Why Sri Lanka & Sri Lankans are in a stalemate!
We may have a literacy rate of over 90% but majority of the citizens in particular those holding key positions in both private & public sector are clueless of geopolitics & historical linkages to modern governance or careless to even learn. This is why we are in a stalemate situation where politicians are clueless & care less, businesspeople share same sentiments, public sector & private sector are too busy with their personal problems, organizations are happy to keep to there area of focus instead of desiring to bring scope of every organization into a national agenda & the enemies who are well aware of what Sri Lankans suffer are happy to keep all divided & walk away with the booty. Having said that, it is a surprise that Sri Lanka is able to maintain its sovereignty despite the treacheries and lack of nationalism that worsens with every year while schools & university systems are not producing a younger generation to take up the stewardship and steer Sri Lanka. We don’t need youth protestors. We need youth leaders dedicated to turning Sri Lanka into a powerful nation while maintaining its historical blueprint. Our ancestors who built this civilization, produced man-made marvels that stands testament to our glorious past. They, must surely be rolling in their graves.
Every nation has its ups & down but they rise because not only the political leaders but the general citizens are bound by a common desire to take their nation & their people to the next level. It is a common call beyond fulfilling personal or selfish desires. This is how China uplifted 400million people from poverty & has become an international force today. Development has not erased their desire to foster, protect & preserve their heritage. Some Sri Lankans believe that we can develop ONLY AFTER erasing the Sinhala Buddhist civilizational history.
What is lacking amongst majority in Sri Lanka is that pride in their nation, the civilization that was built, the ancient marvels that continue to be tourist & archaeological attractions. Most are happy to make money showing off our ancient sites but with cosmetic pride shown only for the tourist! People must actually feel that pride not pretend for personal advantage.
Development in Sri Lanka is presented as having to first erase the historical past of the Sinhala Buddhist civilization. Lobbies & pressure groups in particular the media channels that influence the general public in Sri Lanka are all anti-national, anti-Sinhalese, anti-Buddhist and they are drilling this notion into the minds of the masses. So long as these influencers continue to influence people, Sri Lanka cannot develop. Confounding the situation is the use of technology & social media eternally keeping the majority & minorities apart while further dividing the majority & even the minorities. The lack of the true history of the nation, believing the historical lies that have been fed, successive governments that has failed to put history in its proper perspective to the people enables citizens to be swayed by the anti-Sri Lanka lobbies and prone to be manipulated enabling internal frictions that pave the path for the manipulators to get an upper hand.
People in positions whether in public or private sector roles are either voluntarily or involuntarily manipulated because they are unable to connect the dots, think for themselves & analyse situations & political events.
How many have questioned or thought about – the fall by D S Senanayake was “accidental or not:, the assassination of SWRD Bandaranaike was really by the person who was accused, the real players behind the Catholic Action to assassinate & oust Mrs. Bandaranaike, the sudden emergence of the JVP a movement, its re-emergence in 1980s well-timed with the LTTE? Who has wondered how a 19 year old Prabakaran suddenly formed Tamil New Tigers in 1972 the same day that the Republican Constitution was released or the connection between the May 1976 Vaddukoddai Resolution calling for a separate armed struggle & Prabakaran rechristening LTTE that same month & year.
Who has looked at the extension of the Catholic Action into the inner circles of the JVP & LTTE & questioned if their targets were Sinhala Buddhists. The domino effect was that eventually it was the brainwashed but talented Sinhala Buddhist youth in the JVP who got massacred while the Sinhala Buddhist brainwashed youth were used to massacre Sinhala Buddhist soldiers. The ultimate outcome was that promising Sinhala Buddhist youth were eliminated by brainwashing them into joining various groups & killing each other. The US/West is using the same tactic via Islamic terrorism These terror groups are only killing fellow Muslims!
In all this we have failed to identify the role of India and pretend it is our historical friend. India trained, armed & funded LTTE from 1970s. India provided safe haven and logistics support to LTTE & other armed militants. India prevented action against LTTE going to far as to violate our territorial space & forced the signing of an agreement that is legally invalid due to India not fulfilling its commitments. India has economically, politically weakened Sri Lanka with every passing year. India used LTTE terror to build its power over Sri Lanka. Even the diplomats & foreign ministry did not realize the extent of India’s intervention or how to diplomatically deal with it or were themselves manipulated by India. We are now told that even the Easter Sunday has an Indian hand in it.
It is unfortunate that Mahinda Rajapakse who had the will to declare war on the LTTE failed to be streetsmart enough to comprehend the dangers of the external enemies after Sri Lanka became internally free of terror. In eliminating the LTTE, Sri Lanka had exposed itself badly. There was no post-LTTE plan/strategy and the Rajapakse’s were cunningly swayed to bolster themselves personally which was craftily used to build a campaign against them as part of the revenge for ending an investment project that lasted over 30 years. It is the fault of the Rajapakses for not reading the writings on the wall or becoming compromised from within. They had the golden opportunity to turn Sri Lanka onto the right path if strategic decisions had been taken instead of building their own personal portfolios and in so doing embracing all sorts of enemies to their fold who were planted to destroy them from within. They failed to realize the formidable forces that were building up against them & ensure they had a plan to overcome them.
The culmination of this came at the end of 2014 & the hero Sirisena emerging as common candidate. It was another India-US operation. The same US-Allies-India that mooted resolutions at the UNHRC & used their powers over Member states to press Sri Lanka against the wall & force administrative/legal & political changes advantageous to them to manipulate Sri Lanka further. The Sirisena-Wickremasinghe government was hailed by both US & India who were QUAD partners each with their own geopolitical goals to gain supremacy in the region and each with an angst against China.
What Sri Lankans failed to understand is that US & India were using our own people to fight against our own while they were walking away with the bounty. It is an open secret that the Church is a key ally of the Western agenda, the Church is used to say Catholic/Christian voters & its NGOs are placed across the provinces engaged in various social themes that enables them to get closer to target audiences & manipulate their thinking. It explains why NGOs were thriving during the LTTE in the North & East & seemed to have no issues to be among terrorists while most LTTE orphanages were run by Church fathers! Look closer at the influence of the Church lobbies within the LTTE. With the many evangelical & Born Again groups in full swing, they hide their true new affinities. All of the elements that have been highlighted above converged in 2022 to oust an elected leader behaving like hooligans and embarrassing the nation. History will be rewriting this narrative not as a “aadara aragalaya” but one that brutally killed 8, vandalized state property, torched homes, looted and plundered and displayed venom, vengeance and hatred.
The very groups that converged are today uncharacteristically & not surprisingly silent. If they belonged to the anti-Sinhala/anti-Buddhist lobby (partnered by Sinhala Buddhists who only displayed their own lack of understanding geopolitics and political dynamics) & easily swayed by giving vent to their emotions and personal benefits, these individuals and groups are silent primarily because of their arrogance to admit they erred but committed to the emotional blackmail that they suffer as a result of their inability to assess and analyse ground realities.
So long as people who matter are weak & vulnerable in their analytical skills especially to identify the enemy & the tools used by the enemies, Sri Lanka cannot peddle forward. There will be plenty of public performances, beautiful speeches about “my nation” blah blah blah but all these will only be for the ears and provide laughing matter for the enemies who are happy to think Sri Lankans are enjoying post-aragala dividends while sitting on a volcano ready to erupt any time!
Shenali D Waduge
