Guiding principles

President Chandrika Bandaranaike Kumaratunga's exhortation that extremes should be eschewed in politics, while being strongly reminiscent of the Buddha's Middle Path, also carries echoes of Aristotle's Golden Mean, an idea which is continuing to wield considerable influence in global political thought.

In fact the conception of steering a middle course has transcended the province of politics and is today very much part of mainstream thinking on ethical living. Be that as it may, there is no denying that an adherence to the Middle Path on the part of administrations led by President Kumaratunga has helped to keep Sri Lanka intact and whole.

This is so particularly because extremism has not many takers, whether it manifests itself in politics, religion or economic thinking. President Kumaratunga was absolutely right when she said that extremist political organisations, wherever they may be, cannot muster more than a handful of votes.

The President reminded us that the SLFP, a model Social-Democratic party, embodies this principle of the Middle Path, which has proved to be of pivotal importance since 1994 in our efforts to find a political solution to our conflict.

These political insights are of continuing importance in our efforts to negotiate a solution to the National Question. It is no secret that political extremism is very much alive in our midst. One such force is ethnic chauvinism while religious chauvinism or bigotry is another.

At bottom what these forces are clamouring for is the right to exercise political power in the State, entirely by themselves to the exclusion of other democratic forces, representative of the country's legitimate, variegated interests.

Needless to say, such ambitions are a violation of democratic norms and values. Ideally, all democratic forces - regardless of whom or what they represent - should be party to the democratic process. Popular participation in political decision-making, in other words, should be a solid reality.

This is one of the most effective ways of creating an Inclusive Democracy where no significant political force would be allowed to roam the wilderness and threaten the existence of the State from the murky margins of society, as has happened often in the case of Sri Lanka.

Essentially, our case is that the Lankan political pie should be shared equitably by all its communities. There is no question of one community or group eating the pie to the exclusion of the rest because this leads to discontentment among these groups which are left out of the power structure. This state of mind leads eventually to unrest and unrest to insurrection and war. This is familiar ground which we should, nevertheless, recall now.

Some heart could be taken from the fact that Premier Mahinda Rajapakse has pledged to find a peaceful solution to our conflict through devolution. This proves adequately that political extremism has been avoided in framing the Premier's election manifesto.

Only time will tell how the Premier would set about his task of finding a solution to our conflict but the principle of the Middle Path would need to be borne in mind.

Ideally, we need to have a power-sharing, inclusive polity. This was President Kumaratunga's aim and this helped Lanka to remain whole. The same principles should guide Lanka into the future. For, power monopolisation by one group would only speed-up the disintegration of this country.