"The LTTE is not another nation — however this group of terrorists challenges the sovereignty, unity, and territorial integrity of Sri Lanka through an armed struggle that has as its objective the creation of a separate state. It is almost but not quite a civil war and every member of the Tamil community is oppressed not only by the Government but also by the LTTE. This also severely affects the Tamil-speaking Muslim Moors — another discontented segment of the population that may be provoked to take up arms against their oppressors." ___________________________________
by J.B. Müller
(January 30, Colombo, Sri Lanka Guardian) Sixty years is a little more than three generations from the time Sri Lanka became an ‘independent’ Dominion within the British Commonwealth of Nations. It is also 35 years since we became a republic within that Commonwealth.
It is time for us to take stock of what we, as a Nation, have done with that ‘independence’ that we gained from our former colonial overlord, especially in comparison with other colonial territories that gained independence after World War II ended in 1945. Were we better off then or now? And, if we are not better off now than then, why is this so? Have we, like the Prodigal Son, squandered and dissipated our inheritance to wallow in a sty eating what the pigs do?
Looking back we discover that Sri Lanka (then Ceylon) was the beautiful ‘jewel in the crown’ of the worldwide British Empire, incidentally, the greatest empire ever known to man. Within that Empire our development constitutionally towards modern, democratic self-government was rapid and this country was the first to have the benefit of universal adult franchise and internal self government — from 1931onwards and the steps to full independence were comparatively easy.
Nationwide free education progressively raised literacy levels; free health services raised life expectancy levels and rolled back malaria, smallpox, cholera, typhus, tuberculosis, and other malignant threats to the People’s wellbeing. Prevention and control programmes worked smoothly because of the co-operation of all. Food rationing that had been started during the War was continued in order to mitigate the worst effects of poverty — and no one died of starvation. Indeed, the economy was robust and the Treasury was brimming with a healthy foreign exchange balance. Indeed, the country began on a solid footing that promised prosperity — and peace — for ALL! Whichever way one looked, the horizon was bright, that is, in February 1948. However, a few months later some dark clouds began to appear and from that time onwards the brightness began dimming until today we live and move and have our being under a dark, overcast sky that spreads only gloom and despair. Why? Why? Why? O Why?
If we are not watchful and on our guard, history will repeat itself. It is an imperative of life that we learn the lessons of history and profit from them. If we fail to look back at what has happened we will certainly fail to see what is before us. Have we been on guard, watchful? NO, and we therefore see the tragic repetition of history. But these observations might be somewhat premature in context.
We have allowed communalism (racism by another name) and ethno-religious majoritarianism to flourish unchecked in the name of reclaiming past glory. We have allowed myths and legends of the past to replace the cold-blooded objectivity of historical fact. Through this vehicle we have sundered the bonds of unity that bound us together as one nation made up of a diversity of ethnic, social, cultural, and religious communities who took pleasure in and profoundly respected each others differences. We revelled in the all-pervading spirit of tolerance that promoted harmony and tranquility. This environment also encouraged cross-cultural social interaction and not a few marriages. Those marriages blurred the outlines of exclusivity and promoted even more social contact. Such interaction promotes understanding and contributes in immeasurable ways to peace.
Communalism (racism) with its connotations of supremacism, prejudice, and narrow-mindedness were all promoted by politicians seeking power at any price. They played on the fears and inferiority complex of a host of second-rate people whom they incited as their ‘Agents of destruction’ to do wanton damage to others — and the killing began.
The reaction to that has been more and more killing and the blood soaked Land mourns her sons in unending wail of anguish and deep sorrow. The avarice, ambition, and utter viciousness of these politicians have known no bounds beyond their own increase of both power and wealth. Their vulgarity, selfishness, and contempt for the Rule of Law abounds. They have no values, no rules, and no self-control as we have observed with growing distaste and horror all these years. This band of robbers has consistently been responsible for massive fraud. This allegation is substantiated in successive reports by the Auditor-General and the Parliamentary Committee on Public Enterprises (COPE) over the years. They have recklessly and shamelessly plundered and pillaged taking spoil from among the People. They have hoodwinked the People at every turn, leading the People up the garden path over and over again, betraying the trust reposed in them, and today we can say with certainty that they are a bunch of confidence tricksters — and common criminals deserving of the severest punishments that could be inflicted in a civilized society.
