posted May 27, 2000 08:46 PM            

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By: AppuArchie a.k.a. Ramalingam Shanmugalingam
February 4, 1998

Freedom, Rights, Sovereignty, Power and Self-rule of individuals are the prerogative of the human race in the latter half of the twentieth century. Days of foreign domination and exploitation with the help of the gun barrel are over in many parts of the world. As we approach the twenty-first century, scientific development paves the way to change the three centuries old system dominated by material concepts and ideas. A new setting of thought based on holistic thinking is emerging. Civilizations such as Roman, Greek disappeared, Moghul, British and even Tamil Empires crumpled as arrogance of power in some cases and arrogance of knowledge in others had to give in for change. The British imperial policy was guided by such pronouncements as, ‘England has no eternal friends or eternal enemies. England has only eternal interests.’ According to Annie Besant, ‘It ill beseems the nations of Europe to speak contemptuously of those elder peoples who rocked the cradle of civilization while the West was sunk in Barbarism, and from whom indeed, the West received the germs of its culture and the outlines of the most revered traditions.’ Naturally this arrogance of knowledge perhaps permitted slow invasion and final foreign domination in the East.

The British imperialism in Ceylon with its dynastic history was replaced with Sinhala dynastic episode. Tamil elite at time of independence demanded rather half-heartedly a people oriented Sinhala Tamil government. They were content with the continuation of their British legacy status quo. In the meantime, Sinhala hate for Tamils that were seeded in the latter part of the nineteenth century by such persons as Anagarika Dharmapala and continued into the twentieth century by such Sinhala nationalists as Rahula, Mettananda, etc.. Tamil position was further weakened by the astute handling of an otherwise political volcano by the Grade seven educated Prime Minister for Sinhala policy of domination and London educated Barrister for Tamil subjugation. Unlike India and Pakistan where leaders were peers and one could not rattle the other and partition was the solution. If only Tamils at the time of independence were only represented by non-Colombo Tamils and not the upstart elite, a sea-change in the writing of Tamil history might have happened. Because the Non-Colombo Tamils would have had their strength to revolt from a position of having been dominated for the British by the upstart Tamils and later by the Sinhala masters.

Ceylon before and during the time of Portuguese conquest followed by the Dutch and the British in the 16 th to the 18th century AD, had three separate kingdoms. A Tamil kingdom in the North and two Sinhala kingdoms in the South. The three kingdoms were not integrated and were administered as separate entities by Europeans. Only in 1833, the British brought the three kingdoms under one administrative unit. After Ceylon obtained independence from the British in 1948, trouble for Tamils brewed into the ethnic conflict we see today.

At time of independence, as stated earlier Tamil leaders of the time placed their trust in Sinhala leadership, who had a different agenda. The Sinhala Buddhist nationalists shaped the evolution and development of the island’s polity. According to a Sinhala historian, ‘...... the concept of a multi- racial polity ceased to be viable any longer. The emphasis on the sense of uniqueness of the Sinhalese past and the focus on Sri Lanka as the land of the Sinhalese and the country in which Buddhism stood forth in all its pristine purity carried an emotional appeal compared with which a multi- racial polity was a meaningless abstraction.’ If only Buddha was to see the Sinhala variety of Buddhism in its pristine purity?

1948 - Government changed from British imperialism to Sinhala imperialism. The Citizenship Act was enacted, making Tamils of Indian origin who enjoyed the same privileges as other citizens became stateless. Leader of The All Ceylon Tamil Congress that represented Eelam Tamils, G. G. Ponnampalam did not raise his voice against this unjust act that hurt the Estate Tamils.

1949 - S. J. V. Chelvanayagam left the ACTC in protest for not protesting the fate of another group of Tamils and formed The Federal Party.

