New Year symbolises ethnic harmony

By Lional Wijesiri

It took us a long and painful period of time to learn that managing communal tensions is a delicate task. After paying a high price, in terms of money and human lives, we recognised the difficult reality that ethnic tensions are never far below the surface of any society. We realised that at times, harmony is just skin-deep. That is all the more reason for us to sink deeper roots!

Today, right in the middle of the national New Year celebrations, shared and cherished by both the Sinhalese and Tamils alike, we should realise that if we are to survive and succeed as a unified nation, we need to forge an ethnically integrated society. We have an urgent need of working towards fostering ethnic harmony and peace while creating a better environment for mutual understanding and amity among all ethnic groups. It is particularly so at a critical time when narrow-minded extremists are trying to destroy this harmony.

The effort to maintain ethnic harmony is about winning hearts and minds and influencing people’s emotions. It is, therefore, not sufficient to rely solely on national policies and national legislation. The core of the effort, the heavy spadework, must be the actions taken at the level of local organisations. This is where ordinary individuals interact with the government and with each other. And this is where the battle will be won or lost.

Meritocracy

The starting point should be meritocracy, meaning that individuals should advance on the basis of their ability. No one should be discriminated against, in any way, on the basis of his or her ethnic or religious identity. This is enshrined in our Constitution.

However, meritocracy alone does not guarantee harmony; it only ensures that individuals have the same playing field regardless of their racial or religious background. To truly achieve ethnic and religious harmony, our ethnic communities must mix, interact and understand one another.

Otherwise, there will be suspicions and prejudices bubbling under the surface which would boil over at unexpected moments. This happened in 1983. What should be done consistently is to promote more interaction and foster a greater degree of cross-cultural understanding.

Most countries which have perfect ethnic harmony use a model known as ‘overlapping circles’. In this model, each ethnic community can be thought of as a circle. What they do is to maximise the area where the circles overlap one another. This is the area where all citizens, whatever their race or religion, work and play together. It is an open and meritocratic playing field with maybe, one common language and equal opportunities for all.

Demands

Someone might ask, “Is it possible for people to have multiple identities to be Sri Lankan and at the same time to be Sinhalese, Tamil, Muslim or Burgher?” If we understand the overlapping circle theory, we will realise that outside the common area of overlapping circles, each ethnic and religious community has its own playing field. In these separate areas, each community can retain and speak its own language and practise its own culture and customs.

We, therefore, should try to preserve the heritage and identity of each ethnic community, but at the same time, also try to maximise the “common overlapping space” between them. All of them want to live safely and peacefully. They want the best education possible for their children. They want security and stability. Therefore, a practical approach of nation-building, whereby every community has two playing fields, will help foster racial harmony.

Legislation

In practical terms, we must try to translate the concepts of meritocracy and overlapping circles into three levels of policy – legislation, national institutions and community efforts at the national and grassroots levels.

If we think about legislation, we can take a cue from the Singaporean experience, which has a Presidential Council for Minority Rights (PCMR). Its function is to scrutinise legislation passed by the Parliament to make sure that proposed laws do not discriminate against any ethnic or religious community. The PCMR, therefore, acts as an extra layer of protection against racial discrimination.

Members of the PCMR are eminent citizens who are both well-qualified to undertake this responsibility and independent from the Government or the various political parties. This is to ensure that the PCMR’s advice and recommendations are weighty and credible.

Singapore also has the Maintenance of Religious Harmony Act. This Act gives the Government powers to issue restraining orders and take stern measures against individuals who stir up hatred between ethnic and religious communities. It is a critical part of the Government’s array of tools which can be used to maintain racial and religious harmony.

However, we must understand that passing a few pieces of legislation would not totally safeguard ethnic harmony in Sri Lanka. We must have a “consciousness” of racial and religious harmony in all the laws that govern public behaviour. To convince all Sri Lankans that the Government is serious about maintaining racial harmony, all pieces of legislation need to be consistent. For example, the Government should ban all media content that glorifies, incites or endorses ethnic, racial or religious hatred, strife or intolerance.

Apart from legislation, we also need to find ways to bring people of different religious and ethnic backgrounds together. Through a variety of grassroots organisations, we can keep in close touch with local community leaders to ensure harmonious community relations. A core function of these bodies is to promote interaction between individuals from different ethnic communities, by organising local events in which local residents from all backgrounds can participate. Through creative and extensive programs, inclusive community events will give practical expression to a broad concept - enlarging the “overlapping space” between our ethnic communities.

Malaysia

Take Malaysia, for example. It stands out in the global community for its multi-religious, multi-cultural and multi-ethnic character. Very few countries share the same level of diversity and ethnic harmony. All its communities coexist peacefully, with mosques, churches, and temples standing side by side. The country has accepted diversity as a source of greater unity for several decades, and Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak has established ‘1Malaysia’ as the official policy.

Last year, Malaysia played host to the Global Movement of Moderates conference in Kuala Lumpur, attended by 450 delegates from over 70 countries who called for an end to extremism around the world. Najib inaugurated the conference and told the delegates, “The real divide is not between Muslims and non-Muslims or between the developed and developing worlds, it is between moderates and extremists.”

Food for thought! Let us take a cue from Malaysia. Today, while we are celebrating the New Year, let us make three simple resolutions:

* To promote peaceful and harmonious co-existence among our diverse ethnic nationalities and to help in the education of all Sri Lankans on the need to shun violence in settling ethnic feuds;

* To work closely with government agencies in achieving unity in diversity;

* To establish in the consciousness of all citizens the need to embrace peace and love.

While there is still a long way to go, these small steps will prove to ourselves that we can change our internalised attitudes and discover our common humanity.