Ceylon Today Editorial

You Have My Blood Type

18 November 2016

 

Sri Lankans, even after a bloody civil war are continuing to suffer from a viral hatred towards others' race, religion and ethnicity. After countless lives lost, after countless lives victimized, left crippled and left behind, we are still fighting a battle against racism.

Recently, the issue of racism became hotcakes for our readers and the rest of the country. Since the Aluthgama- Dharga Town incident in 2014, where a hard-line ultranationalist Bodu Bala Sena group allegedly attacked the Muslim community in the area. The incident paved the way to many cabals of extremist claiming Sinhala Buddhist superiority in the following years. Unfortunately, the hatred did not contaminate one community alone; it also spread to the minorities which seemingly retaliated, using similar indurate fundamentalist groups such as the Thowheed Jamath organization.

This year, after a long silence, all the groups have resurfaced and have gained a lot of unwanted attention. Beginning of this year, the Sinha-Le trend, the latest addition to the lot, made its debut and vandalized several public properties. Just last August, the group violently interrupted an anti-racist movement in the heart of Colombo.

Most recently, it was reported that the Maligawatte Police arrested an individual who had called himself the 'saviour of the Sinhalese' under the charges of instigating racial violence and hatred. Following the arrest, the General Secretary of the Bodu Bala Sena Ven. Galagodaaththe Gnanasara Thera issued a 'warning' to the Inspector General of the Police, demanding to arrest the Secretary of the Thowheed Jamath organization for making berating comments on one's religion. The thero, unlike other monks who preach peace and soundness of mind, adhering to his own agenda had warned bloodshed if an arrest is not made. And the Police was prompt enough to arrest the Secretary of Thowheed Jamath the very next day.

The issue of our blood has been the latest root to rot in this matter. With Sinha- Le coming into action and after it gained its notoriety, the 'blood problem' became a hot topic on everyone's mouth. Yet little have we realized that Sri Lankan blood shares commonality with other South Asian types.

A 1976 scientific journal written by R. L. Kirk (The Legend of Prince Vijaya – a study of Sinhalese origins) claims that there is a significant relationship between the Sinhalese and the South Indian Tamil, Keralite, Bengali and other ethnic groups native to the Indian Subcontinent and that there is a significant genetic relationship between Sri Lankan Tamils and Sinhalese, them being closer to each other than other South Asian populations. The study also records low differences in genetic distance between the Sinhalese and the Tamil, Keralite and Bengali volunteers. This may be news to many. And scientific journals never stopped wars from being waged. Yet, the mere sense of humanity, equality and security should have stopped us from ever waging wars on our own kind. We say own kind with proven scientific facts as evidence. We do share the same blood. And you do have my blood.

It is time we come to terms with this. Presently, there is a large movement against anti-racism that has come out of the shadows to fight against the ever increasing hatred in the country. This is commendable. But this is not the only solution. This is a battle that should be won on all grounds and the victory is essential.

Each and every one of us has a social responsibility to stand up against racism and hatred. As elders, it is our right to teach our young to understand and respect another's religion. As youth, we have an obligation to listen and make our own choices, instead of being manipulated by another with an ulterior agenda. This is how we do not take part in the next racial war – a conflict that has already begun outside our little country and has already cost countless lives.

This is how we survive.

Ceylon Today and Mawbima Newspapers make a pledge today as we celebrate our fifth anniversary. Five years ago, we started our crusade in journalism with an aim to educate and not to insult; and perhaps to entertain as well and that is why we may have digressed from our path of righteousness every now and then.

That is why we make this pledge today: we promise to stand by our basic human rights and protect each and everyone from being victims of racial hatred and injustice. To our readers, we pledge to stand by peace and look down upon all forms of extremism and fundamentalism. To the followers of such ideologies, we promise that you will not have a peaceful day to find bliss in your hatred. Whenever, we write about you, we will write the worst about you. We will knock you down. And we will do it without dropping a single droplet of blood.

Ceylon Today and Mawbima Newspapers implore our readers to lend their hands in this endeavour. In this crusade, violence is not the answer. If we become violent, we will not be different from them. Our actions should be of understanding and accepting. Not segregation and alienation.

We share the same blood.You have my blood. Walk that path of peace.

Daily News Editorial

Gota got it wrong

18 November 2016

Former Defence Secretary Gotabhaya Rajapaksa standing in solidarity with his brother ex President Mahinda Rajapaksa says that the previous government’s efforts at reconciliation were as sincere as its war effort that crushed terrorism. Speaking at yet another book launch on the war, co-authored by Major Gen (Rtd.) G.A. Chandrasiri, Governor of the northern province under the Rajapaksa regime and Rear Admiral (Rtd.) Mohan Wijewickrema, who served as Governor of the Eastern Province during MR's tenure, Gotabhaya says that the present government has as yet failed to match what they had done for reconciliation. He goes on to cite the release of 90 per cent of lands to civilians for resettlement and the completion of the de-mining process - which according to him, certain NGOs had said would take 12 years - with the help of the army, to facilitate resettlement of civilians. Rajapaksa also went onto blame the international community and NGOs for failing to acknowledge these efforts and charging the former government with meteing out step-motherly treatment to Tamils.

Well, the results of the January 8 Presidential election does not bear out the claim made by the former Defence Secretary. It is true that much was done in the North by way of physical infrastructure, post war, by the Rajapaksa government, but these were not what the Tamils wanted. They yearned to live with dignity as a proud and independent community. The Tamils in the North did not want to be seen as dependents, living on the munificence of the state. They laid a premium on their dignity and this is what was assailed by the Rajapaksas from the moment the war was won.

