GUTSY RALLYING CALL

The President made some very clear statements yesterday about his desire to keep Sri Lanka above the fray and non-aligned, but also free to conduct her own foreign policy with the assurance ‘that the tiniest bird in its nest would take for granted.’ It was a call that said ‘hands-off’, while also reaffirming the strength of this nation as a resurgent land undaunted by obstacles.

It was a stirring but yet practical oration, devoid of histrionics, and that was the need of the hour.

The worst is behind us. It is morning in Sri Lanka now. Perhaps, the most enduring message however, of this year’s Independence Day celebration was that Fort Fredrick was the venue. Trincomalee has for long been coveted as the location of this region’s most strategic natural harbour. Perhaps, Trincomalee was the reason that alien vested interests aided and abetted the destabilization of this country when the Tamil Tigers were on the rampage.

Those who want to second guess this assumption should consider that recently, a US senate committee recommended that the Americans should re-engage Sri Lanka, and desist for harassing its leadership. The reason given by the gentlemen imparting this sage wisdom was that Sri Lanka’s natural harbours were too strategically and otherwise important to be ignored.

It appears therefore that the best efforts to wrest Trincomalee harbour away from Sri Lanka’s control through the agency of the Tamil Tigers were thwarted, thanks to the relentless campaign led by the Sri Lankan Armed Forces under the leadership of the President and the Defence Secretary. Nothing more needs to be added about the symbolism of Trincomalee as the venue for yesterday’s Independence Day celebrations.

But, it was by no means forgotten that this was primarily a people’s event. The people defied the pettifogging boycott calls by the punditry, and the churlish appeals for lamentation on a day of celebration, and participated in the Independence Day proceedings with a gusto that is a sign of things to come.

Trilingualism, Trincomalee and a Tamil revival is the best way to describe the hope that ensued from yesterday, and the alliteration is only incidental. There is a Tamil resurgence that is exciting and real, in this country, but what’s more important is that the Tamil people are voting with their feet for this sense of inclusion they feel -- an unprecedented sense of belonging as part of the larger Sri Lankan entity.

That’s why it was heartening to see children of all races singing Namo Namo Matha, the one and only national anthem, one might add. There is an emerging consensus that any calls for singing the national anthem in two languages are unnecessary and a waste of time. No more proof is needed when one is witness courtesy the national television channel, to the rendition of the anthem by several young singers from schools in the Trincomalee area. The scene brought tears to many a dry eye, and this was for all the right reasons.

Almost all of the discordant notes that are being sounded are emanating from overseas. If it’s the Canadians that are carping, it is because they are thinking of voters in Toronto and Vancouver. But if it is some others that are making discordant noises in Colombo, it is because they are dollar-fed, and have to do their donor’s bidding.

The first sign that the post war efforts to subvert this process of an inclusive pluralistic Sri Lanka are failing, is the fact that those who went with their tails wagging and asked for foreign intervention in effecting regime change, are not doing so any more.

They have as one rather eccentric academic observed in an op-ed column in one of yesterday’s dailies, come to the realization that a campaign for democracy and human rights has to begin at home.

Curious that these ‘dissenters’ have come to this position years after those who support the current direction in which the country is going, said so quite openly and out loud long ago. Better late than never they say, even though it’s hard to think that some of these dissenting dupes are capable of any straight thinking …