Repost This ArticleThe Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) which claimed to be the sole representatives of Tamil people, one of the most feared and considered as one of the most ruthless terrorist organizations in the world is vanquished. LTTE guerillas who once considered them in an equal footing with the SLA are silenced with their first and second rung leaders all killed. One of the bloodiest civil wars ended with all the due recognition given to the political will and determination to engage devoid of dithering in the face of the pressure of the IC and courage of Sri Lankan armed forces. People are in a jubilant mood relieved to have got rid of fear and destruction of war. That is one side of the story. IC and all the vested parties have their eyes wide open over the issue of the massive humanitarian catastrophe and on the way how the GoSL is going to handle RRR stages. Apart from that, world is also watching how the GoSL is going to handle the main root of the Civil War: political displacement of the minorities from the centre. With the assumption that it is important not to alienate the average Tamil in the post-LTTE context, this article attempts to open a discussion on the political future of the Tamils in Sri Lanka.
Monday afternoon, around 2.15pm, a wave of exploding crackers blew up the neighborhood. At once, the realization stuck that the state television had broadcasted the most anticipated news: death of the LTTE leader and the end of the LTTE. After a couple of minutes, a Tamil friend while chatting through Gmail Chat wanted to know whether I am celebrating the victory of SLA and when told him ‘no’, he accused me of being untruthful and went on telling me about unreliability and brutality of GoSL, ineffectiveness of Tamil politicians such as Sambandan, Anandasangaree and Devananda. He was desperate, worried and concluded that the future of Tamils is bleak.
The end the LTTE can result positively as well as negatively to the Tamil struggle. To take the bad news first: Tamil struggle experiences a reverse transformation to a minus-square one position (worse than the ground situation of 1983). Today, unlike in 1983, Tamils are without an adequate number of Tamil political leaders and activists due to fratricidal wars between Tamil militant groups, LTTE’s policy of eliminating dissidents and due to the onslaught of the dissent by the current government. Even the few existing Tamil politicians have become irrelevant in the face of the ordinary Tamils because of their alliance with the majoritarian government in power. Tamils are left without a voice. There is a massive vacuum in the Tamil political sphere. Predicament in 2009 is worse than that was in 1983. Sinhalese nationalism is in full force at present and virtues of multi-party democracy are washed out, hence weakened by the drives of Sinhalese nationalism. Danger of overlooking Tamil aspirations, imposing a mutilated version of the 13th amendment as the answer to underlying political issues and substituting political displacement of Tamils with a development discourse is far greater in 2009 than it was in 1983. In future, attempts would be made to comply and conform Tamil politicians within the unchallenged hegemony of the Sinhalese. In future, it would be considered wise to cooperate.
Even though these days may seem dark, there is some light glimmering at the end of the tunnel. Absence of the LTTE creates substantial political space for new ideas and agendas to blossom representing Tamils, Muslims and other ethnic minorities. Those of who feared the antipathy of the LTTE can move forward without any hindrance. Tamil politicians in hiding can go to their constituencies and carry on with their political work. Local government elections are bound to take place in future in Northern areas. Although PCs and Pradeshiya Sabhas are with many flaws, given the fact that they are implemented for good or for bad, they would be ideal platforms for newcomers as well as veterans in politics to emerge/re-emerge within their constituencies. The Eastern Province Chief Minister Sivanesathurai Chandrakanthan alias Pillaiyan along with SLMC recently opposed to pass the Local Authorities Elections (Amendment) Bill on the grounds that it caused injustice to the minority communities while other PCs passed resolutions approving the bill. It is a good sign. Pillaiyan shows a big potential in Sri Lankan politics assuring that he is not the ‘conform and comply’ type unlike his erstwhile party-man Karuna Amman. Above all, recognition of the need to have a political solution is greater unlike in 1983 when the ruling government declared that they will sort out the matter in couple of weeks.
