A nation-building speech
President Mahinda
Rajapaksa’s address to the country on the occasion of the second
War Heroes’ Day celebrations yesterday was both eloquent and
thought-provoking. If an address to the country by a political
leader could have the effect of healing and unifying, this was
it. The speech was made of the stuff a responsible political
leader’s address to his countrymen is made of and we hope the
points he made are being deeply pondered on by all who wish Sri
Lanka well.
There is no better means of protecting our hard-won victory
over terror than by building and sustaining national unity. This
point was prime among the observations made by the President and
we believe that this consideration and thought would play a key
role in bringing healing and wholeness to this country. As
should be expected, the President dwelt on the native genius of
Sri Lankans to build fraternal and friendly ties among
themselves spontaneously and the inference the listener would
need to draw from this is that division and inter-communal
hostility do not come naturally to the majority of Sri Lankans.
If not for the divisive tactics perpetrated by the LTTE, for
instance, Sri Lankans from the North-East would have
continuously sought the companionship and amity of the people of
the South on account of the Lankans’ inborn tendency to
strike-up fraternal ties with each other and this applies to the
people of the South as well. They too would have visited the
North-East and mingled freely with the citizens of those
regions.
Division and estrangement, therefore, are alien to the Lankan
character and it was clear that it was the aim of the Northern
separatists and of the purveyors of communalism in Southern Sri
Lanka to ensure the division of Sri Lanka on ethnic lines by
sowing the seeds of mutual hostility among our communities. It
was perhaps little realized that the communalists of the
North-East, such as, the LTTE, and the communalists of Southern
Sri Lanka, had a common aim and that was to breed mutual hatred
among our communities.
However, it is plain to see that these sinister forces of
division and discord have not made any substantial gains over
the decades. Just two years into the post-conflict period, as
the President observed, the people of the North-East and those
of the South are taking part in national events in an inspiring
spirit of companionship and amity.
The Sambuddhatva Jayanthi celebrations are a case in point.
Vesak was celebrated in the North-East too and the people of the
North visited the South in an unprecedented spirit of fraternity
and unity. Such free intermingling was, of course, made possible
by the Security Forces’ historic victory two years ago over the
separatist LTTE and the provision of space for the conduct of
fraternal ties between our communities is one of the most
momentous developments to grow out of the victory of May 2009.
Yet, the ideology of separatism is not totally dead, although
some of the number one promoters of communal enmity, such as,
the LTTE, are no more.
Separatism continues to live in the hearts and minds of all
those who act with the pernicious intent of causing disaffection
among our communities and these forces are yet alive and
kicking, to a degree, in both North and South.
A communalist, whether he be from the North or the South, is
a separatist because he is motivated by the intent of bringing
division and discord to Sri Lanka. Such a communalist could be
found to be intent on ‘opening old wounds’ in the collective
psyche of the communities by harping on the tragedies and
traumas of the past with the final intention of triggering
hostile, divisive relations among our people. These agents of
division could be mulling ways and means of getting back into
contention it should be the endeavour of the state to defeat
these destructive aims.
As President Rajapaksa very rightly put it, the victory of
May 2009, was in reality a victory for national unity and
communal amity. It was a triumph that opened the possibility of
all communities of this land, Sinhala, Tamil, Muslim, Burgher
etc, living happily and amicably under one flag and roof.
Accordingly, there is no space in this new dispensation for
the forces of communalism which are seeking to keep ethnic
friction alive and thereby aiming at aborting the triumph of May
2009. This needs to be noted by the state and the forces of
progress.
As we suggested yesterday, progressive measures need to be in
place to alienate and neutralize the forces of communalism. They
are the purveyors of hatred who are intently engaged in opening
‘old wounds’ and in turning them into running sores. They could
be found in the least expected places, and the necessary laws
and institutions must be put together to ensure their resounding
defeat. |