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Time for remembering those who unified the people

Independence Day is supposed to be a time to remember those who fought to gain the independence we are celebrating. It should be a time to remember those who unified the people of Sri Lanka, those who lead the way and those who bravely followed. Independence Day should be a time for reflection. A time to look back at our own lives, our struggles and victories.

Independence Day should be a time for resolution. Resolving to celebrate through our lives the freedom our nation's brave men and women who lost their lives But, unfortunately, for many of us Independence Day is just another day in our busy lives. Many of us do not really take the time to reflect on the true meaning of our independence and the effects it has on our own lives.

This year, as Sri Lanka celebrates 55 years of independence, I decided to sit down and really think about what independence means to me. It wasn't as easy as I had thought it would be.

In 1952, four years after the Independence, I still remember my father vividly explaining to me the events that took place on fourth of February 1948. He spoke of the jubilation that accompanied the lowering of the Union Jack, whose place was taken by our Lion flag. He talked about the 21-gun salute from the 17th century Dutch cannon from Galle Face Green: how Duke of Gloucester read the Declaration of Independence: how Nittawela Gunaya danced the Thuranga Vannama on the three-tiered stage. I was a very young boy yet the arrival of independence was something special to me.

The unmistakable pride of my father was not lost on me.

The sky was the limit for our people as they prepared to move forward into the future as "one people and one nation with one destiny".

I was too young in 1952 to know that beneath that sense of triumph and hope lurked a bitter struggle that would render that noble motto useless. But as the years unfolded and I grew up, I came to know that bitter side. At first I ignored it, then rationalized it, and finally resented it. By 1971 I was asking the question "Is this what independence means?".

Now thirty two years later, as Sri Lanka observes its 55th independence anniversary, I ask the same question "Is this what Independence means?" Is this what my father joyfully cried for in 1948? Is this the country I was taught and groomed to serve? Is this the country that our poor masses and educated men and women dreamt of? Is this the country that thousands of young men sacrificed their talented and resourceful lives for? Is this what we ran the colonizers out for?

The answer to those questions may be obvious to many, but perhaps too painful to admit. Nobody likes to readily admit rank failure. But that's what Sri Lanka is: a failure. A failed country that continues to fail. Many are quick to pounce on all the governments since Independence as the evil of all evils, but I do not agree. More than that, the Sri Lankan people, despite moments of resistance, have wittingly and unwittingly conspired to undermine and kill their own independence. Governments of all types need legitimacy, and the post-independence governments have been legitimised by the innocence, racial defensiveness, and mean-spiritedness of "we the people." When a nation cannot muster the energy to stand in the way of political banditry and barefacedness, that nation is sick.

Our political awakening has never been like a sudden Zen slap of awareness, but a very slow incremental process and it continues apace the people. Even the dimmest witted have seen the sordid affairs of our successive governments which are hard to hide. One thing is certain: we will face more and more disappointments as the years go on, because the three recognised branches of the government have become so ingrown and tyrannical that they treat people at least as badly as the old European Royalty treated their subjects.

Once the people awake to the fact that they are the fourth branch - that they are the real bosses and all elected politicians, appointed government officials all work for them - then we may see some real change in our thinking of independence. Eventually, people should realise that they, united in a common cause, have the power to veto the executive, legislative and judicial branches of government. When that day arrives, the people will understand the true meaning of independence that this country is supposed to have gained.

Until all Sri Lankans extricate themselves from the racial and political vice, and until there is a resolve by all Sri Lankans to commit to nationhood, independence will mean nothing. Until our political elites accept the fact that the "Opposition against Government" and "Government against Opposition" political model is hostile to the country's development, we will continue to be a comic-tragic country. (l.w.)

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