Post-Prabakaran : Dismantling the divides between the Tamils first

By Shenali Waduge

As Sri Lanka celebrated the news of the LTTE defeat and jubilation spread through the streets it was distinctly visible that something was amiss amongst some Tamils. The jubilation was however distinctly different among the Jaffna Tamils, Eastern Tamils, Estate Tamils, the Colombo Tamils and the Tamil Diaspora. It makes any to wonder why those in the warzone are elated at the news and the others who are far away & not in the least affected by the conflict are in shock at the news. Before proceeding towards any solution we need to know why Tamils are taking the news of the LTTE defeat differently.

We can well understand why some may be angered by the victorious news – for many years there were many who enjoyed indirect means of additional incomes through the existence of the LTTE. To this includes those in the media, peace advocates, NGOs, INGOs, UN officials, politicians, businessmen and even some scum’s in the military establishments. It was a result of these bandwagon of thieves that made the LTTE into being accepted as an invincible force & projected as unbeatable.

Close on the heels of the announcement the first thoughts of most was that Sri Lanka could now look forward to Peace and economic development. All of us know how previous Governments had made a sorry mess of things and how others preferred to use the conflict to better their own interests – for the public they had little choice but to watch in silence until the army’s advances gave the people a reason to back the Government and provide it the people power to withstand the western forces that were descending heavily upon the Government to enter a ceasefire and allow room for the tigers to regroup once again. Nevertheless while all are not required to take to the streets, light crackers, parade with the National Flag in the least it was expected that everyone would join in to say good riddance to a killer force who had finally met its Waterloo, But, it emerges that there are some who cannot describe why they feel a sense of despair or sadness when hearing that Prabakaran and his trusted lieutenants are all no more. There are many who cannot even believe what has actually occurred.

The Tamil Diaspora do have a right to feel a sense of gratitude towards the LTTE. If not for the conflict they would not find themselves in foreign climes and holding foreign passports and be able to bring their families or send foreign currency to their kith and kin in Sri Lanka. Even amongst the Diaspora there is the pro-LTTE lot and the others who become sad depositors to the LTTE kitty though not willing participants. Thus, news of the annihilation of the LTTE is likely to bring mixed results to the Tamil Diaspora as well and we note how those likely to be affected are those now taking to the streets – possibly one’s who are waiting the green light to remain in these nations. Attacking Sri Lanka’s missions and some even going on hunger strike – these are the numbers who collect for the LTTE and pocket a bit for themselves in the process, so naturally they are likely to suffer in the countries they live in with downsizing & the current economic climate. The Tamils who had been forced to monthly contribute to the LTTE kitty must naturally be heaving a sigh of relief for the threats upon them will cease or they would be in a better position to say NO – since LTTE will no longer be able to threaten their families with death back home in Sri Lanka. The intellectuals can also heave a sigh of relief for no longer will they have to live with the shadow of death for any statement or work done against the LTTE movement. Finally things are looking good for the Tamils.

The Eastern Tamils themselves had suffered immensely all through LTTE reign & now other than a few pockets of LTTE rebels that remain as well as some TMVP men who refuse to give up their arms things are slowly getting back to normal. It is hoped that with the LTTE now dismantled the Government will press the TMVP to disarm so that only Sri Lanka’s military will be in possession of arms. The East has been taken as a model by the Government to depict the normalcy that prevails & with infrastructure developments in progress the people of the East are assured of being able to uplift their lives regaining all the years lost during the LTTE regime.

No one seems to be aware too how it was the rigid caste structure amongst the Tamils that actually led to the formation of the youth to gather around Prabakaran having identified him from a low caste and with the guts to fight for their rights within their own community. What could youths know of the political climate to understand the reality of things even in a country as small as Sri Lanka? It is interesting how the caste factor is often ignored or sidelined when trying to understand how the LTTE rose to what it was.

The Jaffna Tamils are now living peacefully with army in full control of the area and they are pleased with the status quo. The Jaffna Tamils were always considered the elite group amongst the Tamils where the Vellala caste were dominating from pre-Independence and even beyond post-independence. Not many realize the treatment that Vellala caste enjoyed and how the thesavalamai laws even today deny purchase of property to non-Jaffna Tamils. It was in a very caste ridden society that Prabakaran himself was brought up in where he came from a coastal fisher village. Many have forgotten times where even if a non-Vellala caste obtained a doctorate he would still not be allowed inside a restaurant belonging to a Vellala.

