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Queen’s passing: Cause for mourning or Colonial hangover?

22 Sep 2022

  • Public revisit fraught legacy and testy relationship with British monarchy and Empire
BY Sumudu Chamara   With the passing of Queen Elizabeth II, the general society entered a series of discussions on how Sri Lanka should feel about the Queen’s death. While some considered it to be an event that Sri Lanka should pay attention to due to a so-called connection between the country and the British monarchy, some viewed these sentiments as remnants of a slave mindset stemming from having been a British colony.  Regardless, in commemoration of the Queen’s passing, Sri Lanka declared a special holiday on Monday (19), and President Ranil Wickremesinghe travelled to Britain to attend the Queen’s funeral. However, both these acts received largely negative remarks from general society. To discuss Sri Lankans’ sentiments about the former British monarch’s death, The Morning spoke to members of the general public.     Due respect or slave mindset?   In the eyes of some Sri Lankans, the Queen’s death was not just another death of a Head of State. The Queen’s death was a topic of discussion, rather than an event of mourning. This discussion involved what the British monarchy – or rather, British colonisers – did to the country before Independence and its impacts on the country. Most of these discussions took place on social media platforms. At the same time, media reports showed certain individuals who had exchanged letters with the Queen and royal family for years, and thusbmourned the Queen’s death. “The death of any living being is tragic. So is the Queen’s death. I do not see any special reason to treat the Queen’s death as a special event. It may be special to the British, countries in Europe, and countries that still remain under the British monarchy. It is not something that is special to Sri Lankans,” 54-year-old retired teacher Chandani Vihari opined. With regard to the declaration of Monday as a special holiday on account of the Queen’s death, Vihari said that she does not see any reason to give the Queen’s death any special recognition that justified the declaration of a special holiday, especially in a context where Sri Lanka is a country that was looted and destroyed by British invaders. She added that the British monarchy is being glorified by politicians, which she said is unacceptable and gives a wrong example.  She further explained: “It is the politicians that tell the people that the Queen’s death is a special event that the country should mourn at the national level. It is because politicians take too much pride in their role as leaders, and they think that a leader of any nation should be treated in a special manner. Because of this sentiment, they think that they are of the same class as the Queen, and they are trying to prove it by giving the Queen’s death too much attention. Had local politicians acted with the same integrity and authenticity that the royal family has shown without merely thinking of themselves as being as high and mighty as the British monarchy, then perhaps the country would now be in a better place.” According to 33-year-old private sector worker Yoshitha Kamalasiri, the Sri Lankan Government’s response to the Queen’s death also shows that Sri Lanka has not moved forward from what they referred to as the “slave mindset”.  “Those at the top level of the Government were more or less slaves of the British rulers back then, and that mindset has continued. Not every politician, but many still have that mindset. At the same time, a large share of Sri Lankan politicians of all generations are not sensitive to the struggles of the common man, and therefore, politicians are not aware of or are concerned about how the British monarchy’s acts have affected Sri Lankans’ lives. Due to this reason, politicians show great enthusiasm in commemorating and asking the people to commemorate the death of a monarch with no regard for the general public’s sentiments. They think that all Sri Lankans, including themselves, owe special respect for the British monarch.”   British monarchy’s place in today’s society   However, some were of the opinion that the people have a right to treat the Queen’s death as a special event, due to the historical connection between the British monarch and Sri Lanka. In this regard, 37-year-old public sector worker Palitha Anuruddha (name changed on request), said that even though declaring a special holiday due to the Queen’s death is an excessive act, there is nothing wrong with mourning the Queen’s death as a nation. With regard to concerns that the British monarchy does not deserve a high level of respect, he said: “There were issues in history, both before and after Independence. However, it is not the British, but ‘Kalu Suddhas’ (literal translation ‘black foreigners’ or what Martinique philosopher Frantz Fanon terms ‘black skin, white masks’ – which refers to locals that think of themselves as foreigners) that did the most damage.  “The British stole from and exploited Sri Lanka because it was a colony and not their country. But Sri Lankan politicians stole from and exploited Sri Lanka despite this being their motherland. So, who is really dishonourable here – the British invaders or local politicians? There is no harm in paying the royal family some respect. They, undoubtedly, deserve more respect than the local rulers, most of whom are thieves, liars, and racketeers.” In this context, he said that mourning and treating the Queen’s death as a special event merely displays Sri Lankans’ qualities as a nation and does not necessarily connote submissiveness to the British monarchy. He opined that irrespective of the nature of the relationship that Sri Lanka had with the British monarchy several decades ago, in a context where the monarchy has impacted the country’s economic, social, and cultural aspects to a great degree, it is not possible to completely sever that historic relationship between the two. Meanwhile, a few persons who spoke with The Morning believed that Sri Lanka should go back to being a colony of the British monarchy, and that, had the country continued to be such a colony, the manner in which the country is governed at present would have been more people-friendly. Forty-nine-year-old businessman K.U. Atapattu expressed his opinion about this, saying: “We take great pride in being an independent nation and our forefathers’ bravery shown in the struggles to win Independence. However, although being independent is a good thing for any nation, I do not think that in Sri Lanka’s case it brought us any good results, except for the chance to boast about our history. It is after Independence that the country collapsed, and has today developed into a State where even beggars from India send us funds in support of economic recovery.  “I truly believe that if Sri Lanka had remained under the British monarchy, the country would have been governed in a better way. There would not be thieves who pretend to be public representatives just to steal public funds with no sense of duty or any regard for the country’s situation.” He further opined that judging by other countries that remained under the British monarchy for a longer period of time, it is evident that under a British monarchy, a country can be expected to be governed in an exemplary manner. When questioned about the allegations that the British in fact stole the country’s assets, Atapattu said: “It is true. They took a lot of national resources and used them to their benefit. But if we can look at this based on facts and not opinions, we can see that despite how much or what they stole, they left the country with no debts. On the contrary, they left a lot of infrastructure that exists even today and also a proper governing system which we only had to upgrade with time. They stole, but they did not even remotely bankrupt the country. Look at other countries that remain under the British monarchy. They are not debt-ridden, at least not to an extent like Sri Lanka.” Meanwhile, speaking of the President’s visit to England to attend the Queen’s funeral, some said that respectable Sri Lankans would find it difficult to face the royal family considering the dire situation of the country, which they said was mostly due to the acts of politicians that came to power since the time of Independence to date.


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