1956- The Federal Party Trincomalee Convention. Enactment of the Sinhala only Act in Parliament and the Galle-face-green protest by Tamil political leaders (SATYAGRAHA) of the day saw the first Tamil undressed - literally and figuratively - in public by Sinhala nationalists and their hit men. Tamils of today are in fact in the nude - figuratively of course - and is there a worse shame than that? Emotionally speaking of course!

1957 - Bandaranayake tries to assuage the Tamils whose demands for a Federal constitution and the one year ultimatum resolved at the Trincomalee convention, by entering into the Chelva Banda pact. Banda’s ‘Run with the hares and hunt with the hounds’ policy takes root in the unilateral abrogation by Banda of the Banda Chelva pact

1958 - Sinhala SRI in all motor vehicles and dead letter Tamil Language (Special Provisions) Act passed in Parliament and the Railway strike. The government diverted attention of the ignorant Sinhala masses from the almost successful Railway strike against anti-SRI Tamil non-violent protests into a bloody race riot.

1959 - SWRD, the man who came to power on the promise of making Sinhala the national language in 24 hours was gunned down by a Buddhist priest.

1960 - Language of the Courts Act enacted, making Sinhala the only language of all courts through out the island.

1961 - Rigorous implementation of Sinhala only and protest [sit-downs] in front of Government Kacheri’s answered by Sinhala thuggery and house arrests of FP leaders. Release of Tamil Revenue stamps proving to the world that Tamils were capable of sef-rule.

1962- The Kodeeswaran appeal to the British Privy Council that entered judgement in his favor.

1965 - Dudley FP secret pact for the creation of District councils and use of Tamil for administrative purposes. FP becomes a partner in the Dudley led government.

1968 - FP withdraws support for the government as no effort was made to implement the 1965 pact. It is also interesting that M.Thiruchelvam who was appointed a Minister in the Dudley led UNP government made the mistake of not consulting Dudley before he made Trincomalee a sacred city, that led to Thiruchelvam’s resignation and the FP to withdraw support for the UNP.

1969 - The Higher Education Council with two Sinhalas, one English and one Canadian were appointed by Dudley. A representative of Tamils, one of the two races of Ceylon was not appointed to this council.

1970 - The Mahaveli Project to benefit only the Sinhalas was inaugurated.

1971 - Standardization of marks for admission to universities to keep out Tamil students.

1972 -Leading Tamils from Boston, Massachusetts USA submit to the United Nations, New York on the 14th January, The Unilateral Declaration of Independence Manifesto. Unilateral adoption of a new republican constitution by the Sinhalas giving Buddhism and Sinhala foremost places and Ceylon became Sri Lanka. Since 1948, the Sinhalas never thought it necessary to repay the trust they placed on them at independence to treat them as equals. On October 3, Chelva resigned from his seat in Parliament and demanded a by-election on the basis of a referendum for Independent Tamil Eelam.

1974 - The Kankesanthurai by-election after it was deliberately postponed by the government was contested by Chelva and a Tamil candidate as the nominee of the Sinhala coalition. Chelva defeated this candidate with a 250% margin. Engineering student Sivakumar falls first victim to the cyanide capsule to avoid Sinhala capture and torture for bravely fighting Tamils opposed to Tamil freedom. Tamil is replete with poetry to encourage strategies to preserve Tamil identity. Poet Kasi Anandan is one who comes to mind:

‘Sivakumar the bravest of lions Embraced death to elevate Tamil lives for generations.’ English By AppuArchhie.

1976 - The new tigers The Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam [LTTE] enter the Tamil political scene.

1975 - TULF Passed the Vaddukkoddai Resolution for a separate state of Tamil Eelam.

1976 - Sinhalas celebrated Republic Day on the 22nd May. Tamil Leaders were distributing leaflets demanding independent Tamil Eelam. Four Tamil Members of Parliament, A. Amirthalingam, V. N. Navaratnam, K. P. Ratnam and K. Thuriratnam were charged by the Sinhala government for treason. The case was heard in a trial at bar by a panel of three Appellate Judges. This was a land mark Tamil case. The Tamil leaders were represented by Senior Counsels, S. J. V. Chelvanayagam, G. G. Ponnampalam and V. S. A. Pulle Nayagam.