If one is able to understand the social fabric that existed at the time one would realize the mentality of the youth who joined Prabakaran’s death squad during the initial years for they saw in him someone who could break the barriers that Tamils themselves suffered from because of the caste. This was the liberation stage of the LTTE and these internal issues helped Prabakaran to gather up his brigade of men and women but little did these innocents know that Prabakaran’s vision was far from raising the impoverished Tamils and put them in par with the high caste Tamils & Prabakaran had no desire to better anyone’s life except himself and his trusted stooges. Can any of Prabakaran’s cadres claim that their lives have improved let alone provide better economical status to their families – are these cadres given a salary, a pension and other entitlements since they give themselves military status? How many of his lieutenants or their families have been recipients of the LTTE’s USD200 -300million dollar wealth? None of these LTTE cadres realize or know how much the LTTE is internationally worth but who is enjoying this money? A few collectors may be pocketing from the global collection but it is only a handful who is enjoying this wealth.

The Colombo Tamils have been the most unaffected all through the conflict barring of course the 1983 riots – though this has become an annually remembered event not many like to accept that the entire riots was orchestrated and had no links to the public’s anger at the 13 soldiers who died and were brought to Colombo to purposely facilitate the riots – mobs were set on Tamil homes & these mobs comprised of Sinhala, Muslim & even Tamil looters who were making merry of the situation. This event sadly created the avenue for the formation of the Diaspora to eventually be used by Prabakaran and his foreign strategists to fund & run the propaganda machinery of the LTTE. Yet, given the argument that it was the public who attacked Tamils homes in 1983 emotionally charged by the deaths of 13 soldiers why did the same public not repeat the attacks on Tamils when LTTE slaughtered men, women & children in their hundreds at a single time – the LTTE to date has committed over 200 attacks on innocent civilians & deaths numbering over 5000.

Many seem to ignore that Tamils are very much equal citizens amongst the Sinhalese and there is no better District then Colombo to depict the equal status enjoyed by the Tamils who work in public & private sector, rise in their careers as a result of their performance (not based on any ethnic ratio), they are CEOs, MDs, Chairman’s, Directors in the private sector while in the public sector they hold portfolios as Secretary to Ministries, Chairman’s of Government bodies, MPs, Ministers & also some holding cabinet portfolios, their children go to schools of choice – international, private, public as well as enter university. They are members of business association, professional organizations and even hold key portfolios in them. They own property, build homes, enjoy the life that Colombo offers to those rich and famous and the other middle class or poor like the Sinhalese and Muslims in these class category will make do with what they can with what they earn. Now can we see any exclusive discrimination showered upon these Tamils? It cannot be helped if some may wish to live with the mantra that they are being discriminated without actually giving examples of these discriminations but in the present scenario of things when the army has removed the element that has instilled fear and division amongst us it is encouraged that we all be more honest for once. The reality remains that there is no exclusive Tamil discrimination in Sri Lanka.

No one seems to wonder why the Estate Tamils are never part of the “liberation” package Prabakaran and the LTTE was fighting for – were they too not Tamil & with Indian roots as well? Here again we see how all Tamils in common look down upon the Estate Tamils of Sri Lanka.

We are all well aware how the colonial rulers ensured their status as masters by creating a majority and minority mentality further aggravated by deliberately setting up missionary schools in the Tamil areas and providing English education to only those who converted to Christianity. Thus by post-Independence English educated Tamils secured over 90% of all Government sector jobs – we are hear talking about over 400 years in which the Sinhala majority had been marginalized and there were no Amnesty International, Human Rights Watch etc to raise their hues and cries over the discrimination against the Sinhalese. No Tamil even cared to say that the actions of the colonial masters were wrong and unfair.

Yet, some overambitious decisions by a few Sinhala politicians attempting to gain political mileage was looked upon with disdain and though the Sinhala Only policy was never implemented it is spoken of as if everything in Sri Lanka was Sinhala Only which was certainly not the case. Many also prefer not to question why Chelvanayagam living in times when Tamils were enjoying all the benefits bestowed upon by the colonial masters would establish a political party which in Tamil means – separate state but was conveniently camouflaged in English to read as Federal Party.

Chelvanayagam’s Federal Party in actuality had separatism in mind but veiled it with Federalism and it is this actuality that makes many to raise their eyebrows when “Federalism” is mentioned.

