But Challenges Abound!
Lukman Harees
The largest lie of all—that the country depended on the elite rulers, benefits from their rule, and owes them silent loyalty entirely collapsed. The historic election of Anura Kumara Dissanayake as the President of Sri Lanka on September 21st was indeed the beginning of a “radical new path” and a great opportunity for a system change for the crisis-hit island nation. His call for unity amid ethnic divisions, clean politics and pro-people economic reforms resonated well with the people. Compared with the past leaders, people knew that he had the credibility and capability to address issues faced by different communities without bias. With increasing support evident from across the country including N&E post September 21st, AKD appears to in on the way to receiving a more impressive mandate at the November 14th Parliamentary elections. The NPP’s focus now is on winning the Parliamentary election with an overwhelming majority. A fractured Parliament may impede the reform agenda and incapacitate the President.
More than in rhetoric, AKD has promised that his government will radically change Sri Lanka’s corrupt and racist political culture would seemed to lie in its stated intention of having no truck with the traditional parties that have taken turns in power – only to perpetuate the same style of oppressive, corrupt and racist politics. In that sense, AKD’s government will be the last hope to rid the nation of three evils of Corruption, Racism and Impunity. His victory will however only be a beginning and there is a long way ahead.
AKD government has pledged to address long-pending issues around war-time accountability, truth, and justice that Tamils seek, by promising to make domestic mechanisms credible and sound, so the Tamil people will be able to trust them. On the pending political settlement, AKD proposes to take forward past efforts towards drafting a new constitution, referring to the initiatives taken by the Yahapalana government and later abandoned. Countless thousands of Sri Lankans await justice and accountability for serious human rights violations and war crimes committed during decades of civil unrest and armed conflict. They are the victims or family members of victims of arbitrary arrest and detention, torture, enforced disappearance, and unlawful killings by government security forces, LTTE or other non-state armed groups.
Since decolonisation in 1948, there has been legal, political and economic discrimination of both minorities – Tamils and Muslims, including racist violence against them, making Sri Lanka a tinder box of sectarian and ethnic tensions. In fact, in the backdrop of the country’s pogrom-filled history, and in the context of a difficult transition from war to peace in 2009, the resurgence of ethno-nationalism and identity politics produced fresh tensions and fault lines. Islamophobia fostered an environment leading to violent attacks on the Muslims with impunity. Anti-Muslim hate had been on the rise, and came to the forefront of Sri Lankan politics after a series of suicide attacks on Easter Sunday in 2019 by a fringe radical Muslim group. This unfortunate incident worked as a game-changer for Muslims in Sri Lanka. The well-orchestrated yet subtle Islamophobia machinery began to work overtime vindicating anti-Muslim bigotry, in Post war Sri Lanka. Even amidst the Covid pandemic, the same machinery took its institutionalised Islamophobia to another level. Forced Cremation caused anguish and agony particularly among Muslim community, already licking the wounds of demonisation since the ethnic war ended in 2009.
In a ICJ report titled The Crisis of Impunity in Sri Lanka (2012), it says, ‘..in Sri Lanka, impunity has over the years become institutionalized and systematized: mechanisms to hold state actors to account for their actions have been eroded; checks on the arbitrary use of power have been diluted, if not dissolved; institutions to protect the independence of the judiciary have been eviscerated; the Attorney-General has become politicized; and political forces have continually sought to influence and interfere with the judiciary. Blatant disregard for the rule of law and the independence of the judiciary has crippled the justice system, leaving victims with little or no prospect of remedies or reparations for serious human rights violations’. Instances of impunity shown above are but part of the story. Unless the crisis of endemic impunity is combated and sorted out, the rot will continue to make Sri Lanka a pariah state subjected to international shame.
The tempo of anti-Muslim hate and violence became worse during Rajapaksas’ rule. In Goebbelsian fashion, the extremist groups repeated ludicrous claims and conspiracy theories such as Wandha Koththu and forced sterilization claims about minority communities, mixed with a healthy dose of hate and fear, until the lies become truth to their followers. Parochial fears within the Sinhala community and failures by some sections of the Muslim community to integrate sufficiently with other communities conflagrate bogus claims made by the BBS and like-minded groups. It was few days ago that Dr Shafi was fully cleared of all charges by the Courts; Question arises when the culprits- Hemantha Dhedunu who wrote the provocative article in Divaina, Ratana Thero, Jayasumana and Wimal Weerawansa who spread the ‘womb-war’ canard for example will be held to account. But there lies also the greatest tragic irony, even when the Yahapalana Government came to power, while it took the initiative to draft a new constitution that guaranteed equality and inclusivity to all Sri Lanka’s people, its failure to act against saffron-clad marauders sent a clear message across the country that some citizens will remain, today and perhaps forever, more equal than others.
