It’s been a while now…Are we done yet?

Despite escaping the clutches of a brutal civil war, Sri Lanka routinely finds itself mired in political, social and economic instability  

A humble plea to the ‘leaders’ of Sri Lanka

By Zaithoon Bin Ahamed

I turned 40 this year (okay the secret is out for those who’ve tried to guess). And why do you need to know this? Because it’s relevant to what I’m going to express in terms of how I feel right now about the recent developments in Sri Lanka and the emotional impact it has had on me throughout the years.

Politics was always a hot topic of discussion in my home and I recall memories of my grandmother, parents, uncles and aunts talking about the hard times they faced in the 1970s with food shortages, long lines to buy basic essentials like bread and no access to the nice things we had. My mum would say how they couldn’t get milk powder or baby food for my older brother who was around one or two years at the time but thankfully that era ended by the time I came into the world.

Listening to all of these stories, I felt that the generation I represent was so privileged and we had come a long way from those dark times. We had access to nice things - toys, cool stationery, among other stuff. But now I’m looking back and thinking, have we as a country really progressed? Yes, there are fancy hotels, posh shopping malls and restaurants, roads and highways, yet we repeatedly plunge into some sort of political turmoil. While there’s free flow of goods and the way of life is generally acceptable, there’s always an uneasy calm and lingering tensions that cast a shadow over everything, leaving us wondering if we have a future.

This is my humble plea to every politician in Sri Lanka; I’m not picking and choosing sides or parties or individuals, just everyone who supposedly represents us, the people of this country.

Growing up in Colombo, I may not have been directly impacted by the war that was mostly confined to the northeast but there were repercussions across the country. There were the riots in 1983 and an insurgency in the late 1980s. I remember being picked up early from school on several occasions and being told there’s trouble in the country and it wasn’t safe for us to be in school. I was too young to understand what was really going on. There was a period where schools were closed for months and I remember being taken to school for an hour or two to pick up take-home study packs that we had to complete and send over for marking. I remember neighbors and family friends who we opened our doors to because they lost their homes or were being victimised or harassed during the height of the troubles. 

Then there were bombs and explosions that would go off in Colombo. I still remember the massive explosion right next to my school (when a suicide car bomb rammed into the Joint Operations Command of the Armed Forces) that shook the entire school and the surrounding buildings. My parents were overseas and my younger sister and I were in the care of my grandmother who knew nothing until a friend’s parent took us home. 

There was no access to instant news alerts or mobile phones at the time and we had to wait till evening to watch the news on local TV to see the actual devastation of that incident. And there were many more such incidents and episodes that followed.

In the late 1980s and early 1990s many of my friends, family friends and family were packing up to move to other parts of the world in search of greener pastures and most importantly, safe and stable environments. My family chose to remain here. I’ve lived, studied and worked all my life in Sri Lanka and lived through every episode of uncertainty and turmoil, hoping there would be a better tomorrow. The best chance of new beginnings for the country happened when the war finally ended in 2009. There was a glimmer of hope but that didn’t last too long because you politicians started your bickering over who’s done better or worse, ruining every chance of us progressing together as one nation. The uncertainty and mess you’ve created over the last few years is far worse than any conflict we’ve had. And to top it all off, you’ve planted the seeds of another ethnic conflict, which is not cool, especially for minorities like myself.

I chose to live here not because there was no alternative for me. If I tried hard enough I could have packed up and gone somewhere too but I chose not to pursue that path because I believed we had hope. Do we? I guess not, because you guys keep ruining every chance we have. Do remember that it was a lot harder for people to move out in the 1980s, but we saw a massive brain-drain. But now there are plenty of opportunities and nearly every family now has someone living overseas who can support anyone who wants to exit much faster. 

I’ve worked for awesome companies that keep our economy ticking and have put Sri Lanka on the world map but do you care? And the way we’re going, you’re unlikely to retain an erudite generation to serve this country and you will only be left with goons who climb lampposts in the city to cheer you only because you bought them a bottle of something and a hearty meal. Is that what you want? 

I’ve always told my cousins and friends living overseas that they were mad to go and be second-class citizens in another country and there’s nothing like home. Yes, we have a long way to go but it’s still a great place to be and it’s home. But now I’m telling them to stay where they are and never come back. Guess why?!

A country is useless without its people. And you, the leaders of this country, need good, smart people to help you drive everything and make progress. Without us you’ll get nowhere, so you owe it to us to create a safe and stable environment and we will then give back. You especially owe it to hundreds like me who stayed back and stuck it out through all the conflicts and turmoil we’ve been through. So stop your power games and do something meaningful for all of us. Let’s start with stability and a peaceful environment so we can focus on doing things to build this country and take it forward.