A Plea to All Political Leaders- Please do not allow Mother Lanka to be destroyed any further!!

With the country and the world facing one of the worst crises in their histories, it has become incumbent upon our leaders to now work together without divisions, for the greater common good of the country and its future. And it is a situation of now or never, since "time is a merciless enemy, just as much as time is, a merciful friend”!!  However, some major issues are besetting the country which are paramount to be addressed in order to recover and to move ahead towards achieving sustainable development, which has eluded us for the last 72 years.  The paradigm of development should not involve merely jobs, livelihoods and infrastructure needs which can be deemed development with a human face. !! What is important at the same time is development that takes into account the rights and dignities of all communities alike, which can be termed development with a human soul!! 

If not, the most important aspect of uniting the motherland will continue to be a distant dream only.
And these issues if not properly addressed will become obstacles to our recovery and for sustaining our future development as a nation. We lost a great opportunity in 2004, when the whole country united for a period to provide relief to the "tsunami" victims, but yet, as time went by, it became a lost opportunity.  Then the end of the terrorist war in 2009 provided us with yet another opportunity to unite, which opportunity was also lost. Now the COVID 19 has brought together the communities who are all facing a common unseen enemy and it will be yet another chance to unite all communities.  And this should not be made to become yet another lost opportunity, lest it becomes the last opportunity!! Therefore, in order to better understand the issues, we need to re-iterate our past and our very existence as a nation in order to address the very core of the issues.

Who are Sri Lankans? Diverse but United??

Sri Lankans are people who are native to the island nation of Sri Lanka. We are made up of Sinhalese (75%), Tamil (15%), Muslim (9%), Malay, Burgher and others (1%). All of us are Sri Lankans. For centuries people belonging to these ethnic groups have co-existed harmoniously and contributed towards gaining of independence from our colonizers and to the development of our country immensely. There have been great Sinhalese, Tamil, Muslim, Malay, Burgher and others, who were social/political leaders, scholars and intellectuals, businessmen, services personnel and workers who were great patriots of the country. Celebrated sportsmen and women, high academic achievers, inventors, musicians, artists have emerged from all corners of the country, although they belonged to different categories under ‘Race’ or “Religion “but we embraced them all only as Sri Lankans.

Yet, how did we end up in the situation we are in today, where each ethnic group clashes with the other? The short and simple answer is to say that it is because of self-serving politicians on all sides of the divide. They have systematically planted hatred and divisions among the groups. Sadly, we have been falling prey to it during the many years wasted with the same issues, post independence. 
Politics and Racism
Racism and creating mistrust and fear among ethnic groups has been a political tactic used for decades. They have divided us into voter groups and treated us differently, promised us different things, which only benefit themselves. We as communities have been caught up in their political games and believe the false mistrust and fear built into us. 

The 30 years of civil war killed numerous Sri Lankans, many young men, and women, Sinhalese as well as Tamils, Muslims,Malays, Burghers and others , although some of them fought together to rid our country of the scourge of terrorism. And until we can acknowledge that all lives lost in the war were of Sri Lankans and none of us ‘won a war’ after such a cruel and prolonged battle, we will not have real reconciliation between us. The only winners of the war were the arms and ammunition producers and dealers and political groups who gained power through these divisions.
We need to be able to remember and pay our respects to all who sacrificed and lost their lives, together as one nation, no matter what religion, race or mother they belong to as they all are our own fellow citizens. As such, until a day dawns when all Sri Lankans feel safe and positive about their future, the relative period of ‘peace’ we are enjoying now will only be a time bomb ticking away. It is a disaster in waiting to happen, at the slightest provocation by some third party with a hidden agenda. 

Unfortunately in the current environment, none of us feel safe or feel secure about the future of Sri Lanka. The dire financial situation the country is faced with, coupled with governance issues, contributes to worsening the predicament. And it is equally important to enable and encourage a positive shift in the mind sets of the people, just as much as it is important to mending the financial problems. It is therefore the binding responsibility of the current leaders to facilitate this paradigm shift in the mind sets in order to achieve lasting peace and development in our land.

