@Azizam .. You think these guys will be successful given the political landscape ?
Ceylon Today | Muslims must move away from communal politics - – Abdur Rahman
Muslims must move away from communal politics - – Abdur Rahman
BY Zahrah Imtiaz
The National Front for Good Governance (NFGG) recognizes itself as an alternative party, based in the Muslim community but working towards good governance for all. NFGG Leader, Abdur Rahman, in an interview with Ceylon Today said, it was time for Muslims in the country to look at the bigger picture and to move away from communal politics.
Thus, at this juncture of change, when the country too is looking for a better political culture, the question is whether Sri Lankan Muslims too would change for the better? Will Muslim politics thrive with no communal fires to feed it?
Following are excerpts:
Q.
What made you decide to start the NFGG?
A. I have been a political and social activist right through. Even now, I would rather be called a political reformist than a politician. The whole concept started in the latter part of 2005 and it took shape in 2006. We were motivated by the failure of Muslim political parties to deliver to the people and also in general, we were not happy with the political culture of the country. In 2006, when we started, good governance was not much talked about in the political arena, and we wanted to talk about it. We also had to come up with a practical model based on the Sri Lankan experience and our problems.
If you look at the deficiencies in our political system, we realized that politics had increasingly become individual centred and self-centred and it had moved away from the social responsibilities and duties to society. It was thoroughly infected with nepotism, corruption, no respect for the rule of law and favouritism. The irony of the situation was that those who made the law in Parliament had no respect for it and the lawmakers think they are above the law and that is the main problem in this country.
If you then take Sri Lankan Muslim politics and you look at its history, after independence, Muslims were part of mainstream politics. They never thought of their ethnic or religious identity. There were national leaders who contributed to the development of all. Then, with the emergence of the LTTE and separatist ideology, the circumstances compelled them to think of a Muslim identity. If you look at the Indo-Lanka Accord, Muslim political aspirations were diluted or rather undermined under the banner of the Tamil-speaking community. All grouped into one. The Muslims then thought that in the long term this would be detrimental and it was time for them to set forth on a political path, which would give us some recognition.
When M.H.M. Ashraff founded the Sri Lanka Muslim Congress (SLMC), he said we needed a separate political identity to advocate our position and to get our due place in political negotiations. But, when we look back and ask, 'have we achieved that?' The answer is no. if you look at the 2002 peace negotiations, there was no separate identity. Either they were part of the government or the Opposition. Though Rauff Hakeem went for talks representing the Muslim community, it was not as a separate entity, it was part of the government and then too nothing much was achieved.
Ashraff then put forward a demand for non-contiguous separate Muslim province within the merged North and East. Nobody of course thought if this was practically possible or achievable. Starting from that it has now come down to a separate administrative district and finally it came to the point, where the Muslims were only able to get an additional GA in the East. Thus, the separate Muslim politics has not achieved much for the Muslims. Rather, it has resulted in more negative backlash against the Muslim community.
If you take the Sri Lankan political landscape, Muslims have been very isolated and they are perceived to be very selfish and communal minded people. Muslim politicians and Muslim politics have not been able to contribute anything substantial to the national interest. Thus, they have neither spoken for the community nor contributed anything to better the national interest of the country.
Given these considerations, we came up with a model, a solution to ensure the rights of the Muslim community as well as other communities.
We also figured that if we are going to start a party on the grounds of good governance, it should not be confined to safeguarding one community's interests. Thus, we identified social justice to be the guiding principle of our politics.
As the concentration of power in one man is the root of all corruption, our party operates on the concept of a leadership council. All our transactions are transparent and our members follow a code of conduct.
We also have a system called the recall system. We don't allow one person to remain in the same position for long. For example, our members in the Urban Council have been recalled a number of times, after a year or so.
Our engagements with other political parties are transparent and we work with other parties based on understanding and written agreement. It was based on this that we started engaging with the Tamil National Alliance (TNA) in the North and that agreement stands. On the same basis we started working with the United National Party (UNP) in Uva and that agreement too was honoured.
Another weakness in the Muslim politics is this narrow-minded approach to things. They always only talk of things in term of the community and they are not bothered about other communities. We thus want to create a political culture, where the Muslims think in the national interest, think of the bigger picture. Not just think of themselves as Muslims, but to think as citizens of this country. Of course, our identity is important but we shouldn't be confined by that.
We also believe that in Sri Lanka, regardless of any community, good governance depends on how politically aware the people are. So, we have an effective campaign for that, to educate them on the need to have good governance. We also campaign for rational decision making in politics. In general, people are very emotional when it comes to making a political decision, only a few take rational decisions.
If you take local government politics, people are usually tempted to vote for people known to them, their relatives or friends.
But, those are not reasons to make a political decision and in our campaign we dissuade people from such decision making.
We identify ourselves not just as a party for Muslims but as a party for good governance and we have been successful in that.
When we started this model in Kattankudy Urban Council election in 2006, we started our campaign in February and faced the election in June. Nearly 22% of the city voted for us and a member of our party was selected to the council. During the first term in office, our prime objective was to deliver on our promises during the campaign. We brought the council activities close to the people by having monthly and weekly meetings.
As a result, in the second election we faced in 2011 in Kattankudy, our vote base increased by 115%, which allowed us to have two members in the council and the position of Opposition leader.
