Easing out ethnic politics
In a most positive
development, Defence Secretary Gotabhaya Rajapaksa has spoken of
the need for the Lankan body-politic to be relieved of ethnic
politics. Ethnic or communal politics constitute a distortion
that needs to be shown the door and we are glad that this
negative tendency in the political process is being addressed in
some responsible quarters.
There are a vast number of voters in particularly the
Northern Province who are reportedly yearning for a new
political leadership in the province, which would steer steeply
away from the divisive ethnic politics which have been hitherto
practised by parties such as the TNA and its allies. In other
words, these voters are for a united and unitary Sri Lanka and
would like to be part of national mainstream politics. What is
lacking is the necessary political leadership to give direction
and guidance to these rudderless sections of the voting
population.
As the Defence Secretary suggests, it would be a sound
proposition for the country's policy and decision-makers to
consider appointing to Parliament from the National List in
future, persons from the North who could be adequately
representative of these new political aspirations of the
province, particularly those of its youthful sections. At the
moment, such leadership is nowhere evident and separatists and
other divisive elements are stepping in to fill the breach. This
amounts to a gross distortion because the sections are sizeable
who want to traverse a new, ground-breaking path in Northern
politics, which has more to do with staying within the Sri
Lankan fold and cooperating with the centre in bringing
development to the North. This is, then, a glaring lacuna which
needs to be filled.
The country could be glad that influential circles in this
country are addressing this contentious question of curbing
ethnic politics. Strictly speaking, ethnic or communal politics
are not in keeping with the spirit of democracy and could prove
harmful to the time-honoured traditions and institutions of the
democratic way of life. However, it is the negative and divisive
tendencies in a country's politics which provide the fertile
ground for the proliferation of communal politics in the first
place. In the case of Sri Lanka, it was a sense of grievance
against the state among sections in the North-East which gave
rise to the phenomenon of ethnicity and spawned political
parties, such as, the Tamil Congress and the Federal Party.
Therefore, mass perceptions of being unfairly treated, for
instance, provide the spurt for the breeding of ethnic politics.
The latter invariably accompany concrete social conditions and
these factors need to be carefully focused on. But all this, in
Sri Lanka's case, is history. Having defeated LTTE terrorism,
the government is offering people everywhere in this country a
hand of friendship and cooperation and there is hope that Sri
Lanka could make a new beginning and forge ahead towards a
plural but united society where fairness and equity would be
deeply entrenched.
The challenge before those old, established political parties
which are habitually described as 'national' parties is to prove
to be truly national. They need to be present in every nook and
corner of the country and draw into their fold every significant
section of local opinion. This could help a great deal in
weeding out communalism or ethnicity from our midst. To be sure,
at the inception, this need was addressed by our older parties,
but they do not seem to have been sufficiently representative of
all communities as time went by.
Currently, the path has been paved to begin anew. The SLFP
has done quite a lot on this front and it is hoped the youthful
sections of the North who are yearning to get into mainstream,
national politics would be enabled to do so. Nevertheless, the
possibility of outlawing communalism too, must be earnestly
looked into. Such steps would send a clear signal to those
extremists who are seeking to slow-down Sri Lanka's onward
march, that the future is not theirs. |