In Sri Lanka the dynamics at play are driven by opportunistic politicians creating and then playing on the fears and perceived grievances, of the majority Sinhala Buddhist populace.
However, the current political crisis has led to a broader spike in anti-Muslim sentiment, raising once again the spectre of communal violence across the country that could imperil the country’s return to peace after a 30 plus year bloody terrorist war.
The principal player using a badly disguised proxy, is thought to be the man who is credited with having won the war on terror, President Mahinda Rajapaksa. In 2015, six years after winning that war he was voted out of office amidst rising worries of rampant corruption, fraud and family bandyism quite apart from the key concern of a complete breakdown of established processes when it came to national procurement guidelines.
That was not all that appeared worrisome: international concern focused on his war winning strategy which included charges of genocide later made by a vociferous Tamil diaspora based around the world. Rajapaksa was accused of unlawful killings, thousands of missing persons and of being the commander in chief of an army that stands accused of war crimes and crimes against humanity.
His proxy is the ultra-nationalistic BBS or Bodu Bala Sena. Composed of hard-line and extremist Sinhala Buddhists. The BBS is led by a monk Gnanasera Thero who has been fending off charges of being communal after the BBS gained prominence under the Rajapaksa regime.
Defence Secretary for Mahinda Rajapaksa was his brother Gothabya. Much feared and in effect the de facto Minister of Defence, several analysts agree that Gothabya was responsible for turning a Nelsonian eye on the racist pogrom of the BBS. He is in turn accused by detractors but not yet by the Sri Lanka Police, of procurement abuses, political patronage and of violating the country’s strict arms policies by favouring one company to handle maritime security services – a facility carried out by the Sri Lanka Navy which raked in revenues annually estimated in the millions of dollars. At the stroke of a pen Gothabya is alleged to have signed off transferring the Navy service to a private company.
The incumbent prime minister is accused of having a strong affinity to the Rajapaksas and the blame game – as to who is responsible for not prosecuting Rajapaksa involvement in multi-million dollar fancy development projects – squarely lays the blame on Wickremesinghe’s legendary intransigence.
The spectre of Islamic extremism and its rise in leaps and bounds has alarmed the Sirisena-Wickremesinghe combine. Sources close to the defence establishment reveal that up to 300 local Muslims are thought to have found their way to Syria to lend their support to IS. Yet officially there is no acknowledgment from the government of any such intelligence reports.
The surge in Buddhist nationalism is viewed as an event that demands both eyes be open whilst observing and understanding the issues.
Facebook has become Hatebook in the eyes of some. That is especially so when one considers the apparent difficulties the Facebook algorithms are having when detecting hate speech and downright filth written in the vernacular. The auto translations are at times comic but the fact that extremist nationalists (whether they be Buddhist Islamic Christian or Hindu)) rely on social media inability to detect them has played a pivotal role in the troubles a fortnight ago.
Like social media entrepreneurs who depend on these platforms for their commercial success, so do extremists who use it to disseminate false information and spread their own brand of terrorism, communal hatred and racism. Extremism exists.
According to Cyber Security expert Asela Waidyalankara during the crisis in the hill country, data reveals the number of searches for information on Molotov cocktails and petrol bombs peaked no sooner the troubles started – giving the country a chilling insight to what may have come of the crisis.
In that context the decisive, incisive and timely intervention of the government has to receive a standing ovation.
Equally the time is now nigh to recall the state of emergency that was justifiably declared then. Let us move quickly to dispel international doubts as to the peace on the island – and thus move expeditiously to revert back to the status quo.
Hostility directed at journalists is a trait oft practised by extremists and some of the monks in Mandalay, Burma are no different. Most journalists are viewed with suspicion and expect little sympathy if caught out.
Although the monks of Ma Ba Tha were banned around March 2017 by the Aung San Su Kyi government, the monks have only intensified their chauvinistic agenda. They have publicly declared they have no problem with the ordinary Muslim but point out to historical India where they say that ‘invading Muslims have forced the Indians into becoming Muslims’. Their concern they say is the invasion of Buddhist lands (areas) by Muslims. It is in this context that over 370,000 Rohingya people have had to flee to Bangladesh and some even ended up in Sri Lanka.
Sri Lanka needs to look sharp. We have all suffered tremendously with a war that went on for over thirty years and our prospects appear gilded once again.
It is incumbent upon the President to continue to act decisively and incisively to ensure that Sri Lanka does not fall into an abyss of despair and be stuck in a mire of communalism once again. There are plenty of politicians willing to gamble with our peace to achieve their objectives of getting past the long arm of the law.
Sri Lanka needs to be on alert to that – the greatest danger this country continues to face since independence.
