Opportunists using ethno-religious prejudice for political advantage

We Lankans have lived through two race riots and a near thirty-year civil war, followed by discriminative attacks directed at people of the Islamic faith. The resulting mayhem left thousands dead,  hundreds of thousands displaced and a complete breakdown in ethno-religious relations in the country. 

Not surprisingly,  our economy deteriorated and by 2022 the country was forced to declare bankruptcy. 

Today,  our own Central Bank points out that one out of  five  children suffer from growth stunting or acute undernutrition. Among children under five, stunting affects 10.1%, wasting affects 8.1% to 9.3%, and roughly 16% are classified as underweight. Yet even today,  opportunistic politicians continue whipping racial and religious hatred in an effort to regain political power.

Back in 1956, the run up to the general elections was overshadowed by politicians rousing racism as a means of garnering votes. The roused emotions bred race hatred. The implementation of various discriminatory measures against minority communities such as the ‘Sinhala Only Act’ which made Sinhalese the language of administration, led to race riots in 1958. 

From then on, the two communities remained suspicious of each other. Various discriminatory acts of commissions and omission by successive governments,  as for example the repatriation of Up Country Tamils to India in the sixties, the ‘Standardisation of Education Act’ which adversely affected Tamil students entering the universities,  added fire to worsening ethnic relations. 

Periodic unrest and localised race-based violence against Tamil civilians which occurred intermittently in different parts of the country and went unpunished by the government, worsened the animosity between the two peoples.By 1977,  the growing racial disharmony led to a demand by the Tamil community for the setting up of a separate state.

The then government’s attempt to forcibly quell the demand for a separate state rather than attempting to tackle the problem via negotiations led to a thirty-year civil war which left the country’s economy in tatters and a people divided. As the war progressed, corruption flourished alongside, further worsening the economic downturn in the country. 

The government’s victory over separatist forces created an opportunity to settle ethnic differences and stop the downhill slide of the economy. Unfortunately,  the then government promoted Islamophobia using racist forces amongst the Buddhist clergy to unleash violent attacks on members of the Muslim community. 

Once again,  death and destruction stalked the land while corruption grew alongside. Frustrated with the never-ending circle of communalism and growing corruption,  at the 2024 presidential and general election  the people elected the National People’s Power (NPP) which promised to eradicate corruption and bring down the cost of living.

Unfortunately,  the new government has not been able to lower the cost of living. But it has been successful in taking steps to battle corruption. From ministers down to  deputy ministers and corrupt government bureaucrats, the government through the anti-corruption unit CIABOC has cracked down on persons involved in corrupt practice. 

It is at this critical juncture where the corrupt are being rounded up, we are witnessing members of the Parliamentary Opposition making innuendo against the leader of the Catholic Church. These elements in the Opposition accuse the Cardinal of interfering in appointments to the military, while merely paying lip-service to  the Buddhist clergy’s hierarchy.

This is obviously an attempt to  distract the government’s focus of eradicating corruption in the country which is now on the point of netting the most corrupt.

Our country has gone through a bloodbath because one politician or the other wanted to achieve particular personal political targets by rousing ethno-religious prejudice. The 1983 – 2009 civil war  left between 40,000 to 70,000 innocent people dead.

Thousands of innocents also died during the communal riots of 1958,  and attacks on the upcountry Tamils shortly after then premier JR Jayewardene was elected to power in 1977. We witnessed how efforts were made to rouse Islamophobia in the aftermath of the Easter Sunday bombings April 2019.  Cardinal Malcolm Ranjith almost single-handedly prevented a bloodbath at that time.

This country has seen too many blood-lettings based on race, religion and ethnicity. The government needs to crackdown on hate speech and it also needs to ensure no parliamentarian,  religious or otherwise, is allowed hide behind parliamentary privilege to promote hate speech. 

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