To this end, many initiatives have been proposed, such as enhancing of the system of education to incorporate the true history of the country with real facts and not what some people want us to believe. Not allow any more expansion of schools based on ethnicity. Instill respect for the other, empathy and compassion, acceptance of another culture and tolerance from a young age. Make all children be proud to be a Sri Lankan, whether they were born to a Sinhalese, Tamil, Muslim, Malay, Burger or any other family, so that if any time or day if an extremist group or a foreign influence approaches them to fulfill their own selfish agendas, we as Sri Lankans will stand together to protect our mother land and its sovereignty. There is this critical need to bring all Sri Lankans under one flag and embrace them to give them the dignity and respect they each deserve and make us all to feel that we are "truly Sri Lankan" and we all are one, with a well-established Sri Lankan identity.

Language plays a very important role in communication and in understanding of the other. We must give an opportunity for everyone to learn the main languages being used in the country, namely, Sinhalese, Tamil and English, the last of which is also, an international language. This will build bridges between people of different ethnic groups and shall lead to better understanding of each other and of the cultures. The political leaders and government services personnel need to be able to communicate with all Sri Lankans to provide them a fair and equal service. And if any government is to really think of uniting and developing our country, they must adequately give focus and attention to ensure that sufficient investment is made into implementing this tri lingual policy which has been launched since over a decade or more.

Sri Lanka is a multi-ethnic nation and multi culturalism enriches the culture and the beauty of our nation. We can exploit this vibrant diversity to expand the tourism industry which is the third-largest foreign income earner and is currently in desperate need of a boost under the current crisis that we are going through. In this manner, we will be giving our creative diversity theauthentic place it deserves to contribute towards the development of our mother land.

Politics and Buddhism
Sri Lanka need not be called only as a Sinhala-Buddhist country, it should be a country for all Sri Lankans to live in harmony. The term “Sinhala-Buddhist” has been introduced by political campaigners. Even the Lord Buddha was not referred to as a Buddhist. Actually, the Buddhist philosophy is considered a universal philosophy that can be practiced by believers of any religion. Unfortunately, the reaction to this labelling as Sinhala Buddhists has been for some other minority political groups to call themselves to be representing minorities and to secure their vote bases. Instead one should be able to gather votes from all communities, if that person or a party is to believe and wants to do justice to all communities alike and to maintain respect and equality.  Today, Buddhists by name only, who do not respect or follow the true Buddhist principles, chant this as a "mantra" just as the politicians wanted them to and use it to disrespect the very religion they vow to safeguard. The Buddha’s teaching states to be kind to everyone and to help everyone. Lord Buddha's philosophy of equanimity and compassion did not say “siyalubauddhayonidhukwethwa”. Instead Load Buddha preached, “siyalusathwayonidhukwethwa”. Buddha spread love and kindness to every being, not only to Buddhists.  Buddhism is not a label that we wear as a decoration or as status for use for personal gain. Therefore if one knows the true meaning of Buddhism, they will understand the moment you hate someone, you are not really a follower of the Buddha's philosophy anymore. The essence of Buddhism is based on empathy, love, compassion and equanimity. And therefore it is only a crying shame that politicians of all hues use Buddhism and the temples for political gain, although the sacred temple is supposed to be for learning and worship only. Yet it is common place for politicians to emerge from temples and make political statements to the media after paying homage at the temple or to the sacred Bo tree!! They have made it into a fine art to go from Temple to Temple or from Bo Tree to Bo Tree to make political statements. Such is the plight of political Buddhism in Sri Lanka !!