1977- TULF gets its mandate for Tamil Eelam by winning 18 of the 19 seats contested in the July 1977 general elections.

1978 - Another new constitution based on the presidential system of government.

1983 - The worst race riots in Sri Lanka that urged the youth to stage the freedom war.

The above are only some of the discriminatory acts of successive Sinhala governments. Naturally under such inhuman Acts and reneged Pacts and frequent Sinhala government orchestrated race riots, forced subaltern consciousness is the natural outcome. ‘Subaltern revolt’ is the manifestation derived from conditions of exploitation. These outbursts are the result of total alienation of Tamil youth by the Sinhalas. The Sinhalas refused a civilized form of government workable in a multi- polity Sri Lanka under a Federal Constitution. Tamil homelands from time immemorial were forcibly colonized by Sinhalas with government aid and protection. Reasonable demands of Tamils were quelled by government orchestrated military, police and thug retaliations. Amidst the many sufferings Tamils have patiently protested in passive resistance with a view to obtain fundamental rights and the several pacts entered into were shamelessly reneged by Sinhala leaders. The Sinhala leaders followed a path sanctimony to Sinhalas and sanctimonious to Tamils. A forced situation demanded from Tamil youth sacrifice of the highest magnitude. They were ready to bear arms and jump into battleground. A government is the watch dog of its citizens, but when this watchdog turns into the rabid dog it is, how do Tamils get protection in Sri Lanka? Bear arms!

The ethnic war continues and the Sinhala government is bent on bending Tamil will. The Sinhala government with technological help from the United States and Israel may defeat Tamils in a conventional war, especially when neighboring elder brother India is smarting under an unproved LTTE involvement in Rajiv’s assasination, perhaps a Sinhala treacherous stroke! Remember the rifle butt attack on Rajiv by a Sinhala soldier presenting arms during Rajiv’s state visit to Sri Lanka to plan the final assault on the freedom fighters? But Tamil war will go on and the Sinhalas will know no peace and progress will shatter to pieces. No offerings to the statue of Buddha is going to help them but a change in their statutes giving Tamils the right to self determination will certainly give them the peace and progress they badly need. The Sinhalas through local agencies may have succeeded in convincing the international community for the need to suppress forced Tamil subaltern insurgencies. The sinhala case is made stronger by the absence of an equally convincing counter argument from Tamils to the international community through parallel local agencies. Sinhala victory in the international arena is easy to reverse if we had some Americans to present our plight. President Abraham Lincoln argued in the Mississippi River Barge Vs Railroad case: ‘My learned opponents, have presented an impressive case . There is no question that they have the facts absolutely right. But they have drawn completely wrong conclusions.’

Fifty years of independence from the British for the Sinhalas and due to lack of foresight by our forefathers at time of independence, which I am sure it is not or is it from what I see around me? Tamils are dependent on the Sinhalas for their morsel, medicine and even their lives for the past fifty years. It would appear that we have to pocket our pride if we still have any pride left, and appeal to India, the United States and the world at large to forgive us for our trespasses if any and request them to help our freedom fight succeed and we depend on them.

The Sinhalas are preparing a massive celeberation of their fifty years of independence from the British. Elected world leaders have turned down the invitation to bless this occassion and advisedly so. Prince Charles is expected to be the Guest of Honor. Since it is not our independence, it does not matter if only a figure head who is in mourning is presiding over a celeberation that Tamils mourn for their lost blood. However, I still believe there are some self respecting Sinhalas who will do the needful to stop the cub of the former master honoring them. In the meantime Tamils who have the means, I expect, have the ingenuity to do something dramatic to attract world attention to Tamil predicament, on the 4th of February that marks fifty years of Tamil Dependency on the Sinhalas. As for me, thanks to some myopic Tamils in the USA, I can only suffer in silence!