The narrative needs to change and no one needs to feel shy to challenge it bogged down by chants of political correctness & reconciliation. Truth is truth – lies are lies – no slogan should silence that. Presently it is being written either purposely omitting or ignorantly omitting some crucial facts. By doing so, not only is a wrong impression being promoted locally & globally but it is also contributing to creating distrust & mistrust while likely to create further animosity.

No one can disassociate the present crisis from the legacy of colonial rule & the ills that has been handed down with it. No one can also deny that the leaders that took over post-independence were all groomed to think & act like their colonial masters. The handful that challenged the status quo were removed from the scene. If after 70 years people complain about the quality of our leaders they should now realize the reason why most lack nationalism or patriotism. To survive in politics not many can think nationally or will be allowed to act nationally. To understand this better, people need to study the dynamics of political systems globally & the manner that national leaders have been dethroned through regime change for their national policies – the South American examples are excellent to understand this.

That rulers have failed to be consistent in their leadership affects not only minorities but the majority as well and in terms of population ratio the majority is affected more. The scrooge of privatization will only lead to more misery as every national asset is put a price tag. People have yet to understand the trade & political dynamics of the en bloc countries in particular the demands aligned to trade & political agendas of the EU & OIC nations.

Those today commenting on racial violence pinning complete blame on the Sinhala majority were completely silent during 30 years of LTTE reign…why? Were Muslims treated greater under LTTE rule? Were Tamils enjoying full freedoms under 30 years of LTTE rule? Why have minorities forgotten this? How fair is it to claim that the UNP led coalition won the 2015 election entirely on the promises for ‘justice for the minorities’ what kind of racist election propaganda is this? How can minorities who never hesitate to hold slogans against so-called racism openly and proudly claim to have voted for the UNP coalition simply because it agreed to fulfill their demands. Minorities are faulted for making such demands & the UNP coalition is faulted for agreeing to such which is why these unrealistic promises are not seeing light of day. In minorities object to the majority will getting their way, how justified is it for minority will to get their way against the wishes of the majority (by majority what is implied is the majority opinion of people not majority race)

The very people calling for justice for victims of the war need to answer some crucial questions first. Who are the victims? Is it the LTTE or the victims of LTTE terror. Those calling for justice for people killed in the last phase completely ignore to mention that LTTE shot quite a number of Tamils – we would like to know how many. These are certainly victims of LTTE. As for those accusing the Army of killing people, there too we need to first know how many LTTE cadres who were in civilian clothing were killed and how many civilians who were engaged in hostilities (voluntarily or by force) died as a result, for any civilian engaged in hostilities and dying is not defined as a civilian, and the international law books says so very clearly. Without answering these basic questions no one can accuse the Sri Lankan military of killing and no one can demand compensation either – for why should the tax payers pay for LTTE families or dead LTTE cadres? Every TNA commemoration is of dead LTTE and not of Tamils killed by LTTE!

Why is no one raising a voice for the missing 5000 soldiers & their names are logged with the UNHRC not like the nameless 40,000 missing which has now shot up to 150,000 and has been a favorite past time to quote missing / dead.

Moreover, victims constitute all victims – not just Tamils or even Muslims. Let it be reminded to all that more Sinhalese have died since independence than anyone would like to mention. There was the first JVP insurrection, then the 1980/90s JVP-UNP killing spree, there were plenty human rights organizations even then but none chose to demand accountability from the UNP Government, was it because Sinhalese lives did not matter or the media did not find it newsworthy enough? There are plenty of missing persons that cover both these horrific periods far more gruesome than the LTTE period, if people can still remember. A piece of paper was enough to stop people going to work, school and homes were in darkness. Youth disappeared never to be found again. Why are these missing not given justice by the Office of Missing Persons. If the OMP is sincere they must begin by finding the missing from every period that people went missing. OMP was opened not just to find missing LTTE cadres. But as many commentators say if OMP has been launched only to find missing Tamils, let them search for Arjuna Mahendran first.

