Postscript to July 1983 :

Challenges that remain

by Jehan Perera

At present, public attention is focused on the forthcoming general elections. There have been unimaginable political developments in the run up to the election.

Courtesy Infolanka

The first such development was the defeat of President Mahinda Rajapaksa at the presidential election in January. The second related to the return of the defeated former president to the centre of politics in July.

But this is only one of several reasons why the unimaginable events that took place in July 1983 are likely to be glossed over this year.

Overlooked

There is another reason why the events of July 1983 are unlikely to be remembered much this year. The two main parties that are set to contest, the UNP and SLFP, each have little reason to bring up this tragedy. The pogrom occurred under a UNP government. The events of July 1983 provided the impetus for the resort to arms by small groups of Tamil militants to take on a mass character. This only ended in May 2009 under an SLFP-led government that is being accused of having committed war crimes.

In both cases, the Sri Lankan State was implicated in the large scale civilian killings that took place. In the case of July 1983, mobs led by ruling party politicians attacked hapless Tamil civilians while the Security Forces of the State looked on.

In the case of May 2009, the Security Forces were responsible for the deaths of the civilians as they fought to defeat the LTTE which had surrounded themselves with Tamil civilians as human shields. The elimination of the LTTE resulted in the end of the war.

They might have saved themselves if they had taken the olive branch extended by a reformed UNP Government under Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe in 2002 when the Norwegian Government played the role of facilitator to reach a negotiated settlement that would be fair to all concerned.

Survey findings

But again, in an unimaginable turn of fortunes, a mere three years after the end of the war, in 2012, the Muslim community became a target for violence and impunity, with the State Security Forces standing idly by for the most part as they had in July 1983. The Muslims were not engaging in either terrorism or in dividing the country. But they were seen as an enemy, with attacks against them taking place on a regular basis on a small scale, culminating in the torching of many Muslim homes and businesses in the riots of Aluthgama in 2014.

The involvement of the State in all three forms of violence that affected the lives of civilians who belonged to the ethnic and religious minority groups is evidence of a racism within the State structures that needs to be taken out of it. It was in opposition to this racism that took on a highly centralized and repressive form during the period 2005-15 that the ethnic and religious minorities joined hands with moderate sections of the ethnic majority to end the presidency of Mahinda Rajapaksa. The former president in particular, fed on the fears and nationalism of the ethnic majority. He is attempting to do so again.

Courtesy: asiantribune

The general elections have given the former president and his nationalist allies the chance to make a comeback. However, hope must never die for the final answer will lie in the hands of the people who will vote to elect them or to reject them.

At the presidential election in January, the majority of people voted to reject the racist and nationalist campaign. The political reforms that commenced with the installation of the new government after the presidential elections of January saw the passage of the 19th Amendment, return of lands to displaced Tamils in the North and East, the arrest of some of those accused of corruption and abuse of power during the previous government. It is possible that in the paradigm shift that has taken place following the replacement of the former president and his government continue to hold. The people's appreciation of their newly restored freedoms and the overall sense of release from the fear of impunity are uppermost in their consciousness.

It suggests that the nationalist campaign expected from the former president and his allies at the forthcoming general election will be less successful than in the past, as new issues of corruption, abuse of power and good governance take centre stage.

A recent public opinion poll by the Social Scientists' Association called 'Political Weather Analysis' (PWA), aimed at capturing the public opinion on the political changes currently experienced in Sri Lanka had some reassuring findings. The survey was conducted among 1,500 households, across 44 electorates, in 22 electoral districts in the country; using a multi-staged stratified random sampling technique.

According to the survey findings, 84% of the participants agreed that the government should intervene more to ensure the rights of the minorities.

While 79% of the Sinhalese respondents were of this view, 90% of the Tamil community, 89% of the Muslim community and 88% of the Up Country Tamil community felt the same way. Similarly, 90% of the respondents agreed that the government needs to do more to ensure livelihood security of war- affected individuals in the North and East of the country. There is very little difference to be observed among ethnic communities on this issue with 89% of Sinhala, 90% Tamils and 89% Muslims and 97% Up Country Tamil expressing their agreement.Interestingly, when asked whether they agreed with the statement "After the conclusion of the war, the interests of the Sinhala community has been ignored, only a very small number of participants (16%) agreed, while 68% of the respondents disagreed.

It is the Sinhalese community who disagrees most (71%) about the interests of the Sinhala community being undermined after the war. Regardless of what former president Rajapaksa and his nationalist allies may say, this would be due to the paradigm shift that has taken place in recent times. The Sinhalese people no longer hark back to the war and the insecurities attached to it. They are ready to move forward. It is not only in public opinion polls that the non-racist attitude of the people is seen, but also in their day to day conduct. An example would be the hospital treatment provided to Bishop Rayappu Joseph of Mannar.

Positive movement

The Bishop has for long been a strong critic of successive governments for their treatment of the Tamil people. But when he fell seriously ill he was taken by the priests of his Mannar Diocese to the General Hospital. According to them, the Bishop received maximum care that the hospital could give. Finally, after six weeks of treatment in the Intensive Care Unit of the hospital, he was transferred to a private hospital to recuperate. The doctors who treated him at the General Hospital continue to go to the private hospital to treat him free- of- charge. The Tamil Catholic priests of Mannar who are looking after the Bishop even as he recovers commend Dr. Himashi Kularatne (a Sinhalese Buddhist) and his team of doctors and nurses at the General Hospital, which is what I am doing because it is a symbol of the inter-ethnic and inter-religious harmony that exists and must spread to all areas of social and political life.

This non-racism and care for another regardless of race or religion is what must mark the new Sri Lankan State that is struggling to be born.

During the past six months, there have been many government decisions relating to the ethnic minorities that have been progressive. These include, singing the national anthem in both Sinhala and Tamil, returning land acquired by the military to civilians and ensuring civilian administration of the former war zones.

In addition, President Sirisena and the UNP Government led by Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe have proclaimed that Sri Lanka is a multi- ethnic and multi- religious country.

This was unlike former president Rajapaksa who said that in Sri Lanka there were no ethnic majorities or minorities but only patriots and traitors or another former president, D. B. Wijetunga, who said that the minorities were like creepers around the mother tree.When President Sirisena went to Jaffna after the brutal rape and murder of a schoolgirl and met with her bereaved family and with the school children of Jaffna, the people of Jaffna loved him for his concern and the non-ostentatious manner he visited them. This was told to me by the Bishop of Jaffna, Thomas Savundranayagam when I visited him last month. May this spirit of genuine concern for the wellbeing of others which assures the unity of the people in mind and heart not be betrayed in the coming contest for political power at the general election.