Majority-minority Wedlock or deadlock?

By  Dr. Shanthikumar Hettiarachchi

  • Saturday, 11 April 2015 00:00
  • Majority-minority Wedlock or deadlock?
 
Chief Minister, Wigneswaran did a political stunt just before the arrival of the Indian premier with a ‘two nation’ theory. The interim (‘un-mandated’ as some describe) premier had mentioned in a different context that the chief minister was lying; this indicated the rough relations during Wickremsinghe’s recent visit to the Northern Province. Chief Minister was not present except at the land re-commission event, later expressed his displeasure in a public discourse that the current regime must engage with them on the land matter, not just 425 acres, but the 1,000 acres block of the former high security zone.
Two nation theory
Wigneswaran suddenly being  awoken to ‘a catch notion’ of ‘two nation’ theory, and according to some political commentators, is an uncritical and aped transportation of  a concept that could probably be applicable to the calcified Israel-Palestine conflict  for which there is seemingly no solution with the new mandate secured by Benjamin Netanyahu. People might wish to find out which Western ally is advising Chief Minister. Those Western allies never advised the factions of the 30-year-old Northern Ireland conflict between Protestants and Catholics ‘a two-nation theory’. The  West did not see as a solution to the South Africa’s years of tormenting institutionalized apartheid, ‘a black nation’ and ‘a white nation’ theory. Each notion especially of political nature has its own background, history and other factors that form itself. However, such notions are hard to be realized as there is no size fit for all. The sovereign state of Sri Lanka cannot afford to entertain ‘Wignes-theorizations’ that could undermine much gains of this island-nation having undergone nearly 500 years of colonialism.
Minoritarian voices
It must be reckoned that Wigneswaran does not fully represent all minority voices of Sri Lanka. It is in this context Chief Minister’s ‘stubborn proposition’ of  two nation theory becomes pointless and baseless in terms  of the mandate he and other Tamil parties have received. The Muslim parties must be consulted with the quivering two nation theory. Where does Muslim voice fit in the Wignes-proposal? What about the different Tamil voices in the Eastern Province, Mannar, Wanni and in the Up-country regions. Would they comply with the Chief Minister’s agenda?  It is inappropriate that a minority could decide the plight of a state-of-the-art of governance, neither the majority could do it at its own whim and fancy. Hence,  Wigneswaran even though a judicial don is deeply flawed in terms of his democratic considerations and aptitudes as there are serious deficits within his political imagination.
Wickremsinghe’s position is complicated, much worse than the president with the national government agenda, and the shift of alliances and allegiances with Samaraweeran foreign policy.  President Sirisena is a cleanly- mandated leader whereas Wickremesinghe is not. He even today can be ousted by a vote of no confidence, but the political deals he maneuvered have become his lucrative luck combined with his own political craft which enhanced his survival in Diyawanna politics. For him, taming the Chief  Minister may not be as easy as Karuna Amman for all practical purposes, but his skills are the best in the country for such a task. However, the people who defeated a popular and a powerful president will use same franchise to decide a political future of many now in power because the most powerful in a democracy – the people.
Minority in a country must be respected, they must be treated with equal dignity. There is no nation or state without its minorities, de facto they are a strength of a democracy.  They are a political touchstone to manage the power mongering politicians, like it happened in the last presidential election. However, minority alone cannot decide the same course of history of a nation. Territories cannot be divided, separated simply because there are majority-minority issues of concern. Partition of India on the basis of religion, recent partition of Sudan on the basis of certain tribal, religious and ethnic grounds, Kosovo certainly on religious and ethnic grounds and Timor-Leste arguably are not the success stories of regional power sharing models. ‘Wignes-two nation theory’ is a seriously deviant thinking towards a Sri Lankan solution for the majority-minority political impasse. There are ethnographers, historians, demographers through their study, analysis and academic predictions who in fact think that it is the Sinhalese who are a minority in the context of South Asia and in terms of global demographic architecture and not necessarily the Tamil ethnics, ratios are staggering. This is a socio-anthropological matter and not necessarily an ethnic issue.
‘Wignes theory’ might be beneficial for the US-India led solution just like in the manner of the UN pressurized creation of Kosova and South Sudan. Chief Minister can have an opinion, he even could influence the political will some minority groups in Sri Lanka, but what about the national consensus for his ‘two nation theory’. He must know that he lives in South Asia, and not in the Western World of politics of double standards and hypocrisy.
National Government
National Government is a political device in order to govern a crisis situation in a State or a region and in recent history it has been perhaps formed like a broad based coalition or war councils. World War II is a good example in terms of what the allied forces attempted and the massive reconstruction of particularly the post World War II Germany.
The hurriedly argued ‘national government’ without a template neither from the TNA nor JVP is not a healthy proposition in view of a general election. The UNP and SLFP alone are not a national government; it’s just a two party alliance-governance like in the UK. (Cameron-Clegg, they don’t call it a national government). The TNA’s and JVP’s opting out of any cabinet portfolio is a sign of trust deficit they harbor politically. The national government that is due to be campaigned cannot be ‘his master’s voice’ or remote-controlled by US-India solution to the local issues. The so-called national government in a vibrant democracy is a historical sign of a weak state that is not able to face opposition and perhaps extra parliamentary pressure groups and civil society bodies which are mature and politically astute in Sri Lanka. The CBK-SLFP-Sirisena and its party protocols are all flouted by the second and the third tier SLFPers across the country with the Nugegoda, Kandy and Ratnapura encounters. Majority-minority issues are in the middle of these political moves. The people are no longer on lookers, but they are keenly watchful.

– See more at: http://www.nation.lk/edition/insight/item/39851-majority-minority-wedlock-or-deadlock?.html#sthash.SBLbczoS.dpuf

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *