By MYM Siddeek –

Dr. MYM Siddeek

Some social media and other political campaigns warn that if Muslims do not support the Muslim parties’ candidates in the upcoming parliamentary elections, their representation will be drastically diminished. The answer to such an assertion is contained in this note.

The Muslim politicians were ‘enslaved’ to what many describe as racially chauvinistic parties for decades from independence until the social movement, SLMC, declared itself a political party in Colombo in 1986. This can be described as an attempt to politicise the Sri Lankan Muslim community. Its fast development in a very short period of time created a situation where if anyone or any major political party wanted to talk about the political, economic, religious, and cultural issues of the Muslim community, they had to approach SLMC. In the parliamentary elections held in 1994, SLMC won seven seats from the electoral districts it contested and established the importance of the Muslims in forming the government. It is important to note that this party won only four seats in the 1989 parliamentary elections.

From 2000 onwards, it appears, SLMC has been losing its past image, popularity, and ability to win seven seats in the parliamentary elections by contesting on its own symbol without the help and support of other major political parties. Today, the SLMC is fragmented, and many parties with Muslim names have emerged witnessing their disunity. The MPs who were elected from these parties have not achieved anything significantly for the Muslim community since the beginning of this century. Even though the so-called racist elements that they supported were openly complicit in many adverse events against Muslims, they could not do anything significant about them. It is argued that the positions taken by them on many occasions seemed for their personal gains. A small example to demonstrate their inefficacy is the struggle of the people of Sainthamaruthu to establish a separate Pradeshiya Sabha. This is the promise made by all the party leaders who carry the term Muslim, the then Prime Minister, who later assumed the office of President of the country, and two Muslim subject ministers. Even with the ministerial power to establish Pradeshiya Sabhas, these two subject ministers could not deliver their promise to establish Sainthamaruthu Pradeshiya Sabha. In the meantime, there had been established a number of new Pradeshiya Sabhas in Tamil and Sinhala majority areas, including upcountry. This is a very good example of their incompetence. Therefore, whatever the number of Muslim parliamentarians with even powerful ministries, they could not be much useful to the Muslim community since, it is said that, they were dictated by their ‘masters’ from the major political parties that they were affiliated with. One of the above failed subject ministers lives in Digamadulla electoral district, where this Sainthamaruthu village is located. Today, this same politician is engaged in hunting for the votes of the same people of Sainthamaruthu with many more unfulfilled promises in the upcoming parliamentary elections.

I can give another example for their ineffectiveness. Although some of these Muslim party leaders have spoken in Parliament about the Easter Sunday terrorist attack and have held some press conferences regarding it, its background has remained a mystery for the past five years. However, these weak Muslim party politicians have come out to trick the Muslim voters again with a slogan that if they do not vote for the Muslim party candidates, the number of Muslim MPs will be much less than the Muslim population ratio. However, it seems that a large number of voters who feel they have wasted their invaluable votes in the past elections are well determined not to cast their votes for any Muslim party candidates. They think that these parties that have never done anything significantly to mention in the past will not achieve much in the future either. So thousands of early SLMC ‘comrades’, including some founders today, feel that the votes cast to them in the future may be a waste.

The SLMC was started as a social service movement in 1981 in a small meeting led by former local council chairman late Ahmed Lebbei in Kattankudy (it is said that he was murdered by the LTTE). One of the young activists behind the formation of SLMC was the late MHM Ashraf. Within the first five years of its inception, the SLMC cannot be said to have achieved anything major, apart from holding small meetings from village to village in Muslim majority areas. The meetings usually took place in mosques and within the confines of homes. In 1986, SLMC was declared a political party in Colombo. The vast majority of the Muslims and other ethnic groups in the South did not know much about it at that time. Therefore, neither the old elite Muslim politicians nor the politicians of other communities took this declaration seriously. Some of these senior Muslim politicians described the declaration as a joke!.

The Sri Lankan government was ready to hold the Pradeshiya Sabha elections in 1987, a year after the declaration of the SLMC as a political party. The party activists were so boldly and enthusiastically ready to face the elections. But the election did not take place. Later, in 1988, when the first provincial council elections were held, the SLMC courageously entered the fray. It won substantial seats and became a strong opposition party in the merged North-East Provincial Council. One of the main reasons attributable to this victory is the fact that the Sri Lanka Freedom Party led by Sirimavo Bandaranaike boycotted the election and did not contest it. The election took place a year after the Indo-Lanka accord was signed in 1987 by India and Sri Lanka. The accord was vehemently objected by the LTTE, and therefore it boycotted the provincial council election. During that time, the LTTE largely controlled the Tamil-dominant northern and eastern provinces. Therefore, a significant Tamil electorate did not vote in the election. With India’s support and the help of the Indian peacekeeping force (IPKF), the EPRLF won significant seats in the provincial council elections and formed the merged North-East Provincial Council. SLMC also had indirect Indian support.