A report circulated by the US Agency for International Development (AID) categorically stated that: "Corruption hinders socio-economic development and is one of the most prominent if not the most in retarding human development throughout the world and especially in developing countries." Stated plainly enough for us to understand that the spreading virus of corruption: bribery, malpractice, and unprofessional conduct is destroying us from within much like termites eating away in the wooden structure of a building that leads to its eventual collapse. Many, in increasing numbers and in an ever-rising proportion have embezzled and are embezzling funds — especially post-tsunami reconstruction and development funds — to the harm and loss of the People of this country.
It seems apparent that some of the baggage this nation has carried over from its pre-modern or medieval period is a penchant for intrigue, treachery and betrayal, all of which rides upon the platform of corruption. It didn’t come to the forefront yesterday but from 1931 onwards — that is, from the time we obtained internal self-government. This is intimately intertwined with innate casteism and the upward social mobility afforded by widespread education and the laissez-faire economic environment.
This brought Low-country nonentities and the aristocratic debris of the Up-country together into an uneasy, if not symbiotic relationship to advance their embryonic political ambitions. That began this country’s slide into immorality as standards continue to decline and values are consigned to the garbage heap. Expediency overtook ethics a long time ago in the struggle for command and control of Sri Lanka’s strategic assets. It goes without saying that Sri Lanka has lost its vigour and its virility as a nation. This is underscored by the fact that millions of Sri Lankans prefer to live in foreign lands doing even menial work rather than to live in Sri Lanka. Thousands seek to leave, legitimately or otherwise, voting with their feet as they flee this ‘independent’ country.
The self-designated ‘majority’ so-called has dealt treacherously with the ‘minorities’ so-called and especially with the largest segment thereof, the Tamils, and by doing this produced a conflict that has battered and bloodied this land for over 25 years, that is, for over 40 per cent of the time since ‘independence.’ It has also dismayed the others categorized as ‘minorities’ and deprived the country of their priceless intellectual output. What is politically expedient has constantly led to betrayal, to shifting alliances by dissimilar elements and to unstable coalition governments that by their inherent nature, fuel corruption and the carpetbagger mentality. The instability thus generated has led to emergency rule that violates fundamental human rights with impunity. Sri Lanka has lived longer under the regime of emergency rule than under the normal law that protects the rights of its citizens!
The country is at war whether we acknowledge it as a war or not. The LTTE is not another nation — however this group of terrorists challenges the sovereignty, unity, and territorial integrity of Sri Lanka through an armed struggle that has as its objective the creation of a separate state. It is almost but not quite a civil war and every member of the Tamil community is oppressed not only by the Government but also by the LTTE. This also severely affects the Tamil-speaking Muslim Moors — another discontented segment of the population that may be provoked to take up arms against their oppressors. All of this flows from and out of the majoritarian, supremacist mind-set that has segmentalized and pushed the non-Sinhala Buddhists away as unwelcome outsiders or aliens. This is so even though the inhabitants of this Island (barring the aboriginal Veddah) are ALL immigrants — from the Indian subcontinent, the Indonesia archipelago, Arabia, Africa and Europe! Then, Buddhism, Hinduism, Islam, and Christianity — the four main religions represented on the Island — are also importations!
It must be said that the world’s greatest empires have all declined and disappeared due in no small measure to chronic internal weakness and acute disunity that could be traced ultimately to immorality, unethical conduct and the corruption it breeds. Our slide into immorality also continues unchecked and the hot breath of events promises us a similar tragic end as we go over the edge into the abyss of obscurity, of ‘has beens.’ Indeed, we are destroyed for lack of knowledge and for lack of understanding.
After sixty years of ‘independence’ what have we got to celebrate or be proud of? Nothing, actually. We are poorer, we are sadder by far, and all the pomp and ceremonial of a parade cannot erase either our poverty or our sorrow as we look back in anger and with foreboding about the future.
Could the enlightened, illuminated remnants of the three generations since ‘independence’ and the fourth generation now rising reverse this awful trend? Could they put Sri Lanka back on the ‘straight and narrow’ path to real, genuine independence where we would all be liberated from the oppression of this gang of robbers, this horde of barbarian plunderers? I posed the question: "Independence? From what?" Now, YOU know that we should get together to change things — for good and for ALL.
(Courtesy: Colombo post)
(January 30, Colombo, Sri Lanka Guardian) Sixty years is a little more than three generations from the time Sri Lanka became an ‘independent’ Dominion within the British Commonwealth of Nations. It is also 35 years since we became a republic within that Commonwealth.