Chelvanayagam formed his party well before Bandaranaike introduced the Sinhala-Only policy – in fact Chelvanayagam’s Federal Party was formed when Tamils were enjoying fully all the benefits that the British gave them. So when Prabakaran’s LTTE claims that their party was established to fight for a separate state in view of Sinhala discrimination it is all a whitewash especially since Chelvanayagam in 1976 brought forth the Vaddokoddai Resolution actually calling upon the youth to take up arms….obviously in his last years desiring to have a separate state for the Tamil people but unwisely calling upon the Tamil youth to begin a life of suffering that has ended only in 2009. It was to this ambitious call by Chelvanayagam and likeminded leaders that Prabakaran actually fell prey & from there on innocent Tamil policeman became the first targets of that violence but none of the Tamil peers came forward to actually demand that these youth stop killing their own people.

Prabakaran’s youth brigade would have been like the JVP rebels if not for the entrance of India into the act having foreseen how militancy in Sri Lanka would divert Tamil Nadu’s own surfacing demands for a separate state which would also provide India other avenues of projecting itself as a mighty regional power and stake its claim upon Sri Lanka from time to time as well…..so a conflict situation in Sri Lanka was ideal for India and thus Prabakaran was given the training, arms & finance that was needed though India made sure other Tamil militant groups were also trained and armed. The barbarism of Prabakaran was evident in the manner he managed to eliminate all the other militant groups along with their leaders to become the self-declared ruler of the Tamils. But what sort of Tamil liberator would kill his own people especially men and women who were intellectuals unless Prabakaran did not require intellectuals in his dictatorial Eelaam – just himself, his trusted deputies and only the people who agreed to what he said – all others would know their fate. Is this the man whom some would despair over?

Therefore, when the country has been liberated of this devil why is it that some Tamils cannot seem to participate in this jubilation at least to internally feel happy that the army has actually saved the Tamil people. It is the Tamil people who have suffered. True the bulk of Prabakaran’s wrath was upon the Sinhalese & the people have lost innocent fathers, mothers, sisters and brothers but the bulk of the deaths came to the armed forces while the actual damage of Prabakaran’s rule fell upon the Tamil people. To have over 250,000 people entrapped to be kept to replenish a killer brigade is no small number, to have Tamils of the North live in fear of being kidnapped and made killers or brainwashed into becoming a suicide bomber is also something that Tamils had to suffer from, to have taxes imposed, justice the Eelaam way and no development taking place left only Tamils to suffer….the cries over standardization is often misinterpreted. What actually occurred through the standardization was the ability for Tamils in lesser privileged areas like Trincomalee, Mannar, Batticoloa to also have education – this obviously was not greeted well by the Jaffna Vellala castes who preferred to be the only Tamils to enjoy education, jobs etc.

Colombo Tamils possible may be clueless about the suffering of their Tamil community, however the Northern Tamils are in a position to join in the jubilation for they know how much they suffered at the hands of the LTTE and the Eastern Tamils also can be happy too that they can now live in peace. Thus, while we can understand if the Eastern Tamils and the Northern Tamils may have felt discriminated by the Sinhalese on account of bad administrations of the past, we cannot understand or accept when Colombo Tamils join in this chorus.

What we all need to accept is that no mechanism introduced would have succeeded when a group of armed men run a defacto regime and nullifying this is the first of the remedies. We have been extremely lucky that all the LTTE’s top brass were in one place to be extinguished in a single day & those who may wish to eulogize that the LTTE leader is no more may also think about how treacherous he has been to leave all the men and women who gave up their lives for a useless struggle believing in his dream of a separate state were more or less handed over to the military to eliminate. If as KP says that Prabakaran is in a safe location it only means that he has given up his struggle sacrificing his cadres and is now enjoying all the money that the LTTE collected having possibly decided to call it quits and retire somewhere to enjoy the wealth he has collected. Is this a man that the Tamils can call a martyr for the reality remains that all the men and women who were built up to become killers are all now dead and a Prabakaran (if he has escaped) cannot even dream of building up such a force in at least 15 years especially so if he is bathing in the sun in some other country.

Therefore when people rejoice it is not only because of the death of Prabarakaran but the deaths of all his key men and women who were part of the brute force that had control of 1/3 of the country. So when we wonder why all citizens of Sri Lanka are unable to heave a sigh of relief at last (barring the lists of people who are LTTE sympathizers for monetary gains) it is important that we try to understand what merits their consternation. Obviously, we are dealing with a group of middle class and over people who remember the haydays of the LTTE – where they were called “our boys” and still these memories seem to be fresh on their minds for they idolized a liberation cause but these people are unable to disassociate the liberation entity with the reality that the LTTE turned itself into a terrorist outfit and they may like to pause & wonder why innocent women & children were killed by the LTTE – what fault did they do to the LTTE?

