Rallying as one nation

What is perhaps most thought provoking about the current stand-off between Sri Lanka and sections of the West over the so-called accountability resolution being sponsored by the latter against this country at the upcoming UNHRC sessions is that Sri Lanka is being forced to re-visit some issues of the first importance, which, with time, have been almost forgotten by many in this country. One of these is the question of Sri Lankans unifying as a single collectivity under one national banner.

Close on the heels of the 1983 riots when these and many other contentious issues came to be debated in this country and outside, among those who studied Sri Lanka’s dilemmas, one problem which received concentrated attention was that of national identity. Very rightly, some sections in Sri Lanka were seen as not rallying round the larger society because they could not easily identify with the national polity. Explorations into the root causes of this problem revealed that national identity was conceived so narrowly and with such heavy biases that not all sections of our people were convinced that Sri Lanka was accommodating them readily.

Therefore, the challenge was to evolve a conception of nationality with which all sections and communities of our country could freely and willingly identify themselves. Over the 30 years or more when the conflict raged, this question could not be adequately addressed because the stresses and strains of the conflict did not provide us with the opportunities to fully probe such questions and to come out with the relevant remedies. Now that national reconstruction and rejuvenation are among the central preoccupations of this polity the issue of national unity and solidarity could be addressed and answered.

If one may recall, President Mahinda Rajapaksa himself referred to this issue when he said immediately after the elimination of the LTTE that Sri Lanka no longer had ‘majority or minority communities’ but those sections which loved Sri Lanka and those that did not. In other words, the criterion of being a Sri Lankan was simply attachment and love for one’s motherland. Ethnicity or race was not to be of relevance.

The state and society of this country need to build further on these insights of the President. While events that draw us together as Sri Lankans, such as the people’s demonstration of solidarity with the country next Monday, are very important, we also need to work vibrantly to ensure that every section of local society identifies closely and unchangeably with mainstream society. One of the most effective ways of doing this is to leave no doubts in anyone’s mind that he or she is a complete citizen of this land.

As we have time and again pointed out in this commentary, equitable development is a must for generating national solidarity. Yesterday we carried on our front page the picture of a Northern farmer joyously and proudly showing the world a very bountiful vegetable harvest. This was made possible by the material assistance which is now being provided to the Northern people by the state. Such avenues of empowerment must be continuously provided to the people of the North-East if disaffection is to be a thing of the past.

The state has also underscored its commitment to social equity by establishing institutions such as the Ministry of National Languages and Social Integration, whose primary task is to work towards national unity and solidarity. Hopefully, all such endeavours would result in a society where the pull of narrow identities and communalism would be completely diminished.

Therefore, the process of national reconciliation should get into top gear from now on, based on the premise that none should be given cause to believe that he is not part of the mainstream of life. This moment should be seized to establish Sri Lanka on new humanistic foundations.