There is an old saying in Malay ‘When you
grow, grow like rice for as rice grows, it bends forward, do not grow like
grass, for as grass grows, it grows straight’.
The essence of this saying is that humility is key to development. Being part of a reconstruction process of a
country devastated by natural and man made disasters can often colour the lens
with which you view the situation. Often
the mistake that one makes is that you think that you have all the answers /
solutions for all problems faced. There
is often a danger of a sense of arrogance of purpose with which one carries out
his duties.
I was recently reminded of this danger when
I attended a seminar on bringing peace to the country organized by civil
society organisations which had uniquely assembled participants of varying age
groups from the grass roots, from different ethnic, religious and territorial
backgrounds across the country, including representatives from the Eastern and
Northern provinces.
‘The problem that you have Mr Amjad is that
you have only one perspective of the peace process’ said Azar, a social
activist from Trincomalee, during an initial ice breaking session at the
seminar. ‘The problem that many INGOs
like yourselves and the international community have is that you have a basic assumption that peace in the country
will be restored once the LTTE and the government can place respective
signatures on a document under the watching eyes of the international
community’
This seminar was certainly different than
anything that I had ever attended before.
Apart from the fact that the three commonly used languages in the
country were spoken and simultaneously translated for the benefit of all, the discussion
seemed to identify that at the grassroots level, there was a lack of
consultation with people which meant that there was a lot of apprehension about
what was being ‘hatched’ within the political circles as regards current
national crises particularly about on-going peace efforts.
Hence answers to the current crisis with regards to the peace
efforts which were seemingly confined to
the political chambers without any consultation with the common people were not
met with much support since it was felt that there was a lack of recognition in
the role that the grass roots play in
determining whether there is peace or
not.
What I understood from the discussion was a
sense of real frustration at the increasing polarization along ethnic,
territorial and religious lines, and what
was very evident from the discussion is that absence of hostility is not peace,
with the prime example being the Ceasefire
Agreement that was signed between the
Government of Sri Lanka and the LTTE in February 2002, which was considered a
prelude to a total reduction of militancy in the country, but which in fact did
not help in building bridges of trust and understanding between communities. In
fact as we see in hindsight now, the deterioration of trust between all
communities has become even more stronger and the parties are at loggerheads
more than ever what with repeated violations and disrespect for the agreement
particularly in the phase of the post-tsunami need for humanitarian assistance.
What I began to understand from the
discussions was that there could not be peace
until trust and confidence among the different communities were restored. You can only have acceptance of one another
when you understand each other seemed to be the theme of all deliberations.
The workshop felt that the spirit of
belonging to this country should be allowed to take root and the spirit of
sharing and caring for each other (as humans) should be allowed to prosper so
that no citizen of this country will be alienated on account of religion,
ethnicity or territorial affinity. Only by bringing back such values into the
lives of the people of this country could there be peace, and this could only
happen only if people were encouraged and allowed to “ … as matter of urgency
….take charge of their destiny and control their politico-economic environment”.
I sensed a lot of tiredness amongst the
workshop participants. Tiredness at
listening to a lot of rhetoric from all sides with very little positive
action. Tiredness of experiencing on a
daily basis of abuse of power by
parliamentarians, their siblings or their cronies with impunity. Tiredness of a
lack of freedom of thought and expression as journalists are harassed and
organized gangs with the backing of political parties oppress the innocent
masses. Tiredness of continuous struggle against the daily grind as the cost of
living goes up. Tiredness of losing
loved ones to a fight that has long lost its purpose and reason of being.
Tiredness of discrimination.
As the seminar wound to a close, one could
sense amongst the people a reawakened enthusiasm to grab the controls of the
peace train and drive it towards a new direction, one that would create a new
environment ensuring equality and justice towards freedom of thought and
expression; upholding and protecting individual and collective rights and
dignity, in order for one to pursue life goals and contribute to national
development.
If this was the sense of purpose which
emerged out of the workshop, then there is a huge timely role for the grass
roots to play within the whole peace process of Sri Lanka without repeating
lessons of the past.
