A big match between fire and fury

Wednesday, 7 March 2018

If you live in Sri Lanka and truly love it, what’s

happening right now must hurt “real bad” (as the vulgar phrase goes). The hopes
and aspirations of a peace-cherishing citizenry have gone up in smoke and flames,
or so it seems this week.

What really triggered the riot in Teldeniya or started the rot off in Ampara, even
set the faggots alight in Gintota earlier in the year, is a moot point. There is
sufficient warrant from past conflagrations for the finger of suspicion to point at
resurgent nationalism fuelled by inflamed political leaders slavering for more
power. Or, if you’re into the softer more tender-minded avatar of apportioning
blame, to finger the unfathomable Fabian tactics of the craven powers that be. As
far as the vulgar mob goes – and the farther the better – it is caviar to the general.
And I don’t mean to be Fonny.

Hold back that hope

There are many other factors militating in favour (or is it disfavour?) of setting
minority properties in a mixed ethnicity township alight. These are so diabolical as
not to bear replanting in yet another column attempting to analyse causes for
conflagration.

With the Army and STF now out in force in the field despite
Nero’s initial fiddling, we can only trust that the Muslims of Digana (to say nothing
of their peaceable Sinhalese compatriots) will be spared further loss and agony.
But in the blackened embers of the fires that the Cunctators (or Delayers, to cite a
pre-Roman Empire republican army tactic favoured by those who hold back
concerted political or military action to militate against opponents) you might find
that the dream has died.

There go – up, in flames and funereal smoke – the hopes and aspirations of a
peace-loving citizenry who cherished the dream that the Sri Lanka we truly love
can transform itself from a post-war society with bad dreams into a post-conflict
nation with a growing good reputation. Still, some may feel it is not too late to
save something out of the ashes. Hope? Dream? Reality?

Dream more realistically

Seems like my psyche is kicking against the pricks. (Pardon me, I don’t mean the
arsonists.) Against better judgment, yours truly feels compelled to essay a triad of
lamentable trends that may serve to highlight the stub of roots and reasons for
the inferno this week.

Last week I suggested that the beast (in ethno-nationalist chauvinism, with the
face of a rampant or drunken lion but the heart of a rabid hyena) slouches
towards Ampara, Battaramulla, Colombo, to be born again. That the powers that
be take charge before matters spin out of control. And that inciters in disturbing
the peace – to put it mildly – be locked up and the key thrown away.

But it’s too little, too late, for the traumatised township of Teldeniyaand certain
of its residents, and the increasing confidence of minority peoples in the panoply
of law and order.The plethora of ugly things that crawled out from the social
media exposés on the divisiveness of Digana prove that it will take a panacea
stronger than curfew and commissions to restore the tatters of national
security.Hope in the armed forces to do what the police couldn’t won’t cut it for a
naively trusting citizenry now cut to the quick.

No single demographic can be held accountable, or entirely innocent of thought-

crime against their irritating neighbours. But no singular minority deserves the
nightmares so cold, calculatingly heaped like burning coals on its head by a cynical
chauvinism on steroids these days… And government needs to grow a pair –
pronto.

Reality bites
So here goes, politicos. Put these in your peace-pipe and smoke ’em. They reflect
the other side of the refractive mirror into which our nation has looked of late, in
the aftermath of the pipe dream dying. It is not today’s trend, but a trajectory two
to three years in the making. Dambulla, Dharga Town, Digana.
#1Firstly, the politicisation of the police force (if you will forgive the false sense of
security of such an assumption). Fabian tactics of the incumbents aside, the police
are notoriously proneto play Cunctator of their own accord. Delaying any
concerted action and denying society law and order until presidential fiat or
prime ministerial diktat rouses their office cadre to action. Feelings run high on
both sides of the political divide. For today’s Minister of Law and Order may be
tomorrow’s black sheep with a secret sorrow on its face… So senior coppers in
their high chairs or lowly PCs scrabbling for cover in the field may well be forgiven
for waiting until the last possible moment before risking the ire of a resurgent
regime – the same rascals who might be inciting the crowd to boorish and brutal
behaviour?It’s hardly the worst of times for a law enforcement department that
faced a war on one or many fronts as well as insurgencies and insurrections
islandwide. But it’s not the best of times by a burning faggot.

