Sri Lanka’s so called unity is no more evident & its days too seem numbered’ – Editor, Asian Tribune
By Joseph Thavaraja
Colombo, 08 September, (Asiantribune.com):
“Even after the victory over Prabhakaran and the LTTE, the so called unity (among ethnicities) is no more evident and its days too seem numbered,” cautioned Asian Tribune’s Editor.
“Due to the application of ad hoc and very Sinhalese parochial solutions in the name and form of ‘humanitarian operations’ as well as ‘planned resettlements’ (Sri Lankan) Tamils continue to remain a suppressed, oppressed and subjugated ethnic group” said Mr K T Rajasingham, Editor of Asiantribune (AT) addressing Sri Lanka’s Lessons Learnt & Reconciliation Commission session in Colombo.
In his deposition to the commission on Monday 06 September, Mr Rajasingham pointed out : “I wish to strongly caution that if the present government begins applying parochial Sinhalese solutions to the Tamils’ issues and believes that it can ‘package’ them as “Sri Lanka’s own solution to the Tamil issues, then instead finding a solution to issues, the crisis will only deepen.”
“ Even this important commission of inquiry itself will run the risk of being termed as a ‘propaganda ploy’ to silent an ever attentive international community,” he said.
He added: “The so called unity is no more evident and its days too seem numbered thereby setting the stage for a permanent division ?even after the victory over Prabhakaran and his terrorist outfit.
“ Today, the country is under the rule of the ethnic majority ?? the Sinhalese Buddhists. The Tamils remain a suppressed, oppressed and subjugated ethnic group. The unwritten social contract that existed since February 4, 1948, between the Tamils and the Sinhalese, is now a matter of the past, forgotten, a misconceived experiment doomed to fail.
“Therefore it is important and th appropriate time for urgent measures to be taken to unite the country together as a nation of all & for all.
“ The Sinhalese focused fully on the ideals of ethnic superiority and religious hypocrisy. They let themselves carried away by legends, misconceived and preposterous ideas of their supremacy and the false propaganda of being the sole and undisputed owners of the country.
“ The Tamils focused fully on their survival to preserve their ethnic individuality and identity and in their abortive efforts became victims of a terrorist outfit, and was being portrayed as a usurpers on the Sinhalese.
“This has resulted in an enforced polarization. As for the Executive Presidency, he warned.
“Normally, the Government of a country is supposed to work for the collective will of the people of the country, but in Sri Lanka it is just the opposite.
“ After the emergence of the Executive Presidency in the country, the Government of Sri Lanka was headed by Presidents who virtually ruled the country as an uncrowned monarch. Unlike in America where the President administers the country, the difference in Sri Lanka is that the President virtually rules the country in the absence of checks and balances in the constitution”, he said.”
In his address, Mr Rajasingham traced the roots of not only the beginnings of Sinhalese and Tamil identities in the country, but the impact of colonial administration as well.
“1833, the British imposed centralized unitary form of administration for administrative convenience. This act made the Tamils a numerically minority ethnic group in Ceylon.
“The British also divided Ceylon, at the beginning, into five provinces in their own way in 1833, namely ?? Northern Province, Eastern Province, Western Province, Southern Province, and Central Province. By dividing the country into provinces, major portions of the Tamils' land, such as Chettikulam, Madawachchi, Nochchiyagamam, Puttalam, and Chillaw up to Negambo were merged with the Western Province and these Tamil areas were gradually isolated from the mainstream Tamils' traditional habitat.
“Later in 1845, North Western Province, and in 1873, North Central Province were created. By the creation of these two provinces more than one third area which belonged to the Tamils, got merged with the provinces where Sinhalese were in the majority, and these Tamil areas became predominantly colonized by the Sinhalese.
“By the creation of Uva Province in 1886, the colonial British administration separated vast areas in the southern part of the Eastern province and merged it with the newly created Uva Province. After the creation of the Subragamuwa Province in 1889, they divided the country into nine provinces again into 22 administrative districts and the district administration was introduced, through which the centralized and unitary form of administration came into existence in the country, ” said Rajasingham.