Since then, the development of SLMC has been very rapid. In 1989 and 1994, the SLMC became a massive force that determined the fate of Sri Lankan politics. At that juncture, the nation was made aware of the political importance of Sri Lankan Muslims. Since SLMC walked out of the negotiation with DPA (Democratic Peoples’ Alliance) headed by Sirimavo Bandaranaike, R. Premadasa was able to form the government in 1989, and with the support of SLMC, Chandrika Kumaratunga formed the government in 1994. These two events are noteworthy.

The governments were forced into a situation where no political, economic, cultural, or religious-related talks could take place without the participation of SLMC. In a short period of time, the SLMC had achieved a historic feat with only very few parliamentary seats that the previous dozens of Muslim politicians could not achieve.

Today, the party has split into several and lost its image and credibility. The reasons are obvious to everyone. Competition, jealousy, self-interest, desire for office, and division within the party are some of them. Therefore, it seems highly unlikely that the SLMC will recover to its original state in the near future! Not only the tens of thousands of early SLMC ‘comrades’, but also a significant number of young people who later worked for the party are disillusioned. Many people today feel that this party, which was set up to protect the identity of Muslims, has already destroyed even the respect that the other communities and other parties had for Muslims. The main reason for this can be attributed to the fact that many who had gone to Parliament from the parties bearing the word Muslim have changed their party positions and aligned to the major political parties from time to time and failed to serve the community as expected.

Further, as feared by some Muslim party loyalists, it seems impossible for many Muslim candidates from other major parties, such as SJB, to go to parliament from the south, west, and central provinces in the upcoming parliamentary election. This statement is supported by the fact that the parties like SJB, which represent predominantly Sinhalese, did not obtain majority votes in these provinces in the last presidential election. For example, in Kandy electoral district, where the SLMC leader is contesting the forthcoming parliamentary election, the SJB did not secure a majority of votes in the recently concluded presidential election in some electorates where considerable Muslim voters live. Harispattuwa is one of such electorates in the district. It is worth noting that this electorate was once the unshakeable stronghold of late ACS Hameed. Further, Anura Kumara Dissanayake got the most votes in Kandy electoral district. Similarly, the votes cast for Anura Kumara Dissanayake were almost double that of Sajith Premadasa‘s in the Colombo district, which has a significant Muslim population. Sajid got majority votes in only seven electoral districts out of 22. It is noteworthy that the seven districts Sajith won consist of significant Tamil voters. Their position is likely to change in the upcoming parliamentary elections; it is expected that a large number of Tamil voters in the North and East will vote for their regional Tamil Party candidates of their own village or electorate.

Further, it is expected that thousands of SLMC, ACMC, NC, and other Muslim party voters who voted for Sajith in the last presidential election (swing voters) will vote for NPP in the general election. The reason for this, as stated earlier, is that they could not achieve anything significant even though a disproportionately large number of them were in the last parliament! For about four decades since the establishment of SLMC, many basic economic, political, and socio-cultural problems faced by the Muslims remain unresolved. That is why thousands of Muslim youths today have come to the position that there is no need for separate parties for them. This is very clear from the results of the recently concluded presidential election. Further confirming this is that many of the Muslim youth contesting as NPP candidates in the upcoming general election are former hardcore Muslim party supporters. They have come forward on the NPP list thinking that they will give a chance to the relatively less chauvinistic NPP, which has been fighting against corruption, nepotism, malpractices, and irregularities for decades. It seems that many of them have come forward considering the country’s economic and political interests and ethnic unity. They think that rather than electing an incompetent large number of parliamentarians, a few competent ones who can solve their problems are sufficient to represent them. The outcry of the late SLMC leader, when he started the party, was on the stages that instead of sending dozens of Muslim parliamentarians who work as ‘slaves’ for so-called ‘chauvinist’ parties and respect their parliamentary positions, a single representative who dares to fight and solve the problems faced by Muslims is enough; their problems should be made known to the government and international players effectively and continuously. He was of the strong view that, like other minority Tamils, the Muslims should participate in peace negotiations in a unique way (as a separate entity) and advocate for equal rights! This situation has never occurred since his death. That is why these youths, in significant numbers, are ignoring those Muslim parties, saying that they should not continue to do political business in the name of the Muslim community. Thousands of Muslim voters who sold their votes for petty benefits in the past united in the last presidential election against corruption, family rule, racism, and incompetence. It would not be an exaggeration to say that they united to bring real change and establish a new political culture. The same state of mind is expected to be seen among a large number of Muslim voters in the upcoming parliamentary election.

The new government has a great responsibility to fulfil their selfless views of the voters! The voters who have gathered to vote for the NPP in the upcoming parliamentary elections expect not only a change in the ruling party but a complete system change. In other words, it is a fundamental change. That means a fundamental change in policies, procedures, inter-ethnic relations, and power structures; it is a complete change in the deeply entrenched wrong values, politics, economy, transactions, and belief in human relations. A change is also expected in the way the people of the country get services from the government and related agencies. More to the point, it involves an anticipated change in the relationship between the people and the public authorities.