Measures to address Racism
Each of us have a responsibility towards the future of our mother land, a responsibility to investigate the reality behind the ‘racist’ incidents, not to jump into conclusion based on social media posts, not to generalize a group of people based on the actions of a few. We need to decide what is best for our country and stand by that, refuse to be provoked by fake news or fake reports some media agencies try to feed us with. We must endeavor to learn a language of our fellow countrymen, try to make a connection, make a genuine effort to understand their culture and what they have to offer. Make a decision today; ‘I will treat and respect all Sri Lankans only as Sri Lankans and not based on the language they speak or the God they worship’. The change we want for our country has to start with us'.
There is a crucial role to be played by the religious leaders as well, in changing the mentality and attitude of the general public. It is essential that these teachers of the nation do not seek personal gain and consider the well-being of the people and the security of the country. They can guide and lead people to think wisely and act sensibly to eliminate the artificial differences imposed on Sri Lankans.
But as it stands today, the politicians have the greatest responsibility to correct the wrong done to us over the years. It is time to promote true harmony and understanding among people, not the kind of peace they promise to establish, after igniting divisions themselves. It takes a genuine and strong leader to unite all Sri Lankans and assemble them under the Sri Lankan identity and SriLankan brand and let them stand with pride as Sri Lankans, in a country where nothing else defines them other than being a true patriotic Sri Lankan. It is an utmost responsibility of the political leadership to acknowledge the gravity of this situation and take the correct measures to soothe the minds of the people of Sri Lanka, who are beset with mistrust and fear, especially during and when elections have been called. 

Politics and racism during election times and the Easter Bombings fiasco
It has more or less been the norm for racism to raise its ugly head during times of elections. Elections in a democracy should not be won by dividing people into race and religious beliefs as have unfortunately been the case in the recent Sri Lankan history.

The investigations into the horrendous Easter Bombings of 21 April 2019 perpetrated by a handful of extremist minded misguided youth in our country is now being specially focused upon since elections have been declared. True enough, all peace loving citizens of the country want the perpetrators to be brought to justice. And during the immediate aftermath of the bombings, our valiant security forces searched and did away with many of those directly responsible for the heinous crime and due investigations and judicial processes were commenced. Instead of enhancing the investigations to bring to justice any remaining remnants of terror, there should not be any targeted propaganda that will only divide the people into groups and create hatred, fear and mistrust. No doubt, our brave and honest intelligence officers can do their job and reveal the culprits if they are given the freedom without any interference by any political leadership or groups. And if the investigations are being highlighted today, then there should also be focus on the then governing political leadership, i.e. the then President of the country, whose in actions allowed the terror attacks to happen so blatantly, despite prior warnings having been given to the  security establishment under his purview. Instead, the then leader has now been appointed as Chairman of a political alliance that is to contest elections. And the then Prime Minister of the country should also be held responsible for not having brought to the notice of the Parliament that he was being left out of Security Council meetings. These lapses led to the mayhem and destruction that caused the loss of many innocent human lives and massive losses to the country's economy from which the country is still struggling to recover from. It is as if the then leadership wanted the country to slide for political reasons. ! These are charges that should be leveled at the political leadership of the country at the time, as a determent towards similar lapses in the future.  But, will that ever happen???

The present Prime Minister, who is also the leader of the Sri Lanka PodujanaPeramuna, is on record saying on Television publicly that the leaders of the previous regime should bear responsibility for not preventing the Easter Bombings which could have been easily possible, had they  taken the necessary action to prevent it, since  they had all the prior information and warnings from local and foreign intelligence services, but, did not take any action to prevent the disaster from happening. And yet, the main leader of the previous regime who had the security services under his purview at the time is now the Chairman of the alliance that is contesting the upcoming parliamentary elections of which alliance, the SLPP,  is the leading stakeholder ! Therefore, the question to be asked by the citizenry is, what kind of political puzzle is now available to the citizens of Mother Lanka ????

