Back to BASICS - Renton de Alwis

Ownership, involvement, empowerment and sharing

No matter how hard it is for some to understand the jubilation of the people who ‘celebrated’ the victory over the LTTE, it must be understood that it was a deep sense of relief and an expression of gratitude of many that formed the post victory euphoria.

We need to sieve the dust of such jubilation to understand that perhaps there is not a single Sri Lankan, be from the North, South, East, West or the Centre, whose very life would not have been affected by the terrorising that took its toll for nearly three decades. During those years, sometime someone’s son, daughter, brother, sister, mother or father was a victim of terror and the scars that were left behind on all sides are many.

We also know that the causes that created and allowed the monster of using terror as a method to resolve issues, go even beyond the three decades of the LTTE’s unleashing of that terror. Our reflections and actions hereafter must indeed capture the causes for such and as was resolved by the President, we as sons and daughters of Mother Sri Lanka must take on assertive action to ensure that we never repeat those mistakes again.

What is positive about the outcomes we saw on the streets and at events organised by the State is that it gave an outlet for those affected to erase those scars and heal the wounds.

In addition to fulfilling the deep-seated cultural trait of ‘kela guna salakeema’ meaning demonstration of gratitude; it gave an opportunity for us to have moments of reflection to understand and resolve that we must not see such pain and suffering ever again. It also gave us, as Sri Lankans the opportunity to understand what clear strategy, focus, dedication and hard work can achieve.

Now it is time that we put the celebrations behind us and direct energies and effort to rebuild unity working towards establishing a solid base for ensuring lasting peace. Here a good beginning is made by several in shouldering the responsibility of healing the wounds of those displaced by the conflict now placed in temporary shelters.

Looking after the immediate, medium and long term needs of the displaced is indeed a priority need. Reconciliation and rebuilding of our nation must begin with expressions of compassion, loving kindness, understanding and equanimity on those who were willing or unwilling victims of the events that unfolded.

Enormous challenge

The United Nations and the international community have offered us help and support in looking after the needs of the displaced. While this is very welcome, the challenge before every right thinking Sri Lankan now should be to become a part of the solution.

Many responded to the calls for providing the immediate needs and we saw those expressions of care and concern from people from all walks of life. There was the instance of a mother who brought with her, her lifetime savings and handed it over to the President in support of the rebuilding effort at a public ceremony. This taken as a symbolic gesture of the need for involvement of each and every one of us, becomes a strong and powerful message.

With nearly 300,000 displaced, the enormity of the challenge of caring for their basic needs is huge. The wounded, the disabled, the elderly, children and women consist of most needy.

Yal Devi, the Colombo-Jaffna railway link always a symbolic representation of the age old ties between the South and North.

Already, we hear of people from various government organisations, the defence forces and NGOs working beyond their usual calls of duty at the camps supported by volunteer medical and other personnel.

This is in addition to the support we have got from coalitions of international NGOs in the setting up and operation of the camps. Local foundations and volunteer groups have contributed to the effort. We must salute them all and understand and appreciate the enormity of the task before them. There is so much more to be done.

At no time can we make this the responsibility of the international community and steer away from ownership of the issues at hand.

All Sri Lankans have an enormous challenge and are duty bound now, to demonstrate that we as a nation can rise above all our petty divides to help each other, in even the most telling circumstances.

This is a resolve that will hold us in good stead as we move into the process of building trust and gaining confidence of even the most extremist segments of the divide of the past.

The good old days

The reality is that a good part of the present generation of Sri Lankans have grown within an environment where terror, uncertainty, insecurity, trauma, fear and loss of opportunities were lining their horizon as dark clouds. Polarization of the major portion of the Tamil Diaspora is another issue.

It is important that we make a concerted effort to create visions of hope for them as well of what is possible beyond that horizon. With the youth we must share tales of ‘the good old days’ when the people to people interaction in our Motherland was at its best.

With the Diaspora as well as all other Sri Lankans, we must attempt to involve each and everyone, beginning with the moderates, extending gradually to the non-believers. This we can do by involving and empowering them in the process of rebuilding. Here there are also opportunities for us to use the power of Info-communications to reach out to them.

Uthuru Mithuru

Uthuru Mithuru is one such initiative that has produced and posted on the Facebook on the Internet, a most moving creative work in the video format in Sinhala, Tamil and English. It is reminiscing on the good old days of the Yal Devi, the Colombo-Jaffna railway link which was always a symbolic representation of the age old ties between the South and the North. Found at the web link www.youtube.com, what it demonstrates to me is the power of good, solid story-telling in communicating a strong emotive message to our youth using the medium of creative film making on the Internet.

I am not naive to think that sharing stories of the ‘good old days’ and/or undertaking creative pursuits to communicate them will be the only way forward for us in the reconciliation process. The emphasis I place is on the need to be positive and constructive when we build hope in the hearts and minds of our youth of all races, not only in Sri Lanka but all over the world.

There are also examples of other efforts such as the Theertha International Artists Collective where Tamil and Sinhalese artists were brought together to share their inspirations and insights. They have held exhibitions questioning the narrowly defined notions of what it means to be ‘Sri Lankan’.

The Abhina Academy of Performing Arts initiated by well-known actress Anoja Weerasinghe is another example of using theatre workshops as an aid for overcoming trauma while rebuilding confidence and trust. There will be many other similar initiatives we can draw from and these are but a few used to demonstrate the power of such efforts in meeting the challenges before us.

Involve all

This is a time, when each Sri Lankan entity be it a school, business (big or small), welfare organisation, political party, a temple, church, kovil, mosque, musicians, performing and visual artists, sports men and women, NGOs or every individual citizen is called on to participate in the process of assisting those affected through a ‘Host’ program. Each entity can undertake to provide a material and /or service need, identified by those involved in caring for the displaced and /or the resettlement process.

The contribution must be on the basis of affordability and ability and no effort must be considered more important than the other. Such an effort the columnist believes will enable Sri Lanka to rebuild unity and confidence through a holistic and participatory approach.

This can help create lasting bondages between our people who must now begin to think as Sri Lankans unified.

The same program perhaps can be extended to the Sri Lankan Diaspora and other ‘Friends of Sri Lanka’ as well, making them active and empowered participants in the process of reconciliation and rebuilding.

We have won the battle against terror. Now the war to establish lasting peace has begun. Let us all believe in our ability to win that war and be party to that effort throughout its process.

Useful Web addresses:

Ministry of Resettlement and Disaster Relief Services - www.resettlementmin.gov.lk/idps-_statistics.html

An independent international media Development initiative - www.internews.lk

Efforts at Rebuilding Unity (Rotary Sri Lanka) - www.unitingsrilanka.com

United Nations Media Release on visit of Secretary General - www.un.lk/media_centre/press_releases.php