Has Independence day been lowered to the level of being just another holiday for most Sri Lankans? Is it a namesake freedom we are celebrating?
Whatever political leaders might think, the stark truth is that most ordinary people see little significance in Independence Day because the political system has made a mockery of political freedom. On our Plus Section today people from different sections of society have given vent to their feelings. "What independence are we talking of? Here in our villages we are not certain what time the LTTE will attack," says a school teacher in the Anuradhapura district. What independence, we cannot travel on the road safely," says a Tamil resident in Dehiwela.
After 49 years of independence we find ourselves in a situation where we have never been so divided. Sinhalese and Tamils have been orchestrated to be against each other. The Sinhalese themselves, including some Buddhist monks are divided on parochial party lines. The same goes for the Tamils. Then we see the sad situation where a Sinhala Commission is probing alleged injustices caused to the Sinhala people during the past 200 years - which includes a full 50 years under Sinhala leaders themselves.
People to people relationships are cracking. So are the cornerstones of freedom. The independent judiciary and the free media are under siege.
We have gradually politicised the once independent public service. The police has become an extended private security service to the politicians in power. Recently an MP sat on the OIC's chair and conducted business from the police station, and got away with it.
We have earned dubious fame as a nation that specializes in exporting housemaids. More recently we have been advertised abroad as a paradise for child sex. Organised paedophile rings have been linked to local politicians. Almost at each and every turn where there is rot there is politics.
Indeed it seems to be one huge problem here and we all have been part of it. But we must not lose hope however dark the night may be, the dawn must surely come. Let us all turn the searchlight inward today and turn to a new way. If we have been part of the problem, can't we become part of the solution? Freedom like all good things is essentially something internal. It must begin within us - with an awareness and a conscious effort to be gradually liberated from self interest in the decisions we take and the choices we make. Then, when the races are all blended and the voice of strife is dumb, we all could march towards a Sri Lankan identity. Unifying the Nation is the need of the hour, as the President said in her New Year message. But the words need to become deeds.
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