Let this New Year be about:

Unity, peace, and forgiveness

by Lionel Wijesiri

In the late morning of 14th April last year, Siva who lives down our lane brought us a big plate of sweets, wished us Pouttandou Vajtoukal (Happy New Year) and invited our family for dinner next day. This invitation has become a ritual for the past five years. On each New Year day, he invited all his neighbours for a simple but tasty dinner.

As he left us after a while, I visualised how Siva's family and my family both observe a similar series of rituals and traditions for the New Year. All those inherited practices echo the sentiments of unity, peace, and forgiveness. Over the TV, I heard a VIP saying, "This is a celebration which shows the unity of the nation, an opportunity to celebrate our committed attachment to the cultural diversity of the island." Nice sentiments, indeed! Yet, as a nation have we understood the inner meaning of these traditions?

President Maithripala Sirisena has understood the inner meaning of this great traditional festival. At the 67th commemoration of Independence last February, he said, "To end the war against terror, our heroic troops were able with their guns to silence the guns of terrorism. However, the biggest challenge we face today, is that of bringing together the minds of the people of the North and South, and through a process of reconciliation to bring about co-existence and national understanding, and thus take our great Motherland forward as a land rich in human affection and understanding."

National reconciliation is a concept that has evaded Sri Lanka ever since it gained Independence, although many prominent citizens and a few genuine politicians endeavour to achieve it. Yet divisive politics helped keep communities apart until finally leading it to a 30-year devastating conflict. Nearly six years after that conflict ended, we are still searching for avenues to lasting reconciliation.

Resolution

During this joyful period of festival, shouldn't we resolve ourselves to let go of all the bitterness and rancour in our hearts brought about by the past political exercises so we can unite as a nation. Shouldn't we, at least now, ask ourselves "what could we do to make our country a harmonious multicultural country to live?" Our vision must be to the future, learning from our past, but not dwelling in it.

The responsibility for the achievement of racial unity in Sri Lanka rests upon both Sinhala and Tamil citizens. To build a society in which the rights of all its members will be respected and guaranteed, both races must be animated with the spirit of optimism and faith in the eventual realization of their highest aspirations.

Both must recognize that unity is essential for their common survival. Both must recognize that there is only one nation - Sri Lankan nation.

Both must recognize that a harmoniously functioning society that permits the full expression of the potential of all persons can decide the social and economic problems now confounding a society wracked with disunity.

Racial separation

It is evident that both Sinhalese and Tamils in large numbers are feeling deeply disappointed and frustrated by what each group perceives to be a failure of the efforts in recent decades at effecting progress in the relations between the races.

To rationalize this failure, both have been reacting by retreating to the more familiar ground of racial separation. As the problems with terror activities mounted, the tendency was to use the seeming intractability of these problems as a measure of the failure of years of struggle on the part of both to overcome the barriers of centuries. Similarly, those who believe that they are victims of a protracted racial intolerance seek relief in the belief that Sinhalese and Tamils are so distinctly different from one another that both of them must stake out their own cultural and social territories and stay within them. Would this be sensible? Would it not be a retreat from the reality of our common nationality? Would it not be a formula for the total breakdown of sovereignty? Those who raise the call for separation preach a grim doctrine indeed. If the nation is seriously to submit to such a view, where exactly will either the Sinhala or the Tamil Sri Lankans divide their cultural heritage, one from the other?

Such racism runs deep. It infects the total nation and the hearts of Sinhala and Tamil Sri Lankans alike. Since without conscious, deliberate, and sustained effort, no one can remain unaffected by its corrosive influence, both groups must realize that such a problem cannot be easily resolved.

Let neither think that anything short of genuine love, extreme patience and deliberate and continued effort can succeed in blotting out the stain, which this patent evil has left on the fair name of their common country.

Both groups must understand that no real change will come about without close association, fellowship, and friendship. We should understand that diversity of race or culture enhances the human experience and is not a barrier to harmonious relationships.

Our motherland

As the Prime Minister recently pointed out, the media has a great role to play in efforts to create national unity through reconciliation. He decried the communal tone of certain media outlets. At this juncture of our journey towards reconciliation, there can be no greater offence than spreading the flames of hatred and racism.

The media, regardless of language and geographical coverage, must refrain from inflaming racial passions, which is an ill-advised move that can set the clock back by decades. We now need to move forward and establish a truly Sri Lankan identity shorn of petty differences, which should be the ultimate aim of any move towards reconciliation.

The message should be addressed primarily to the individual Sri Lankan and not the politicians. This is because the transformation of a whole nation ultimately depends on the initiative and change of character of the individuals. No great idea or plan of action by the government can hope to succeed if the individual neglects to respond in his or her own way as personal circumstances and opportunities permit.

Let us all resolve ourselves that whatever background we come from, we will look at the ethnic situation with new eyes and with a new determination and lend effective support to the realisation of a solution.

The day all of us endorse that resolution, we begin our journey toward the full realization of our glorious place in the world

Sri Lanka is the Motherland for all of us irrespective of our religious, ethnic, and other differences. Our generation is vested with an inescapable responsibility of rebuilding a nation to make it a safer and a happier place to live for our children. Our shared values and culture should provide a firm foundation in our efforts in rebuilding society.

Sinhala and Tamil New Year is a time for enjoyment and a time to show love and affection to elders, neighbours and for all our countrymen. This is the ideal time fora genuine resolution. Let us understand that what is needed now is healing and unity, not further conflict and division.

The fostering of healing and unity in Sri Lanka is not only a noble task but it is a responsibility upon all of us who have at heart the good of the nation.

A strong inter-religious and interracial cooperation will demonstrate that men and women do not have to forsake their identity, whether ethnic or religious, to live in harmony with their brothers and sisters.