Whither Sri Lanka?

Sri Lanka is a country which has a long history and a proud culture,strategically placed in the Indian Ocean and known also as the pearl of the Indian Ocean; Is it now the tear drop of the same ocean? Will it be the blood drop as well?

I am sure that I am not the first and only person to ask the question, but who has the answers?

I was born in Dehigama, Muruthalawa, a village in the salubrious hill country of Ceylon. The village Buddhist temple was closer to my home than the mosque. My father A.S.Lebbe, popularly known as Giragama Lebbe, could deliver a speach without a script, equally well in English, Sinhala or Tamil. He was in local politics as well, for some time with President Wijetunge and was also Secretary of the village commitee chairmen's association at a time when late Prime Minister Mr.S.W.R.D. Bandaranaike was its President.He shunned national politics. My father's outlook towards life,history, clean politics and communal harmony and social service beyond man made boundaries influenced me strongly.I belive he was strongly influenced by Mr. Blaze of Kingswood College where he as well as my eldest brother Fuad Sulaiman had their education. the village budhist preist was a frequent visitor to our house.


Incidently we have a 'ge name-vederalalagedera

My other brother, (now a doctor) Shafi Sulaiman and I were educated in a Catholic School - St Sylvester's College in the hill capital, Kandy. Our school mates? I recall at random to share the RICHNESS AND DIVERSITY OF CULTURE MY ALMA MATER PROVIDED.

Derrick de Silva, Late Reyal, Sheriffdeen. Bulner brothers who elevated the Boxing Scenario of the country, Eriyagamas. Balendran, Gunendran, Thiyagaraja, My brother Shafi, Peter Jansz, Lucien and Renny de Silva, Herath, Ayoob,Sunil,Wijeratne Charitha, Dodanwelas, Pilimatalawes, Late Nesta Peries, his brother Gladstone,Tuan,Winsley Jayamanne, Jabbar, R.S. Pathamanathan an Pathmanaban of Trincomallee street where I was boarded for some time.............. are some of my contemporaries.

What do we see?

All are good Sri Lankans. No Tigers. No Lions. No Sheep or cunning foxes there.
Did we bother to explore whether they came from Jaffna, Batticaloa, Negombo or Ruhuna.

Did we think that any of them belonged to any other group or class other than our own? Were there Tamils , Sinhalese, Burghers or Muslims in this coterie? Did anyone of them ever get any special treatment or harassment because of his race or religion, or because he was a son of a politician or policemen?

We had none of that. That is how Late Mr.D.J.N Senevirtane, Late Fr. Robert and many other peers gave us the leadership to live as Sri Lankans.

In two weeks time we will be celebrating the 60th. anniversary of the Independence we got, not only for the Sinhalese or Tamils but for all of us, Sri Lankans.

What can we celebrate?

A country in reverse gear? Is this our theme? Anarchy? Kidnapping? Ransom demands? Murder,Human rights? What is it?
Too familair words?
Lets not speak about it!
We are afraid to speak about these because of the white van.

Whither bound Sri Lanka, my countrymen?

Our kids see Tigers and Lions, not children and friends. Not heros in Cricket gounds. They dont see Shakepears, Thirukkural and Salalihini Sandeshaya as companions in an adventure of prose or verse.. For them no Sinhabahu, No Maname. No Brechet. They have not been taught to appreciate the richness of the arts ,religions, cultures and practices other than that of their own. They have been denied the opportunity to value the right of dissent.

They are frogs in the well or islands in an Island which once was serendipity!

Some of them have been taught to lie from their first day in school, sometimes even earlier. They are nurtured to compete and win........not to complement and share.......and not trained to take victory and defeat in the same spirit. They are combatants long before they learn the rules of the game

Stories of teachers favouring children, Parents "helping teachers, examiners helping students in exam halls, leaking question papers", abound.

Sahfi and I graduated from the Pearadeniya Campus . We had young men and women of various colours and creeds as friends. There were no Sinhalese, Tamils , Muslims or Burghers there. There were only happy go lucky undergrads with long side burns, their girl friend and the lectures for whom we had the utmost respect if not fear.

Then I came back to my Alma Mater in 1971- this time as a member of the noble profession.

Apart from the abysmal depths to which the college had fallen, here I saw strange things and happenings for the first time in my life.

I saw among my pupils and fellow staff, ...labels, I saw with their eyes, Sinhalese, Tamils and Muslims. There were hardly any common ground between them.

I cried for my beloved teachers who taught us to respect all human beings irrespective of race or religion. Many of them had left, perhaps unable to witness the destruction that was going on. I recall M/s Amarasinghe, Sathananthan,Wijesekera,Jansz,Sinaharatchi,Wijesekera, Kandiah, Guneratne, Nillegoda,Lewis,Miss Singarayer and Miss Rita John etc. All of them are dead and gone now. May their souls rest in peace.

And then one day in 1971, a bomb exploded, in a room next to the very one I once occupied at Marr's Hall. Where are Amare, Medis, Rajapakse, Farouk, Hussain Miya, Mendis, our hall mates now? I hope they are doing well.

Something had gone wrong some where. I put a full stop to my teaching career at the end of 1971 with proud memories of my A/L class of 1971 and bitter ones of an ethnically divided staff and pupils.

Sorry I ran away with my emotions, experiences and tears.
Yes tears for my country which is going nowhere.

Politicians have won over the intellectuals and the civil society and the journey to the centre of nowhere is almost complete.

We need to beat the terrorists. THAT'S FOR SURE. LET OUR ARMED FORCES DO IT........ not for the greens, blues or reds but for you and me.

Then we need to change the mindset of our children and the hard ones amongst us.
We need to learn to look through the others eyes.
We need to replace power hunger with humility.
We need to replace the greed for power with the desire to serve.
We need to stop making money from others miseries.

Above all
We need to care and share.
We need to give more and take less

We also need to take the country away from the hand's of corrupt politicians and give it back op statesmen.

So many things to be done dear Sri Lankans before Independence.

But before all these if we can only change one thing, our journey to the forefront can begin and will succeed.

Yes if we can only change our birth certificates to eliminate the reference to cast, race and religion, then our grand children will have one country and one nation.

My wife Fazeena and our three children Aashika, Ahsen and Aadil have friends in all communites and are equally at home with any of those cultures while not forgetting our own.They can undersatnd and appreciate Drama, Cinema, and Songs. Aashika and her husband Barushan have a child of their own now- Jannah Mryam only 45 days old. I write for her sake.

Let us be known as Sri Lankans in our birth certificates and wipe away the differences that start at the registrar's office and are taken right to six feet below when we part.

Then fellow Sri Lankans, our grand children will have the peace that we had and their parents only dreamt of.

Then they can once again hear the birds sing and see the flowers bloom. They can feel the cool of the mist and not the heat of the bombs. They can forget the streams of blood and tears that flow in vain and enjoy the warmth of the waters that surround us.

They can sing.
Thay can dance.
Thay can be children once agin.
The can be true Sri Lankans
and thay can be proud.

And then we can celebrate.Sri lankans all.