{"id":107016,"date":"2020-09-26T15:25:57","date_gmt":"2020-09-26T22:25:57","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/?p=107016"},"modified":"2020-09-26T15:25:57","modified_gmt":"2020-09-26T22:25:57","slug":"the-only-way-for-reconciliation-for-tamils-and-muslims-or-any-other-minority-in-sri-lanka-is-for-them-to-learn-to-co-exist-with-sinhalese-the-historical-sons-of-the-soil","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/2020\/09\/26\/the-only-way-for-reconciliation-for-tamils-and-muslims-or-any-other-minority-in-sri-lanka-is-for-them-to-learn-to-co-exist-with-sinhalese-the-historical-sons-of-the-soil\/","title":{"rendered":"The only way for reconciliation for Tamils and Muslims or any other minority in Sri Lanka is for them to learn to co-exist with Sinhalese, the historical sons of the soil."},"content":{"rendered":"

Dr. Sudath Gunasekara<\/em><\/span><\/h2>\n\n\n

<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"
Dr. Sudath Gunasekara <\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Since the word reconciliation has drawn\nmuch attention both at home and abroad in political circles as a necessary tool\nof peaceful co-existence in this country, I opined to express few thoughts as\nto how this could be achieved in this country as an everlasting socio-political\nsolution.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Reconcile is to make friendly again after\nestrangement. This is a very difficult process, especially for a set of people\nwho had been behaving and acting as enemies for a long time. It is a new term\ninvented by the Western world in social and political science, I think, used in\npresent day international to force the different ethnic or religious groups in\ntheir former colonies, to come to terms, pretending to unscramble a scrambled\negg by them to perpetuate the tension among different social and ethnic groups\nin order to continue their exploitation rather than making friends among the\ndifferent groups. It is evident that these minority groups have been created\nand pampered by the colonial rulers in their vicious strategy of divide and\nrule. It is noted that there was no need for such tactics in time prior to the\nadvent of colonial rule in these countries as none of these countries had such\ndivisions as they all functioned as single nations. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Ours is a very good example to this model\nwhere we had one nation which the British identified as Ceylonese (Sinhalese)\nwhich means the people of the Sinhale. Both Tamils and Moors living in this\ncountry at that time were only a part of that one nation, the people of the\nSinhale-(Sinhalese) as it was recorded in the Kandyan Convention of 1815. There\nis no evidence where these minorities were called nations as they are referred\nto in present day times. In this context I would rather prefer for them to\nreplace this word reconciliation with co-existence which means exist together\nthough professing different ideologies\u201d This would be an ideal solution where\nall people in a given country can live together as one nation with different\nreligious, ethnic or racial ideologies. Where, unity in diversity could be the\nhallmark and the common denominat0r that unite the nation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Each country has its own political, social\nand cultural system evolved over a long period, very often invented and developed\nby one distinct ethnic group, though in its historical evolution it could\nundergo to changes due to interaction between the natives and foreigners either\nas invaders or visitors coming as traders or immigrants both legitimate and\nillicit, Sinhalese being the district group in our case. But the fact remains\nthat the original native system remains as the solid foundation of the distinct\nidentity of that country other than incases of complete annihilation by\ninvaders. The insularity and its openness to a great Oceans on all sides and\nits location right at half way of the great East- west oceanic route in the Indian\nOcean has made it a place of frequent visitors throughout history. But Sri\nLanka remained as an uninterrupted Kingdom with a 2500 year long unique and\nunbroken history of Sinhala Buddhist civilization. from 543 BC at least. This\nhall mark remains as the solid foundation of this Island nation even in spite\nof nearly 14 centuries of recurrent Indian invasion from 2nd Century BC to 12th\ncentury AD or even from the days of Ramayana in the distant past and nearly 317\nyears of (partial) Western invasions and occupation and 133 years of full\noccupation by the British. Throughout this long history Sinhala people have\nbeen the Bhumiputras of this Island.  They\nwere the people who founded the civilization, developed and defended it against\nall foreign invasions throughout history. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Sinhala people comprising 75 % of the total\npopulation still form the dominant ethnic group while Tamil and Moors form only\n12% an d7 % of the population in spite of gross and continued discrimination against\nthe Sinhalese by the colonial invaders and India. Peaceful co-existence in this\ncountry between different ethnic groups therefore has to be worked out in this\nbackdrop, using the above historical backdrop and the different ethnic\nproportions. In this backdrop, in my opinion, peacefully co-existence in this\ncountry could only be achieved through the following realistic and pragmatic\napproach..  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

