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| Sunday, 24 August 2003 |
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Editorial |  |
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Editor, Sunday Observer. E-mail: [email protected] Snail mail : Sunday Observer, 35, D.R.Wijewardana Mawatha, Colombo, Sri Lanka. Telephone : 94 1 429239 / 331181 Fax : 94 1 429230 Passions Some may try to distinguish the 'foreign' from the 'local' in rigid ways. But the fact is that, right now, all attention with regard to the national crisis focuses on Paris where senior LTTE leaders are in consultation. Their conclusions will have considerable bearing on the future course of politics and, life itself, on this resplendent isle. This is not the first time that a decision in a foreign capital influenced life in our own country. One of the most treasured aspects of our island heritage is the Buddha Dhamma, the formal, large scale introduction of which occurred on the strength of an initiative by Emperor Dharmasoka in northern India. It is the rationality of the Dhamma that has finally prevailed over the passions of war and, today, former enemies are in consultation and deliberation. Restraint is the order of the day as our whole island society cautiously explores the intricacies of negotiating a new social and political order that meets the complex needs of a modern, multicultural society and, does so, without any further recourse to violence and hatred. At this point of time, it is important to emphasis non-violence and amity as people in the East strive to cope with the residue of communal rivalry in that region that has yet to transcend the recourse to violence as the means of resolving problems. Even as, at national level, Sri Lankans are learning techniques of civilian-political methods of resolving conflicts, at a regional level, in the East, the old ways of violence seem to persist, if on a small scale. The East is a microcosm of the multi-ethnic plurality of the island population as a whole. And, therefore, there is an urgent need for the same methods of conflict resolution, currently being applied at national level with considerable international support, to be applied at the regional level as well. It is then incumbent on regional political leaderships, those who are claiming and assuming the right to regional authority, to take responsibility and to bear the risks and the burdens of managing the conflicts in the region in a manner that the problems are ameliorated not exacerbated. At national level, two communities, the Sinhalese and Tamils took decades of bitter ethnic hatred and war, with all their consequences of death, destruction, trauma and deprivation, before the first firm moves were made towards peace. In this, both the Sinhalese and Tamils have learnt the lessons of rationality, equality and humility, and, the importance of sobriety and constraint over passions and caprice. These lessons are still being learnt, slowly, as we tread the difficult path of negotiation and mutual agreement. Now it is a test for the communities in the East, at a regional level, to learn similar lessons. If, at national level, the Sinhalese are dominant, and have learnt to deal equitably with the minority communities, at the regional level, in the North-East, the Tamils are dominant, and they too must learn to deal equitably with the minorities in that region. If lessons at national level were learnt under the duress of violence and suffering, there is no need for the same tortuous course to be trod at regional level. The onus is firmly on the leadership at regional level to act decisively and imaginatively. A simplistic majoritarianism failed at national level. It cannot be now enforced at regional level. The tensions in the East arise precisely because of the fears of minority communities that they will be either submerged or displaced by a new regional majoritarianism. It is up to the regional leadership to ensure a firm social order that will reassure the minorities of their security and dignity. In the face of the current provocations, social order and discipline should be enforced with all the rigour that is needed. |
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