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If Obama can why cant we do it in Sri Lanka? Cry Sri Lankan minorities. Look inwardly, the answer is just there.

Dr Sudath Gunasekara

13.11.2008.

If Obama could become the President of America and Sonia Gandhi could be the leader of the Indian Congress why cant we in Sri Lanka do that here has now become the most common and vociferous question posed by many minority politicians in Sri Lanka. This is often raised to give the impression to the world that in Sri Lanka the minorities are not treated equally and fairly and they are discriminated by the majority Sinhalese.

The answer is a bold YES, of cause you can, why not? But dear friends like Obama did it long time ago, first you have to change yourself, understand the basic historical and socio-cultural realities of the country where you live, change your attitudes and values, and become fully pledged Sri Lankans. This is what Obama has done and unlike you people Obama is a transformed man, a totally transformed fully pledged American Christian without which he would never have been there today. He has fully adjusted to the American culture and absorbed fully in to it, having completely ceased to be an African or a Muslim and stands for American values.

He does not fanatically think 'African' or 'Muslim' or 'Indian' as you people do. He also never challenged the dominant American Christian culture like our minorities do. That is why hundreds of millions of both white and black Americans and twice the Electoral College members responded to his call and elected him as their leader.

Had he also formed a separate political party of Africans or Black Negros and staged the kind of communal agitations for a separate independent state or a portion of America for the blacks or the Negros as our Sri Lankan friends do here, do you think he would have been any where, what he is today. Had he also remained a Muslim fundamentalist and insisted that his wife and children ware the African or the Muslim garb and spoke an African language since his father was an African, do you think he would have been elected even to a local council apart from being elected as the President of United States of America. There lies the secret how Obama became the president of America. So before you pose such irrelevant and foolish questions to the world, first you have to understand the fundamental difference between Obama and yourself? Go before the mirror and pose this to your inner soul. You can't have your mind and soul in India or Arabia and while living emotionally and mentally in those countries dreaming them as your motherlands you should never expect the Sri Lankan people to elect you as their Prime Minister or the President to sit upon judgment on their destiny. In no country in the whole world you could make that day dream a reality.

As some armchair intellectuals pretend to cast aspersions on the Sri Lankan electorate and the people I must clearly say that there is very little difference between the Americans and Sri Lankans when it comes to politics. Partly are the blunders made by Bush coupled with shortcomings on the part of McCain and partly the impressive appeal for 'Change' posed by Obama that have influenced the outcome of the results. So I don't think it is correct to say that the Sri Lanka electorate is less democratic and less rational or less matured than the American electorate as some of these 'intellectuals' appear to opine.

Some minority politicians also have been asking the same question referring to Man Mohan Singh and even the former Indian President Abdul Kalam. The answer would be the same and it would be in the solid affirmative. But of cause they have to first understand how and why Obama has reached such exalted position in America and how and why people like Sonia Gandhi, Man Mohan Singh and Kalam have reached such heights in India? Even Gandhi whom they adore so much and quote very often had never fought for an India of Hindus only. He never wanted India partitioned. Therefore these people also should understand the fundamental difference that distinctly divides these world leaders and themselves. Meanwhile even some learned political analysts and so-called intellectuals who are deeply rooted in the west and try to analyze the Sri Lankan issue using western criteria wearing coloured glasses also and ask the same question. Why don't they too ask the Sri Lankan minorities to ask this question among themselves without crying foul, before they also try to display their 'superior' intellectual attainments to the outside world? Then I am sure all of them can discover the secret of the success of these world leaders and the causes of failure of those who ask this silly question. It is of cause good political rhetoric, on both parties, that leads to further communal segregation and rouse hatred against the Sinhalese. But it lacks any intellectual substance or meaning.

I think the answer lies there. So you don't need to keep on asking this silly and utterly irrelevant question from the people of Sri Lanka any longer. The day you give up your narrow communalist attitude and become an Obama or Sonia Gandhi, both in temperament and outlook and attitude certainly you can become the Prime Minister or the President of Sri Lanka without any problem
Now let us see how these world leaders have reached such enviable heights in their respective countries. First consider the case of Obama. It is true Obama's father was a black African. But not only Obama's father has not asked his wife to change her name and embrace Islam like it happens here in Sri Lanka, but Obama himself became an American Christian. His language too is not Kenyan but American English. His dress is American too. His manners, attitudes values and everything else are also American. He never wanted his father's native language to be recognized as an official language or his father's religion, dress and customs etc to be recognized as his cultural or human rights.

