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.