Equity in the rule of law, COVID 19 Crisis, Power Politics and the Constitutional Crisis
The day that Rule of Law is equitably applied to all Sri Lankans alike, including to all political leaderships in the country, the citizens would be free from any fear and hatred and Sri Lanka will become a good country to live in and to invest in. But to this date, it has not happened. Those accused of corruption and are implicated in murders are still to be given judgment. Investigations have been interfered with by transferring out those who led the investigations initially. A leadership that violated the country's Sacred Constitution in 2018  as judged by an unanimous decision of a 7 member bench in the Supreme Court of Sri Lanka and which act of commission brought the country to a standstill from October to December 2018, has  still not been charged for such  crimes. This does not auger well for the future good governance of the country. From the local government to the municipalities, to the ministries and services units of the government, actions are delayed sometimes purposely, inconveniencing the public and encouraging resorting to bribery to obtain such services. Tenders for big government contracts are mired with bribery and corruption. Such is the situation of the rule of law in the country.
The COVID 19 crisis which is a global phenomenon, has brought many countries including Sri Lanka to their knees. Whilst the actions of the HE the President, the government and the valiant security and health services in Sri Lanka should be highly commended for containing the crisis to its present limits, the blame for not preventing the entry of the virus to the island nation of Sri Lanka must lie fairly and squarely with the leadership. Whilst accepting the fact that HE the President and the  government were fully aware of the implications of the virus from as far back as December 2019 when the virus first hit the City of  Wuhan in China and  a high level team was put in place by the Government to focus on the to be crisis. Having dissolved the Parliament on 2 March 2020, leadership waited until 20 March to proclaim an island wide curfew soon after permitting nominations to be given in on 19 March 2020 and by which time, many foreign tourists and Lankan returnees from various countries had entered the country without any quarantining, thus bringing the virus into the country. This lapse was mainly due to the eagerness to ensure elections at all costs by 25 April 2020. 

Now to add to the woes of the country, as per to the views of many there is a looming Constitutional crisis in that beyond 30 April 2020, the government as per the prevailing Constitution cannot have recourse to public funds, without approval from the Parliament, which is theaccepted approving authority for the country's finances and budgets. Although pleas have been made of the President to please consult the third pillar of governance, the Judiciary, for the interpretation of the law,we are yet to witness his initiatives in this regard. And such an advise from the judiciary with regard to the interpretation of the importance and the need for the three pillars of governance, can be deemed final and put to rest all rumours and misinterpretations of the Constitution by various groups, thereby and most importantly, clearing any doubts in theminds of the citizenry, whose lives will be exposed to the virus if elections are to be held under the present circumstances. 

Although it is a widely accepted fact that the majority of the parliamentarians have been deemed corrupt and that even the new parliamentarians to be elected  after elections will still be corrupt, (given that a majority of the same faces have been selected by the respective parties to contest the elections), this should not be an excuse for HE  the President to abrogate all powers to himself, without having recourse for advise from the established judiciary, which is the third pillar of democratic governance. A breach of such a course of action will become the beginning of an anarchy, which Mother Lanka can ill afford at this moment of time. The three pillars of democratic governance must function and be ensured at all times. Furthermore, if the Sacred Constitution on which all laws and legislation to govern the country is based on is disrespected and violated, Sri Lanka will not be considered a good country to live in by its citizens, where the rule of law is not respected. It will also not be considered a safe country to invest in by the international community with whom we are dependent on for trade and investments. This can lead us into further catastrophic situations in the times to come.!

A Plea to HE the President
The big questions in the minds of the people today are whether it is the elections that are still not overdue that has to be given priority, or the protection of the people from the spread of the deadly virus and provision of the immediate needs of the people, such as food and livelihoods and the stimulation of the economy towards economic recovery?? Further, can the country afford to spend over 5-7 billion rupees towards an election in the immediate future when there are many priority needs of the country left to be fulfilled?? The people of the country do not wish to risk another full force emergence of the COVID 19 virus, against which they have been locked down for well over a month and made to undergo many a sacrifice. Therefore, would it not be less risky and most logical to target the elections for September 2020 as provided in the Constitution and allow much needed time for the government to expend the scarce resources of the people to address the much needed immediate needs of the economy and of the people???
Given the above, we wish to make a plea to HE the President to not to be guided into doing wrong by its citizens who elected him to bring security and stability to the country. We urge HEthe President to do what is right, so that he will not go wrong, and will be gratefully remembered by all Sri Lankans alike, as one who did right by Mother Lanka!!!