Editorial

The coming Wednesday (February 4) marks the 78th anniversary of Sri Lanka’s Independence from over 450 years of foreign rule, and yet, the country continues to be confronted with the challenges of modern nation-statehood in all its complexities.

While Sri Lanka regained her Independence, her sovereignty, both internal and external, however, has been compromised in the process of nation-building and aspiring to be a pluralistic, economically and socially advanced democratic state.

And so, the country has had to endure multiple trials over the years, from the insurgencies in the south to terrorism in the north, failed experiments with outdated socialist economic policies, tsunamis and other natural disasters, man-made disasters of corruption and mismanagement, an economic collapse culminating in protest politics, and an unprecedented loss of confidence in democratic institutions and the legitimacy of elected leaders. And then came Cyclone Ditwah last November. In 24 hours it wiped out hundreds of lives, hundreds of thousands of homes and livelihoods and devastated a fragile economy limping back to near-normalcy.

Such setbacks are not the exclusive preserve of any nation or region. Until recently, it was widely believed that social discord, identity politics and human rights were challenges confronting the developing world and that these fault lines in governance and society had long been settled in more ‘advanced’ nations. As we have said before, despite the head start gained by several centuries of sovereign statehood, some with the benefit of resources plundered from their former colonies or acquired by the force of economic and military muscle in recent times, cracks are to be seen in their national identities bedevilled by their own socio-economic issues.

All this is playing out against the rupture and reboot of the global order, where the world’s leading power, which for decades underwrote the ‘international rules-based order’, is justifying its actions in language reminiscent of colonial subjugation, exploitation and extraction of resources—against the very norms it had drafted and preached.

These are disturbing developments, given Sri Lanka’s extensive nexus with the external world, which has spread into multiple domains over the years in an inescapable process of globalisation ranging from economic dependence, debt, geopolitics, migration, and diaspora, as well as transboundary phenomena such as pandemics, climate change, and the sovereignty-free digital space.

There are sweeping ramifications from international lending agencies overseeing the country’s economy to the Gordian knot of private creditors; the domestic processes on the rule of law, accountability and human rights under scrutiny at the UN in Geneva from countries that now admit that they themselves were culpable of double standards and hypocrisy; an almost total reliance on foreign tourism and remittances; and on humanitarian politics of donors from other countries.

The struggle to escape ‘the yoke of foreign rule’—as the metaphor for describing the burdensome control by external powers and factors, experiences for centuries under imperial rule—is not over. It was only in the early years after 1948 that Sri Lanka (then Ceylon) was on its own feet. The mega development project of that era, viz., the multi-purpose Gal Oya development scheme, was funded entirely with local money. And then, with increasing demands of a free people and political parties pandering for their vote at elections, the welfare state that emerged with all good intentions could not pay its bills. Former Singaporean Prime Minister Lee Kuan Yew famously characterised this as “a periodic auction of non-existent resources”. It gradually led to the debt trap from which this country has never been able to recover, allowing foreign powers to exploit this weakness and vulnerability, compromising the country’s independence and free will in the process.

The election of a new government brought with it a new beginning and new hope: that the ruling party’s violent past has been forgotten if not forgiven, and the old order of communalism that undermined national unity in the past due to political opportunism encouraged and exploited by external elements was also a thing of the forgettable past. However, the Government has shot itself in the foot in its quest for ‘national unity’—one of its favoured themes for good governance. Stretching one hand in friendship to the north yet slapping those in the south with disparaging remarks does not do it any favours, nor is it the way towards ‘national unity’. It is only perpetuating the north-south divide, the very antithesis of ‘national unity’.

The anti-Sri Lanka human rights campaigners at the UN Human Rights Council have already pounced on an earlier statement the President made in the north on “the politics of nationalism”. This later found its way into the new resolution against this country, referring to the “decades of divisive racist politics and ethnic conflicts in Sri Lanka” and “welcomed the Government’s acknowledgement” of this narrative. It seems that the colonial politics of ‘divide and rule’ in the new avatar of vote-based domestic politics continue in modern Geneva, trapping the ‘local’—inextricably linked with the ‘global’.

Next week’s Independence celebration is also a time of reflection. It is a moment to remember the country’s forebears and its freedom fighters—of all communities and religions—who gave their all to remove the shackles of colonial rule so that future generations could determine their own destiny and to deliver peace and prosperity with justice and equity for every Sri Lankan. There have been disappointments along the way as much as there have been great strides. But crises and conflict must not dominate Sri Lanka’s post-Independence trajectory.

Democracy, universal adult franchise, regular elections, multiparty politics, overcoming terrorism and one-time ‘insurgents’ converting to the parliamentary democratic system, social progress, the rise to a middle-income economy, human development indicators, success of reconciliation measures, diversification of the economy, the shift from a plantation-based economy, better labour standards, gender equality, continuation of free education and free health since 1948—these are some of the triumphs and failures, where the nation—and its citizens—have emerged victorious from the change of fortunes.

The incumbents have launched several ‘national unity’ campaigns in their 15 months in office, from ‘Clean Sri Lanka’ – to sustainably elevate… the entire Sri Lankan society to a higher level; to a ‘Nation United’ – a Ratama Ekata national mission to eliminate drugs, followed by a ‘national day’ to mark reconciliation and unity (postponed from last December due to the cyclone) and now, ‘Rebuild Sri Lanka’—a collective effort to recover from the cyclone.

In the quest for ‘national unity’ and navigating the country’s destinies, Independence of 1948, with all its history and import, when all communities marched to a single drum, will help connect the past with the present and the future.