RE: The Sri Lankan Dilemma

Thrishantha Nanayakkara’s comments reflect the views of many intellectual elite in Sri Lanka.

In my opinion, it is too late in the game for the world to come up with any diplomatic pressure directly on leaders seeing as those rulers have been allowed to enjoy the dismal silence of the international community too long and to master the art of maneuvering the political tools of democracy and full sovereignty.

The voting pattern in the recently concluded presidential election also indicates a deep divide between two cultures in Sri Lanka. Tamil and Muslim minorities living in the North, East and the hills have said that they are a different people and put forth a resounding no-confidence vote. The elite of Sinhalese in the capitol Colombo have also voted for a political solution and lasting peace.

The election results send a more alarming signal to the Tamils, and to the civilized world at large, that a rural voter in a ‘Democracy by Ethnicity’ like Sri Lanka cannot not go beyond the policy of communal intoxication and anti-western sentiment. Another example of this reality was the conduct of state media during the polls—they continued to depict the ruler as a pious and pure soul offering prayers in the temples, thus not allowing the average voter to think past the Sinhala-Buddhist chauvinism. These are the exact types of policies that nurtured hate and communal disharmony in every Sri Lankan election leading to several ethnic riots unleashed on Tamils.

As hapless as they are breathless, the intellectual elite in the Sinhalese community are deeply frustrated now with the direction of the country. Sri Lanka did not need a presidential election for reconciliation with Tamils. The post-electoral violence, intimidation, and disenfranchisement of Tamils are seen as a precursor for what the Tamils can expect from the present rulers in the days to come.  The anti-democratic excesses of the current regime are likely to increase during the parliamentary election season.

This is the kind of democracy and sovereignty that the Sri Lankan authorities have been using as effective political tools to carry out mass carnage on the Tamil population and to hide the evidences of unimaginable atrocities.

Today, the Tamils in Sri Lanka are a nanion of widows, orphans, and maimed, with many families horribly devastated from the loss of their loved ones.

Sri Lanka is a clear example of a democracy by ethnicity that isn’t working in a culture where the vulnerable members are not protected.

The political pundits and experts on international law must find a way out of the existing system in Sri Lanka if the country’s minorities are to live with security and human dignity.

Sandy Vadi

Toronto, Canada

Feb. 3, 2010

Sandy Vadi lives in Toronto, Canada and is a member of Women for Justice and Peace.