So for the many who are unable to fathom what has occurred attention must be paid to make them come to terms not by ridiculing what has happened but to make them understand that above the suffering unleashed upon the Sinhalese it is the Tamils who actually suffered. The Colombo and the Tamil Diaspora who seem to be the two entities that are taking longer to accept the fall of the LTTE must open their eyes and see the appalling conditions that the over 250,000 people suffered from. The food sent by the Government was never enjoyed by them – these people are just bones, they look weak, their children denied education some may not even be able to read & then there may be hundreds of other children whose intelligence has been drowned….what could these people have become in life had it not been for the LTTE. Look at the roads that are springing up in the South & see what developments are taking place in liberated East & wonder what the North could have been like if not for 30 years of the LTTE.

How many have cared to wonder why the LTTE did not use its USD200million to make better infrastructure for them but preferred to live in sophisticated bunkers for themselves….
It is poignant to note that as a result of the varied rebel movements the Tamils themselves are less open to discuss the situation amongst their own people not knowing if the persons they were speaking to belonged to the LTTE, Karuna group, Pillayan group or any other….we must understand the pressures these people must have been living with. Caste issues again divided any social mingling and many in Colombo actually preferred moving with Sinhalese than their own people. Set against this reality we need to wonder exactly how we should actually move forward.

It is firmly believed that paper solutions are ineffective unless the people take the initiative to make that change. In a separate state that Prabakaran envisaged would he have accepted all Tamils that disagreed with his thinking? Would the Tamils in the South and Colombo go to live in Prabakaran’s Tamil Eelaam? Along the way we seem to have confused matters. The Provincial Council system was set up not by the mandate of the people – just like the CFA no one knew its contents. Therefore we question the legality of this and raise further doubt when Indian envoys tell us to implement what apparently is in their best interest. We are well aware that the Tamil Nadu people have spoken loud & clear – they are not interested in a separate homeland in Tamil Nadu or in Sri Lanka & they have certainly embarrassed the TN politicians who used the Indian elections to portray a separate Eelaam. Unfortunately they returned faith in the lesser evil in the form of the DMK but we see now that Congress too is unwilling to bow to DMK demands.

It is desirable that as the President has declared we implement changes that are practical & easy to implement – systems that are easily accessible to the people where the people know who their immediate leaders are & for this the Municipal Council system is far better than the Provincial Council system and better still is the village – grama rajya concept with proper allocations by the Central Government the people will be in a better position to decide what their wants are and make sure their leaders attend to these matters without delays. What is necessary to enforce is a more hands-on approach to development above the fancy words that the international community enjoy introducing to us. The lack of implementation of the amendments was not to deny anything to Tamils but purely because the Ministers in Colombo did not desire to restrict themselves to the Provinces…. And it will be a challenge to see how far the President is able to actually change the status quo. Thus, the call for a re-structuring of the existing Municipal Council system and proper allocation of funds and the assurance that empowered & efficient set of people are elected by the people – so the people will be able to have direct means to choose their best to run their areas.

Having said that the first and foremost need is to have Tamils themselves first come to terms with the fall and defeat of the LTTE especially for those who cannot come to terms with the defeat – they should come out of a sense of link with this terror movement and for this perhaps some spiritual guidance is needed. The Hindu priests have become overshadowed by the Christian and Catholic presence in the North with majority of NGO/INGOs being Christian oriented organizations. It was always a surprise why in a predominately Hindu North why only Catholic and Christian priests were voicing their concerns for humanitarian situations – obviously the LTTE had the backing of these movements that has been responsible for converting many Hindus in the process.

No one is asking that people accept the LTTE’s treacherous ways because the Sinhalese or the Government says so but the acceptance should come in realizing that the LTTE did little to actually better the Tamil people’s lives. In a country with 2.4million people the LTTE has only helped 800,000 to live abroad but out of this how many actually live in fear of the LTTE? Less than 1million living in the South and Colombo may be those better off because they had no problems and their lives went on unaffected but what about the thousands of other Tamils who have suffered and why it is that it was the compassionate Sinhalese who gathered to actually send food, clothing and medicines to the displaced while the Diaspora took to the streets to save the LTTE and most Colombo Tamils chose not to contribute at all.

Therefore far above any implementation we need to heal our minds and come to terms with what has happened realistically viewing events without bias and the road ahead becomes easy to picture when we are able to accept that the LTTE has been our common enemy and we must look forward to bridging the divides & be happy that we all can finally live in peace.

- Asian Tribune -