True! he called for unity among the various ethnic and religious groups in Sri Lanka and has promised to work for the collective benefit of the nation. However, overcoming the entrenched political interests and long-time political culture of corruption will be a monumental task. AKD will have to work hard to gain the acceptance of the minority communities at a time when they feel increasingly fractured and unrepresented in Sri Lankan politics. Majoritarianism rarely, if ever, accompanies good governance, and Sri Lanka is a case in point. It is a tough challenge to change the entrenched majoritarian and Sinhala Supremacist culture in the State machinery. The Rajapaksas were unashamedly a Sinhala-Buddhist nationalist political machine whose policies were that of racism, majoritarian – nationalist, authoritarianism and centralisation and they used them to divide and rule. Majoritarianism remains institutionalized in Sri Lankan political culture.
As political analyst Neil De Votta says, ‘While political parties and leaders have alternated in power in post-independence Sri Lanka, Sinhalese Buddhist nationalism has consistently triumphed, and this at the expense of pluralism and democracy. Instituting pluralism, and thereby trying to regain the island’s democratic promise, necessitates accepting and learning from the mistakes committed. Yet, the communal trajectory that post-independence Sri Lanka adopted has emboldened Sinhalese Buddhist nationalists, whose longstanding zeitgeist is rooted in notions of sinhadipa, dhammadipa and the attendant belief that majority domination and minority subjugation is fully justified. Consequently, one is unlikely to see the sort of pluralism befitting a liberal democracy taking root on the island. The best one can hope for at the moment is limited pluralism where minorities live with a sense of security and dignity’.
De Votta comments on realities about pluralism in Sri Lanka, ‘Sri Lanka did have many opportunities to change the island’s “hardware” and thereby control the manner in which ethno-religious and cultural sentiments were fanned (i.e., how its “software” operated). But Sinhalese Buddhist nationalism rooted in mytho-history, British shortsightedness, misplaced and displaced trust among elites, political opportunism, and the hardening of attitudes as ethnic tensions transmogrified into terrorism and war crimes ensured this did not happen. The lack of constitutional protections for (minorities), coupled with no institutional mechanism for limiting majoritarian rule, meant that political parties adopted electoral strategies that appealed to the Sinhalese Buddhist majority. The reality in Sri Lanka is that while governments may promote policies supporting pluralism, this will only take place in ways that do not threaten the majoritarianism now in place’.
According to Global Pluralism Monitor Report (completed in 2022), ‘The ability to compete and contest are fundamental aspects of democracy, and, in this regard, Sri Lanka ranks highly. But one cannot envision a non-Buddhist becoming president of the country. Political participation and contestation within Sri Lanka’s polity ensues amidst a well-entrenched Sinhalese Buddhist nationalist ideology that claims minorities live in Sri Lanka thanks to Sinhalese Buddhist sufferance and should not make undue demands that may challenge Sinhalese Buddhist supremacy. This majoritarian ethos is obvious when one looks at the Sri Lankan bureaucracy’.
In the past, usually a sense of communalism was most evident during parliamentary elections, when people vote for parties along ethno-national and religious lines. Post-election, however, parties who competed along ethno-religious lines became coalition partners depending on the election results. However, this time, there appears to be a paradigm shift evident among both Tamils and Muslims regarding their voting patterns with much dissatisfaction about ethnic parties and their leaders, which trend benefits the NPP. AKD has a clear opportunity here in retain their trust by making them feel equals in law and practice.Both political leaders and State officials have a key role to play in building a pluralistic society in which there is equal voice irrespective of number and in which members of diverse ethnic, racial, religious, or social groups maintain and develop their traditional culture or special interest within the sphere of a common citizenship. It is important that the state acts with justice and equity at all times in serving the people.
As it is often stressed, Parliament however is not the only venue where the next five years of Sri Lanka’s future will be charted. As a country with a vibrant history of protest and dissent, where people’s struggles have played a pivotal role in shaping the political consciousness of the citizens and even led to radical changes in the political landscape, how communities mobilise themselves for change and justice will have a strong impact on the future of Sri Lanka even under this new political dispensation.