If the ethnic majority is ready to learn from past mistakes, defeat of the LTTE is another momentum for peace in the positive sense. All along, opportunities for negotiations for a political settlement were rejected on the grounds that the LTTE does not have a genuine interest in peace. That obstacle is removed now. It is time to speak, suggest and listen and make way for a gradual transformation of the munificence of the South demonstrated in the provision of humanitarian relief to a willingness to offer due autonomy to minority groups. Problem at hand is that we are still grappling with the solution, not knowing what this desired political solution really is. Discussions over the All Party Conference died down with the commencement of the humanitarian offensive. It is late to start a discussion, but not too late. We must all remember that the solution is not just like the magical portion which promises to kill all ills like Federalism/Indian model. There should be a serious discussion with the participation of people from all spheres of the society because the solution sought ought to be sustainable and acceptable.
Excellent Summary and unbiased analysis.
Yes your bad news section is a little depressing. Your good news section gives us a little hope but not much. The window of opportunity is small. I hope it is not sqaundered.
While the solution is being formulated, we need some quick wins. A couple of quick win could be to open up the IPD centers for everyone to see for better or worse and open it up to the international aid community and make them feel like they are helping. It may be bad initially but if we give both their reporters and aid workers some autonamy and honest mandate then all of a sudden you will see them reporting with hope.
Well poised report.
The LTTE is finished- yet some are trying to hold the candle.
There should not be any struggle for the minorities in the political arena. The so called struggle by the TULF and Amirthalingams created the devil for the destruction. It is a peril when the rights are wronged and the wrongs are righted. That is what the Tamilnet is doing at the moment. It is time for the Tamilnet to wind up.
Let this be a lesson for the Tamils. and Let the majority race accomodate the minoriities as partners in Sri Lanka.
By being a middle age Sinhalese living with many Tamil friends and some relatives also, so far I could not clearly understand the grievences of Tamils. Would someone describe the grievences and aspirations of Tamil people first before suggesting a political solution?
All the people should understand what problems Tamils are facing. I will take one example.
If they say that the documents such as a birth certificate written in Sinhalese, we should have some Tamil officers to Colombo. I heard that there is no Sinhalese officer in governmental oreganizations in Trincomalee. Then the Sinhalese people more than hundred thousand should face the same problem similar to the Tamils in Colombo area.
By being a middle age Sinhalese living with many Tamil friends and some relatives also, so far I could not clearly understand the grievences of Tamils. Would someone describe the grievences and aspirations of Tamil people first before suggesting a political solution?
All the people should understand what problems Tamils are facing. I will take one example.
If they say that the documents such as a birth certificate written in Sinhalese, we should have some Tamil officers to Colombo. I heard that there is no Sinhalese officer in governmental organizations in Trincomalee. Then the Sinhalese people more than hundred thousand should face the same problem similar to the Tamils in Colombo area. Would that not be a grievance?
World Tamil population – 77 million
World Sinhala population – 15 million
Do the math and figure out why the Tamils were engaged in a Sinhala genocide through LTTE for the past 30 years.
The key term here is áutonomy to the tamils’ . now what does ‘autonomy’ imply? a territory over which tamils have exclusive or hegemonic control? i would assume so, because all other kinds of autonomy boils down to enhancement of citizenship rights. re the question of territory, i posit that history, geography and demography (leave alone political doability) rebel against such ‘autonomy’. you’ve got to substantiate amali.
Good article.
I believe it is the root cause of the problem that must be addressed. Nothing else and no STATE power should be imposed upon the Tamils after the military victory.
Mr Sinepgib
What is your point?
Tamils are minorities in Sri Lanka, isn’t that a good enough reason? It is always the odd one get picked on as a simple illustration. If you want more information please refer many documented evidence. Yes there are 77 million Tamils are living all around the world but the doesn’t mean anything as you suggest..
The truth is that they have failed saved the minorities in Sri Lanka.
For those who still don’t understand the genuine aspirations and grievances of Tamil people must go and live in North and East, pretend you are Tamil and change your name as well etc..you’ll find out.
