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Lay the foundation now for a Multi racial environment in the North and the East as it is in the South –for a Unitary Sri Lanka.By Charles S.Perera
After a death in a family the life will never be the same. At the beginning there will be lot of question s. How it happened, whether it was the fault of some one, could the death had been avoided etc, ? But what happened is irreversible. The life has to be adjusted to the new situation. However, when the initial sadness has ended there are those more concerned about sharing what is left behind by the dead. There will be, haggling or even seeking the aid of justice to lay claims on the belongings of the dead.
It would be the same with Sri Lanka one day, after it has seen an end to terrorism . Life will not be the same, haggling for possession of what is left will begin. There will be claims and counter claims. It may be a different type of terrorism, if things are not handled carefully and allow things to develop uncontrolled.
It is not the sharing of what is left that should be the primary concern, but that the country adjusts itself to the new situation, so that the likes of what it was will not happen again. Therefore, it is up to the leaders of all communities, whether they are the religious or the laity, to rise above their constrained communal cloisters to see reality of the situation, and go beyond the customs, traditions, and other hackneyed impediments to live differently beyond the isolation of a world-weary communal existence.
We are much too divided, with our castes, social classes, communities, religions, politics, and the rich and the poor. These divisions are not so pronounced in the west, and that may be one reason why the people of the west who are not any different from us , have found a far greater social and economic development. Where ever they go, they are able to organise themselves to a better way, different from what exists in the place into which they have moved. We should, therefore, make an effort to think differently so that the future will not be the same as it was in the past, and exploit our potentials to develop our country differently to make every one a partner in the development and the progress of the society that make up what in reality is Sri Lanka.
That is why it is more important now to think not of political power sharing, but of communal unity and social integration. We should first give up our biases, prejudices and hatred to whatever degree they exist within us. Instead, we should be more generous to share our understanding, love and affection, or even our wealth and property. The idea may sound utopian, but if we could get some where close to being utopian a lot may have been achieved. It is this give and take, tolerance, and patience with one another that will enable us to build a society where there is peace and harmony. That in fact is what a country expects in being politically democratic.
More than any thing else in this collective effort to build a new society- a new Sri Lanka, we have to forget our belonging to a community, or a social group and open ourselves as belonging to a unitary nation of Sri Lankans. In order to do that, we have to first accept that in the South of Sri Lanka there is a healthy mixture of communities. That communal mixture has been made possible by the majority Sinhala who have accepted the other communities without antagonism, but with a generosity that springs from their Buddhist culture to share the South with others.
Now it is the task of the Sinhala, Tamil, Muslim, and other political, and religious leaders to prepare a plan to make this communal mixture possible in the North and the East as it has been possible in the South. No area should be restricted to a single community, Jaffna, should have its share of Sinhala, Muslim, Malay or Burgher population as much as Ampara, Batticaloa and Trincomalee.
The Buddhism as the Oldest Religion that existed in Sri Lanka, the vestiges of its ancient places of worship in the North or East should be preserved as a national heritage. And the land belonging to those temples should be preserved and Buddhist villages set up along side them, as it is the Buddhist laity who have to take care of the temples and the sacred places of worship.
The people of different communities should be made to understand the importance of respecting each others culture, and religion. The competitiveness in a business environment should not lead to envy, and animosity. The business environment should be shared by all communities. There should be no religious rivalry, each community respecting the other communities right to worship and practice their religious ceremonies peacefully without being a hindrance to one or the other.
We should learn to organise ourselves, in towns and villages providing
necessary sanitary and environmental facilities for a happy, healthy
existence. We should also learn to spend our money for the benefit of
ourselves and others without hording, and restricting the development
of the community and the environment, so that Sri Lanka will be a happy
prosperous country not second to any other nation in the world. |
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