What is the Role of the Jieng Council of Elders?
If the Jieng Council of Elders’ Purpose is to Restore Jieng’s Image, What can they do to Effectively Restore Jieng’s Image and Promote Unity Among South Sudanese?
By Atem Malak, Juba, South Sudan
February 18, 2016 (SSB) — The Purpose of the Jieng Council of Elders (according to their General Secretary) is to restore Dinka’s image because this image has been distorted. So, how do you go about doing this? Should Dinka Council go around the country and to the Diaspora convincing other tribes that Dinka are very good people and the criticism is misguided? Should the Jieng Council of elders go to all the corners of South Sudan and the diaspora and start apologizing to other tribes? Should they turn a deaf hear to the criticism and move on with life? Or better, will it make other tribes happier if the Jieng Council of Elders ask President Kiir to step down from the presidency?
The way we answer some of these questions might be different based on one’s cultural or educational background. Let’s take a crack at some questions and see where it takes us. Many Dinka would think it is insanity to answer “yes” to any of the above questions because it will be a sign of weakness. After all, without Jieng’s sacrifice during the struggle, South Sudan would not exist. Instead of apologizing, many Dinkas would propose that other tribes show appropriate gratitude for the sacrifices of Dinkas during the struggle. As attractive as this may sound to some Dinka people, this does not and will not restore the Dinka’s good image. Instead, it will reinforce the negative view that many people hold against Jieng. On the other hand, if Dinkas apologize for their wrongdoings during the struggle (and recently), some would think that such apology could start a real conversation aimed at national peace and reconciliation in South Sudan. But there is one problem with that way of thinking.
The entire Dinka tribe is not responsible for the atrocities committed by the current government. If Dinkas apologize for the wrong doings, it would might imply that the entire tribe is responsible for the government’s wrong doing. However, it is well known that not every Dinka person agrees with some decisions the current government makes. So, what justice will we be doing to many Dinkas who do not agree or had nothing to do with any wrong that has been committed.
I must admit that there are no easy answers to our problems. Regime change will not restore Dinka good image. I believe that the problem is bigger than Kiir’s administration. Regardless of where the next leaders come from, we will still have the same problem. We must first diagnosis what the problem is before we can solve it. The problem that we face in South Sudan will not be solved by image restoration. The root cause of our problem is a tribal mentality that attribute all crimes committed by few individual to their tribe of origin. The reason the Jieng Elders are in search of image restoration is because every mistake done by the Kiir administration is attributed to the entire Dinka community. If I wanted to be a government advocate, I would post out the fact that Kiir’s government is not for Dinkas only, but a variety of tribes. But if Dinkas alone controlled the government, the assertion that the current government decisions are representative of the entire Dinka tribe is false. In order for this to be true, Kiir and his administration would have had to seek consensus from every Dinka member, but we know that the government seek Dinka consensus.
So, the obvious question then becomes, how do Jieng’s restore their image and promote peaceful coexistence with other tribes? The problem we must first solve is tribal mentality or what I term as “mental laziness.” It is our mental laziness that some tribes label others as; weak, greedy, mindless, cowards, foolish, and this list could keep going. The stereotypical nature of our society, I believe is rooted in ignorance. Instead of these stereotypes, we need to learn about some core things that unite us. We must remember that no country will ever be for Dinka, Nuer, Bari, or Zande alone. As long as we have South Sudan, we will alway have a country with its sixty plus tribes. It is essential that we respect our differences and unite around things that unite us.
“Mental laziness,” in my view means, instead of holding individuals responsible for their mistakes, some of us find it easy to categorically brand their entire tribe origin. If someone exercises their minds for few minutes, they will discover that many of our prejudices and stereotypes are baseless and cannot be proven. The presence of some bad apples in one tribe does not imply that their whole tribe is like the few bad apples. For example, if it was true that Dinka’s are a tribe of powerful, smart, courageous and wise people, how come all Dinkas know people in their own tribe that do not fit those descriptions? And the same argument applies to negative stereotypes of some tribes, as all tribes contain many persons who do not possess a given negative attribute. Tribalism is laziness, pure and simple, and is no more useful than racism, misogynism, or any other attempt to avoid thinking by labeling or “branding” an entire group.
My point is, there is no tribe that is full of cowards, weak, mindless, greedy and etc. No person is perfect and since nobody is perfect, does it not follow that we will have imperfect tribes that do not measure up to our ideals? In order to have peace and change these negative stereotypes among our tribes, Dinkas and all other tribes must cease from the mental laziness that seeks to criminalize or stigmatize entire tribes because of mistakes made by a few individuals. We must start holding criminals accountable for their crimes. Likewise, we need to praise persons individually for the good things they have done. Their tribe, clan, or family has little to do with either their individual mistakes or good deeds.
We must isolate criminals because one of the reasons they keep committing their atrocious crimes is because they are counting on exploiting our mental laziness to create war among our people. If we isolate them and hold them accountable for their crimes, do you think they will keep using us against one another? If you can read this, please think and have some discussion with your friends, family members about tribalism. If we did not have this mental laziness, we will quickly realize that no Dinka reputation is damaged, except the reputations of those who are making bad decisions. We must hold every government official individually responsible for their actions, not their tribe of origin. The time is now that we must end tribalism and many ideologies that our grandparents, parents, uncles, aunts, brothers and sisters gave their lives to free us from in the old Sudan. We must re-evaluate and reject mental laziness and start using our brains.
Atem Malak <atem.malak@yahoo.com>
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