Mr.Lalith Karunaratna
It is utterly irresponsible to ask such questions after what the country had been gone through for the last 35 years. It shows your mind-set that many of you’s shares in this country, had been the root cause of the problem in a way.
Please use Google to do your research.
Peace
My parents are Sinhalese. My sister and I were born in Jaffna and my sister’s birth certificate is in Tamil, mine in English. Everybody around us spoke in Tamil, so we picked up the language also. My best friend I met once we moved to Colombo is Tamil. We both had to get more marks than those in Jaffna (whatever the ethnicity) for A/L to enter the same university. Most of the doctors and lawyers my family had in Colombo were Tamil. Whenever they saw my ID card at a check point I got grilled because of where I was born. I have not been able to visit where I was born in a long time. Do I see a Tamil different from a Sinhalese? Definitely not. There is a minority of Tamils and Sinhalese that think they are superior. I don’t think the rest should suffer because of their arrogance. I do acknowledge that Sinhala only crap treated Tamils bad (and the disproportionate percentage of Tamils in the higher ranks treated Sinhalse bad after 1948), but that disparity was not in existence when I was born
If we can find a party who is truly independent without political agenda (not HRW, UN, NGOs etc since none of them appear to be unbiased), we should allow them to work with us, not before that. I would like to find a way to lessen the corruption of our own politicians if that is at all possible.
About equal rights, can anyone tell me of a planet that has equal rights? During JVP uprising in Sri Lanka, did any of those get a free pass to a western country? They got decimated. That is because they belonged to the majority. As a female who work with 100% males, I face inequality all the time. Do you see me killing males?
Let us all work towards making the world a better place to live, but we can never make it perfect since we do not see things from the same angle. Please, non-violence first!
are the diaspora worried that the war is over and they are deported back to a peaceful Sri lanka? do they want us Sri Lankans suffer and war to drag on so that they could live in luxary (which none of them can afford had they been in here)
The80Factor >>
We’ve moved a long way since 1983 and to the best of my knowledge, many of these issues that you say exist have been addressed and therefore, in today’s context, I think Lalith’s question is a valid one. Before any of us can think about how to address Tamil grievances, we need to know what they are now, not what they were 50 years ago. Secondly, we need to keep in mind that many grievances cited by people today are actually a result of the LTTE (i.e. extra security checks) and will hopefully fade away with time.
As Lakshmi mentioned, there seems to be no observable difference in opportunity or education between ethnicities. One potentially outstanding issue is the possibility of lacking Tamil speaking officers for certain services. Again, I believe that the necessary forms etc. are all available in Tamil.
Therefore, rather than dismissing the question as clearly irresponsible, it would be more convincing if you were to list a few grievances that are specific to Tamils, indicative of discrimination. Please do not list any which are a direct or indirect result of the LTTE. Considering your tone, you should be easily capable of coming up with a laundry list for discussion shouldn’t you, and thus put us out of our misery of being utterly bewildered. This will also stimulate the dialogue necessary to address these issues, so that we can move forward and not be stuck in the past to the detriment of all.
Sinepgib >>
The Sinhalese need not suffer from delusions of persecution. There is no grand scheme to make the Sinhalese extinct and to what end anyway? no one really cares. And protecting Sinhalese does not mean having constitutional clauses which will miraculously protect its demise, but efforts by the Sinhalese themselves to learn and educate themselves in their language and culture while understanding and learning from other cultures. This is precisely why some describe the Sinhalese as a “majority with a minority complex”.
Historically, these minority complexes, both in Sinhalese and Tamils, are somewhat a result of post-colonial identity loss, induced of course, by the villainous British
Please read Pradeep Jeganathan’s illuminating analysis here: http://www.pjeganathan.org/south-paw/2009/5/4/sri-lankas-conflict-an-interview-with-pact-part-i.html
nobody can blame the GOSL. And nobody can blame the victory of our soldiers. The death of a leader may be a convenient solution to a conflict. if you closely look at the conflicts around the world , especially the global secessionist movements , one can see clearly that conflict occured in areas where a minority live together away from othe ethnic groups. This led them to arm themselves against the majority. Its apparent and can prove without much debate.
