In this brief blog post, I ask a simple question from the Leader of Opposition, Mr. R. Sampanthan. The nature of this query has nothing to do with ordinary ethnocentric onslaughts by Sinhalese nationalists on minority politics or Mr. Sampanthan himself. It must be mentioned here that I was very hopeful and looking forward to see as to how he would illustrate the universal qualities of such position encompassing all traditional boundaries to address the grievances of the whole nation.
As Mr. Sampanthan said on the day he became the leader of opposition that he too would do all that would be done by a Sinhalese Leader of Opposition, the Sri Lankan are very doubtful about the above statement. Since so many things happened in the Sri Lankan society for the past few weeks from child abuse, excessive use of police power, public cry to legalize capital punishment to some confused allocating of ministerial portfolios etc. As far as the Sinhala society is aware, no concern has been expressed by Mr. Sampanda over those issues except on the international attention received by Hon. Maithripala Sirisena. The role of the Opposition Leader is not restricted to issues related to the ethnic problem or such grievance. May be those are important to the TNA on an emotional basis but there are other issues emerging in the country which need to pay attention to. Those issues are not bound to North and East which Mr. Sampanthan represents, but are common issues of general significance. Both Tamils and Sinhalese experienced Police and military discrimination over the last three decade. In this new juncture, democratization process is important to both communities and the voice of the Opposition Leader is desired by the country irrespective of ethnic boundaries. As he claimed few months ego in fulfilling his duty to all Sri Lankans, this is the time to raise his voice and walk the talk.
In this case, I am asking a simple question based on a statement made by Slavoj Zizek: 'Something that is there instead of nothing is always a symptom'. Whatever said and done about equal opportunity for Tamils in Sri Lankan politics over our own historical guilt, we actually do not have an Opposition Leader in its true sense; whatever is there is a always symptom.
The role of the opposition leader or any political role at any level is not to cater any 'ideological gap' to compensate for any historical guilt. Such leader should address the true problems of the society in which millions of individuals are discarded by ruthless capitalist world order. The political consequences of lack of a true opposition can be really dangerous. One section of the opposition is only interested in the outcomes of Geneva and its impact of re-shaping the nationalist agenda. Another section is supporting the present government. Even the TNA and JVP are less critical about the government and that is understandable. As many critics claim one must give a reasonable period to this government to solve some of the serious national issues (national reconciliation and constitutional design) that were not addressed by the previous governments. The 'political gap' that is created because of this silence is taken over by electronic media. When one looks at the way media behaved in some social issues in the last few weeks, they show dangerous 'symptoms' in the formation of the daily life world. This pervert substitution of political space is also another 'something instead of nothing'.
As Mr. Sampanthan said on the day he became the leader of opposition that he too would do all that would be done by a Sinhalese Leader of Opposition, the Sri Lankan are very doubtful about the above statement. Since so many things happened in the Sri Lankan society for the past few weeks from child abuse, excessive use of police power, public cry to legalize capital punishment to some confused allocating of ministerial portfolios etc. As far as the Sinhala society is aware, no concern has been expressed by Mr. Sampanda over those issues except on the international attention received by Hon. Maithripala Sirisena. The role of the Opposition Leader is not restricted to issues related to the ethnic problem or such grievance. May be those are important to the TNA on an emotional basis but there are other issues emerging in the country which need to pay attention to. Those issues are not bound to North and East which Mr. Sampanthan represents, but are common issues of general significance. Both Tamils and Sinhalese experienced Police and military discrimination over the last three decade. In this new juncture, democratization process is important to both communities and the voice of the Opposition Leader is desired by the country irrespective of ethnic boundaries. As he claimed few months ego in fulfilling his duty to all Sri Lankans, this is the time to raise his voice and walk the talk.
In this case, I am asking a simple question based on a statement made by Slavoj Zizek: 'Something that is there instead of nothing is always a symptom'. Whatever said and done about equal opportunity for Tamils in Sri Lankan politics over our own historical guilt, we actually do not have an Opposition Leader in its true sense; whatever is there is a always symptom.
The role of the opposition leader or any political role at any level is not to cater any 'ideological gap' to compensate for any historical guilt. Such leader should address the true problems of the society in which millions of individuals are discarded by ruthless capitalist world order. The political consequences of lack of a true opposition can be really dangerous. One section of the opposition is only interested in the outcomes of Geneva and its impact of re-shaping the nationalist agenda. Another section is supporting the present government. Even the TNA and JVP are less critical about the government and that is understandable. As many critics claim one must give a reasonable period to this government to solve some of the serious national issues (national reconciliation and constitutional design) that were not addressed by the previous governments. The 'political gap' that is created because of this silence is taken over by electronic media. When one looks at the way media behaved in some social issues in the last few weeks, they show dangerous 'symptoms' in the formation of the daily life world. This pervert substitution of political space is also another 'something instead of nothing'.
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