Key lessons from the Sri Lankan election: The Island contributor

COLOMBO (THE ISLAND/ASIA NEWS NETWORK) -Sri Lankans, under siege by several local and foreign forces, showed the world they could close ranks to elect a president without the votes of extremist parties in order to protect their country, its sovereignty and territorial integrity.

Sinhala Buddhists who, without much assistance from other communities, mobilised by their civil consciousness, have risen again to save their country as they have done so many times in the past, before independence and after.

Even those domiciled abroad came to the rescue as it were.

However, the fact that this was necessary may not be desirable from the point of view of communal amity and relations.

The election of a president for the whole country should not be almost entirely based on communal considerations.

The fact that the nation cannot cut across communal boundaries on this issue is not good, though Sinhala Buddhists can take heart from the fact that they could unite to save the country. Those who placed the country in peril on all fronts must take the blame for this sad state of affairs.

Sinhala politicians who helped the Tamil and Muslim politicians to propagate their communal politics by endorsing their outrageous claims of discrimination, denial of aspirations, self-determination, and even genocide, must take the bulk of the blame.

They must learn the lesson from the just concluded election that such policies would only result in hardening of communal passion and the resolve to defeat the perceived foe at any cost.

Such policies resonate well with those of the communal politicians in their attempt to misguide their people that they are a subject community when facts speak otherwise. Tamils and Muslims have no problems unique to them on account of their ethnicity.

Their language rights, economy, employment, education, land, security, culture and freedom of expression are guaranteed by the Constitution. Their level of education, employment, household income, and cultural activity bear testimony to the above fact.

Extremist communal politicians must learn from the election that there is a limit to their demands.

The 13 demands the Tamil political parties proclaimed on the eve of the election, may have caused much damage to the candidate they supported, as well as to their own political credibility.

Though those demands may have aroused the national emotions of their community and helped to garner votes, they are short sighted perilous acts of opportunist communal politics.

The Tamil politicians thought as the incumbent government was tottering with the election round the corner, it was the best time to bargain for the maximum.

They must learn from the election results that those 13 demands have worsened the prospect of finding common ground for reconciliation, and sharpened the line of demarcation which one hopes is not indelible.

The loser must learn that his supporters in the party had caused so much heartache and fear to the majority community; that his effort made with grandiloquence to make amends at the eleventh hour was not good enough.

He had to lose his own electoral seat as well as the district heavily. He must now make an effort to rid his party of those who are anti-national, who insult the clergy, and who do not appear to be patriotic.

He must make an effort to reach out to those who voted for him in the North, the East and the Centre in an effort to extricate them from separatist politicians.

He must in the future desist from aligning with Tamil and Muslim politicians who pursue a communal agenda that may benefit him temporarily, but may be destructive to the country.

He must also be unequivocal when objecting to adverse and evil deeds of his party, such as entering into agreements like ACSA, MCC and SOFA. He cannot run with the hare and hunt with the hound, which he appeared to be doing in his campaign.

The winner must realise that the Tamils and Muslims voted against him in total. He must do the utmost to make their life comfortable and feel that they belong to this country.

The areas they live in must be developed with special attention to all their needs. Opportunist politicians should not be allowed to hinder this effort.

People like the former Chief Minister Wigneswaran of the Northern PC who did not spend the money allocated to the North for the benefit of the people, purposely to keep them disgruntled, should be exposed and dealt with.

The man on the street in the North and the East wants to live with dignity and comfort, he does not want a separate state.

Tamils in the Central Hills too want to improve their living standards. It is a sad commentary on our politicians that no government of the past had solved their housing problem satisfactorily and they still live in hovels.

This state of affairs enable their politicians to manipulate them and get them to vote according to the way they want. Gotabaya Rajapaksa must show by example that he is no communal politician.

Tamils and Muslims must realise that extremism begets extremism. When they appear to be demanding the impossible, the Sinhalese too will close ranks and take up hard positions and there is no way anybody could win.

They must take stock of their lives and see what they lack. Do they lack space to develop their culture, industry, etc.? The answer is an emphatic no.

They must wean themselves from their separatist politicians. They must take a good look at the 13 demands put forward by their politicians, and ask the question whether they would be better off if those demands are granted.

They would be getting an almost separate state and perhaps eventually even that. They must imagine what it would be to live in a separate state, a tiny strip of land in a tiny island.

What would happen to the cordial relations, interaction, and trade etc they have with the other communities. They must learn to belong to their country which is the whole of Sri Lanka, and give their newly elected President a chance to make them feel so.