On getting lost among winners and losers

 (by Malinda Seneviratne)

When the LTTE was militarily crushed, there was visible anguish among certain sections of the Colombo elite.  There was horror expressed by some over something they chose to call ‘triumphalism’.  What most of the nation and especially the Sinhala Buddhist majority took as a decisive victory over terrorism and therefore an overwhelming cause for celebration on account of the freedom of movement and freedom from fear, some took as untrammeled joy over what they thought was a defeat of the Tamil community. 

Well, Tamil chauvinism did take a huge hit admittedly and as a citizen, a Sinhalese and a Buddhist who had had to take many hits from that particularly virulent political project, I was not ready to lament this.  On the other hand, although not given to flag-waving and anthem-singing, I must say that I was pleased that the shadow of the LTTE was gone. I did enjoy the sunshine and I still do in fact.   

Some Sinhalese and Buddhists I am sure read ‘victory’ in Sinhala-Tamil terms, but only rabidly anti-Buddhist and anti-Sinhala elements would extrapolate such sentiment to encompass the entire Sinhala Buddhist community.  This is why I was not surprised when Sunila Abeysekera spoke in somber terms about what she thinks is persistent sentiments along these Sinhala-Tamil lines in relation to winners and losers.  There is a way in which people end up fervently believing their own propaganda.  

The characterization of winner and loser that Sunila and her ilk are supposedly perturbed about is hardly the preserve of one social category, although they would like to think it is so and indeed that it has some statistically or otherwise significant truth value.  The notion that the Sinhalese won and the Tamils lost, however, is a lie that is part generated by a particular understanding of the conflict. 

True, the security forces were overwhelmingly made up of Sinhalese while the LTTE was almost 100% Tamil.  On the other hand, the security forces represented the state and such the entire citizenry.  The notion that there is some kind of Sinhala Buddhist State in place in Sri Lanka is a lie that certain anti-Sinhalese and anti-Buddhist elements have propagated.  It has no basis in reality. Indeed it can be argued that the state has been more anti-Sinhala and anti-Buddhist than anything else over the last 60 years.  The truth is that things are not black and white. 

The notion that the Sinhalese won can be traced to a pernicious defining-game that Sunila and others built their careers on. They spent decades and lives defending Eelamism, marketing shamelessly the attendant lies about history, traditional homelands and grievances to the point that anomalies that legitimated protest were lost in the whines and/or hurrahs.  They won political currency, international stature and quite a few bucks by defending and legitimizing the LTTE.  They conferred parity of status to the LTTE vis-à-vis the Government of Sri Lanka.

They drew from a well-crafted lexicon for this and one which was as greedily picked up by mischievous and disingenuous sections of the thug elements of the international community and their media lackeys such as the BBC. That’s how we got ‘de-facto state’, ‘de-facto capital’, ‘Kilinochchi says’ (as opposed to ‘Colombo says’), ‘border villagers’ (presuming division) etc.  They never used the word ‘terrorist’.  And they never once objected to the LTTE’s claim that it was the sole-representative of the Tamil community. Indeed, they fed and fed off this claim. 

Since conflating ‘Tamil’ and ‘LTTE’ constituted their bread and butter for a long, long time, it is natural then for Sunila and her pals to think that the Tamils had ‘lost’.  Small wonder that ill-informed, self-appointed gods and goddesses of all things big and small like Arundathi Roy, who deliberately feign inability to distinguish rebel from terrorist, and who get their kicks from putting signature to some ‘cause’ or other, should call for a boycott of a literary festival. 

In April 2009, Roy said the war was not on terror, but was a racist war on Tamils.  Today, almost two years later, she won’t find many people lamenting Prabhakaran’s demise.  Not even Sunila would dare open her mouth in any forum, local or foreign, to say she is upset that the LTTE is not around.  Indeed, if pressed, she would say it is a good thing, although she would not openly acknowledge that this ‘good thing’ was delivered to nation and citizenry by those she loved to hate for years and years and still hates even today. 

It is time these people got real and acknowledged that they are the most vociferous definers of winners and losers in Sinhala-Tamil terms because they just cannot distinguish Tamil from Tiger. The vast majority of Sri Lankans of all communities, all religious faiths, all parts of the country and all political parties figured this out a long, long time ago. 

The Tamil community did not perish in the Nandikadal Lagoon.  The LTTE did.  Tamil Nationalism did not die with Prabhakaran, it was merely unburdened of its terrorist headache.  Sunila’s mischievous word play is not and should not be read as a product of nostalgia.  She is doing what she has been doing for years. Singing for her supper.  Keeping Eelamism alive.  One should not grudge her this, for this is all she’s done and all she knows to do.  Arundathi Roy can be dismissed as a naïve for-hire pen for terrorists disguised as rebels. Not Sunila Abeysekera.  One feels sorry for Roy.  Sorry, Roy.