BANNING RACIST AND RELIGIOUS POLITICAL GROUPS

IT is bad enough that we have entrenched religio-racist agendas in every walk of life, without adding legitimacy to such abhorrantly discriminatory systems by providing it a political platform to access power.

There are arguments in favor of and against political entities which espouse a distinct bias towards certain ethnic, religious or linguistic groups. For many years the Sinhalese did find the existance of a radical JVP useful against minorities which they percieved as discriminating against the majority, while holding disproportionate priviledges. Even Sinhalese intellectuals often percieve the JVP's radical dogma as a knee-jerk reaction to a realistic ground situation in which the majority is gradually losing an equal footing to unfair minority demands. Similarly the minotities argue in favor of not only discriminatory political agendas, and in some cases covertly favor the use of force to further their own extreme views in an environment percived as inherently disadvantageous to their kind.

Where did this horror really begin? Depending on whose side you are on, some would hold the 'pancha bala' (five forces) concept introduced by late SWRD Bandaranike to be the starting point of racial chaos. Old timers from that era claim that Bandaranaike simply attempted to correct the monstrous wrongs committed by the British colonial rulers who had established systems which unfairly advantaged English speaking Christians. Digging further back through history a pattern of discriminatory action and counter-action begins to emerge.

History can teach us many lessons, and in this one there's a simple lesson to be learnt; this vicious cycle of politically favoring any religion, language or ethnic agenda must be firmly and permanently stopped.