Sri Lanka News Updates with Discussions

Q: Do you know anyone who is/was a member of the LTTE?
A: Yes

Q: If yes, what were their reasons for joining?
A:
1. Hopelessness and being treated as aliens in their own county.
2. The perception by the successive governments that all Tamils are potential LTTE members.
3. Fear of persecution
4. Standing up against discrimination

Q: Apart from sharing a country, do you feel that Sinhalese and Tamils have anything in common?
A: There is no hostility from either side towards each others religion. There are Hindu symbols in Buddhist temples. The Sinhala language has over 4000 Tamil words. Many Tamils became as Sinhala and many Sinhalese likewise became as Tamils. I feel that, the peoples have been made to feel as if they have nothing in common rather than celebrating the common heritage together.
Q: I would suggest that in Sri Lanka the main sporting past time is cricket, is this something Tamils and Sinhalese share and do you support the Sri Lankan cricket team?
A: Yes, Cricket is loved by both communities for last 25 years, it has been difficult, as a Tamil, to support the Sri Lankan cricket team. This is so, because, when being alienated and made to feel as a second class citizen, one cannot spontaneously feel connected with Sri Lanka. But, inherent feeling of Sri Lankanness is still strong.

Q: When the country gained independence, the new nation was billed as a nation for everyone, but then the government brought in a Sinhala Only Act which made Sinhalese the official language, what are your opinions on these events? Does it make you feel discriminated against and/or less Sri Lankan?
A: In fact, it was the Language Act, which made the Sinhala language as the official language. This Act deemed the majority of the Tamils and Muslims, who did not have proficiency in Sinhala language, as second class citizens overnight. The language Act was one of many measures that were taken to elevate the Sinhala community over and above the others.
I feel that, instead of making the Sinhala the official language rather short sighted manor, they should have made all Sri Lankans to learn all three languages: Sinhala, Tamil, and English. It is natural for the minorities to learn the majority language by default necessitated by commerce and other factors. However, if a language is thrust upon, the minorities would naturally resist.
Within a unitary governance, with clearly demarcated areas where Tamil speaking peoples are inhabited, as a Tamil, I am naturally feel that am discriminated against when a language is thrust on me without which, I am deemed as not suitable for employment in certain sectors.
Q: What do you think the LTTE offer the Tamil people that the Sri Lankan government has failed or is failing to do provide? In other words, what do you think is the reason behind large degree of support for the LTTE in the Tamil community?
A: In fact, the LTTE cannot offer anything to the Tamils, by way of just governance, while being engaged in war with the government of Sri Lanka. The Tamil community feels that, they have been discriminated against with impunity. They were victims of many state sponsored pogroms loss of life and livelihoods with no action whatsoever taken against the perpetrators. Keeping this in view, the emergence of LTTE, that has been capable of engaging the Government of Sri Lanka militarily and politically, has made the Tamils feel that, someone is standing up. Though the LTTE had killed prominent Tamil politicians in the past, it has now created an environment, in which, the Tamils have no other alternative but supporting them. Because, LTTE is the only hope for them whether, it is true or not, only time will tell.

On the other hand the inability of the Sinhala polity to obtain consensus, among themselves, as to a viable political solution in line with power devolution, and manifesting their will carrying it through, leaving the Tamils with no option other than supporting the LTTE.

Q: Do you think that because the LTTE De Facto State's official language is Tamil e.g. their police force speaks Tamil, that this is the reason for there being so much support for the LTTE?
A: No though, the aim of the LTTE is to create a separate state for Tamils with Tamil being its official language, many Tamils understand that, this aim and the Sinhala only attempt are two sides of a same coin. I do not feel that, majority of the Tamils support the De Facto statehood, but supporting the phenomenon of LTTE hoping that, LTTE can be used as a vehicle in achieving viable power devolution with constitutional guarantees for the minorities within a United Sri Lanka.
Q: Tamils in Sri Lanka can or have been linked to the Tamils of South India- do you feel it is right to link the two or are Sri Lankan Tamils a separate culture, community & nation?
A: I strongly feel that, the Sri Lankan Tamils have their own culture, community, and nationhood that is very different from Tamil Nadu in India. We share language, religion, and many spiritual practices, but there are inherent disconnects with different dialects and social behaviours.
I feel that, the Sri Lankan Tamils must find a way to live with the Sinhalese. The Tamil Nadu Tamils can offer their moral support to this end, but cannot do much more than that. I feel that, this perceived connection is detrimental to the Sri Lankan Tamils rather than beneficial in any way because, the Sinhalese collectively resent this notion.
Q: Chapter 2 Article 9 of the Sri Lankan Constitution states that the 'Republic of Sri Lanka shall give to Buddhism the foremost place' what are your views and feelings about this?
A: I am resentful to this idea. I have no issues with Buddhism being the state religion with 65% of Sri Lankans are Buddhists, but resent that a particular religion is elevated to a superior position. Sri Lanka needs to be a secular state promoting a Sri Lankan identity galvanizing all communities. With this kind of visionless politicized Buddhism and Sinhala Only Act, Sri Lanka has failed to build a nation, and continue to fail because no politician of international repute with vision has emerged thus far.
Q: Could you say that this makes you feel less Sri Lankan?
A: Yes
Q: The national anthem of Sri Lanka is a Sinhalese song, what are your views on this?
A: I feel not connected with Sri Lanka.

