Perpetuating social amity and stability

As China's millennia-long wisdom so evocatively and cogently proclaims, 'It is better to light a candle than to curse the darkness.' This timeless saying, we hope, will be treasured in the hearts and minds of our citizenry as we take on and seek to contain the numerous issues confronting us as a country and as a collectivity. Needless to say, one such troubling development is what has come to be known as the 'Dambulla crisis' which has obvious implications for social stability and domestic law and order.

Right now, a task that needs to be urgently fulfilled is sustained bridge-building among local communities. Admittedly, we do not possess many organizations and persons who are ardently committed to this task. If we did, the conflict in the North-East, for instance, would not have dragged on so tragically for 30 long years.

Be that as it may, the need to sustain peace and harmony among our communities is of the first importance and tensions such as those which erupted in Dambulla recently only serve to emphatically underscore this national requirement.

Fortunately, there are a few persons and organizations which are willing to 'light a candle rather than curse the darkness.' Some of these entities are dedicated to the task of building bonds of understanding and fostering intelligent discourse between the Buddhist and Hindu communities, for example. It is gladdening to note they are making some progress in meeting the needs of the more deprived sections of local society, regardless of religion, communal and class differences.

An essential precondition for solidifying religious, cultural and communal amity in Sri Lanka is the emergence to the forefront of the affairs in this country of moderate and sensible opinion. This, we have repeatedly stressed in this commentary.

It could not be emphasized enough that the loudest and most raucous 'noises' are currently being made about Dambulla and kindred issues by hard line or extremist opinion who are in the minority.

It is not so much a case of a microscopic minority wielding tyrannical influence over the majority in our respective communities but of the majority preferring to remain silent or of the majority not minding the minority riding rough shod over them and voicing their opinion over their own.

This is a most unsatisfactory state of affairs because it is very often the opinion of the minority hard liners which comes to be projected as the opinion of the majority, whereas the latter is the more sensible and perceptive of the two groups. Therefore, it is hoped that the 'moral majority' would not only increasingly voice its views on national questions but be more proactively involved in the affairs of this country.

Accordingly, we would like to have in our midst more of those who would take the initiative to light that 'candle' of understanding which will drive away the darkness of bigotry and prejudice. They will be bridge-builders who would reach out to the 'Other' and work together with the latter to make Sri Lanka a haven of communal, religious and cultural harmony.

These reflections should help to put the UNHRC resolution against Sri Lanka in the correct perspective.

The objective onlooker would not for a moment believe that the West which sponsored the resolution would have not been aware of the divisive impact it could have on Sri Lanka's body-politic. For instance, it is all too evident that this resolution has enabled ethnic ill-feeling to stir once again. 'Old wounds' are risking being reopened on the ethnic relations front although the state is having everything under control.

It seems that the sponsors of the resolution are not for the establishment of durable peace in this country. In outlook, they and hard line opinion in this country are on the same side because they are seeking to establish and aggravate divisions within our land. Still, such destructively-oriented opinion is in the minority and it is up to the sober majority to raise their voices of sanity and to work proactively for the good of the land.