#Secondly, the militarisation of the mob. Social media have brought before our
scandalised eyes searing images of how boorish and brutal the vulgar mob can be.
The closest it comes to this level of hooliganism (save faggots and fire; and maybe
even those) is the spectrum of behaviours more common to a big match among
grown-up boys playing silly buggers. But there is no customary bonhomie and
camaraderie among rival factions in verbally abusive tents. Rather,a violent
hostility of the Big Match kind that the late little lamented Richard de Zoysa wrote
about (alas, unreckoned or unheeded!) what often feels like a lifetime ago.

#Last but by no means least, the emasculation of the executive. One might be
tempted to let this pass sans comment or elucidation, for dint of being blatantly
self-explanatory. After all, the body politic takes its cue from leaders who like to
take the credit for socio-political successes. If the head lacks cojones, the corpus
lacks testicular fortitude. But it is evident that the obvious lacks common
acceptance. Thus suffice it to say that far from the issue being the absence of a
Law and Order Minister with adequate vim, vigour and vitality to hold back the
barbarian hordes, the more pressing problem pertinent to the abysmal reaction
time – or the early lack of it – may reflect on the fear that the supposedly civilised
leaders of a democratic-republican order have of the Hun at the Gate. The
alternative – that government deliberately delayed – doesn’t bear countenancing.
Such a Holocaust happened once before. And we must forcefullysay, “Never
again!”

Else, howbeit these Fabian tactics – except, perhaps, fear of what the rising tide of
resurgent nationalism may do once it is back in power in some way? Is the lack of
concerted action – a denouncement of the hate crime ahead or stripping political
leaders culpable of inciting ethno-chauvinistic violence among their rank and file –
a reflection that the liberals fear the fury of the Goth? Or that they owe the very
Vandals who desecrated law and order an unthinkable favour?

To this litany of woes as fuel to the flames, add the latent chauvinism that many –
so many, far too many – of our citizens can’t seem to shake off, as causes for the
conflagration. No doubt the inflamed mob has a vulgar appeal to political voyeurs
on the periphery egging the rioters on with religious epithets and spurious
histories. Who pour petrol on the tyres of rubbery racism, while outraged liberals
at the centre of power watch in stunned silence or paralysed horror, tweeting
instructions to the police to take action. But the repeated clarions of civil society
for the police force – or lack of it – to act without fear or favour, and if at all
without waiting for instructions from the power they hold dear – has fallen on
deaf ears.

Pity also that the long arm of the law couldn’t stiffen its sinews against the likes of
helmeted women pelting stones at the police station. There is a cohort of jackal-
like voices in the heart of civil society, perhaps not unsurprisingly calling for the
likes of a former general turned politicking field marshal to wield his baton or
thrust the jackboot against the fundaments of such hooliganishjackanapery.
Hollow feeling in the heart at how short our memory is! Or that the sound of
Rathupaswela’s cannonade does not ring in citizen’s ears any more… much less
our tear-gassed eyes see far back into the past as Aluthgama’sapocalypse.

The Acid Tests

(Take the paper. Do not set it on fire – do not set ANYTHING on fire. And let’s sit
down and talk it over like any civilised human beings with a long history of
religious tradition, if only you’d put down that petrol can, put away those stones
to sling, and let go the hand of those dirty rabble-rousing politicos who’re
cynically exploiting the chauvinistic chink in your pathetic psyche. FAIL.)

A. Essays (for Civil Society)

A Colombo liberal shocked by the virulence or a Kandy conservative equally

surprised by the vehemence of their compatriots can no longer sit by idly. So
what can civil society, citizenry, et al do in the face of the failure of coalitions,
constitutions, and cabinets to safeguard national security? For law and order
alone cannot vouchsafe peace and quiet much less minority rights and protection.
Time for thinking out of the box, isn’t it? (Don’t be so traditional as to suggest
appointing yet another hamstrung commission to investigate anything. Marks will
be deducted from sanguine candidates who trespass on the goodwill and
credulity of the slightly more than half the country who voted for you.)

