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Sinhala chauvinism will never permit a just approach to Tamils

I have been asked to give my talk about the aim of today’s event and the background to it. Thus my talk will be along these lines.

The views of the Jaffna people were gathered recently through a research project. The aim of this event is to let the international community and the south Ceylon community know of these findings in the presence of leaders and intellectuals respected by the people of Jaffna and with their blessings.

Three inter related issues have come up. They are, the Sinhala chauvinism that is standing opposed to us in the name of language and religion; the historical background to this; and the need to safeguard our right to self-determination from this chauvinism.

It is very important to understand this aim and therefore some explanation is needed. Firstly, we are not disrespecting the Buddhist religion or the Sinhala people. On the contrary we respect both. Secondly, when we talk of our nationalism we do so while respecting similar feelings of other people. But we raise our voice against any exaggerated feeling of nationalism that attempts to spread its hegemony on us thus wounding our self-respect.

We have not failed to notice that there have been voices in south Ceylon then and now against this Sinhala hegemony.

People’s views

Sinhala hegemony is the cause of the 25 years of war that is crushing us.

In the 50 years since independence there have never been a strong political community, or political culture, or leadership in south Ceylon to break this Sinhala hegemonic tendency. From now on we will determine our own future.

In order to explain these views it is necessary to look into the political history.

Manifestations of Sinhala chauvinism

Citizenship act Soon after independence from Britian the new government in Ceylon introduced a citizenship act and through it denied the Tamils in upcountry their citizenship and their right to vote. Not only that through this the government wiped out any political bargaining strength for the Tamil people.

At the same time the Sinhala Mahasangam was applying pressure to make Sinhala the only official language and Buddhism the state religion. Accordingly, late Bandaranayake, former Prime Minister, who in earlier decades demonstrated his broad outlook by proposing a federal system of government for Ceylon, now turned into an opportunist and started shouting the Sinhala only slogan in 1956. He won the elections with landslide victory as a result.

Sinhala only

“Two languages on country – one language two country”, dismissing these words of a Sinhala leader, in 1956 Sinhala was made the only official language. Tamil leaders started fasting in front of the parliament opposing this. That was a non-violent struggle. But violence was used to break that protest. Massive protests broke among Tamil people objecting to the violence. These too were non-violent protests.

Banda – Chelva pact

In order to manage the Tamil protests Prime Minister Bandaranayake held talks with the leader of the Tamil Arasu political party, Chelvanayakam. A pact was signed by the two following the talks. The basis of this pact is the federal system of government.

The following were included in this pact, o Tamil was accepted as the language of the minority in Ceylon.
o Tamil to be made the language of administration in the northeast. .
o Create district councils in the Northeast and.
o Reform the settlement schemes and the citizenship act. .

But Buddhist leaders opposed this pact. J R Jayawardhana also staged protests against it. Unable to face the opposition to the pact, Bandaranayake unilaterally ripped the pact in front of them.

Government sponsored settlements in Tamil areas

As a result of these settlements the number of Sinhala people in the eastern district increased by 10 fold from 1946 to 1976. This seriously affected the Tamil people. Tamils who were already a minority at the country level were also made a minority in their traditional homeland. When new electoral districts were created their representation and their bargaining strength were severely reduced.

Dudley – Chelva pact

Another pact was signed in 1965. This was signed by Prime Minister Dudley Senanayake and Chelvanayakam. The following were contained in this pact,

o To make Tamil the administrative language in the Northeast.
o Use Tamil in the courts in Northeast.
o When land is allocated it must first be offered to landless Tamils in that area and then to Tamils in other areas and lastly to other people. .

Even for these very limited demands, there was opposition. The Sri Lanka Freedom party that was in support of the Banda-Chelva pact, having lost power, now became the opposition party that opposed this new pact. As before Buddhist leaders also opposed the pact. As a result the government could not implement this pact for a long time.

New constitution in 1972

United Front government that won the elections in 1970 initiated the proposal for a new constitution. The Tamil Arasu party put forward the following to the council considering the new constitution.

o Incorporate the Dudley-Chelva pact into the constitution.
o Make Tamil language the medium of education for the Tamil students.

All of these were rejected by the council. All other Tamil parties except the Tamil Arasu party put forward the following suggestions.

o Give Tamil equal status.
o Grant citizenship to those from whom it was taken away.
o The constitution must not be favouring one or the other community.

All of these were also rejected. Not only that, clause 29 in the then existing constitution that granted protection to the minorities by ensuring equality of status for all religions and languages was removed in the new constitution and Buddhism was given a special place.

Another constitution in 1978

The new constitution of 1978 also did not take into account the shortcomings in the 1972 constitution in relation to the Tamils. Instead this too became a document that reinstated Sinhala Buddhist hegemony.

It became impossible to expect a respectable life from the south Ceylon society.