Q: Do you have anything else in which you would like to say?

A: I feel that, the inability of the Sinhala polity to formulate and implement a just solution has deemed that LTTE is relevant to the equation. The LTTE cannot feel that they are mandated to carry on when all communities are pulled together with national consensus, power devolution and constitutional guarantees, LTTE would loose their platform on which they could base their ideals. In the absence of such a situation, I feel that, protraction of the conflict is inevitable with no end in sight

Why do you think that the Sinhalese felt the need to secure themselves?
What possible social and political reasoning that you can give to explain this?

Before anything, let me kindly tell you that this question is wrong and invalid. I, as a Sinhala, do never think that we feel/felt insecure at all. Recognizing the language and the religion of Sinhalas in their due places in the culture of this land is in no way amount to any feeling of lack of security.

In contrary, why, in your opinion, should Sinhalas feel insecure. Please answer.

..Buddhists ?deep rooted sense of insecurity? is predictably emphasized, rightly or wrongly, perhaps portraying Sinhala Buddhists as a terrified world minority perpetually quaking at the inevitability of ignominious extinction.

the 1948 constitution was put together with the consensus of all sections of the Sri Lankan communities

when one community that being the majority decided to assert itself over and above the other, it would be plainly obvious and inevitable that a type of civil unrest that would follow

There is no need for the Sinhala Buddhists to feel insecure, their religion and language are completely secure, and no harm would fall on them. However, the Champion Sinhala Buddhist revivalist, Anagarigha Dharmapala conjectured that, both Sinhala and Buddhism were at the brink of complete annihilation by hostile foreign powers. This conjecture snowballed and exploded in the 1950s as an unstoppable phenomenon to the bewilderment of the Sinhala political elite. This can be explained as a virtual or perceived insecurity than a real one!

I completely concur with the above quote of yours. Now, please tell me that, when such peace was prevailed, did, at any stage, one religion or one language bestowed supreme over one another? Obviously you think so, please state with evidence and period of such situations.

Anyway, one good thing about the way you argue is it sanctions me to use your one arguments against another, leaving me no reason to do any further research.

the 1948 constitution was put together with the consensus of all sections of the Sri Lankan communities

when one community that being the majority decided to assert itself over and above the other, it would be plainly obvious and inevitable that a type of civil unrest that would follow

If that is the case, it is obvious that 1948 Constitution was not something that was put together with the consensus of all sections. As such, it is clear that those who left ignored in 1948 Constitution introduced amendments to it to incorporate their concerns. No wonder why you found yourself dumbfounded. Nevertheless, it spares me answering one question of yours.

ARIYALAI, feeling insecure is one thing, taking measures to rectify a historical unjust is another. What Anagarika Dharmapala (thuma) campaigned for is the latter. It was not a mere feeling. There was a real hard-coded threat and he campaigned against it. It is nowhere near a perceived feeling of insecurity.

Ariyalai, when you are sick, you take medicine. No one would say that you take medicine because you felt insecure. In contrary, anyone would understand that you take medicine because you are sick and because being sick is bad.

Ariyalai, Dharmapala thuma contemplated such a threat because there was such a threat. For example, he campaigned in favour of making Sinhala the language of administration because it was not the language of administration. Sinhala remained the language of administration of this island at least since the times of King Pandukabaya and it was the language understood by the very majority of the people who inhabited this island.

It is good that you promptly anticipated my answer. As for evidence to that effect, I have a truck load. However, due to practical limitations, let me point out just 2 of those.

The four Nayakkar kings who reigned at Kandy were non-Sinhala speaking non-Sinhala non-Buddhists by birth. Yet, since their respective coronations, they venerated Buddhism, and carried out their administration in Sinhala language in spite of the fact they spoke in Tamil among their consorts and close associated.

British-Sinhale agreement (which is commonly known as Kandyan convention) recognized the foremost place of Buddhism in this island and British pledged to take care of tooth relic by law. If the Buddhism has not enjoyed a foremost place in this island and if it has been recognized vis-a-vis other religions, Kandyan convention should have read British to become the caretaker of all those religions.

Mucha, you must have had your tongue in your cheek when you wrote this, as it is a blatant disregard of our forefathers who deliberated in independence of the nation.

Was it J.T. Thambaih who said that, the Sinhalese are the majority but with minority complex. I can quote many scholars on this subject, but know that it will be futile with your rational!

You know very well that both Sinhala/Buddhism and Tamil/Hindu are well entrenched phenomena, and could not have been dislodged by any force.

Yes, one can take medicine to cure an illness when it is properly diagnosed. But with the phenomenon of the Sinhala Buddhist Insecurity, it was completely conjectured by instilling unnecessary fear into the Sinhala Buddhist community. No cure nor any medicine is forthcoming because there is no diagnosis!

