The front page of my newspaper today (The Island Feb. 5), bears a charming picture of President Mahinda Rajapakse in the middle of a row of children representing diverse communities. The heading is: "We are one as a family" and the caption beneath the picture proclaims that "President Mahinda Rajapakse enters the Deyata Kirula exhibition venue at the BMICH Wednesday evening accompanied by a group of children depicting people living in Sri Lanka." I look at the picture and I instantly think to myself: why then did the President keep silent when his Army Commander and his Minister of Environment and Natural Resources (JHU member Champika Ranawake), both made provocative and divisive statements claiming that the Sinhalese were the only indigenous ethnic group in this country and that Sri Lanka rightfully belongs to the Sinhalese and all others are "outsiders." Not a single member of the Govt. refuted or disassociated themselves from these sentiments.

My mind goes back to the heady feeling of exhilaration and excitement that filled me as a 23-year-old when I took my place in the splendid, ralli-palam-decorated hall hurriedly put up in what was subsequently called Independence Square, where HRH the Duke of Gloucester formally granted our country its long-awaited independence from British rule in February 1948. I recall the stirring speeches made by SWRD Bandara- naike and J.R. Jayewardene on that occasion. I attended, as a young Lake House journalist, the huge garden-party held by D.S. Senanayake at `Temple Trees’ and also the splendid Ball at Queen’s House, one before and the other after, the historic event. I saw a scintillating display of national dances featuring the celebrated Kandyan dancer, Gunaya, and the old master-drummer, Suramba, I wrote a lyrical piece about all these events for the Ceylon Daily News at the time. We thought we had witnessed the dawn of a glorious new era in our country’s long and chequered history and in those early years we imagined that Ceylon was indeed going to become a truly resplendent isle for all the people who inhabited it. Those were the days when Singapore aspired to become another Ceylon!

But, as we all know, things went badly awry. One thing led to another and SWRD felt compelled to break away from the UNP to form his own Party, the SLFP. Dark clouds began to gather with the proclamation of the "Sinhala Only" Bill, the introduction of "Sri" on to the number plates of vehicles, the discriminatory practice of standardization of exams, the awful burning of the Jaffna Library, and so on until all semblance of an united people vanished and we saw the pogroms of 1958, 1977 and, ultimately, the worst one of all in July ’83 that pushed many Tamils into regarding the insurgent group in the North, the LTTE, or Tigers, as the only ones who would fight on their behalf and liberate them from the Sinhala yoke. Beginning with the ambush of 13 soldiers in Palaly, which provided a convenient excuse for the carefully orchestrated attacks on innocent Tamils all over the Island in ’83, the LTTE gradually consolidated themselves and became a terrorist force to be reckoned with for 30 years. And so the long and bloody war that has devastated our country and brutalized our whole society.

Sadly, Independence has so far failed to bring forth a single Sinhala leader of any political party with a vision for a Sri Lankan nation, a true patriot who would acknowledge the many sins that beset us – from rampant corruption to the complete breakdown of law and order and the simply appalling increase in violent acts and heinous crimes brazenly carried out with impunity – and lead us out of the dark pit into which we have fallen, into true freedom, peace and harmony within a single, united Sri Lankan nation.

It sounds like wishful thinking, but there are many sane and balanced voices that still speak out, if only there were responsible political leaders to listen and pay heed. There’s Tisaranee Gunasekera’s unambiguous and forthright column in the `Sunday Island’ and Shanie’s `Casebook of a Nobody’ in the daily `Island’ They are among those who keep on reminding us "that democracies must respond to terrorism by championing the rule of law, not subordinating it, for it is the cornerstone of the democratic society"; and that "to win over the local civilian population (in the North) to the cause of peace and democracy, it is not enough to make pronouncements to that effect………It can be questioned how a government that has failed to build up democratic freedoms and adherence to the rule of law in the rest of the country, can do so in the new situation in the North."