Mr Rajasingham is now scheduled to resume his address on Wednesday in the afternoon.
- Asian Tribune -
Comments
“The British also divided
“The British also divided Ceylon”
“They divided the country into 9 provinces again into 22 administrative districts and the district administration was introduced, through which the centralized and unitary form of administration came into existence in the country,” said Mr. KT Rajasingham, Editor of Asian Tribune, addressing Sri Lanka’s Lessons Learnt & Reconciliation Commission session in Colombo.
Dear Mr. Rajasingham,
The British constructed roads and railways linking the isolated areas to Colombo for their own benefit and we are now creating economic hubs outside Western Province enabling the economically down trodden in the other under developed and resource poor regions to enjoy the benefits of facilities provided for sustaining the anticipated development.
Please tell the Commission that sustaining the anticipated development will require new cities planned better than Colombo and this opportunity would be lost forever if we still insist on traditional homelands.
Mr. Rajasingham, you have
Mr. Rajasingham, you have done a wonderful service to the country during most crucial time. Your attempt bring both communities together is apprciable. If Tamils always take an opposite view we never can mend the differences we have. Under Prabhakaran both communities are very hurt. Sinhalese have paid dearly with retarded development, property destruction and death. The Tamils surely were also hurt, but it is there man who inflicted the misery on their own people. The Tamils have a bigger responsiblity to reach to the Sinhalese as they allowed Prbhakaran to inflict such lot of pain on everybody. At no time the Tamil leaders took a possitive attitude to the conflict. The TNA becase a proxy for LTTE attrocities. Anyway we have to take our hats off to Mr. Devananda for his vision and of course people like Mr. Rajasingham for their possitive attitude. For sure we will get the support of most the Sinhalese to develope the country. Give the President the tools to make this a reality.
The writer is trying to
The writer is trying to suggest major portion of Sri Lanka was occupied by the 12% Tamils. Then during the British rule the Tamil Minority was bestowed with unproportionate resources above the majority to use them to rule the Sinhalese. The pubic service was saturated with Tamils as the British did not trust the Sinhalese. Anyway after the independnce things were put in motion to correct this injustice. The Tamils were given a fair share but they were never satisfied. They are yearning to have the privledges they enjoyed under British rule even in the independent Sri Lanka.
K. T. Rajasingham has
K. T. Rajasingham has unfortunately used a point of history convenient to his argument that Tamils occupied the whole of the Eastern Province in the 1900s, thus sullying his bona fides.
The facts are that the Tamils only occupied some temporary beach settlements in the East as was stated by a Tamil scholar, Dr. Indrapala in his Ph.D thesis, prior to the whole revisionist history of the LTTE that made the claims now supported by KTR. These lands were all part of the Kandyan Kingdom to begin with. It was only under colonial rule and after the 17th century that Tamils established themselves in permanent settlements in the Batticaloa and Trincomalee coastal areas. As for Uva Tamils, they are the South Indian Tamils who were brought in to work the British -owned tea estates in the Uva region. So what point of history do we work from?
Obviously KTR has chosen 1900 as his point of reference, but many Sri Lankans would reject it as a fair and just point at which to demarcate any ethnic boundaries. Does he by the same token declare Colombo a Tamil region because of the recent influxes of Tamils?
Let us reject this non-starter and recognize Sri Lanka as the country of ALL SRI LANKANS, without ethnically defined boundaries, and where anyone should be able to live in whatever province and wheresoever they choose through their legal rights of citizenship, and in peace.
I believe that it is
I believe that it is counterproductive to go down the history as a model for our future. However, it is certainly productive to reflect our history as a frame of reference when we stride towards the future.
I am with Voyager in recognizing Sri Lanka as the country of ALL SRI LANKANS, without ethnically defined boundaries, and where anyone should be able to live in whatever province and wheresoever they choose through their legal rights of citizenship, and in peace.
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