To begin with, the Tamil community was made to feel like a conquered race. The victory parades held each year only helped rub salt to the festering wounds. It was as if the Lankan soldiers had fought and conquered an alien army, ala a King Gajabahu, when what was in fact defeated was a committed and a ruthless band of terrorists that was purely composed of citizens of this country. It could be argued that the LTTE received foreign arms and financial assistance. But it was not a state actor that had unlimited firepower and free access to arms and the most sophisticated weaponry. Hence likening it to a “war victory” and holding annual parades to commemorate same was clearly out of place which made the Tamil community humiliated and feel a vanquished race.

There were also other indignities heaped on the Tamils, beginning with the strident tone of Mahinda Rajapaksa when he addressed parliament two days after the annihilation of the LTTE. His vehement insistence that a solution to the ethnic problem will be a home-grown one, rejecting any outside inputs, implying that even India keep out of the way, also stung the Tamil community. This in effect repudiated a solution evolved on the basis of the 13th Amendment.

Tamils were also virtually relegated to the status of second class citizens when Rajapaksa ordered that schools and government institutions in the North stop singing the National Anthem in Tamil at state functions. Things became worse when Tamil businessmen were continuing to be abducted in white vans in Colombo for ransom. Targeting Tamils for abduction and ransom needless to say is not the ideal way to promote reconciliation which the former Defence Secretary says the Rajapaksa regime strove for genuinely.

Devolution of power formed the cornerstone of reconciliation, but Rajapaksa only paid lip service to this need, washing his hands off the matter by delegating this task to parliament which never ever gave thought to the matter. The nationalist pitch of Rajapaksa to the southern electorate, his anti-Indian rhetoric, his close association with fire breathing rabid chauvinistic Buddhist clergy, not to mention his general demeanour that spoke of a majoritarian mindset, certainly would not have been lost on the Tamils.

They say one is judged by the company he/she keeps. Rajapaksa's overtures to the Tamil community would have meant nothing while he unleashed his nationalist blood hounds such as Wimal Weerawansa and Udaya Gammanpila to take apart the pro minority UNP which had all along won the favour of the the Tamil community.

The former Defence Secretary would do well to come to terms with the fact that the former government's reconciliation efforts were not accepted by the Tamils when it dawned on them that what was indeed being played was a ‘double game’, to use a local idiom. Rajapaksa could never afford to abandon his nationalist constituency at the expense of reconciliation and commit political hara kiri. Whatever concessions or largess offered to the Tamil community, by Rajapaksa, like the distribution of valuable items on the eve of the last Presidential election, are but mere tokens.

The Island Editorial

Goebbels doing backflips in his grave

18 November 2016

 

Hitler’s propaganda minister, Joseph Goebbels, would spin, nay, do backflips, in his grave if he knew some Sri Lankan ministers have overtaken him posthumously. (The Fuhrer would also turn somersaults in his grave—for want of a carpet to bite; his Gestapo has been resurrected and legitimised here so much so that it has the backing of his western enemies who destroyed his secret police service, among other things, and drove him to suicide in 1945! Sri Lankan Gestapo spies on judges and taps their phones and hack their emails.) Goebbels, however, is not a patch on our government spokesmen who have got uttering half truths and blatant lies to mislead the public down to a fine art.

We quoted Media Minister Gayantha Karunathilaka yesterday as having said the ever increasing number of road accidents prompted the government to jack up the minimum fine for traffic offences to Rs. 2,500. Finance Minister Ravi Karunanayake, too, tries to have us believe that fines for traffic offences are inversely proportional to road accidents and, therefore, an increase in the former would automatically lead to a decrease in the latter.

The government seems to think that increasing fines is the only way it can arrest the ever increasing rate of accidents. The Finance Minister has used some statistics related to road mishaps the way a drunkard uses a lamppost—for support rather than illumination. If his argument is tenable then the government should be able to halve the number of road deaths overnight just by increasing the minimum traffic fine to, say, Rs. 100,000.

Private bus owners have succeeded in railroading the government into reconsidering the fine hike. They threatened a bus strike and the Finance Minister gave in; the matter has been referred back to the Cabinet, we are told. Going by the government’s claim that higher fines help bring down the loss of lives on roads, if the Cabinet, by any chance, decides to reduce the 2,500-rupee minimum fine, such action will be tantamount to scuttling the Finance Minister’s effort to reduce road accidents through his controversial budget proposal.

Meanwhile, the government argues that our roads are chaotic, with about six lives lost thereon daily, solely because of indiscipline among motorists and the proposed fine increase will help improve the situation. If so, ministers and other such undisciplined, self-important persons must be stripped of the privilege of having congested roads cleared for travel. They must also be prevented from jumping lanes and colour lights. There is no reason why security convoys should be deployed any longer to protect the politicians who have declared that terrorism will never raise its ugly head ever again in this country. They should be made to heed the advice an Indian court gave their counterparts in India nine years ago. In Oct, 2007, according to a Times of India report, the Delhi High Court, observing they [politicians] were not a ‘national asset’, lashed out at the politicians, surrounded by their security guards much to the inconvenience of the public; the court asked them to remain in the confines of their homes and offices if they felt threatened by the public. The respected Indian judges have spoken for all the people in the developing world, troubled by various thugs in the garb of politicians.

If fines are really an antidote to indiscipline then let Parliament be urged to amend its Standing Orders to provide for huge penalties for serious breaches of discipline in the House so that all MPs will have to behave. The same method may be adopted to discipline provincial councillors and local government members.

Finally, a government pundit has said the law-abiding motorists need not worry about the massive traffic fine hike as it won’t affect them. If so, why is the government wary of re-implementing the death penalty, which would not affect the law-abiding citizens?