It is time for us to take stock of what we, as a Nation, have done with that ‘independence’ that we gained from our former colonial overlord, especially in comparison with other colonial territories that gained independence after World War II ended in 1945. Were we better off then or now? And, if we are not better off now than then, why is this so? Have we, like the Prodigal Son, squandered and dissipated our inheritance to wallow in a sty eating what the pigs do?
Looking back we discover that Sri Lanka (then Ceylon) was the beautiful ‘jewel in the crown’ of the worldwide British Empire, incidentally, the greatest empire ever known to man. Within that Empire our development constitutionally towards modern, democratic self-government was rapid and this country was the first to have the benefit of universal adult franchise and internal self government — from 1931onwards and the steps to full independence were comparatively easy.
Nationwide free education progressively raised literacy levels; free health services raised life expectancy levels and rolled back malaria, smallpox, cholera, typhus, tuberculosis, and other malignant threats to the People’s wellbeing. Prevention and control programmes worked smoothly because of the co-operation of all. Food rationing that had been started during the War was continued in order to mitigate the worst effects of poverty — and no one died of starvation. Indeed, the economy was robust and the Treasury was brimming with a healthy foreign exchange balance. Indeed, the country began on a solid footing that promised prosperity — and peace — for ALL! Whichever way one looked, the horizon was bright, that is, in February 1948. However, a few months later some dark clouds began to appear and from that time onwards the brightness began dimming until today we live and move and have our being under a dark, overcast sky that spreads only gloom and despair. Why? Why? Why? O Why?
If we are not watchful and on our guard, history will repeat itself. It is an imperative of life that we learn the lessons of history and profit from them. If we fail to look back at what has happened we will certainly fail to see what is before us. Have we been on guard, watchful? NO, and we therefore see the tragic repetition of history. But these observations might be somewhat premature in context.
We have allowed communalism (racism by another name) and ethno-religious majoritarianism to flourish unchecked in the name of reclaiming past glory. We have allowed myths and legends of the past to replace the cold-blooded objectivity of historical fact. Through this vehicle we have sundered the bonds of unity that bound us together as one nation made up of a diversity of ethnic, social, cultural, and religious communities who took pleasure in and profoundly respected each others differences. We revelled in the all-pervading spirit of tolerance that promoted harmony and tranquility. This environment also encouraged cross-cultural social interaction and not a few marriages. Those marriages blurred the outlines of exclusivity and promoted even more social contact. Such interaction promotes understanding and contributes in immeasurable ways to peace.
Communalism (racism) with its connotations of supremacism, prejudice, and narrow-mindedness were all promoted by politicians seeking power at any price. They played on the fears and inferiority complex of a host of second-rate people whom they incited as their ‘Agents of destruction’ to do wanton damage to others — and the killing began.
The reaction to that has been more and more killing and the blood soaked Land mourns her sons in unending wail of anguish and deep sorrow. The avarice, ambition, and utter viciousness of these politicians have known no bounds beyond their own increase of both power and wealth. Their vulgarity, selfishness, and contempt for the Rule of Law abounds. They have no values, no rules, and no self-control as we have observed with growing distaste and horror all these years. This band of robbers has consistently been responsible for massive fraud. This allegation is substantiated in successive reports by the Auditor-General and the Parliamentary Committee on Public Enterprises (COPE) over the years. They have recklessly and shamelessly plundered and pillaged taking spoil from among the People. They have hoodwinked the People at every turn, leading the People up the garden path over and over again, betraying the trust reposed in them, and today we can say with certainty that they are a bunch of confidence tricksters — and common criminals deserving of the severest punishments that could be inflicted in a civilized society.
A report circulated by the US Agency for International Development (AID) categorically stated that: "Corruption hinders socio-economic development and is one of the most prominent if not the most in retarding human development throughout the world and especially in developing countries." Stated plainly enough for us to understand that the spreading virus of corruption: bribery, malpractice, and unprofessional conduct is destroying us from within much like termites eating away in the wooden structure of a building that leads to its eventual collapse. Many, in increasing numbers and in an ever-rising proportion have embezzled and are embezzling funds — especially post-tsunami reconstruction and development funds — to the harm and loss of the People of this country.
