Satire

New dangers for the “new” minority: Dissenters beware!

1. “We have removed the word ‘minorities’ from our vocabulary three years ago. No longer are the Tamils, Muslims, Burghers, Malays and any others minorities. There are only two peoples in this country. One is the people that love this country. The other comprises the small groups that have no love for the land of their birth. Those who do not love the country are now a lesser group.” From President Rajapakse’s speech in parliament on May 19, 2009.

2. “Remember this country was saved by the blood, eyes, limbs, flesh and lives of our young people. Thousands of our youth faced shells on their heads, land mines at their feet, bullets in their hearts and sacrificed their lives to protect this land. We cannot allow such a land be grabbed by thieves, fraudsters, and the corrupt. This land cannot be betrayed or allowed to be sold.” From President Rajapakse’s speech in parliament on May 19, 2009.

3. “In the past several decades those people did not have the right to a meaningful life. They were denied the right to life, the right to freedom, the right to development. I shall give all of that to those people. I accept that responsibility.” From President Rajapakse’s speech in parliament on May 19, 2009.

4. “I must specially mention here that this great battle for national revival will be waged with the aim of raising the lives of the Tamil people who live in the north and east of our land, too. In the past several decades those people did not have the right to a meaningful life. They were denied the right to life, the right to freedom, the right to development. I shall give all of that to those people. I accept that responsibility.” From President Rajapakse’s speech in parliament on May 19, 2009.

5.  “Nearly 300,000 internally displaced persons in the Wanni area face severe shortages of food, shelter, medicines and other basic necessities, and addressing this humanitarian crisis must be the first and most urgent priority in Sri Lanka today.” Gongalegodaya.

Not a single reference was made to this imminent catastrophe or to the general predicament of IDPs in the President’s speech.

Consequences

The successful conclusion of the military offensive resulting in the annihilation of the LTTE has been welcomed by all those who have suffered from the terrible consequences of the war and terrorism, from whatever source. However, the victory parades and hype need to be tempered by the urgent need to focus all attention and resources on the plight of nearly 300,000 persons who have been violently displaced from their homes and livelihoods, and who face critical shortages of food, shelter, medicines and other basic necessities, and whose very lives may hang in the balance.

The President’s speech in parliament celebrating this victory was hailed by many as marking a new era of inclusive national politics sans violence and petty partisanship. While there are certainly salutary rhetorical elements in his message that point in this direction, there are also two disturbing moments that need to be highlighted.

The first relates to the President’s deafening silence on the humanitarian crisis among the IDPs, and the second is an ominous reference to those who do not share this regime’s ideological and political agenda.

As cited above, the President has replaced the ethnic minorities with a political one. I have long argued that the term “minority” to describe an ethnic or linguistic or religious or cultural or ideological group is intellectually demeaning and politically problematic because it uses numerical or quantitative criteria to classify  people and, hence, to parcel out rights and access to power. Ultimately, the size of a community should not be the determiner of its enjoyment of rights, or the shape and substance of its future.

In right direction

Therefore, in this sense the President’s rejection of the discourse of minorities/majorities is a step in the right direction. However, if this means that we’re all to be assimilated into the Lankan (read Sinhala) identity, there are bound to be issues of hierarchy and pre-eminence, which discriminate against those who do not belong to the majority.

It is telling that the President speaks of the importance of the national flag and of how everyone must rally round it. The Sri Lankan Flag is a clear emblem of Sinhala hegemony symbolised by the lion’s dominating presence in contrast to the “minorities” which are seen as two marginal stripes that are in a subordinate position.

Apprehension that this “abolishing” of minorities is tantamount to subservience to the Sinhala majority is further grounded in the impatience of the President towards dissent and divergence. One is reminded of Munidasa Kumaratunga’s claim that this country contains only Sinhala people, though they can be called Sinhala-Tamil, Sinhala-Muslim and Sinhala-Sinhala!

President Rajapakse states categorically that the country cannot be “betrayed” or “sold” and that he is the sole representative of the people on whom the sole responsibility for their welfare resides. This is fundamentally undemocratic in spirit and arrogates to the Executive unparalleled power and authority.

Identity

It is in such a context that the claim is made for complete unity of purpose and identity in Sri Lanka, except for a minority that “has no love for the land of their birth.” This group clearly comprises the dissenters and questioners of this regime’s edicts and rhetoric. The President indicates later on in the speech that this “minority” has questioned the fruits of this war, which means that anyone who expresses concern about civilian casualties, IDP rights, humanitarian crises is not a patriot.

This technique of silencing dissent and difference of opinion, especially in relation to the consequences of the now-completed war, is as old as the hills. President Rajapakse may merely be taking a page from George W. Bush’s book, in which case independent thinkers are in for a very hard time.

In the current military euphoria, trigger-happy goons may be only too willing to take up the President’s hint and demonstrate their ‘love’ for this country by ‘taking care’ of those who don’t.

The military victory is over. Sanity must prevail now, and the damage repaired. Normalcy must be restored to the hundreds of thousands whose lives have been destroyed many times over, first in the name of a separatist conflict and now in the name of saving them from the separatists. Threatening people who speak on behalf of these civilians  as well as those who speak from the courage of their convictions, is a sure way of confirming that “things bad begun make strong themselves by ill.”