On the 24th of this month the Sri Lanka Reconciliation Forum Sydney held a solemn event to remember all those who died in the civil-war in Sri Lanka. The Forum emphasised on the fact that the war was more than anything else a tragedy, this and that it should be remembered as such. The dead were remembered just as human beings; as someone’s son, daughter, mother, father, husband, wife, friend, rather than as heroes, villains or terrorists.One could sense something strange and at the same time touching about the event, as a small but diverse group of people gathered inside a national park in Sydney to mourn all the people who died in a long war fought in a distant country almost 10,000 kilometres away. Though the number of people who had gathered was small, they represented a microcosm of Sri Lanka.
There were those as young as five and old as eighty. There were Sinhalese, Tamils Burghers and Moors. There were Buddhists, Christians, Hindus and Muslims.
The participants stood in a circle holding white flowers to symbolise the dead, as a communiqué from SLRF was read, followed by messages from different religious leaders.
Indran Kurukal from the Sydney Murugan Temple, said that the Athmas of all those who died are precious and should be prayed for, as they made their journey to become one in God. He also stressed that while remembering the dead, it is also important to remember the suffering of those still alive. The Rev John Jegasothy from the Sydney Tamil United Church said, while remembering the dead, we need to be willing to forgive but at the same time also stand for justice. He said that it is important that people come to know what happened to their loved ones, and that what happened was a tragedy and an injustice. The Ven Kovida Thero from the Australian Buddhist Vihara said in a message, read by Raj Gonsalkorale, that according to the Buddha all people are interconnected, regardless of nationality, race, colour and ethnicity, and that hatred will never be overcome by hatred, but only by love and compassion. He urged people to step outside their busy lives and take a look at the troubled world we live in, and that we should do this as often as we could. Only through this, he said, we could put an end to hatred. He said that we should not remember just the dead, but also the injured and even the animals.
Annathaie Abeyasekera read a message from Phil Glendenning of the Edmund Rice Centre, who said the people of Sri Lanka from Jaffna to Galle, and from Negombo to Batticaloa, have witnessed far too many deaths and experienced far too much deep, scarring grief. No nation, and no people, should ever be forced to endure such pain. He wished that from this day onwards, Sri Lanka should see a future of peace and non-violence.
Srikantha Nadaraja also from the Sri Lanka Reconciliation Forum, then read a message from the Sri S.G. Ragunatha Kurukal of the Sri Karphaga Vinayakar Temple, who said that we should remember the war dead in the morning, the afternoon and in the night, and that he hopes peace will prevail in the future, no matter what happened in the past.
Following this, Rev Jeffrey Abeyasekera, read a few quotations from history on the theme of reconciliation. Then in a moment of reflection said that we should not only remember the dead but also those who have been left behind, the injured, the widowed, the orphaned and importantly those who have to take care of them. He called on everyone to help these people as much as they could.
Then, as the autumn-sun set over the ancient forests of the Lane Cove national park, the group lit candles and stood in a circle observing two minutes silence. The white flowers were thrown into the Lane Cove River. The youngest and oldest participants jointly threw the last bunch of flowers into the water, to symbolize hope and continuity in spite of the tragedy of the past thirty years. The proceedings ended with the singing of the National Anthem in both Sinhala and Tamil. Once the proceedings ended every one stood at the edge of the water and watched the white flowers slowly drift away, carried by the gently flowing water of the Lane Cove River.
The Sri Lanka Reconciliation Forum Sydney, thanks everyone who made this event a success and hopes that the war in Sri Lanka will be remembered in this way by more people in the future – as nothing other than a catastrophic human tragedy.