Ex: LTTE North and North east
Chakmas – Chittagone
Chechnian rebels-Chechnia
When the rehabilitation process starts, the government should mix all ethnic groups and resettle.
Wonderful analysis of the situation.
I am an Indian of Tamil origin living in US. I always fail to understand why there is a problem in Sri Lanka. In India, we are so diversified with so many languages, religion and races, we still feel that we are Indians and never had issues with other language people. One example I can cite is there are more Malayalees and Telugu speaking people in Tamil Nadu where they live as brothers and sisters. In SL, just two races couldn’t live in peace.
We are living in 21st century. Discriminating other language and people are things of the past. It is time to forget the past and live in peace. Good luck to all Sri Lankans in building a new country.
There is something we should not forget. People may look at all the Tamils living in the Nothern and Eastern area and may say that they are left out and they are treated differently. But you should not forget about the Tamils in other areas. In Colombo – the commercail capital of Sri Lanka – majority of shops are owned by Tamils. If there is a racial discrimination amoung the people in Sri Lanka how is that possible?
I schooled at Royal College, Colombo , which is one of the best schools in the country. And there I had a lot of Tamill friends with whom we played together. If there is a racial discrimination amoung the people in Sri Lanka how is that possible?
After schooling, I attended University of Moratuwa, the best university in the country for engineering field. There we had a lot of Tamil friends from areas like Jaffna and Batticaloa. There were no quarrels, no disrespect, no arguments among us. If there is a racial discrimination amoung the people in Sri Lanka how is that possible?
If you are a Sri Lankan you would know that in Wellawatta – an area that belong to Colombo – Tamils are the majority. But all the neighbouring cities contain majority of Sinhalese. If there is a racial discrimination amoung the people in Sri Lanka how is that possible?
My point here is that, we can look in to the matter in a more optimistic manner. The era that Tamils and Sinhalese had their doubts are over. It won’t be that difficult to give a political solution as there are no hard feelings any more. You should not forget how enthusiastic Sinhalese people from the south were to send aid to the Tamils rescued from the war zone.
1983 tragedy is long gone now. Tamils will never be harmed like that hereafter in Sri Lanka. Not harming the Tamils even when LTTE bombs killed thousands of Sinhalese is the best evidence for that. We have learnt our lessons as Sinhalese. And the Tamils who wanted to solve this by war have learnt their lessons as well.
It is very important to understand the situation here. There is and was no “racial” war in Sri Lanka. The war was against the LTTE terrorists. It had nothing to do with Tamil civilians. Now the war is over. In the process of defeating the Tigers. SL army have conducted the largest hostage rescue mission ever. SL Army risked their lives for the unfamiliar Tamil civilians.
So, we can see that the mentality of Sri Lankans have changed. They are not disrespectful any more. Of course there are exceptions but as a whole, people are ready to embrase pease at all costs. So, I guess we can look in to a prosperous future more optimistically and positively.
* What you have told is defnetely correct here.
*But I do not like to define all the people were in the LTTE as bloody fools.
*Because think about a person who had the the idea only to dedicate his or her life to save Tamils.
*Then he/she had done the same thing as an army solder done.