1 Sinhalese <\/p>\n\n\n\n

1 They are the original settlers who\ninhabited this Island people and this had been the motherland of the Sinhala\nnation at least from 543 BC if not more. They are the people who created the\nunique civilization on this land and defended it throughout history against all\ninvaders and as such it belongs to them as their only motherland in the world.\nTherefore they are the only people who can claim this country as their\nhistorical motherland and all others are foreigners come to this country from\ntime to time under different circumstances, either as invaders, traders ,\nmercenaries or illicit immigrants and illegally remained <\/p>\n\n\n\n

2 Tamils<\/p>\n\n\n\n

2 Of the Tamils the first category now\ncalled Lanka Demala named by Arunachalam in 1911 (Malabars) are the assortment\nof the descendants from the left out who invaded this country from 2nd C BC up\nto 1815 and  Sinhala people who were\nliving in those areas converted to Tamil by Tamil rulers from time to time,\ndescendants  of Tamils brought by Gajaba,\nthose  who have come illicitly and\nremained as traders from time to time, Malaba slaves brought by Portuguese,\nDutch and British between 1505 to 1948 from South India and Indian mercenaries\nbrought to fight against the Kandyans by the British in 1818 an s1848<\/p>\n\n\n\n

3 Second category Estate Tamils Slaves\nbrought by British to work on their plantations in the upcountry and left behind\nillicitly when they left in 1948 and those who have come on temporary visas to\ndo business and mainly living in western parts of the country.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

All these Tamils have their original\nMotherland in Tamilnadu South India. Even today they regard Tamilnadu as their\nMotherland while they only live here and earn their living as such luxuries are\nnot found in South Indai. Even India treat them as Indians for all intent and\npurposes, while all governments since the so-called 1948 Independence have\nmiserably failed to solve this problem as Burma did it 1947 when they got\nIndependence from the British.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

3 Muslims<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Descendants of those who have come on trade\nfrom time to time from South India and Arab countries, in the Middle East or\nMalaysia,  people illicitly brought and\nsettled in the NW, SE and other areas by Muslim politicians in recent times who\nare planning for capturing this country and settled in pockets all over the\ncountry especially the eastern province where their ancestors fleeing from\nPortuguese massacre in 1560s were settled as refugees on sympathetic and\nhumanitarian grounds by King Senarat of Kandy and now dreaming to convert this\nland in to an Arab country. Unlike the Tamil , though they worship Mecca , none\nof these people have a motherland to go back. That is why they are trying to\ncapture this country and make it an Arab land by vandalizing Buddhist\narchaeological sites all over particularly in the East and areas like\nMavanella, Kuragala and Devanagala<\/p>\n\n\n\n

My Challenge to all minorities in this\ncountry<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I challenge any Tamil or Muslim or any\nother minority member to get back to South India or any Arab country as the\ncase may be which they worship as their motherlands and <\/p>\n\n\n\n

1 Contest and win a seat in Parliament in\nthat country                           <\/p>\n\n\n\n

2 Show me any country anywhere in the world\nwhere they will be treated with the kind of equality, dignity or self-respect\nas equals of the citizens of that country as they claim here<\/p>\n\n\n\n

3 Or prove me any country in the world\nwhere minorities are given the kind of privileges enjoyed by them in this\ncountry,<\/p>\n\n\n\n

4 Or where they are not discriminated as\nagainst the natives and not treated as third grade or even lower grade citizens\n<\/p>\n\n\n\n

5 or tell me a country where they can claim\na separate State for them <\/p>\n\n\n\n

6 Or show me a country anywhere in the\nworld where they can transact correspondence in their own language <\/p>\n\n\n\n

7 And finally tell us any country where\nthey are allowed to flout the law of that country with impunity other than Sri\nLanka<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Before they proceed any further telling the\nworld that they are discriminated by the Government of this country and genocides\nis committed against the.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

(To be continued)<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Dr. Sudath Gunasekara Since the word reconciliation has drawn much attention both at home and abroad in political circles as a necessary tool of peaceful co-existence in this country, I opined to express few thoughts as to how this could be achieved in this country as an everlasting socio-political solution. Reconcile is to make friendly […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":true,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[46],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-107016","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-dr-sudath-gunasekara"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/107016","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=107016"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/107016\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=107016"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=107016"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=107016"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}