When civil-war in Sri Lanka was brought to finish in 2009 the international community stood ready to assist the positive initiatives of its government. Unfortunately, this was not well received by our rulers in the country nor the diaspora overseas.
This is because, we know that each individual carries a consciousness of himself as a solitary being, a stage which he cannot completely and permanently rid himself. Though to varying degrees and at various times, we all feel uncomprehended and uncomprehending.
This awareness of separateness and consequent loneliness, an awareness which is part of our human condition, is sometimes heightened by a negative group identity. In such instances, the individual suffers not only from the loneliness common to all men but from the added con sciousness that the group with which he is identified is looked at askance, perhaps with suspicion, even with contempt and hostility. Such a predicament arises when the group constitutes a small and visually distinct minority.
After end of the civil-war compared to the rest of us living in this tiny island both the Sinhala rulers and Tamil diaspora constituted as a small, visually distinct separate minority groups. These minorities are not homogeneous groups; are conscious of divisions amongst themselves. These divisions manifested in language and in patterns of social behaviour and adherence.
As a country, we have travelled a long way away and lost the paradise; at the time of independence in 1948, a centralised form of Government was introduced in the country with two unequal ethnic communities with large difference in number and following four different faiths again that are not divided equally.
Needless to say there were some basic weaknesses in the political structure of the country, then known as Ceylon, as the government embraced only a small fraction of the population, made up of mainly Western Oriented Gentlemen known as WOGs, the English-educated Westernized elite groups that shared the values on which the structure was founded.
These values appeared irrelevant and incomprehensible to the great mass of Sinhalese and Tamil educated, basically rural residents and unschooled citizens. The continued neglect of local culture as embodied in religion, language, and the arts created a gulf that divided the ruling elite from the ruled.
With a proper leadership country then would have rid of dichotomous beliefs and kept the Sri Lankans together retaining it’s rich diversity; regrettably we failed to find the right calibre of leader, to retain the land that was a paradise. It is said that the silent majority is a bigger enemy of democracy than the violent minority, this trend was clearly visible in Sri Lanka in the past decade.
For it was the silent majority, that left public space for a select few to grab the agenda and control the terms of public debate, as the result our little island is today a failed state. There is little need to expound at length the economic, social and pain that the populace is experiencing.
In this sinario, people expect the President to tell the Nation on 74th Independence Day tomorrow “No matter how hard the past, you can always try again” to confirm Lord Buddha saying to the ruled that he is a true Buddha Dharma follower!
Northern Breeze 