Lack of Trust

I was in Colombo during the recent presidential elections in Sri Lanka. The people have spoken, and Sri Lankans re-elected Mahinda Rajapakse for another term.

What was evident during the course of the day was the lack of trust in Sri Lankans for the intent of other Sri Lankans. What I saw was a lack of trust between people, irrespective of their religious preference or ethnic background. Lack of trust between generations of Tamils and Singalese resulted in a civil war. Recent attacks at places of worship indicates a growing suspicion between various religious groups.

Most recently, there was an obvious lack of trust between army regiments esp. Sinha and Gajaba regiments. Fortunately, this didn't dissolve into something catastrophic, but it briefly threatened to do so. Fortunately sanity prevailed.

We need to close the gap between the people of Sri Lanka. The question is how?