B. Short Answers (for the vulgar mob and their vile sponsors)

i. What makes you think you’re such a good host? In fact, what gives you the right
to play householder anyway? Did you learn the wrong history lessons in school –
if in fact you did attend?

ii. Can you think of no better way for a hospitable people to treat their guests, if
even for a moment we’re willing to subscribe to your arrogant assumptions?

C.Multiple Choice Questions (free for all)

1. A resurgent nationalism means:

a. A holocaust

b. Big matches are not cricket once again. Boo!

c. Chinks in the citizenry’s armour are cynically exploited by chauvinistic politicos

2. By the time the Fabians get their act together…

a. A town on fire left unattended too long could have set our country ablaze –
again

b. Boys will be boys, and the boorish and brutal behaviour of some will see them
back in the Big Tent at Battaramulla with bells on and an axe to grind

c. Conflict resolution and national reconciliation will be harder to achieve because

valuable ground has been lost, not least by Prez and PM squabbling like
schoolboys

3. How can we prevent another holocaust?

a. Appoint a tough SOB as M of L and O

b. Sob,maybe it’s too late

c. Charge chauvinistic politicos and the pseudo-religious under the ICCPR act, strip
rabble-rousers of civic rights, etc.

4. Fill In The Blank(if you dare, dears)

i. I think, therefore I ___ (am/do/not sure/not a thing/delay)

ii. We need a tough M of L and O like ___ (SF/our ex Goth/sorry, it’s a non-starter)

iii. The ___ (best/worst) lack all conviction, while the ___ (worst/best) are filled
with passionate intensity

iv. Adds fuel to fire… ___ (shameful politics/scurrilous pseudo-religiosity/sorry

sense of host-guest fallacies/all of this above)

5. True(T)/False(F) – go for it, good folks!

1. A cynical conspiracy is afoot to set fire to the credibility of the coalition

administration. (T/F)

2. If the Fabians are shown up as bumbling fools, China and India will lose
confidence to continue investing in our land. (T/F)

3. The bottom line of any political showmanship is always economic – money is

power, FDI is king, GDP is god. (F/T).

4. Fuel to socio-political flames is added by scurrilous pseudo-religious elements,

so forget about coalition mismatches, let’s divorce dirty politics from shameful
religiosity. (T/F)

5. It is evident that the government fears the Goth. Or obvious that it owes some
Vandals a favour.(T/T)

One more thing

There has been a spectrum of responses ranging from head-shaking and hand-
wringing to vigorous appeals that Field Marshall Sarath Fonseka, MP, be made the
Minister of Law and Order. However we would all do well to remember that the
tactical violence of the jackboot is no permanent and satisfactory solution to the
traditional vileness of jackanapes. Therefore let those considering truly just and
strategically effective solutions to Sri Lanka’s chronic chauvinism not simply douse
the fire, but also seek to pre-empt the arsonist party-starters in the political
pantheon from promulgating their incendiary brand of nationalism under the
influence of an electoral spasm.

One last thing

The traditional cricketing Big Match between friendly rivals takes place this week.
I hope the cunctators among the powers that be can spare themselves a few
moments away from being grown-up boys, to attend to the other traditional ‘big
matches’ of a darker and more insidious ilk, which is hardly cricket – if not,
cunctator is close to the epithet that the effete and epicene among the executive
will receive, and deserve.
Take charge even now! Stay on top of the un-gentlemanly game! Strip those
thuggish politico-hooligans of their civic rights! Reality must bite from behind
prison bars for loudmouthed braggarts in public who would dare to whisper
diabolical half-truths about their neighbours in private to the detriment of all and
sundry.

(A senior journalist, the writer is Editor-at-large of LMD.He is giving the traditional

big match a break this year, in the fervent hope that the powers that be will take
time off to flag down the other traditional big matches that are threatening to
break our nation in two or three – again.)
Posted by Thavam