{"id":114823,"date":"2021-06-02T16:26:23","date_gmt":"2021-06-02T23:26:23","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/?p=114823"},"modified":"2021-06-02T16:26:23","modified_gmt":"2021-06-02T23:26:23","slug":"us-congress-resolution-on-the-tamil-cause-sri-lanka-gets-fired-by-its-own-bullets","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/2021\/06\/02\/us-congress-resolution-on-the-tamil-cause-sri-lanka-gets-fired-by-its-own-bullets\/","title":{"rendered":"US Congress resolution on the Tamil cause: Sri Lanka gets fired by its own bullets?"},"content":{"rendered":"

By Raj Gonsalkorale<\/em><\/span><\/h2>\n\n\n

Actual independence for the <\/em>dominion<\/em><\/a> of Ceylon came on February 4, 1948, when the\nconstitution of 1947 went into effect. The constitution provided for a\nbicameral <\/em>legislature<\/em><\/a> with a popularly elected House of\nRepresentatives and a Senate that was partly nominated and partly elected\nindirectly by members of the House of Representatives. A <\/em>prime minister<\/em><\/a> and his <\/em>cabinet<\/em><\/a>, chosen from the largest political group in the\nlegislature, held <\/em>collective<\/em><\/a> responsibility for <\/em>executive<\/em><\/a> functions. The governor-general, as head of\nstate, represented the British monarch. In matters that the constitution failed\nto address, the conventions of the <\/em>United Kingdom<\/em><\/a> were observed. The UNP had a substantial\nmajority in the legislature and attracted support as it governed. There were,\nhowever, some basic weaknesses in the political structure. The <\/em>consensus<\/em><\/a> that the government represented embraced only a\nsmall fraction of the population\u2014the English-educated Westernized elite groups\nthat shared the values on which the structure was founded. To the great mass of\nSinhalese- and Tamil-educated residents and unschooled citizens, these values\nappeared irrelevant and incomprehensible. The continued neglect of local <\/em>culture<\/em><\/a> as embodied in religion, language, and the arts\ncreated a gulf that divided the ruling elite from the ruled. Inevitably,\ntraditionalist and revivalist movements arose to champion local values.<\/em>\nBritannica<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

While\nthe reality pertaining to the beginning of the conflict has been one thing, Sri\nLankan politics and politicians on both sides, Sinhalese as well as Tamil, have\nopted to choose opportunism rather than what is right for the people they\nrepresent.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In\nthe immediate period before independence and soon after, a minority on both\nsides, Tamils and Sinhalese, took comfort in assuming they represented the\nmajority although in reality they were safeguarding the interests of the\nminority that mattered to them. The Britannica quote To the great mass of\nSinhalese- and Tamil-educated residents and unschooled citizens, these values\nappeared irrelevant and incomprehensible\u201d <\/em>says it all. There is no running\naway from the truth that a fraction of the population, the English educated,\nland owning class governed the country and all its institutions, while the\nmajority on both sides lived as second class citizens in their own country.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

When\nCeylon gained independence in 1948, less than 5% of the population was literate\nin English, and government offices, the courts, police stations, all functioned\nin English, effectively disenfranchising more than 95% of the population. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Leading\nTamil politicians of the day never campaigned for the Tamil language to replace\nEnglish as the working language in the country for the Tamil people. Instead,\nin effect, they advanced the argument that the privileged position enjoyed by\nEnglish literate minority of Tamil people should not lose that privilege they\nsaw as a right rather than a privilege. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

On\nthe other hand, SWRD Bandaranaike campaigned for the Sinhala language to\nreplace English as the working language in government, progressively, with the\nTamil language given that status in traditionally Tamil speaking areas of the\ncountry. His clear vision was for the majority of the population, and not just\nthe elite minority, to enjoy the fruits of independence gained by the country\nas free citizens. The mother tongue, meaning Sinhala for the Sinhalese and\nTamil for the Tamils was going to be the language of instruction in schools.\nHowever, this was planned to be implemented progressively from the mid-sixties.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Rather\nthan travelling back in history, as that is bound to result in an endless\ndeluge of arguments and counter arguments, the writer wishes to advance a line\nof thought for a role reversal, meaning, the Sinhalese to imagine they were\nTamils, and for the Tamils to imagine they were Sinhalese, and to look at\nhistory as well as contemporary times, problems, issues, and solutions, from such\na prism.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

If\nthe Sinhalese happened to be Tamils, how would they view their past, and their\npresent and their future? How would they view the regular attacks on them by\nmobs, especially the debacle of 1983? Aided and abetted by sections of the then\ngovernment, Sri Lanka unleashed an abominable attack on Tamils in July 1983.\nLeaving all politics aside, this attack on innocent civilians and their homes\nand belongings, and above all their pride, their sense of security, was never\ncondemned by successive governments. If the Sinhala people happened to be the\nTamils, how would they regard their future in the country? Will they feel safe\nand secure? If a government spearheads mob violence, what hope will they have\nwith the government machinery to protect them?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

What\nif your priceless library, repository of one of the largest collections of\nhistorical, rare, Tamil and Hindu classics is burnt by a Sinhala mob, again, at\nthe instigation of sections of the government? A new library building cannot\nrestore ancient historical records of Tamil philosophy, culture and literature\nburnt to cinders by such thugs. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

It\ntook 21 years to offer an apology to Sri Lanka\u2019s own sons and daughters,\nmothers and fathers who were brutally attacked by mobs organised by people in\nhigh places and linked to the then government. Was this a genuine demonstration\nof remorse?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In\nsuch a climate of intimidation, how would Sinhala people react if they were\nTamils?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

