When seeking rainbows

Written in the immediate post war era and published in the "Daily News"in Sri Lanka, this article accounts the then scenario with optimism and hope. Much has happened since and it is hoped that this will bring recall to many readers of the then ...
 
By Renton de Alwis

The post victory euphoria over LTTE terror will soon fade. As our President stated more than once, the realities of national reconciliation and rebuilding will take priority over all else. His vision of building a Sri Lankan nation where there are no minorities, but only Sri Lankans will be on the front-burner. A long and hard road is ahead of us all. There is never a doubt that the political process must bring about a lasting solution as early as possible, to end the uncertainty of what that solution will be.

We all know that it will need to be a solution that will ensure that Sri Lanka will be a unified state, where all her citizens are treated as equals. More importantly they must be offered equal opportunities and should be able to live in a secure and safe environment, with honour and dignity. All must have access to social and economic opportunities to build a better future for themselves and their children. It must be a nation where diversity is celebrated and racial and religious identities are respected.  A lot has been said by the political leadership on this need. It is now time for all to agree on a common agenda, with the giving and taking being done with reason and rationality as key factors and not petty divisive ‘who scores the most points’ or ‘winner takes it all’ type of agenda.
Interestingly, this is also the  wish on top of the agenda of Sri Lanka’s youth as demonstrated in the findings of an extensive dialogue-based survey carried out of young village community leaders by ‘Sri Lanka’s Promise; Village Development Trust’  in the recent past. The study undertook to determine what our youth considered as happiness factors. Contrary to the belief of those who present light-hearted lumpant type representations of decadent sub-cultures on our media to attract the attention of our youth, they have demonstrated that they are above it all. According to the findings of the study, they consider preservation of basic values of upholding the rule of law, security and safety, access to opportunities, national and personal integrity, bringing back lasting peace, respectful  caring for the aged, children, women and the disabled as important considerations in the formation of their happiness index.  

It is time that initiatives such as ‘Mother Sri Lanka’ take on strong positions to ensure that these key messages are communicated effectively to all Sri Lankans regardless of where they are located. The peace doves we saw as only a distant dream in the past,  now must be reflected on white flags and must fly along side Sri Lanka’s national flag to symbolise  the need to take on the challenge of nation rebuilding. They can symbolically be carried by our war heroes, youth and people from all walks of life. Unifiers such as the Mother Sri Lanka theme song and all others that focus on the reconciliation and building of national unity must be featured in the media and all efforts of communicators be they of the public or the private sector must be in tandem with the central theme of peace, reconciliation and rebuilding the Sri Lankan nation.  The time when some were excluded or opted to stay excluded from the process need be over. It is a motherhood truism that the long-term success of the process will depend on the buy-in and participation of all in the solution.

It is time that we stopped looking at issues with coloured eye-glasses, tinted with affiliations and dogmas of our self, group or bipartisan interests and place the national interest above all. It is time we looked at ourselves in the mirror instead of looking through those tinted glasses at issues around us.

Vision and direction

The title of a presentation made by a Village Leadership Development Trust group on Sri Lanka’s future development was “Puthu venuwen ratak, rata venuven hetak “. In Tamil it reads “Oru desham enadu pillai aha, nalai enadu deshathika aha” with its English meaning ‘A nation for my Child, a tomorrow for the Nation’. It takes our minds aptly to the aspiration of every Sri Lankan mother and father regardless of their race, cast or creed. Each wants to ensure that there is a future that will be bright and sustainable. A future they can leave behind with confidence for their children. ‘Mother Sri Lanka’, a programme driven by an independent Foundation on the initiation of the President’s office was set up long before the defeat of LTTE terrorism was in the horizon. It demonstrates the vision and direction that was in the offing, not as an outcome of recent events, but as a means to meet the real need for reconciliation and rebuilding.

Many ideas have now been placed on the table for consideration based on a broader agenda to meet this vision and direction.  A special peace song created for the programme is now presented on most electronic media and can well form the theme song for reconciliation and rebuilding efforts. It is presented with a strong focus on the future and how bright and hopeful it can be for all Sri Lankans, when seeking a unity within the diversity that should be the future hallmark of our nation.

Ensuring sustainability

Looking beyond the creation of emotive appeal, there are thoughts on the type of development that must take place in the North and the East. The determinant of the ideal scale and model of development must naturally be determined by the elected representatives of the people of those provinces, within a guided policy framework of national interest. Given the socio-cultural realities, rushes of gold-digger type investments from outside, be they from rest of Sri Lanka, from neighbouring India or other lands, may lead to an overwhelming situation resulting perhaps in building further mistrust, unless carried out with direct stakeholder participation in the form of joint ventures. According to some analysts, this aspect, if mishandled may defeat the very objectives of why fast-paced development of these and other backward areas of the country is sought.

Given the global challenges we face today in the climate change domain and the need for instilling more sustainable and socially and environmentally responsible life-styles, a people-based small and medium sector dominated development is what may be envisaged. Ensuring the resettlement of the displaced, re-building devastated infrastructure and facilitation of needed resources will be the responsibility of the government supported by the professional and business communities, donors and other well wishers. The challenge of getting it right will fall squarely on the shoulders of strategic planners, technocrats and the political and civic leadership.

Novel solutions

Some have suggested to the government that it may be prudent to appoint a panel of respected and representative Sri Lankan civic leaders to assist initiatives on the fronts of reconciliation and rebuilding of trust and in managing the resettlement of the displaced.  There are ideas in place on using info-communications technology to overcome the difficulties faced by the Tamil and Muslim population in seeking administrative assistance as a result of the shortage of Tamil speaking officers and Police and other personnel. In addition to the call made by the Presidential Task Force for Redevelopment of the North to Tamil professionals, both in service and retired from the public and private sectors to assist in these areas with investment of time, effort and financial investment, there is also a call to set up ‘Call Centres’ operating round the clock to answer queries and service needs articulated in Tamil redirecting them via mobile phone or the Internet to persons qualified and are able to be of assistance.  

Host a family

Immediate relief measures can be set up to support the current efforts of the defence forces and other organisations in looking after needs of the IDP’s housed in camps.  What is suggested is to link each family in camps through web-based virtual ‘Host a Family’ programme, calling out to Sri Lankans living in Sri Lanka with the ability to help out at least for a year, the Diaspora (of all races) and non-Sri Lankans with goodwill towards Sri Lanka to "Lend a hand to our brethren to rebuild their lives".  Such a programme can be driven with the construction of an e-data base, transparent person to person contact facilities through Skype or similar networks, set up at the IDP camps and through direct but supervised money transfer mechanisms between the host and the supported families.

Another idea is to set in place a programme of "Lending a helping Hand"  for the development of agriculture, industry and business in the areas where resettlement will take place by linking farmers, businessmen and industrialists and small business operators of the rest of the country with those in the Northern and Eastern Provinces. Such a programme can be implemented as programmes of "exchange of visits", "helping with seeking and sourcing finance", "sharing of know how" and establishing 'family to family bonding'.

The challenges are many. The options and opportunities before us are also many. The thrust should be to ensure that the most transparent and trustworthy programmes are implemented. These naturally must be designed to meet the security concerns and needs as well with a “High Tech but High Touch” approach. Done well, these will go a long way in our nation’s quest to seek lasting rainbows for all our brethren.