A Merry Christmas

For long years, in this once blessed isle, the wish has been a Peaceful Christmas and New Year rather than a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year. Sri Lankans, the rest of the year, have been talking about and hoping for peace. Peace is the watchword in Sri Lankan society. There are individuals and organisations with good and not so good intentions, committed and dedicated to bring peace. Some even make good money out of peace. They are called peace mongers. Cynics say peace has become a lucrative industry. But peace in Sri Lanka has been as illusive as ever.

From bitter experience, we realise today that once peace is broken it is very difficult to restore it after violence has taken over. But does society - civil society as the modern lingo has it - make an attempt to save whatever peace that remains with us.

Peace exists between the various religious groups as well as all communities. The last occasion it was shattered was during the horrendous communal riots of 1983. Peace has not been possible only with that intransigent band of terrorists. But it has to be admitted that the peace that exists between religions and communities do come under severe strain at times. What have the state and leaders of religions and different communities done to save the peace that exists but is occasionally threatened?

When journalists as well as those in other media surface such tensions, frictions and differences they are often accused of attempting to rouse communal and religious feelings. Warmongers they are called. But do the Good News Brigades believe that sweeping them under the mat and closing their eyes to inflammable and explosive situations is the best way to protect threatened peace?

Today, it has to be admitted that there are irritant factors between the Muslim and Sinhalese communities such as the way of slaughtering of animals and use of loudspeakers at religious places.

There is friction between the Tamils of Indian origin in the hill country and Sinhalese. The latest issue is the government grant of land in the Nuwara Eliya area for the construction of a Hindu Kovil. Many Buddhist organisations have lodged their protest against this grant. To be ostrich-like and refuse to recognise the problem is certainly no solution to the problem.

Such problems got to be nipped in the bud and it is best done not by government intervention but by religious and community leaders concerned getting together and working out a solution. Such problems should not be permitted to drag on because they tend to gather momentum on their own. Protecting existing peace perhaps is not as intellectually satisfying and less glamorous than trying to bring terrorist leaders to the negotiating table through exotic conflict resolution formulae. That is perhaps why we do not hear of these peace brigades recognising the friction and differences that exist and their destructive potential and acting on them.

In some countries there are organisations to protect community interests but not in Sri Lanka.We refer to neighborhood and city organisations that are in place to look after the interests of all communities and religions in the particular localities. If such organisations are in place, many of the minor frictions that later escalate to big problems could be resolved. But when there are problems affecting entire races and religions then it calls for acknowledged leaders to get together in the interests of all.

There is also the Ministry of Cultural Affairs as well as Ministries for Buddhism and Hinduism. Christians have said there is no need for such a ministry. There is also the newly created Ministry for Ethnic Affairs and National Integration under Prof. G. L. Peiris. All these ministries should recognise the problems that have arisen and get community leaders to agree to formulae that will iron out the problems.

Talk to the LTTE has been the refrain in the last few months and the nation has been talking about talking to Prabakaran. President Kumaratunga in an interview with the Frontline magazine had said that her government's peace talks with Prabakran in 1994 amounted to talking about how they should talk and then Prabakaran without notice commenced attacking government forces. Thus, for peace with Prabakaran and his terrorist cronies, all we can do is to hope and pray.

With the peace all are longing for still far away, we wish our readers a merry and joyous Christmas - even though some distilleries have hiked the price of the stuff that cheers to depress spirits of the season very much.