Then we grew beyond Kattankudy and contested in the Eastern Provincial Council (EPC) election in 2012. At that time we campaigned not for a seat per se but to spread our message. In 2013, we expanded to the North and worked with the TNA and were given a bonus seat. In September last year, we contested the Uva Provincial Council election and the last election gave us a national platform. It also allowed us to align with people with similar points of view on good governance.
Q:
You say you are more focused on good governance and not communal politics, but your party identifies itself as a Muslim party and you have campaigned mostly in the Muslim areas?
A: What defines you as a communal party is not depended on where you are based. It depends on what you are working for. Though our base is in the Muslim community, our ideas are broader. We have to start from somewhere and since we found a group of people who are committed and dedicated within the Muslim community, we started from there. Now we are expanding and in a few months we will have people from other communities too working with us.
The presidential election gave us a good platform and at the moment we are working towards good governance with other parties. Our development goals are development for the needy and jobs for the competent. That is how we see it. We are not limited to the Muslims.
Q:
When you take established Muslim parties such as the ACMC and the SLMC, their politics are centred on communal lines. But, at the recently concluded presidential election we saw a change in the way the people responded to them. Instead of telling the people whom to vote for, the parties followed the decision of the people. Do you think we are shifting away from communal politics?
A: As you said, the circumstances, which prevailed for the people to respond to communal politics have gone away now. There is no more war. Though Mahinda Rajapaksa unfortunately lost the opportunity to create communal harmony after the war, the people are now looking for a common identity.
The Muslims in the North and East do have special needs, which need to be looked into. But, that does not justify communal politics. The people too, until they saw our model, thought that Muslims had only one way of engaging in politics. Now, Muslims are starting to move away, and there is a shift towards more innovative thinking. There is a change in Muslim politics after this election.
If you look at the chronology of the last election, we joined the campaign at the very beginning, not looking at the possibility of winning or losing. We fought for a change. In that way, we proved to the Muslim community that we had the right principles. The people decided, and the other parties had to come to this side, not because they cared about the community but because of their political future. They knew they would have been on the losing side otherwise.
Rishad Bathuideen's Party decided on 23 December, while the SLMC decided on 28 December and the campaign ended on 6 January. They joined in the tail end of the campaign after the whole community decided. Their support had no impact electorally, but now they have been able to capitalize on it. In the forthcoming election we will know what the people think.
Q:
Do you think the credibility of parties such as the SLMC and the ACMC has been severely eroded? Rauff Hakeem for instance has been in every Cabinet, regardless of which party was in government and yet delivered nothing much. But, he and his party get votes. Is there something wrong with the people?
A: The Muslims, for a long time, had no alternative when it came to elections. So they voted for them. At the same time, they were not politically aware. We are now tackling both these issues. We are giving them an alternative party to vote for and we are educating them on their rights.
If you take a future election, there will be a change in the voting pattern and we hope that more people would perceive us as a credible alternative.
Social media too is having an impact on electoral patterns. Earlier, no one bothered about what Rauff Hakeem did in Colombo. They had a short-term memory and forget what the politicians promised to do before the elections and it is the same with the politicians. For example, in the 2002 EPC election, they campaigned vigorously against the government, so the people voted for them but when it came to deciding what they would do next, the SLMC joined the government and forgot what they had promised.
They start talking about the coastal district problem only when an election is around the corner, not at the point of making a government. I do not think that this is the best solution to solve the administrative problems in the province, but they need to talk about it at the right time.
Even when you take this government, the JVP, TNA and the JHU contributed to the change. The Muslim parties did nothing but they took the credit. After the election, once again you see them fighting for positions. You also don't see any Muslim party talking about corruption except us. Maybe they don't deserve to talk about it or are not qualified to do so. But, it is not in their agenda.
Q:
Do you think Muslim parties like the SLMC and the ACMC would be A: No. I don't think so but there will be a drop in their vote base.
Q:
The main vote base of the SLMC and the ACMC is in the Eastern Province, which is perceived to be extreme and isolationist. You speak of wanting the people to engage in mainstream politics but the people themselves don't engage with the mainstream. How can they be interested in mainstream politics? Should you not address this problem first?
A: You must understand the meaning of being part of the mainstream, while maintaining one's religious identity. In the East, the people are concerned about maintaining their identity. You can't force someone to give up that in order to be part of the mainstream. What I want to emphasize is that they are not isolated anymore. When you take education and business they are very much involved. If you take Kattankudy town for example, you get many more tourists now than before.
This perception of religious extremism in the East was perpetrated by the BBS with the support of the previous government and the media. This is not true. You can't define someone as extremist if he is enjoying his legally given right. Of course, you may want or not want to practise your religion. That is your right. During the war, only Muslims went to the Eastern University, because no one else could gain access to the area. But that has changed now and there is a mix of communities there.
Q:
Another problem is that when you take Muslim politics, you do not see many women in the scene.
A: Yes. It is mostly male dominated. We are addressing that issue. When you talk about women in politics, it does not simply mean their representation in the elected bodies, it should be more than that. They should be involved in the decision making process. In our party, it is a collective leadership and significant positions are given to women. In our leadership council, we have two parallel councils, one for men and one for women and it comes together at the top. The top decides the common policies and there you get both genders. Positions are given based on how many women are interested in it, not many at the moment but this is not a set thing. It is open to change. There are five members in the top, 15 in the women leadership council, all together with the men 40. We are flexible, if more women want to join, we will allow for that.
