Will Sri Lanka have a leader like Jacinda Ardern?
Jacinda Ardern, a true leader’s expression of love and sympathy for the victims
By DR. M.A.MOHAMED SALEEM-March 25, 2019, 7:52 pm
The world has witnessed another massacre of Muslim worshippers in two Mosques, Christchurch, New Zealand, by a deranged Australian born white supremacist Brenton Tarrant. This is not the first time places of worship have come under brutal attack. Muslims were the victims of Christchurch attack on Friday, March 15th and therefore, normally would have gone unnoticed without much publicity had it happened anywhere else, other than New Zealand.
New Zealand is rated as the second most peaceful and safest country in the world, free of violence and conflict among the multitudes of communities who have migrated from elsewhere. People are open-minded, free to live any lifestyle they choose, enjoy freedom of expression and speech. Strict laws and trustworthy law-enforcement agents prevent abuse of one’s freedom and ensure safety and security of all to blend in harmony. In such a society there is no room for envy and hate to take root.
When the mosques came under attack New Zealanders were shocked and dumbfounded. Such a gruesome act could not have been carried out by any well-grounded New Zealander, they vouched. No one was surprised to find the killer had come came from outside. It opened the floodgate of empathy, and people crossed all barriers and flocked in grand solidarity and support for the victims. True display of love and oneness rallying around those in calamity was led by the Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern. Her actions not only mobilized people of the country but moved the whole world behind her, and renewed hopes that in a fair and free society, leaders can emerge to save humanity in crisis. Today the whole world is gripped in fear, uncertainty, violent extremism and willingness to exterminate fellow human beings through hate for each other and, certainly every country, including Sri Lanka, is on the lookout for a new leader.
Dearth of leadership has prompted open revolt in many countries against current leaders who have been in power for many years. These leaders have demonstrable inability even in getting to grips with changing needs of people in the globalizing world. What passes as leadership in Sri Lanka always takes a political slant. Once elected, political leaders master the art of manipulating people and resources they gain access to, for clinging on to power regardless of what happens to the country. Although, at different times, some have shown leadership to pull the country out of certain crises, they too have faltered by constantly threatening people to force approval and continue with their egocentric interests. Such leaders, instead of opting out and gracefully accepting the need for replacement, organize well-orchestrated tamashas in self-adulation of many years in ‘public service’, and hoodwink people to believe that they are still capable of holding on to power.
How to end the era of leaders who have lost the ability even to recognize that they have exceeded their effective work and useful period is the rallying point, particularly for the youth in many countries, latest being Abdelaziz Bouteflika’s Algeria. Although Sri Lankan youth feel let down by the leaders, and are unable to fathom a future in this country, seeking foreign employment is now the primary goal of our youth. Sri Lanka is not insulated from what is happening elsewhere, and as many countries close their doors, preventing foreigners from crossing borders, how will Sri Lankan youth react in the future is difficult to predict. They become easy prey for radicalization. In the era of Islamophobia, Muslims have become the easiest target for spewing someone’s hate. Recent incidences at Aluthgama, Ampara and Digana give credence to this speculation.
Sri Lanka is a religiously and ethnically a diverse country. For many centuries the four main world religions have provided a harmonious base for all ethnic groups to celebrate each other’s diversity in peaceful co-existence. In living memory Sri Lanka has never been any other than a Buddhist majority country, and it will remain so. For many centuries non-Buddhists have found solace amongst the Buddhists under the protective environment of living Dhamma.
The dwelling pattern of Buddhists and Muslims in Sri Lanka is a living testimony for the close relationship both communities have been able to establish, and it seemed strengthened during the recent separatist war. Why and how did Muslims become a target of hate and ridicule after guns went silent in May 2009 is difficult to fathom. Before the collapse of the Berlin wall, a campaign led by Americans with its western allies, rallied the world to believe that communism was the enemy of humanity. With communism fading off, hate against Islam and Muslims is now used as the rallying point, and many organizations have cropped up in the West today to provide succour for anyone who wants to pick up a brawl with the Muslims.
Some political parties in Sri Lanka projected Tamils, fighting a separation war, as the enemy for the people to rally round governments in power. With the end of hostilities the war-winning government needed another enemy to consolidate the majority community support, and continue in power even at the risk of compromising basic tenets of democracy, and global Islamophobia provided that enemy. Overnight, whatever Muslims did was condemned and questioned: their food habits, dress codes, and personal laws, places of worship, family relationships and rate of breeding raised concerns. In all these, many claimed evidence of a government finger print.
Unfortunately, changed political focus even politicized the religious authorities/leaders, who tend to preach moral practices from the gospel but do not practice them in their own life, and therefore, cannot restrain those who violated the rights of others. All these contributed to increasing distrust among the different ethnic groups and the fractioning of the country in many ways. It is no surprise that whatever the government claims to be doing towards reconciliation is not yielding desired results.
What happened in New Zealand recently should be an eye opener for leaders of any country. As David Foster Wallace claimed that " … real leaders are people who help us overcome the limitations of our own individual selfishness, weakness and fear and get us to do better, harder things than we can get ourselves to do on our own…". What the New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern did with her genuine love and concern for people in grief captivated the entire world. Through her leadership to move the country for prompt and appropriate actions, reassured confidence that even the weakest person, no matter what his standing in the society, is welcome and entitled for equal share and care as everyone else in that country. That is the confidence every citizen of any country, regardless of numerical strength, expects from a leader. How long should Sri Lanka wait for such a leader? I cannot find anyone from the present stock in prominence rising to the level of Jacinda’s leadership. May be there is one out there we cannot yet see.
