CLASSIFIED | POLITICS | TERRORISM | OPINION | VIEWS

Lesson of Mavilaru and Mutur as pointed out by Thisaranee Gunasekara.

By Charles Perera

We did not really have an ethnic problem. When it raised its unpleasant head it was a creation of self-seeking politicians for political gain. It accentuated hatred and short sighted sentimentality of the uninformed. For some it was a means to profit from the situation to settle feuds, take vengeance, or rob and plunder. Until then the Sinhala, the Tamils, and Muslims lived happily together, friends in schools, colleagues at work and good neighbours in real life.

It was again the unwise political decisions, taken without the aim of creating conditions for unity, to obliterate the differences in language, religion and culture , of the citizens as a whole, that paved the way for a terrorist group. That was the past, then the political parties, wealthy capitalists, foreign forces used the terrorists, making them an instrument to divide the country ethnically, socially and economically.

The Sinhala supremacists, as Thisaranee Gunasekara calls them in an article in Asian Tribune, are not altogether wrong in believing, “…… that the LTTE is nothing but an international conspiracy aimed at dividing Sri Lanka or undermining India or subjugating Sinhalese or destroying Buddhism. And if the LTTE is nothing but an international conspiracy then, once devoid of international support, it should collapse like a pricked balloon. That was the irrational rationale for the Sinhala supremacist belief of a ‘radically weakened’ Tigers, consequent to the EU ban.”

In the article , Mutur,the battle for the East and Muslims, Gunasekara seems to writes as an apologist to LTTE terrorism. It is dangerous, and as an informed journalist she should not write merely to pass as an independent political analyst, without considering the effect of what she writes on the minds of the readers. In this respect, the following extract, from the aricle, “ Political Strategies to Counter Terrorism” written by Michael Rubin and Gershowitz, seems appropriate, “………Ideologues ultimately must be marginalized to the point of impotence, isolated, or eliminated. If Western officials, diplomats, and self-described progressives engage with terrorists, they empower them. Rather than be treated as powerbrokers, ……….(they)……… should be (treated as) international pariah……”

It is now that we speak of the Sinhala, Tamil, Muslim and Malays. One cannot blame the distinction a “Sinhala dominated”, to a government in Sri Lanka. But, the use in a derogatory sense, the popularised words and phrases such as , the Sinhala supramicism, Sinhala triumphalism, or Sinhala chauvinism, is not appropriate. Furthermore, that will not build ethnic unity , but create disunity, making the ethnic groups look suspiciously at any move by genuine persons, groups or political parties, for proposals and actions for the common good of the people.

The following extract shows that Thisaranee Gunesekara had been carried away by her own prejudice and a false sense of fair play, and the article is highly questionable. Thisaranee Gunesekara says, “……. We need to protect and succour not only Sinhala villages and towns but also Muslim and Tamil ones. We need the active cooperation of the Muslims and the anti-Tiger Tamils and their representatives. We need the democratic Muslim parties and the Karuna rebels. The East cannot be defended unless we come together and work together based on a truly pluralist perspective of the East. The JVP and the JHU (and other assorted Sinhala supremacists) are extrinsic to the safety of the East; the Muslim and Tamil residents are indispensable to it. These are the lessons of Mavilaru and Mutur and the regime can ignore them only at its own peril and that of the entire country.”

A reader commenting on her article says, “……….This is yet another dangerous attempt to divide the nation of Sri Lanka in the lines of Muslim vs. Sinhalese people”.

Contrary to what Thisaranee Gunesekara says in vehemence, the Sinhala politicians should not restrict themselves to Sinhala populated areas, because ours is a ” multi- ethnic” population . Therefore they should look after the interests and the welfare of the whole Nation inter-mingling with every ethnic group without distinction or discrimination. In that the activities of the JHU and JVP Parliamentarians are highly commendable.

Leaving the interests and welfare of the Tamil population in the hands of the Tamil Political Parties, the interests and welfare of the Muslim population in the hands of the Muslim Political Parties and the interest and welfare of the Sinhala population in the hands of the Sinhala Political Parties, is segregating each community to the extreme.. If this is what Thisaranee Gunesekara advocates, it is a most frightening way of dividing the Nation.

However, at the conclusion of the article Gunesekara makes contradictory statements. “The East cannot be defended unless we come together and work together based on a truly pluralist perspective of the East. The JVP and the JHU (and other assorted Sinhala supremacists) are extrinsic to the safety of the East; the Muslim and Tamil residents are indispensable to it. These are the lessons of Mavilaru and Mutur and the regime can ignore them only at its own peril and that of the entire country.”

If that is the lesson we have to take from what happened in Mavilaru and Mutur, it will not help us build a united Nation of Sinhala, Tamil and Muslim people

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