For all intent and purposes he has become an America and ceased to be an African or a Muslim any more there after. He never formed a Muslim or an African political party like our friends in Sri Lanka and never asked his wife and the two little girls to wear the purda to display their former Muslim identity. In short he spoke and contested as a true American representing the Democratic Party of America. He also never said Allaho Akbur or Salam alikkum. Because he has become a son of the American soil on which the American Nation has sprung up. He never spoke of the black .He spoke of the American Nation and like any other American he concluded his acceptance speech with the words God Bless you and God Bless the United States of America. So both in form and spirit he is a fully fledged American as any white American is.

The only discernible difference is the colour of his skin about which he never spoke or gave any undue prominence although he was fully aware of it. Had he tried to remain an African thinking of his roots or a Muslim and worn the African garb, he would never have been what he is today. It is the complete temporal, spiritual and attitudinal change that has enabled him to change the entire American mind and history that were once so deeply steeped in apartheid. This is how, dear friends, he has become the President of the United States of America and the leader of the Great American Nation. If these people read Obama's acceptance speech they will have no difficulty in seeing the difference between them and Obama and realize how poles apart they are.

Obama said 'it is that American spirit - that American promise - that pushes us forward even when the path is uncertain; that binds us together in spite of differences. At this moment, in this election, we must pledge once more to march into the future. Let us keep that promise - that American promise - and concluded in the words of Scripture hold firmly, without wavering, to the hope that we confess.
Thank you, God Bless you, and God Bless the United States of America". And this god I am sure is not African but American in its real sense.

Obama never wanted America divided with a separate independent state for Negroes or Muslims. Unlike Sri Lanka which is only some 25,000 square mile United State of America is almost 150 times larger than Sri Lanka. Even California which is governed by 1 Governor is six times our country. With its vastness, latitudinal and meridian stretch, physical and original cultural diversity a call for a division or devolution of power would have been more logical and effective. But had he done that he would never have been the President of United States of America.

Even his predecessor Martin Luther King the famous civil rights icon of America spoke of the American Nation and right through out used the word 'We Americans' in his famous and historic speech of 1963 'I have a Dream. He never fought for his African rights like our friends here do in Sri Lanka who talk exclusively of Muslims and Tamils and their rights for which they have their own political parties like the Sri Lanka Muslim Congress etc and some thirteen odd Tamil parties most of which stand only for Tamils
Now let us have a look at some excerpts from Martin Luther King's famous 'I Have a Dream' speech.
"In the process of gaining our rightful place we must not be guilty of wrongful deeds. Let us not seek to satisfy our thirst for freedom by drinking from the cup of bitterness and hatred".
"We must forever conduct our struggle on the high plane of dignity and discipline. We must not allow our creative protest to degenerate into physical violence. Again and again we must rise to the majestic heights of meeting physical force with soul force".

"I have a dream that one day the state of Alabama, whose governor's lips are presently dripping with the words of interposition and nullification, will be transformed into a situation where little black boys and black girls will be able to join hands with little white boys and white girls and walk together as sisters and brothers. It is a dream deeply rooted in the American dream".

You will now notice how these black leaders in America have appealed to the American people completely sans ethnic, religious or language identities or racial prejudice that go against the main stream of American identity. They have never claimed 'We Muslims or We Tamils. They have never agitated for an EELAM, a Malayanadu or a Khalistan. They only wanted their place within the Greater American nation. Although all white people in America are also people who have migrated in recent times from Europe and Africa Martin Luther King or Obama never said that. For that matter even none of the white people try to identify with their former countries or have allegiance to those countries over America like how the Tamils and Muslims in Sri Lanka do. This is the American spirit with which the black have been able to enter American history and be great men. Not by fanning the communal or ethnic flames as our people do.

Again now look at the Indian leaders. Take Sonia Gandhi for instance. Although she was born Italian today she is perhaps more Indian than any other Indian. She wears the India sari. She speaks Hindi as her mother tongue and she leads the Indian Congress and not an Italian Congress. In religion she is Hindu, the dominant religion of India. She has never tried to introduce Italian customs or manners in to the Indian society. She has never ran to Italy asking for help like our Tamils running to India even for a call of nature. In other words she has completely transformed in to an Indian woman both in form and spirit before she became a leader in India and today she has vouched both by word and deed that she is a fully pledged Indian woman. Had she also been clamouring for what is Italian by her birth like what our Muslim and Indian friends here do, she too would never have ascended to such high position. The same could be said of Man Mohan Singh as well as Abdul Kalam. This is the stark truth although it may be difficult for Sri Lankan minorities to digest. In fact they are minorities with a majority complex, the tragedy that has transformed them in to a curse to themselves and this Island nation as well.

