How to take forthwith actions to prevent ethnic tensions in Sri Lanka

Foot dragging in such matters can prove lethal as 1983 proved. Responses must be immediate and decisive. There are always criminal elements in the woodwork ready to seize opportunities for looting, arson and destroying rival businesses.

by Manik de Silva - Mar 11, 2018

( March 11, 2018, Colombo, Sri Lanka Guardian) The communal rioting this country was hit with a few days ago has thankfully been contained but the message is loud and clear that we have learned very little from July 1983 that resulted in a civil war that dragged on for nearly 30 years costing Sri Lanka dearly in lost lives and treasure setting back the country’s development by decades. We also lost many of our best and brightest who quit this country for good. In the first place the government response was slow to the early warning from Amparai where unrest was reported over wild rumors, established to be totally false, that an effort was afoot to feed the majority community with infertility drugs in food packets.

Then there was an incident in the Kandy district where four three-wheeler passengers had savagely beaten-up a truck driver who had prevented them from overtaking him. The victim died a few days later and the fat was in the fire with extraneous forces moving in to set off a racial conflagration attacking Muslim homes and businesses. It was most unfortunate that the assault victim was a Sinhalese and the attackers Muslim. If both parties belonged to the same community an everyday road rage incident which is not uncommon could not have triggered the damage that resulted.

Foot dragging in such matters can prove lethal as 1983 proved. Responses must be immediate and decisive. There are always criminal elements in the woodwork ready to seize opportunities for looting, arson and destroying rival businesses. There are also dangerous forces in the sidelines with their own agendas and the sooner they are dealt with, the better. Unfortunately, sane voices from within the Buddhist clergy, such as that of Ven. Galkande Dhammananda of the Walpola Rahula Institute whose statement we run today, did not get the notice they deserve. Yet we must be happy there was a protest by Buddhist monks in Colombo on Friday drawing attention to the lunacy that had already gained traction but as stated by perceptive commentator Tisaranee Gunasekera in her monthly column in this issue of our paper, the Buddhist hierarchy was eloquent in its silence when the rioting was occurring very close to their seat in Kandy.

Damage control measures are no doubt now ongoing. On Friday religious leaders, representing the main religions practiced in Sri Lanka, spoke out under the auspices of the Congress of Religions denouncing recent events and stressing the need for the government to do everything possible to bring perpetrators to justice. Speakers included the Mahanayake of the Kotte Sri Kalyani Samagri Dhamma Sabhawa, Cardinal Malcolm Ranjith and Hindu and Muslim leaders. The Internet, effectively used for negative purposes at the early stage of the rioting, was positively employed with posts of Buddhist monks offering solidarity to their Muslim brothers during Friday prayers.

Police was quoted saying the main instigator, described as a person known for anti-Muslim activism, and some 145 others were under arrest. Time will tell us whether there is sufficient evidence to successfully prosecute them. The prime minister is on record that those who had lost their lives and property will be compensated. He was due to visit Digana yesterday.

We are glad that State Minister Harsha de Silva announced in parliament on Friday that the social media blockade was due to be lifted yesterday. He was right in his assertion that it is difficult to control social media as news spreads extremely rapidly in today’s context.

There’s hardly anybody in the country without access to a mobile phone. De Silva said that the government was forced to impose what he called a ‘temporary’ blockade to stop the spreading of malicious and inflammatory news given the situation that was prevailing. The public is well aware of the widespread abuse of the Internet for collateral purposes but it is also familiar with the dangers of regulatory excesses by rulers. Given the danger confronting the country a few days ago with wide dissemination of incendiary material, there would have been few serious complaints against the government’s action, especially as it was enforced only for a couple of days.

Dr. de Silva suggested the appointment of a presidential commission to probe the genesis of recent events. Mr. Bandula Gunawardene of the Joint Opposition has called for a parliamentary select committee to probe this matter. The president announced yesterday that a commission comprising three retired judges will be appointed to probe the breakdown in law and order and also recommend compensation. Three people died and 20 were wounded in the disturbances. It has also been reported that 11 mosques were damaged or destroyed and over 200 Muslim-owned homes and businesses had been damaged/destroyed in four days of rioting.

The former president is very well aware of the cost of the 2014 anti-Muslim violence at Aluthgama to his re-election bid in 2015. There was no doubt that elements within his regime had links with extremists groups and there was an effort to mitigate this factor during the recent local elections where the former president scored a stunning victory. Rajapaksa well knows that the minorities played a major role in toppling him from his presidential throne in 2015. Some of his supporters favor a strategy of using this as a device to win more support from the majority community but whether they will push it to an extreme is an open question.

How much economic damage had been caused by the unfortunate rioting which was widely publicized abroad remain to be accurately assessed. There have been reports of cancellation of some tourist bookings and fears expressed that foreign portfolio investment on the Colombo Stock Exchange will be affected. How these will pan out remains to be seen. But there is little doubt that a great deal of damage has been done in a few days of unthinking violence.

( The writer is the editor of Sunday Island, a Colombo based weekly newspaper, where this peice first appeared.)