Regaining trust of minorities requires more than symbolic actions

The dates May 18-19 highlight a continuing divide in the country with few willing to look at the losses on the other side though they were all Sri Lankans.

- BY JEHAN PERERA

These two days in particular surface the uncomfortable truth that the country’s people have different memories, including the manner in which the three-decade long war ended. The Tamil people have commemorated May 18 as the day on which many of them, including LTTE members, were killed and the war was lost. This year there were commemorations in different parts of the country, including in Colombo. It was not only Tamils who commemorated their loved ones on May 18. Sinhalese did so too at ceremonies they organised. They were all sorrowful occasions. The government commemorated May 19 at the War Heroes Memorial near Parliament, remembering both the victory that was won and the members of the security forces who were killed with President Anura Kumara Dissanayake in attendance.

More often than not, there has been tension on these days, with large numbers of security forces deployed especially in the former war zones of the north and east. Both the Tamil people within the country and in the diaspora, along with the Western international community believe that large scale human rights violations and war crimes took place on those days. The government would be concerned at the decline in support it received from the voters in the north and east and not wish to add to that decline. Initially, it was reported that the President would not attend the Victory Day ceremony on May 19. But election results indicate that translating electoral support into governance requires more than symbolic gestures such as attending or not attending a commemoration event. The fact that Tamil people felt they could attend the memorial events in large numbers is evidence that the country is changing in the direction of reconciliation.