that has been speculated upon for several years, due to the increasing concentration of power within the government.\u00a0 The danger for the government is that there will come a point where the forces of fragmentation, which is indicated by the growing internal opposition, will grow too strong to keep the government coalition together.<\/p>\n

Muslim Community<\/strong><\/p>\n

With presidential elections widely anticipated by early next year, both the government and opposition are trying to attract support to themselves from as wide a constituency as possible.\u00a0\u00a0 The war victory celebration in Matara could be seen as an effort to remind the people of the government\u2019s most important achievement, and consolidate their support for the electoral challenges that lie ahead.\u00a0 However, an overemphasis on the nationalism of one ethnic community can prove to be a double edged sword.\u00a0 An important constituency that the government seems to have lost in recent times is the Muslim community.\u00a0\u00a0 The attacks on them by Sinhalese nationalist groups, such as the BBS<\/span><\/a>, have alienated them from the government.<\/p>\n

There is a perception that these Sinhalese groups are supported by sections within the government.\u00a0 It would be in the interests of the government to distance itself from these attacks in a manner that would restore the balance.\u00a0\u00a0 In a noteworthy development Minister Rishard Bathiudeen has filed action in the courts<\/span><\/a> against one of these groups.\u00a0 He has taken this action when the entire Muslim community feels helpless and vulnerable in the face of anti-Muslim sentiment which is being spread by these groups, and even against the violence perpetrated against the community.\u00a0\u00a0 Members of the BBS not only entered his ministry premises by force, they have also denounced him for allegedly resettling Muslims who were displaced during the war in an illegal manner in the Wilpattu wildlife park.\u00a0 Minister Bathiudeen has rejected these allegations and has demanded either an apology or a legal judgment in his favour.<\/p>\n

There is no doubt that Minister Bathiudeen\u2019s actions will obtain for him the support of many within the Muslim community.\u00a0 This could have positive results to him and his political party which is a coalition partner of the government.\u00a0\u00a0 However, his implicit critique of the government\u2019s inaction in regard to the attacks on the Muslim population is likely to be undermined by what is happening on the ground.\u00a0 In Aluthgama a Muslim shop was torched by a mob<\/span><\/a>, the latest in a series of attacks against\u00a0 the Muslims.\u00a0 At the same time, the concerns of the Sinhalese nationalist groups which have been targeted against the Muslims are also matters of concern to the larger Sinhalese population.\u00a0 Many Sinhalese who do not support the methods and actions of the Sinhalese nationalist groups, nevertheless share their concerns.<\/p>\n

Government Difficulties<\/strong><\/p>\n

The problem facing the government is the opposite of what is facing the opposition.\u00a0 If the government is perceived to be too much of a monolith, and too centralized, it can risk losing support from sections of the population who are not in favour with some parts of current government policy.\u00a0 This can range from its policy on casinos to its attitude to the rise in anti-minority activities.\u00a0 The drastic reduction in the ethnic and religious minority vote going to the government at the provincial council elections held in March has been a matter of concern to the government.\u00a0 It cannot risk losing the minority vote in a similar manner at a presidential election, in which every vote will count.<\/p>\n

The government needs to maintain a social and political balance without going to one extreme.\u00a0 The present weakness in the opposition parties provides the possibility for the government to indeed go to the extreme.\u00a0 There are countervailing forces within the government itself are serving to keep its tendency to go to the extreme in check.\u00a0 In the absence of a strong opposition those countervailing forces within the government will tend to remain with the government rather than spin off to the opposition. This suggests that those who seek policy change in the government at this time could do more to work with sympathetic and like-minded government members to ensure constructive change from within.<\/p>\n

It is easy to get disheartened by the continuing emphasis on the divisions that exist within Sri Lankan society instead of on factors that could genuinely unify the polity.\u00a0 It was all of Sri Lanka that went through a thirty year war that saw large scale civilian casualties through military offensives, bomb attacks and assassinations.\u00a0 There is a need to remember all who died in the hope that this bloodletting will never occur again.\u00a0 This indeed is the message and recommendation of the Lessons Learn and Reconciliation Commission<\/span><\/a> appointed by the President, which is yet to be implemented in full.\u00a0 Hopefully, the South African initiative at promoting reconciliation within the country at the invitation of the government will\u00a0 soon bear fruit.\u00a0 At the present time, the actions of the government and of its nationalist allies on the ground defy hope.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

