Sri Lanka went back several years on Easter Sunday 2019. Previously the country was mostly at peace with itself and the greatest trouble came from our legislators who pointedly caused havoc thanks to their intransigence. The debate rages if this intransigence was purchased for hard currency or had genuinely been overlooked due to a lack of analytical powers. The fact that at least 90 Sri Lankan legislators have not passed their ‘O’ levels may go some way towards understanding that issue.
The sad fact is that the breakdown in the political relationship between the President and the Prime Minister has lead to the breakdown in acting on intelligence reports. There is hardly anyone who believes that both the President and the Premier did not receive briefings on the intel received from superpower neighbour India.
What everyone does believe is that both the President and the Prime Minister are clutching at every passing straw to remain in power. The consequences appear not to matter to either. Both are accomplished masters at the art of being economical with the truth.
Three weeks after 21/4 the common man on the high streets wreaked havoc. They targeted the Muslim owned shops in an attempt to pass off their fury in the guise of revenge for the events of 21/4.
The average Sri Lankan is said to be literate. The difference between literate and educated is stark. If indeed the marauding crowds armed with makeshift weapons in the form of machetes and sticks and poles as well as rocks and stones for good measure, were indeed right then they only showed off their ignoramus selves by equating a small cult following of highly educated persons with the average Sri Lankan person following the Islamic way of life.
It was abundantly clear: they attacked Muslim owned property and businesses out of spite and jealousy. Little did these mobs realise that what little chance Sri Lanka had of bouncing back after 21/4 was put on the back burner for a while. The international community are not similar to the marauding gangs. They sit up and take note when sections of humanity are treated worse than the uncared for animals of the world. In turn they are unlikely to come anywhere near Sri Lanka for a long time yet.
If indeed this was the vision of some wannabe politicians then so be it. Sri Lanka’s economy had taken a nose dive anyway since January 2015. From a high of 7% it stood in 2018 at an abysmal 3.2%. The World Bank in an apparent show of solidarity maintained that despite 21/4 their forecast would be unchanged at 3.5%
At the end of the day the Helmuts, Elizabeths, Theresas and Kims and Lees of this world do not need World Bank or IMF forecasts to decide if they will visit Sri Lanka on holiday. Television stations in their respective countries will as a routine carry agency despatches of the ground situation in Sri Lanka.
When the going gets tough then these same agencies will send their roving reporters and cameramen to Sri Lanka to cover the news.
It is quite conceivable that the only tourists of any sort we will encounter in Sri Lanka anytime soon will be film and press crew from the world’s larger news organisations.
In the meantime it is up to the wannabe leaders of the Muslim community to gather their members and urge them to remain understanding and calm. It will be a tough sell when people have been attacked, robbed and even murdered by gangs of people all because they believe in a religion that is different to that of the attackers.
It is a tough call we admit. It is time that both President Sirisena and Premier Wickremesinghe regain their collective senses and call for an election pretty damn quickly.
That much they owe us, the people of Sri Lanka. As for changing the mindset of the drunken, crazed gangs that wreaked fear and havoc on the Muslim people, that is a pogrom that will require a considerable number of years of a hard slog. As for that cult, the IS murderers, let they be forewarned that if they dare make an appearance in Sri Lanka anytime soon, they will get very short shrift from the Muslims of Sri Lanka – and the rest of Sri Lanka too, for that matter.
