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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