I asked you to give evidence to support the claim that the Sinhala language was at anytime was used to administer the whole Island. You have a truck load of evidences to support this, but came up with the Kandyan examples! Please do not treat me like an idiot!

You know very well that, there were three Kingdoms in Sri Lanka when the Portuguese arrived, and certainly the northern and Eastern regions were being administrated in Tamil before the Europeans arrivals.

when we first came to that island (i.e.,Ceylon) it was divided into five kingdoms, that of Cota, Emperor, to which all the others were tributory acknowledging that king as that of Raygam and of Seytavaca (Sitavaka) states which he of Cota divided with his brothers that of Candea and that of Jafanapatao (p.32)

There are no evidences at all, negative in Mahavamsa, that a particular language was used to administer the whole island at a given time.

The agreement was to protect the Sangha, and there was not any mention that it was in the context of the entire island. This is another conjecture from the part of the Sinhala Nationalists.

Ariyalai, the convention reached between nobles of Sinhale and Lt. Gen. Robert Brownrigg was signed and enacted to cover the entire island. By article five of that convention, British pledged to protect Buddhism. I have no intention to clarify such trivial facts any further and if you have any doubts, please find a copy of that convention and get it verified yourself.

http://www.country-studies.com/sri-lanka/the-colebrooke-cameron-reforms.html

if Anagariga Dharmapala is revered for standing up to uphold Sinhala and Buddhism, and why not the Tamils say here, here to SJVC! How come SJVC was a racist and Dharmapala was not?

This shows that, when the Kandyan Convention was sighed by the British Governor and the Sinhala Chieftains within the Kandyan Kingdom, the island was being administrated along the racial lines as they were when the Portuguese captured the kingdoms.... Until the Colebrooke-Cameron Reforms took effect on the in 1833, the island was administrated along the lines of the following: lowcountry Sinhalese, Kandyan Sinhalese, and Tamil areas.

You need to ask yourself one simple question: how an earth the Kandyan Chieftains could sign a convention implicating the entire island when they never had any jurisdiction over the areas outside the Kandyan Kingdom!

Mucha, the clause 4 states: The dominion is vested in the sovereign of the British empire , the word dominion explicitly and unequivocally referred to the Kandyan Kingdom not the entire island, as the rest of the areas had already been annexed.

Mucha, the clause 9 states, that Over non-Kandyans the position to remain according to Brirish law . This along with by virtue that, it was a Convention signed at the fall of the Kandyan Kingdom depicts that, the Convention was intended to apply only to the Kingdom of Kandy and the Kandyans.

That is quite simple. The criterion of one becoming a racist is not necessarily upholding his/ her race and/or religion.

One needs to fulfil certain other conditions to become a racist. Dharmapala thuma uphold Sinhala and Buddhism on facts whereas racist Chelvanayakam uphold Tamil based on myths.

That made the difference. If you want, by all means go ahead and challenge it.

However, please do mind that I am not much interested about arguing on these labels as it serves no useful purpose among two individuals like us. If you think Dharmapala thuma is a racist, feel free to call him a racist since it is not going to make any difference.

This shows that, when the Kandyan Convention was sighed by the British Governor and the Sinhala Chieftains within the Kandyan Kingdom, the island was being administrated along the racial lines as they were when the Portuguese captured the kingdoms.... Until the Colebrooke-Cameron Reforms took effect on the in 1833, the island was administrated along the lines of the following: lowcountry Sinhalese, Kandyan Sinhalese, and Tamil areas.

You need to ask yourself one simple question: how an earth the Kandyan Chieftains could sign a convention implicating the entire island when they never had any jurisdiction over the areas outside the Kandyan Kingdom!

I know you are not good at understanding analogies.

But, at least try to understand this simile. Okinawa, an exclusive territory of Japan, was invaded and overran by US forces few months before the complete surrender of Japan in WWII. Yet, when Japanese Prime Minister signed the Japanese Instrument of Surrender on board USS Missouri on 02/09/1945, it did not mean to cover only the areas remained under Japanese control, but the entire Japanese empire, including Okinawa Perfecture, which by then was under the jurisdiction of The US. Hope you will see the parallels this time (fingers crossed).

Mucha, the clause 4 states: The dominion is vested in the sovereign of the British empire , the word dominion explicitly and unequivocally referred to the Kandyan Kingdom not the entire island, as the rest of the areas had already been annexed.

ARIYALAI, you are utterly confused. The term dominion means a British Overseas Territory. British did not have TWO Overseas Territories on this island, but ONE. Clause 4 stands to undertake the implementation of an overseas territory under the sovereign of the British Empire.

Mucha, the clause 9 states, that Over non-Kandyans the position to remain according to Brirish law . This along with by virtue that, it was a Convention signed at the fall of the Kandyan Kingdom depicts that, the Convention was intended to apply only to the Kingdom of Kandy and the Kandyans.

ARIYALAI, this must be the clause which made it really ugly for people like you. Why on earth should British pledge with Sinhala Chieftains about the jurisdiction that applies to non-Kandyans, if they remained outside the rule of those Kandyan chieftains. PLEASE EXPLAIN!!