Sri Lankan Christians want to be part of the election process
(January 6, 2010) Human rights activists and representatives from the Catholic Church
in Colombo who took part in a round table on Sunday organised by the Centre for Society
and Religion (CSR) agree people must become more aware of what is at stake in the
26 January presidential election. They also concluded that Christians can play a key
role in the political debate. "Hardly anything is said about the real issues that
matter to the people," said CSR Director Fr Rohan Silva. However, "elections are
an opportunity to educate voters" about "civic responsibility. We believe people of
faith need to be involved in the political process and vote with a sense of empowerment
and conscience," he added. "Unfortunately, Churches have not sufficiently educated
their clergy and faithful on the civic responsibility to play a pro-active role in
the political process. For our part, we shall call on the Catholic Bishops' Conference
of Sri Lanka to issue a pastoral letter on the election," Father Rohan said. "We shall
collect signature for those who want a free and fair race, and shall write to all
candidates that they insist on having an election without manipulation." Meanwhile
Mgr Thomas Savundaranayagam, bishop of Jaffna, met opposition candidate General Fonseka
to discuss the aftermath of the war on Tamils. "We hope that Tamils will not make
the mistakes of the past, and that this time they will vote," the prelate said. "However,
restrictions imposed on them must be lifted and they must feel free to choose according
to their conscience. After this election, the Tamil question must be solved once and
for all."