[…]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":22,"featured_media":42344,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[3,46,8],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-124426","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-colombotelegraph","category-constitutional-reforms","category-editorial"],"yoast_head":"\nRegaining National Unity Five Years On - Colombo Telegraph<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/regaining-national-unity-five-years-on\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Regaining National Unity Five Years On - Colombo Telegraph\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"[…]\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/regaining-national-unity-five-years-on\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Colombo Telegraph\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2014-05-12T06:35:50+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2014-05-18T07:10:33+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/05\/Jehan-Perera-colombo-telegraph.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"136\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"148\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"COLOMBO TELEGRAPH\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"COLOMBO TELEGRAPH\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"6 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/regaining-national-unity-five-years-on\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/regaining-national-unity-five-years-on\/\",\"name\":\"Regaining National Unity Five Years On - Colombo Telegraph\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/regaining-national-unity-five-years-on\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/regaining-national-unity-five-years-on\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/05\/Jehan-Perera-colombo-telegraph.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2014-05-12T06:35:50+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2014-05-18T07:10:33+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/#\/schema\/person\/9db3d0cfcfa59e1997e3c3524d454cb3\"},\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/regaining-national-unity-five-years-on\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/regaining-national-unity-five-years-on\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/regaining-national-unity-five-years-on\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/05\/Jehan-Perera-colombo-telegraph.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/05\/Jehan-Perera-colombo-telegraph.jpg\",\"width\":\"136\",\"height\":\"148\",\"caption\":\"Jehan Perera\"},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/regaining-national-unity-five-years-on\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Regaining National Unity Five Years On\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/\",\"name\":\"Colombo Telegraph\",\"description\":\"In journalism truth is a process\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/#\/schema\/person\/9db3d0cfcfa59e1997e3c3524d454cb3\",\"name\":\"COLOMBO TELEGRAPH\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/920b3181b0bf86b5c339ad9f0963a89f6a8b19c4b971e629987a021ba7a663df?s=96&d=identicon&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/920b3181b0bf86b5c339ad9f0963a89f6a8b19c4b971e629987a021ba7a663df?s=96&d=identicon&r=g\",\"caption\":\"COLOMBO TELEGRAPH\"},\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/author\/colombo_telegraph\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Regaining National Unity Five Years On - Colombo Telegraph","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/regaining-national-unity-five-years-on\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Regaining National Unity Five Years On - Colombo Telegraph","og_description":"[…]","og_url":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/regaining-national-unity-five-years-on\/","og_site_name":"Colombo Telegraph","article_published_time":"2014-05-12T06:35:50+00:00","article_modified_time":"2014-05-18T07:10:33+00:00","og_image":[{"width":136,"height":148,"url":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/05\/Jehan-Perera-colombo-telegraph.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"COLOMBO TELEGRAPH","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"COLOMBO TELEGRAPH","Est. reading time":"6 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/regaining-national-unity-five-years-on\/","url":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/regaining-national-unity-five-years-on\/","name":"Regaining National Unity Five Years On - Colombo Telegraph","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/regaining-national-unity-five-years-on\/#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/regaining-national-unity-five-years-on\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/05\/Jehan-Perera-colombo-telegraph.jpg","datePublished":"2014-05-12T06:35:50+00:00","dateModified":"2014-05-18T07:10:33+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/#\/schema\/person\/9db3d0cfcfa59e1997e3c3524d454cb3"},"breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/regaining-national-unity-five-years-on\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/regaining-national-unity-five-years-on\/"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/regaining-national-unity-five-years-on\/#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/05\/Jehan-Perera-colombo-telegraph.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/05\/Jehan-Perera-colombo-telegraph.jpg","width":"136","height":"148","caption":"Jehan Perera"},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/regaining-national-unity-five-years-on\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Regaining National Unity Five Years On"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/","name":"Colombo Telegraph","description":"In journalism truth is a process","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/#\/schema\/person\/9db3d0cfcfa59e1997e3c3524d454cb3","name":"COLOMBO TELEGRAPH","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/920b3181b0bf86b5c339ad9f0963a89f6a8b19c4b971e629987a021ba7a663df?s=96&d=identicon&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/920b3181b0bf86b5c339ad9f0963a89f6a8b19c4b971e629987a021ba7a663df?s=96&d=identicon&r=g","caption":"COLOMBO TELEGRAPH"},"url":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/author\/colombo_telegraph\/"}]}},"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/05\/Jehan-Perera-colombo-telegraph.jpg","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/124426","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/22"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=124426"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/124426\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":124773,"href":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/124426\/revisions\/124773"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/42344"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=124426"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=124426"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=124426"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}