Merit should be the only measure for choosing our politicians
Cecil Dharmasena’s letter, “Yes, we can call ourselves Sri Lankans” (Sunday Times, June 10, 2012), is well written, but the letter’s contents are remote from ground realities.
The writer believes that any Sri Lanka citizen, including a Tamil, who is not a Sinhala Buddhist, can become a Prime Minister or President of this country. This is an “Alice in Wonderland” perception. And he has very generously exonerated the Sinhala Buddhists and the Administration from responsibility for the ills that have befallen modern Sri Lanka. Mr. Dharmasena is, we understand, a happily retired government servant who is convinced of the soundness of his evaluations. I disagree with his assumptions. The same clans, perpetrators of today’s calamities, have wielded power since Independence in 1948. They represent the Sinhala Buddhists who have administered this country for 64 years. These same Sinhala Buddhists, representing 71 per cent of the population, have abdicated their responsibilities by handing over the reins of power to members of their own caste and creed.
Mr. Dharmasena talks of Tamara Kunanayagam, Sri Lanka’s ambassador to the UN Human Rights Council in Geneva. He says this excellent (Tamil) officer “was asked to go to Cuba, not due to Sinhala chauvinism but the ‘political chauvinism’ of some politicians.” Who are these politicians? Who elected them? They are the very Sinhala Buddhist politicians we referred to above.
Sri Lanka needs to come up with a new political culture, free of religious and language issues. Religion is essentially a personal matter, a matter of conscience. The State should have no role to play in the religious beliefs or practices of its citizens.
If Sri Lanka acknowledges the need for all three languages, then the State must formulate a tri-lingual policy once and for all and carry it out.
The day Sri Lanka decides that merit should be the only criterion in political decision-making will mark the beginning of total emancipation from the country’s problems.