It seems apparent that some of the baggage this nation has carried over from its pre-modern or medieval period is a penchant for intrigue, treachery and betrayal, all of which rides upon the platform of corruption. It didn’t come to the forefront yesterday but from 1931 onwards — that is, from the time we obtained internal self-government. This is intimately intertwined with innate casteism and the upward social mobility afforded by widespread education and the laissez-faire economic environment.
This brought Low-country nonentities and the aristocratic debris of the Up-country together into an uneasy, if not symbiotic relationship to advance their embryonic political ambitions. That began this country’s slide into immorality as standards continue to decline and values are consigned to the garbage heap. Expediency overtook ethics a long time ago in the struggle for command and control of Sri Lanka’s strategic assets. It goes without saying that Sri Lanka has lost its vigour and its virility as a nation. This is underscored by the fact that millions of Sri Lankans prefer to live in foreign lands doing even menial work rather than to live in Sri Lanka. Thousands seek to leave, legitimately or otherwise, voting with their feet as they flee this ‘independent’ country.
The self-designated ‘majority’ so-called has dealt treacherously with the ‘minorities’ so-called and especially with the largest segment thereof, the Tamils, and by doing this produced a conflict that has battered and bloodied this land for over 25 years, that is, for over 40 per cent of the time since ‘independence.’ It has also dismayed the others categorized as ‘minorities’ and deprived the country of their priceless intellectual output. What is politically expedient has constantly led to betrayal, to shifting alliances by dissimilar elements and to unstable coalition governments that by their inherent nature, fuel corruption and the carpetbagger mentality. The instability thus generated has led to emergency rule that violates fundamental human rights with impunity. Sri Lanka has lived longer under the regime of emergency rule than under the normal law that protects the rights of its citizens!
The country is at war whether we acknowledge it as a war or not. The LTTE is not another nation — however this group of terrorists challenges the sovereignty, unity, and territorial integrity of Sri Lanka through an armed struggle that has as its objective the creation of a separate state. It is almost but not quite a civil war and every member of the Tamil community is oppressed not only by the Government but also by the LTTE. This also severely affects the Tamil-speaking Muslim Moors — another discontented segment of the population that may be provoked to take up arms against their oppressors. All of this flows from and out of the majoritarian, supremacist mind-set that has segmentalized and pushed the non-Sinhala Buddhists away as unwelcome outsiders or aliens. This is so even though the inhabitants of this Island (barring the aboriginal Veddah) are ALL immigrants — from the Indian subcontinent, the Indonesia archipelago, Arabia, Africa and Europe! Then, Buddhism, Hinduism, Islam, and Christianity — the four main religions represented on the Island — are also importations!
It must be said that the world’s greatest empires have all declined and disappeared due in no small measure to chronic internal weakness and acute disunity that could be traced ultimately to immorality, unethical conduct and the corruption it breeds. Our slide into immorality also continues unchecked and the hot breath of events promises us a similar tragic end as we go over the edge into the abyss of obscurity, of ‘has beens.’ Indeed, we are destroyed for lack of knowledge and for lack of understanding.
After sixty years of ‘independence’ what have we got to celebrate or be proud of? Nothing, actually. We are poorer, we are sadder by far, and all the pomp and ceremonial of a parade cannot erase either our poverty or our sorrow as we look back in anger and with foreboding about the future.
Could the enlightened, illuminated remnants of the three generations since ‘independence’ and the fourth generation now rising reverse this awful trend? Could they put Sri Lanka back on the ‘straight and narrow’ path to real, genuine independence where we would all be liberated from the oppression of this gang of robbers, this horde of barbarian plunderers? I posed the question: "Independence? From what?" Now, YOU know that we should get together to change things — for good and for ALL.
(Courtesy: Colombo post)
![](https://pinterest.com/pin/create/button/?url=http://www.srilankaguardian.org/2008/01/independence-from-what.html&media=https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhWsgIOujf28SR84JyW1O3QA_PlqHpJW58r6tP_uB7BDFMXjaNx1jC2zLaEsNPprzV_ZWhdJW_iYelKu104WLAOCBR7e4_pHeKQ6zwWAM1MjLXjzufvFnQJ3pGX9NnerrJ6APp13lGNEfE/s72-c/60+a.jpeg.psd&description="The LTTE is not another nation — however this group of terrorists challenges the sovereignty, unity, and territorial integrity of Sri ...){kind=link}
Post a Comment