1st February 1998

Point of view

'What independence, what freedom?'

By Kumudini Hettiarachchi

Cry for me Mother Lanka, hide your face in shame. That is what we, the children of Sri Lanka should say as we prepare, with much pomp, pageantry and expense, to celebrate the golden jubilee of the country's independence from the British 50 years ago.

What Independence? What Freedom?

Just a walk down the corridors of recent history, throws up horrific images. Brother fighting brother. A country fractured by communal hatred, violence and bloodletting. Most Sri Lankans, be they Sinhalese, Tamil, Muslim or Burgher, Buddhist, Christian, Hindu, Moslem or atheists consumed by bigotry and intolerance.

Where are the gentle Sri Lankans of the days of yore who would hold up traffic, just because a crow had been hit by a vehicle, or a dog or cat run over by a car? To see the malaise afflicting our people, we don't have to go far - just step on to the main road. Drivers honking, shouting rude remarks at each other, trying to outspeed a slower motorist, cutting into the paths of others - just for a few seconds' edge over the neighbour.

Take our schools and our universities, which are supposed to be inculcating "values" in our children. But in these classrooms there is only envy, jealousy and one-upmanship. No healthy competition, only the killer instinct.

In our halls of learning we also see perverted, sadistic and brutal ragging, even leading to murder. All because the victims were clever, were from another caste or simply because they were different. Who is responsible?

In wider society, corruption, malpractices, lies, dishonesty and commissions for this and that are rampant. Lies upon lies are heaped up to cover more lies. Politicians of all hues will give anything or do anything including fanning the flames of communal hatred and murder to be in power or get into power - just to make more money. Not one of them, and I say this boldly, has risen above petty politicking and partisanship for the greater good of the country.

Fifty years of independence - more rape, more prostitution, more drug addiction, more alcoholism, more incest, more thuggery, more contract killings.... Parents selling their children to paedophiles for a few chocolates, nice clothes, and things that money can buy. Parents selling their children into slavery as child servants... may be to give them three square meals a day, but still as little slaves. Those who employ them, apparently the "literate", torturing, burning and beating these child slaves sometimes to death. Baby farms where mothers are coerced into having children so that they can be sold under the counter for lots of dollars, with a few thousand rupees for the mothers.

Yes, we have a world record - of being the country with the highest suicide rate. Let us pat ourselves on our backs over this record and garland ourselves with "mini mal".

Then, of course, we come to the more complex issues during the past 50 years - a country bleeding to death after two youth rebellions in the south and an ongoing "ethnic" conflict in the north and the east.

Two insurrections where the rivers flowed red, where some universities had their grounds decorated with slain heads and bodies of our youth which were found in their hundreds, spreadeagled on the roads, or strung on lamp-posts. Where the insurrections themselves were ruthless and the counter-action brutal.

Now the raging "ethnic" conflict - where bombs, torture, disappearances and killings have become the order of the day. How many communal riots have we witnessed during these 50 years? How many attacks have we experienced? How many humble men, women and children have died in communal violence? Why ? We have accepted these as a matter of routine. No one utters a murmur.

Chauvinists on both sides of the ethnic divide have a field day. The moderate voice is unheard.

Maybe for the common man of any community, life is too harsh with the cost of living reaching the sky, to lose sleep over the bigger issues of ethnic harmony. Maybe he has to worry about how to find the next day's meals for his children, their clothes, their school fees, their bus fare... how to keep body and soul together.

But it's time for us to say enough is enough. Aren't we all affected by this conflict, we the ordinary people - haven't we lost someone in a bomb blast, in an attack, in the fighting. The young soldiers pawns in the hands of politicians and the young rebels similarly pawns in the hands of the Tiger leadership. We have to decide. At least in the 50th year of independence let us forget the past. It's gone and gone forever. One minute, nay one second of it cannot be recaptured.

Forget the 50-50 demand of S.J.V. Chelvanayagam, the 'Sinhala only' of S.W.R.D. Bandaranaike, the march to Kandy by J.R. Jayewardene against regional councils, the racist remarks allegedly made by Mrs. Amirthalingam. It's the past. Let old ghosts lie, don't resurrect them. Let old wounds heal. Forget all slights and grievances.

Hasn't enough blood been shed in this beloved land?

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