Lankamuslim.com

by Shyamalee Mahibalan Murugesu

During my recent visit to the island I stumbled upon ‘Nobody’s People’ a book by Latheef Farook that gave an excellent view into the Muslims of north and east. The book prompted me to research on the plight of the Colombo Muslims which I feel is a façade created into thinking that they are a rich business community.

The Colombo Central densely populated, highly congested predominantly Muslim areas of Maligawatte, Aluthkade, Maradana, Grandpass, Modera, Central Road,Bloemendhal Road are a huge voter base used by every political party of all hues to their whims during elections time.

Maligawatte, a marshland was transformed by the then president R Premadasainto a township of apartments and shop houses, recreational facility and a movie theatre. Over the years with the changes of ruling parties in typical Sri Lankan fashion, previous projects were ignored. So Maligawatte, like President Premadasa’s many clock towers stopped with time. It failed to provide education, employment opportunities to the youth; instead what it gave drugs, alcohol, and porn (the Ruby Theatre rolls out enough that the likes not seen in Las Vegas). It became a breeding ground for violence supported and created by politicians. Most dreaded of all places is Applewatte, the Mumbai of Sri Lanka, a haven of contract killers and mobsters. There are reported to be many Jamal’s and Saleem’s with big dreams with less or no opportunities to progress in life thus have become easy targets for politicians.

My quest led me to Rauff Zain a university student who is also an editor of the book ‘Abnormal behavior of Muslim youth’ which was sponsored by the world assembly of Muslim youth(WAMY). Written in Tamil the book sheds a light on the life of Colombo’s Muslim youth.

Prior to 1970 education in the Muslim community was given less preference or scant regard and the most educated Muslims were considered to be the Jaffna Muslims. For the rest, other than a few affluent classes, it was family business. After the 70’s, despite its image of wealthy business, the income of Colombo Muslim householders are relatively less and are under urban poverty. Most of the families are engaged in informal wage work or in self employment. So the image of wealth itself is a façade.

Considering the 21 Muslim schools in Colombo including Zahira and Muslim Ladies the progress is reported to be alarming. The research specifies the following issues as a huge contributor. Lack of permanent teachers, lack of resources, drop outs and students with ODD (Oppositional defiant Disorder) Many Muslim youth in Colombo are reported to be reflecting this behavior.

A further survey carried out by the CMC has identified that a total of 77,612 families are currently living in 1614 low income settlements in the city. And 90% of these slum settlements are in the predominant Muslim areas of Central Colombo.

Specifically, residents in the areas Maligawatte, as Rauff Zain pointed out, the houses are so congested that they take turns to sleep alternatively. Usually it’s the youth who sleep outside. So the youth in these areas reflect the social and psychological factors that have influenced their lives. In 2008 police reported to have arrested 10278, mostly Muslim youth for possession of heroin and the type of heroin that’s popular among the youth of Colombo Central is known as no 3 which originates from south west Asia. According to police narcotics bureau it is mostly Muslim businessmen who have been smuggling drugs in to the country. The latest fad among Muslim teenagers is reported to be MAWA, a beeda type of a drug which is a craze among school teenagers. According to reports the Muslim underworld gangs are reported to be operating from the areas of Applewatte and other Colombo central areas bringing the total number of gangs operating in Colombo to 54. According to Rauff Zain’s research the main causes of criminal activities among the youth are urban poverty, illiteracy, political discrimination and political pressure, childhood experience, social segregation, and lack of moral/cultural based education. Many gang members display ODD (oppositional defiant disorder)

Living in such extreme poverty with less hope or no hopes at all, hidden by the rest of the world these young people are easy prey for violence. The Colombo Muslims are lagging way behind in education and only education without political interference can enrich and transform their lives. It has also been established that this youth suffer from anti social behavior and it is vital that the society does not isolate and segregate these youth, instead there should be a mechanism in place to reach out and rehabilitate.

It is interesting to note that the local media is suddenly buzzing with jihad groups and sectarian violence in the Muslim community. This had outraged many since every Muslim knows that he or she has a personal jihad not the one fought with weapons.

It is paramount to understand that the modern Jihad movements in the world are the work of social disparity in a society and nothing religious about them.

Specifically in Sri Lanka it was politics that separated people not their beliefs. It was Blue, Red and Green that divided people, not ideologies. It was the politicians like the British who divided the people to rule. It seems Sri Lankans have become way too passionate about politics that the people cannot build a country beyond political ideology.

It is interesting to reflect on the history of a country that once idealized Sri Lanka. As Singapore celebrates its 44th national day this week all Singaporeans will recite their national pledge. ” we, the citizens of Singapore, pledge ourselves as one united people, regardless of race, language or religion, to build a democratic society based on justice and equality so as to achieve happiness, prosperity and progress for our nation” in English, Malay, and Tamil. This was one country that was built beyond politics and political interference. If Sri Lanka is to become another Singapore, it has to erase political ideologies and free its citizens from the bondage of politics and provide equal opportunity to all its citizens. Let the youth have dreams irrespective of race and religion since disparity and repression are a breeding ground for violence.

The Island