*So he is a patriot in a way.
well amali. yea. it is the time to initate the new way of disscusion relevant to peace. but that peace is not only the dream in Sinhalese or so called Hela -Baudaya.it should shre oith other communites. now u hardly use miorites becouse our “Rajano” said no more miorites in this country. yea. he and his governmnet nad millitary achived great vicorty after sacrfying uncountable pysical and human resourses.trough that inhuman way, number of people died who from L.T.T.E and Gosl.so how we can celebarate it while crakering fire crckers and making mike Rice. yea anybody has freedom to argue that,in LTTE “Viru samaruwa,” the tamils lights fire crakers and and celebatrate when hear the vast distuctions from LTTE activites.Though is worth if we also leap to well following others?. the expansion of sinhala nationlism and emorotinla proity will cause for another war. so amali we shod have mass- civil attitude revolution becouse there are some high rank philosphers aslo adict this etenal illnes. then how we can perform it? in my point of argument both of us dont have media ownership, though we able to awre civil socity, stating from our living environment. it become a big challeng. and dear amali, 13 th amendement is not a remdy for all fragmentations. it has distrust from our non sinhalese. so i know my friend, we cant ask from uncle Mahinda to go for a power sharing. actually it is big shock and may be pave the way for anothercommunity rioits. becouse still mother sri Lanka blessed from opportunitest.then what i suppose that, firstly have to gain the trust from IDPS. hiw? just giving food or health facilities it not enough. we should give them to have their own life in respctive manner.safe guar the human Rights. now government plan to stat the education empowering procees for IDPS. its really good. becose eduaction is the most social moblisation way.amali shll we give some time to Mahindha to rebilt country. he is not Gammun, Vijayabahu but a leader. he should not go to worship Buddsht palces or it is not macth with his position to get houner from traditionall allies in Budism.but he shold have a heart as i knw a person who fiought to human rights. i dont hav eany faith to him but we cee what he going to do. till that tell my tamil friends we all bind each others by eternal friendship
Please Google & review “epitaph-for-tamil-eelam” and “SBS Dateline Jaffna Library” I’m amazed that so few here have read the wikipedia articles on Sri Lankan state sponsored colonisation schemes (cause of inter-communal violence), Sri Lankan Tamil or Sri Lankan Tamil diaspora
It’s the post-Black July diaspora you see on TV waving red “Tamil national” flags or engaging in acts of vandalism. The British Empire & pre-Black July groups are non-violent but active in legal steps against GoSL due to use of white phosphorous bombs on civilians, etc.
The Government of Sri Lanka (Lion of Sinhala) & LTTE (Tamil Tiger) crimes are well documented by UTHR(J), Amnesty International, HRW & other NGO’s. Pogroms against Tamils 1st occurred in 1950′s despite Independence of Ceylon Act 1947 protections for Tamils. GoSL failed to prosecute those crimes as well as sex crimes committed by their troops in UN Haiti scandal despite promising UN otherwise.
Diaspora Tamils should not commit violent acts and should only support legal actions by Jan Jananayagam of NGO Tamils against Genocide & Bruce Fein.
In 1998, a Court in Sri Lanka was informed by a Sinhalese soldier of mass graves of Tamils in Chemmani, Jaffna. This was during the rape of Krishanti Kumaraswamy case which only proceeded due to pressure by Amnesty International. The Asian Human Rights Commission in a 2005 press statement commented that the exhumations (done more than 10 months after the first disclosure) were generally viewed as a publicity stunt and lamented that up until 2005, more than 6 years later, no serious action has been taken to prosecute the perpetrators … and you wonder why some Tamils supported LTTE?
Satyagraha protests which were our initial peaceful methodology in 1950′s are once again the way to proceed globally.
Refugees cannot be deported unless they commit a crime AND the country of origin is considered to be safe. With the numerous rights violations of the GoSL, deporting a SL Tamil would be impossible.
Deportation: Under immigration laws, deportation is the removal of a foreign national who has entered Canada illegally or who has committed a serious violation of Canadian law. A person deported from Canada is barred from entering Canada again in the future unless ministerial consent is given.
we never mal treathed for tamil people, we are as Sri Lankens welcome all the tamil people with the ideas of brotherhood but some notorious tamil people took weapons and killed both sinhalese as well tamil innocent people, that is why sri lanken government cut down L T T e organization, we are like even to tamil but we do not like to fight with any one