If\nthe coin is flipped, and Tamils were the Sinhalese, especially Sinhala\nBuddhists, how would they view the Sinhala Buddhist point of view?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The\nfollowing are some issues that perhaps Tamils could consider wearing a Sinhala\nBuddhist hat, as it were. A Sinhala Buddhist perspective that prevails in\nregard to the longevity associated with their pre- colonial cultural and\ngovernance dominance. Historically, except for the period of the Jaffna Kingdom\nof around 300 years, much of the rest of history has revolved around Sinhala\nBuddhist dominance, of course, interspersed with non-Sinhala Kings and Queens\nof Indian origin during this time. If a Tamil were a Sinhalese, how would that\nperson view this historical situation?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The\nSinhala Buddhist also views the special place accorded to Buddhism due to\ncultural, and historical reasons, and also entertains fears that a large number\nof Tamils from across the Palk Straits could impact on the Buddhist heritage in\nthe country. A fear exists that over 70 million in Tamil Nadu is a threat to\nthe 15 million Sinhala Buddhists in Sri Lanka. The influence of Tamil Nadu\npolitics in Sri Lankan issues of course is well known and has been a dominant\nfactor in the Indian government\u2019s policy towards Sri Lanka.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Another\nfactor that has perhaps prevented an amicable solution to the ethnic conflict\nhas been what Sinhala Buddhists regard as an unsubstantiated claim about what\nis touted by the Tamils as their homeland in the island, the Northern and\nEastern provinces. While there may have been sporadic settlements from time to\ntime, there is no evidence, archaeological or otherwise to identify the Eastern\nprovince as part of a Tamil homeland.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In\nfact it is recorded that Hugh Cleghorn, the first colonial secretary, having\nnever set foot in the North or the East, had recorded an official minute to the\neffect that the Northern and Eastern regions were occupied by people who were\ndifferent, culturally, linguistically and by religion to the people in the rest\nof the country. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Historian\nK M De Silva states in his publication The Traditional Homelands\u201d of the\nTamils: Separatist Ideology in Sri Lanka: A Historical Appraisal\u201d that quote,\u201d\nthe entire claim had been structured on one single minute prepared in June\n1799 by Hugh Cleghorn, a British Academic who had been in the island in the\nearly years of the British rule as a political trouble shooter and who later\nhad become the Colonial Secretary for Sri Lank<\/em>\u201d unquote.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

De\nSilva goes onto say, quote It is this noting that the Tamil separatists\nhave used ad infinitum to drive home their point about their traditional\nhomeland. It should have been obvious to them that Cleghorn\u2019 s knowledge about\nSri Lanka was abysmally poor for he traced the origin of the Sinhalese to\nThailand<\/em>,\u201d unquote<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A\nrelated fear arising from this spurious claim of a Tamil homeland, is the\nextent of the claimed homeland, being more than 25% of the land area of the\nisland, and more than 50% of the sea front of the country with less than 10% of\nthe population of the country living in this land mass.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It\nwould be useful for this discussion, if Tamil people could think of themselves\nas Sinhalese, especially Sinhala Buddhists for the reasons given, and consider\nthese factors from such a perspective.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The\nsuggested role reversal approach may hopefully enable both sides to the\nconflict to see their positions from the others perspective, and people\nthemselves, not politicians, may be able to better understand each other\u2019s\nposition and arrive at some consensus as to how both sides could move forward. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

It would benefit the people of the country greatly if\nthe historical position and the origin of this politician made conflict as\ndescribed in the Britannica, The continued neglect of local <\/em>culture<\/em><\/a> as embodied in religion, language, and the arts\ncreated a gulf that divided the ruling elite from the ruled. Inevitably,\ntraditionalist and revivalist movements arose to champion local values\u201d, <\/em>could be presented, impartially and objectively, so\nthat subsequent developments may be viewed contextually by all parties.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This\nhas never happened in the past, and finding a solution has been left to\npoliticians, who in fact created this conflict in the first place, letting it\nsimmer even after 73 years of independence.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

While\nthe reasons for mistrust felt by both communities are many and not limited to\nthe above mentioned issues, it needs to be recognised that these issues are the\nreactions to the beginning of the conflict, not the cause of the original conflict.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The\nLTTE, the war, UNHRC resolutions, the proposed US Congress resolution, are all\nreactions to a festering wound, and none of them represent a solution to the\ncore issues that created the conflict in the first place.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Politicians\non both sides have their constituencies to consider, and both constituencies\nhave their own power bases. There can never be a solution unless these power\nbases agree to such a solution. It is impossible to see how this could happen\nas these power bases are only interested in safeguarding themselves and their\npower, and in regard to the conflict, the hardening of their individual\npositions have in fact strengthened their power bases.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Sri\nLankans, both Sinhalese and Tamils, through their political representatives,\nand in the case of Tamils, sections of the Diaspora, have provided the bullets\nfor various entities in the world to fire at Sri Lanka. A mechanism will have\nto be found for the people concerned to work out a solution and cease\ndistributing these bullets. If is left to the politicians, whatever they come\nup as a solution will only result in creating another problem, as for them, the\nconflict is like a beggar\u2019s wound. If it heals, the beggar will have no reason\nto beg for, and so, consequently, it can never heal.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

By Raj Gonsalkorale Actual independence for the dominion of Ceylon came on February 4, 1948, when the constitution of 1947 went into effect. The constitution provided for a bicameral legislature with a popularly elected House of Representatives and a Senate that was partly nominated and partly elected indirectly by members of the House of Representatives. A prime minister and his cabinet, chosen […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":true,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[172],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-114823","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-raj-gonsalkorale"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/114823","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=114823"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/114823\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=114823"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=114823"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=114823"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}