Naming and Damning - How the Sinhala-Buddhist Nationalist became the Bogeyman of Presidents and Prime Ministers of Sri Lanka.

R. Chandrasoma

One has only to scan desultorily the op-ed pages of our State-controlled newspapers to discover the obloquy and odium attached to that which is associated with the label 'Sinhala Nationalist'. For the worthy scribes who are paid handsomely to toe a line that the government of the day finds congenial, the very names 'Sinhala' and 'Nationalist' conjure up visions of the fanatical, the depraved and the barbaric in much the same way as the label 'Hun' sent frissons of terror in the civilized nations of Europe in the ages past. A Sinhala Nationalist is, ipso facto, an extremist of a most disagreeable kind and a threat to civilization and stability in the troubled Island in which we live. This position is not argued - it is taken as axiomatic and is the basis for political theory-building that is only as secure as its founding principle.

As illustration, let us take the burning issue of the day - the Terrorism of Prabhakaran and the armed uprising of a section of the disaffected Tamils. While scholars and historians may have recourse to convoluted arguments to determine the genesis of the disaffection and the consequent violence, there is no trace of hesitancy and doubt so far as our leadership is concerned. The President (CBK) has declared unambiguously on numerous occasions that the minorities have been 'wronged and unjustly treated' by the Sinhala-Buddhists. She finds the concept of a 'primary race' rooted in the long-established history and culture of Lanka not merely odious but the very root of conflicts that assail a multicultural society of the kind found in Sri Lanka. It is a short step from this to a wholesale debunking of history and a forthright declaration that 'Sinhala nationalists' are 'extremists' that pose a serious threat to the established order.

The enormous asymmetry of this position is unacknowledged - that Tamil racism is no less virulent than its counterpart in the majority race and an accommodation can never be reached by damning one and dismissing the other as a mere consequence of the first. It is Tamil racism that engendered bigotry of the kind that led to the killing of thousands and the emergence of that monster in human form, Prabhakaran. Sinhala 'racism' or 'extremism' (if we ignore the uncharacteristic events of '83) has so far produced only ineffectual noise - this is attested by the fact that a supposedly Buddhist Sri Lanka is now in the throes of a Christianization and Westernization that, if allowed to proceed unchecked, will make the Sinhala people an ethnic curiosity in the not too distant future. It is strange to hear warning cries about 'Sinhala extremists' doing their devilish best to derail the instauration of multiculturalism when the latter is, indeed, the established order of things and is currently going from strength to strength. Even stranger is the hectoring and blustering of the self-proclaimed leaders of the majority on behalf of the minorities at a time when patriotic concern for the survival of their own kind is the compelling imperative.

If the President is the diagnostician, the Prime Minister (RW) is the incarnate therapist. He has a cure for the racial hauteur and pretensions (as he sees it) of the Sinhala people. His 'therapy' for our social ills is the dismembering of historic Sri Lanka as a key first step. It is hoped that this partial surrender of suzerainty will appease the blood-lust of Prabhakaran. His greater goal is that of the steady acculturation of the majority race (the Sinhala people) to linguistic and cultural impositions of the foreigner thereby succumbing to a bastardization and an anonymity that will promote global business, ease the pangs of Christianization and assuage the ill-will of Prabhakaran.

It is not easy to write off a nation. However, he (i.e. the Prime Minister) has the singular good fortune of having a raft of friends both here and abroad that are not merely amenable to the kind of destructive work he has in mind but regard it as an irrevocable part of the evolution of modern Sri Lanka. We have already remarked on the blatant convergence of views of the two chief actors in the political drama currently unfolding. There are others with great clout in the affairs of our ill-fated country whose fervour in these matters is no less vehement that of the President and the Prime Minister. The Business Leaders have lately formed a 'front' allegedly to promote 'peace' but in reality to prevent a government being formed in which Sinhala Nationalism will be allowed to rear its ugly head. Their fear of the latter transcends the pull of ordinary political affiliations and it is with terror and urgency that they demand the closing of ranks and a 'joint governance' of their two favourites -CBK and RW.

The despicable role enacted by the flagship English Press of Sri Lanka in making a monkey out of that which in a different place and at another time would be regarded as high-minded and salutary in the highest degree is too well known to be commented on at length here. A reference to a center-page article in the Sunday Observer of the 15th of Feb 2004 written by no less a person than the Editor (LG) may serve to dispel any illusions that a skeptic might harbour. While belabouring the folly and arrogance of the 'Sinhalayas' (as he is wont to do in his weekly sermonizing) he refers to the JVP as 'representing the Low Castes'. Quite apart from the gall of the man to resort to such crudities in an age when reference to caste is considered highly obnoxious, there is a hidden message that the ordinary reader might overlook.

It is widely acknowledged that the JVP is the new flag-bearer of Sinhala nationalism. This reference to the caste-basis of JVP power is a shameless insinuation not merely that the elite may be toppled at the next general election by the combined ballot of the lower classes of society. It is a fear-ridden confession of the capitalist class that sees Sinhala nationalists as the new barbarian hordes knocking on the gates of the privileged. That a publicly owned press can tout this line is a matter for astonishment. While 'accountability' is a word much bandied about, it is the unaccountability of ideological freebooters of the Sri Lankan Press that must be urgently investigated.