A government on a hot tin roof

It is no secret that the whole of Sri Lanka and its people consisting of Sinhalese, Tamil, Muslim, Burgher, Malay and other communities are confronted with the worst consequences of a very serious social, economic and political crisis.

 The cost of living is becoming unbearable due to the increase in prices of essential consumer items. The salaries of more than 6 million state and private employees have not increased due to inflation while the income of those in the business sector has come down. Further the general public is economically stressed due to the increase in fares of electricity, water and transport. Also, allowing multi-national companies to gobble down the economy has resulted in the breaking down of local industries and businesses.   

The crime rate that is going up daily indicates that the society is moving towards a massive era of intolerance. It is under such circumstances that mothers jump when they are unable to bring up children, and having been unable to pay their debts, families commit suicide.


Anyone would know through his or her daily experiences that there is a breakdown in values that should exist in a society.   

In the political sector there is an attempt by the Executive and the Legislature to subjugate the Judiciary, the last hope of the masses for justice and one of the pillars of democracy. Anyone would pose the question whether the Rajapaksa regime that has been forced into a probationary period by the adoption of a resolution at the UNHRC is in a right mind when carrying out such activities.  For, anyone could see the government’s idiotic behaviour as a continuation of its senseless acts of the past. This is none other than an invitation for imperialist forces that are active against our country on the pretext of the past history of this idiotic regime to interfere.
Apart from that, there is a great risk and perilousness that cannot be ignored. The present government doesn’t seem to learn any lessons from what has been happening. Instead, the government is in a deep coma regarding the calamity that jeopardises the whole country and the future generations. It is said that bears in cold countries go through a period of hibernation during winter. They do not take any food during this period and are not aware of anything that occurs around them.  The doubt exists whether the government has moved into a hibernation period; making space for the rise of the inciting communalist and religious clashes. For, there is no move by the government to indicate it is aware of or intends to take action against this tendency that is unrolling through various incidents that are manipulated by interested parties.

The government may be silent as various groups affiliated to the government are behind such communalist and religious provocations. It may be contemplating the possibility to sweep these issues under the carpet, behind  the veil of these tendencies. However, the ‘deadly solutions’ sought by the government would have dragged the society towards a massive calamity by the time it comes out of its pseudo-hibernation. It is unclear as to why the government has not been able to recognise this ‘fatality’ even after the bitter experiences of a 30-year-separatist war.  

No one should forget how the path for a separatist war was paved by the instigation of Sinhalese – Tamil communalism in the past and the creation of ethnic conflicts and clashes periodically. It is the innocent Sinhalese, Tamil and Muslim public that had to suffer due to the separatist war and not those who sowed the communalist seeds to gain power. A large number of human lives were lost due to the war and the assets that were destroyed are colossal. It is no secret how India and imperialist foreign forces made use of the separatist war to interfere in the internal affairs of our country. It was responsible for the invasion by Indian forces in the 1980s and at present imperialist forces are making the same separatist war a reason to interfere in the affairs of the country.     

As the burden of such a calamity will have to be borne by the whole society, people of all religions should take measures not to allow any religious extremism to raise its ugly head and also defeat the knavish behaviour of the government that holds ‘night races’ and plunges into casino games. Any act in a manner that would create clashes and conflicts among communities instead of recognising the real issues that are before us would only be advantageous to the reactionary forces but not to the masses. It would blot out the real issues and also protect the real offenders.