In other word these great men and women have accepted the reality with humility and renounced unreality with wisdom for good unlike the Sri Lankan minorities who always want to override the dominant Sinhala Buddhist culture with a view in replacing it with their own in future. None of the minorities in America or India call themselves 'nations' within their countries as the Tamils and Muslim in Sri Lanka do. They are only different communities in origin but now living together harmoniously as one American nation

On the other hand look at the behavior of local minorities. If you take a Muslim he wants to look 100% an Arab while living in and subsisting on this soil and the Sinhala Buddhists. He wants to eat, dress, speak and behave just like an Arab although his ancestors have been here for centuries and got even all their women here. They want the distinctive Arabian identity perpetuated. They also want separate schools for their children and even separate burial yards for their dead who will never rise again. Their religion, language and customs they want to be recognized as a national and they agitate and insist to be accepted as a separate nation within this country. They want separate political parties and also a separate territory for their community. Their politicians, even if they come to power with Sinhala votes they think and act only as Muslims and cater only to their own community.

When it comes to the so-called Sri Lankan Tamils it is worse. They don't consider themselves even as Sri Lankans where the main culture is Sinhala- Buddhist, the language being Sinhala and religion Buddhism, for the past 2500 years. They are only Eelamists, the citizens of a dream Kingdom called Eelam and utopian kingdom to have existed in pre-historic times that exist only in their dream world. As a first step in re-creating this illusionary empire that embrace Sri Lanka, India and many other countries like Maldives Madagascar, Andaman Islands, Malaysia, Singapore and even Fiji Islands, they who presently constitute less than 5 % of the Islands population wants 1/3 rd of the country's land area and 2/3rd the coastal belt exclusively for them sans a single Sinhala or Muslim living there. But ironically they want the Tamils enjoy the right to live, work and own property all over the Island. They want to be recognized as an independent nation in a separate independent territory. They have already re-written the history of this Island based on speculations and mythical inventions. They also treat India as their motherland for the time being (until they establish the Greater Eelam by force) and their allegiance to India therefore is stronger than this country where they live and make a living. Isn't it like the famous Sinhala saying 'Linden diya biila muhundata avadanawa wage'

At the same time they make a big fuss saying that a Tamil can never be the Prime Minister or the President of this country. When Obama speaks of Lincoln and Washington these Tamil politicians in Sri Lanka who aspire to be the head of this country only speak of the Indian leaders and local communal racists like Chelvanayagam. Even their barber saloons and grocery stores are decorated only with Indian heroes for whom they daily light even jopsticks and offer incense and flowers. It is while living in this illusory world that they want to be the Prime Minister or the President of this country.

I don't think any Sinhala man will desist from making a Tamil or a Muslim the leader of this country provided they also can give up this petty communal mindedness, embrace the dominant cultural stream and behave like Obama or Sonia of Sri Lanka and treat only this country as their Motherland. This is exactly what happened when South Indian Nayakkars were accepted as their Kings from 1737 to 1815. They embraced the country's dominant culture and they were sworn in to protect it. That is how they got legitimacy to rule this country. The best modern example of such a Sri Lankan who was loved and acclaimed by all Sri Lankans, except the extremists Tamils was late Luxman Kadiragamar who was brutally murdered by the Tamil Tigers for being an Obama in this country. Had he was allowed to live the whole nation would have unanimously accepted him as the next Prime Minister of Sri Lanka.

So my dear Tamil and Muslim friends why don't you change your petty communal attitudes and thinking and give up your hatred against the Sinhalese Buddhists, the architects of the civilization that is dominantly Sri Lankan, give up the illusion of division and segregation and at least now try to live and let live, if you cant get absorbed in to the main stream and try to be living embodiments of Obamas or Sonias without indulging in communalism and extremism that lead only to destruction and misery for everybody. The day you will be elected the Prime Minister or the President of this country by the people of this country is then not very far from your reach. There is no other way for you to become the Prime Minister or the President of this country or any other country in the world even if you opt to migrate, en-masse as long as you continue to practice and harbour the same policies.
I strongly urge and appeal that you people learn a lesson from people like Obama and Sonia Gandhi without crying foul before you indulge in silly political rhetoric like this that makes you only the laughing stock of the whole world. The day you get transformed yourself in to an Obama or a Sonia Gandhi the next day we will also get you elected as the President of this country.



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