Dr. Joe William

Chairman – National Peace Council of Sri Lanka

Q: What are the most critical governance issues facing our country at this time?

A: Sri Lanka is divided in many ways along ethnic and religious lines. These divisions have manifested in violent conflict, sometimes continuous and sporadic at other times.

Underlying the physical violence are long held prejudices, suspicions and fears. Even where there is no actual conflict, there’s tension simmering beneath the surface, which can easily be harnessed to unleash violence.

Much of the prejudice, attendant hate and suspicion is either sowed or fuelled by politics. Since independence, the principal political platform has been and continues to be one framed in ‘ethnic nationalism.’

Coexistence in Sri Lanka is on the basis of tolerance, not engaged understanding and active nurturing of inter-community relations. While communities live side by side, they don’t necessarily engage with each other meaningfully.

Rights are understood not in absolute and fundamental terms but in relative terms. There are established hierarchies on the basis of race and/or religion and the function of rule of law is impaired to that extent.

What’s needed is a unifying political value system on the lines of pluralism that accommodates the country’s multiethnic and multi-religious reality. There is a need to refine democracy within the framework of pluralism, and create an enabling environment to uphold fundamental freedoms of thought, conscience and religion in absolute terms.

This bodes well with the call for a renewed focus on a Sri Lankan identity based on the rule of law and a unified legal system, which cannot be based on ethnic or particularistic religious values – but rather, on universal standards of human rights.

Although the conflict has ceased, the divisions that existed in the past are very much alive. Violence, suspicion and segregation remain embedded in social and political life. As such, peace building and reconciliation are critical needs in this postwar era.

One of the challenges to national integration and reconciliation will be for the people to gain a better understanding of these tenets from other ethnic communities. The work of civic groups is important to bind the wounds that political counterparts create in their bid for power.

Therefore, there is a need to embrace pluralistic values – within a framework of enshrined laws and values. It must be remembered that pluralistic values were displayed during the aragalaya in 2022.