While the whole world comes down on Sinhalese for claiming the Sinhala Buddhist heritage and ownership for building the nation until it was deceptively confiscated by colonial invaders, when the minorities make racist demands there is stoic silence. Presumably one of the demands by the TNA for their vote at the no confidence motion was to appoint only Tamil divisional secretaries – Is this not racism? There are also demands to have Tamil policemen, Tamil military personnel but then when anyone says Sinhala Army, Sinhala policemen there will be resolutions against Sri Lanka! What kind of disjointed logic is this? A government should have the guts to say that every citizen must know the language of the majority Sinhalese especially when close to 80% of the population speak it. It makes logical sense for the 20% to learn Sinhalese than spending money & time getting 80% to learn what the 20% only speak. What good is it to have only Tamil speaking police & army – are they to serve in only Tamil areas, if so is this a bigger plan of the eelamist lobby?

A countrys military or police should recruit people who are patriotic, nationalistic and willing to uphold law & order & protect the country against all odds, not because a person is Tamil or Muslim. Quota system should not be allowed in any element of public service. It is totally against the basic arguments of equality which another lot are promoting. Let it also be reminded what a fiasco the local government election has turned into with the quotas for women! As for the demands for lands – why should a state give any land without anyone producing deed evidence to claim they actually owned the land. Simply giving into public uproar and well-funded media hype is something the government is advised to avoid.

The minorities that claim to want a competent and benign central government must also explain why they would continuously chose to vote for racist minority leaders & their ethno-religious political parties – TNA’s links to the LTTE, racism of SLMC leaders have still not stopped minorities voting for them, therefore in what context can there be any healing of wounds when there are political parties & leaders that promote and thrive on racism & racist demands, where every election manifesto is peddling for ethno religious demands only. At no time do these parties or their leaders make any statement or demands pertaining to the entire citizenry of the country.

These are the very parties that demand a new constitution from the very party that is said to have come into power to fulfill the demands of the minorities… so can the majority be blamed for opposing this new constitution for it has no relevance to the entirety of citizens in Sri Lanka. Where have you heard of a constitution being created only to fulfil the racist demands of the minorities?

There are many taking the brush to portray the racist Tamil & Muslim leaders as championing a ‘cause’ without acknowledging the damage they have done. Let us also mention that when the JVP began a killing spree targeting innocent people no different to how the LTTE began, the Sinhalese were quick to completely denounce the JVP but why have Tamils failed to do the same with the LTTE, same with Muslims. People must be well read enough to understand how the dark forces work upon political leaders parties, individuals, through businesses, through media, through local organizations etc.. it is only in identifying and watching their actions that people can not only challenge and question them but also not allow themselves to be steered by various initiatives that they fund to provoke people into violence. In watching the lies unfold to bomb Syria, the manner that entities like White Helmets have been used to stage bogus scenes, train people to act, use children to stir emotions, should immediately make people to question whether the same took place in Sri Lanka in the manner the C4 videos began to emerge at every important international event & UN session. These were well programmed & timed to embarrass the Sri Lankan Government the same as is being done to Syria.

If we are drifting to a crisis at many levels the minorities must take a large chunk of the blame for in their unfair & racist demands using the en bloc international pressure through the UN, EU & OIC they have exerted unfair demands on every government that have created more problems than solutions & that is what led to JVP, LTTE & now a multitude of issues that are not easy to even categorize as they come cloaked in multiple outfits & agendas. If minorities are today complaining about politicians, they must ask themselves in what ways they have deceptively cornered politicians through various monetary & other influential pressures thus making them compromise country-centric decisions for personal perks. Again, what have the minorities not enjoyed that the majority are enjoying? Absolutely nothing. The rich in the Sri Lankan polity care not for any ethnicity, faith or country – they are united by the will to make more money at whatever cost. In the end who enrolled to protect the nation? The rural Sinhala Buddhist youth, a handful of Malays and Tamils most of whom were gunned down by the LTTE if we can recall the Millennium City debacle and post CFA signing by UNP & LTTE.

Since independence more Sinhalese have been victims than any other community, more Tamils have died at the hands of the LTTE the supposed sole-representatives of the Tamils, more Muslims have died by this same sole-representative of the Tamils too. Without showcasing these ground realities, what are the experts & analysts trying to preach

Shenali D Waduge