Discrimination in education

Yet another manifestation of the Sinhala hegemony was the “standardisation” procedure implemented for the university entrance. This created a huge hurdle to the higher education of Tamil students. This came when Tamil people were already affected in the areas of job opportunities and job promotions due to the Sinhala only Act and the anti-Tamil sentiments.

Independent state policy replaces Federal system policy

Only when Tamils realised that all these actions were destroying their identity, their feelings of Tamil nationalism gained strength.

In 1976 at the Vaddukoddai conference the decision was taken to secede from Ceylon. The victory of the candidates who stood on the independent state ticket made the political views of the Tamils crystal clear.

The struggle for Tamil rights did not start with the demand for an independent state. Tamils original aim was to set up a political structure to share power within an undivided country in order to cherish Tamil language and culture and have equal opportunity in the economic life of the country.

Not only that Tamils were actually opposed to the division of the country. In the 1970 election two candidates stood on the independent state policy in two electorates. They both lost the elections. In fact the Tamil Arasu party campaigned against the idea of dividing the country in 1970. This shows clearly that Tamils opposed the division of the country in 1970. But all of them were gradually pushed into adopting the independent state policy.

These Tamils held the view that although we have two separate, Tamil and Sinhala, socio-cultural history, and while preserving this uniqueness, at the national level we prefer the common identity as “Ceylonese” where all are treated as equals. However, the majority community at that time rejected this and promoted the idea that “Ceylonese = Sinhala Buddhists”.

The path to reach the goal

The initial path taken by Tamils to achieve the goal was not by violence but through non-violence. But….

In 1956 Tamils protested the Sinhala only act through non-violent protests. Violence was used against these protesters. Sinhala thugs killed 150 people.

In 1958 Tamils protested the abrogation of Banda-Chelva pact. Violence was prize given to them yet again. Roaming crowds killed hundreds of Tamils and houses and properties belonging Tamils were burned down.

When Tamils protested the Sinhala only act military was sent to Jaffna for the first time and at least one Tamil civilian was killed. Many others were injured. Tamil leaders and members of parliaments were arrested. Yet again the prize for non-violent struggle was violence.

In 1974 during the peaceful World Tamil Research conference violence by police resulted in the death of 9 Tamil civilians.

After the 1977 elections (one month after) massive violence against Tamils was let loose and roaming crowds killed hundreds of Tamils within the first two weeks.

After the 1977 violence against Tamils similar violence in mass scale took place against Tamils. The one in 1981 and 1983 were particularly vicious. Those in the government were also involved in this mass violence against Tamils.

In the report about the situation in Ceylon prepared by International Jurists, Paul Seighart states the following.

“The interval between these communal violence has been getting shorter and shorter. These incidents continue to take place throughout the country. The severity of these violent incidents has also been increasing. The killing of Tamils, seriously wounding them, stealing their property, and taking away their homes is all not independent incidents. They are becoming heinous regular occurrences…. One characteristic about all of the communal violence is that Tamil people have not taken revenge on the Sinhala people living amongst them. Therefore in each communal violence those who have died are Tamils.”

Armed struggle

Trust in non-violent struggle weakened and the view that armed struggle is the only available option gained strength among Tamils. In 1978 an armed group named “Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam” started among the Tamil youth. This group that started as a small guerrilla force in due course has grown into a strong conventional military force.

Role of the security forces

The Sinhala chauvinist political leadership used its military to crush the Tamil people’s struggle. The military that was purely a ceremonial outfit in due course had to work very hard to regain its good name in the international arena. Such is the cruelty lashed out by the military. Military is responsible for rape, torture, arbitrary arrest, extra judicial killing, involuntary disappearance and many other human rights violations. More than 65,000 innocent civilians died as a result of this military cruelty and indiscriminate bombing. There were no buildings left undamaged. Under the cover of the “Prevention of Terrorism” act every single human rights declared in the international human rights covenants and conventions were violated.

Thimbu talks in 1985

This talk was arranged by India with the aim of bringing the war to an end. All the Tamil representatives who took part in this talk put forward the following points, Tamils are a nation, their homeland is the continuous territory of northeast of Ceylon, and Tamils have the right to self-determination. Ceylon government rejected these points and the war intensified and dragged on.

Ceasefire agreement

LTTE came forward to sign this agreement from a position of military strength. But the selfish competitive political culture of south Ceylon blunted this effort. There are no signs that the day to day life of the Tamil people is going to improve. One of the hurdles for this is also the continued maintenance of the high security zones by the military. Farmland, fishing, schools and many other issues have not returned to normalcy.

Today

For the people affected by the tsunami destruction – to help the people affected by the tragedy that melted the hearts of people all around the world – to set up a very limited structure – that too a joint structure – there is no space. More than 50 years chauvinism has dried up the humanitarianism.

In conclusion

There is no grain of hope that this chauvinism will allow a just approach to find a solution to the Tamil people’s right. Therefore Tamil people are declaring in front of this gathering that they will safeguard their land with their own strength and determine their own future.

21 June 2005

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