Abstract
The presidential and parliamentary elections in Sri Lanka in 2015 made a significant departure from political culture based on discrimination and patronage to politics based on accommodation. The bipartisan approach adopted by the Sri Lankan Freedom Party (SLFP) and the United Nations Party (UNP) led to the defeat of President Rajapaksa’s regime which was marked by human rights violations and centralisation of power. Currently, the focus is on reconciliation and peace building, which many hope will put the country on a path to sustainable peace. However, the path to sustainable peace is not an easy task, given the complex history of Sri Lanka. In this context, this book is an important source of information to understand the political and cultural history of Sri Lanka from the perspective of communities and how different perspectives contributed to complex ethnic relations between various communities and led to nearly three decades of conflict.
The book is divided into two parts. The first part is focused on the pre-independence years and the second part of the book dealt with post-independence years including post-war. In the first part, the writer argued that multifaceted colonial rule had changed the land relations, landscape, administrative structure and cultural relations within the Sri Lankan society. Definite boundaries, configuration and categorisation of identities took shape through implementation of administrative, judicial, educational and economic reforms to suit the needs of the colonial rulers (p. 31). New classes and castes emerged due to changes in the mode of production in the economy and control on the culture of people. For instance, the Census in 1871 and in 1881 and Legislative Council elections that was introduced in 1833 all led to race-based representation in the political decision-making process (p. 54).
The author’s analysis of the role of introduction of new technology in pre-independence years, that is, the printing press, in identity formation and consolidation is quite useful. The writer argued that ‘the past conveyed through news papers, publications, books and theatre shaped the images of authentic past and perceptions of authenticity’. However, ‘these perceptions differed according to which community, religion, region and class one belong to’ (p. 93). The colonial rule encouraged the different perceptions about history to quell any opposition to the colonial rule. This policy led to communal riots and clashes before independence. The 1915 communal riots between Muslims and Sinhalese and clashes within working class on issue of vote for immigrants in 1920s and 1930s are some of the examples given to prove that the colonial rule was successful in planting the seed of fragmentation at all levels of society.
The second part of the book tried to ‘understand the important moments that shaped the social and political imaginaire of the peoples of Sri Lanka’ in post-independence years. Some of these moments the author tried to analyse are ‘the replacement of old order with the new regime of citizenship and rights, imagination of ideal social order based on equality, state as provider and distributer of welfare to all in an equal fashion, traumatic assertion of rights by majority and minority and finally difficulties in creating something anew for the state and its people’ (p. 163).
The author interestingly demonstrated that the important aspect in consolidation of majority rule and religion was discourse on rights, apart from writing and rewriting of constitution in favour of one community. Differences in articulation of rights by minority communities only helped the majority rule. For instance, the growing radicalisation of Tamil movement in 1970s and 1980s and attacks the Muslim community faced from Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) shaped the community’s discourse on rights which was different from Tamil minority community. The Tamil minority leadership voiced their displeasure time to time against state patronage of one religion whereas Muslim community sought favours from the state and did not make any attempt at winning their rights outside the state structure.
One interesting aspect of development discourse in Sri Lanka which the book analysed was the state’s compulsion in continuing with the policy of welfare model, due to pressure from Sinhala community led by Sinhala political parties and the left parties. Since the state patronage extended to interested groups by political parties was a determining factor to win power, the state too implemented schemes that focused more on market access than social equity such as the Janasaviya Programme (1989–95) and Samrudhi scheme (p. 323). Therefore, the author argued that in post-independence years, the development discourse was enmeshed with nationalists’ underpinnings, which led to regional differences in development.
Violent internal conflict weakens the state and provides space for non-state actors such as civil society to grow. Sri Lanka is an example of how non-state actors have taken over the state space in providing basic necessities for people affected by war but unsuccessful in providing sustainable livelihoods needed for survival. The narratives provided by people about the civil society actors such as NGOs suggests that ‘many resent the elite attitude and lack of empathy for common problems of people’, even though civil society is successful to some extent ‘in interrogating and in holding the state responsible for actions on society’. According to the author, ‘what is lacking in NGO work is multidimensional conception of human rights that incorporates political, civil, economic, social and cultural rights’ (p. 344). Therefore, the writer’s argument that, in the past 50 years the political parties have lost much of their appeal and civil society made inroads into society and successful in mobilising people on non-party lines (p. 166), may not be completely applicable in post-war scenario in Sri Lanka as 2015 presidential and parliamentary elections demonstrated that the people preferred leaders who promised peace to the island through political means rather than military and economic means.
Sri Lanka’s internal conflict became complex due to international, regional and local actors’ involvement along with domestic economic, political and cultural factors that worked simultaneously. The interpretation of events by the author at the time of war and in post-war years under former President Rajapaksa points to the fact that the role of international actors was limited when it comes to finding a political solution in internal conflict situations such as Sri Lanka. For instance, the moral ground promulgated by the external powers was not enough to stop the war against the LTTE, as the Sri Lanka government led by Rajapaksa was successful in linking his counter-insurgency claim to ‘War on Terror’ campaign by the West.
The book touched upon all the narratives that made the Sri Lankan conflict a prolonged and complex affair. The majoritarian government’s role in defining what constitutes state and democracy continued well into the post-war years along with various communities’ expectations and perceptions about what should the state constitute. For instance, even after the war ended with the LTTE, the previous government of President Rajapksa, rather than accommodating political demands of minorities, followed authoritarian policies which led to centralisation of power at the hands of president. This trend many feared will only repeat the history marred with ethnic conflict. These contradictions are correctly explored in the book from historical point of view. The book is a good source of information for those interested in understanding Sri Lankan history based on historical evidence.