Since there are a lot of Tamils who believe they have been discriminated because they are Tamil, and I’m still in the stance that the discrimination was purely geographical, I would like to know facts. What discrimination did you face because of being Tamil?
Tamils havent faced any discrimination due to bein a tamil. The mentality of being discriminated is a common thing for any minority in the world. Our govts failed to give the impression to tamils that they are treated well, it was just an impression issue not a real issue. Thats how minorities of other countries have been made happy where there no wars including singapore. If not, in most countries, minorities have this syndrome and that why we see so many wars. Ecomical reasons are the key for this, its faced by all, but minorities feel that they are treated badly, but in fact everyone faces them. If u take the countries that face segregation wars, all of them are third world countries, basically its economical issues coming to fore as ethnic issues. Its a misconception. SInhalese have been very good to tamils in the whole history. Yes 1983 happened, but that was politically motivated and the LTTE was already in the field, so it cant be considered as a natural discrimination, and its just a one-off incident. DOnt tamils live peacefully and happily in Wellawate sorrounded by sinhalese? What abt Kandy where tamils live peacefully for generations with Sinhalese? SL unis produced a lot of tamil profesionals. Govt jobs are open to all. Even today, anyone can visit Sinhala areas. Private sector allowed tamils, from pettah markets to big companies. Cricket team had tamils for decades. So, where is the so called discrimination? Its just a misconception. LTTE used economical hardships of people as a reason for a war. LTTE initially made out of jobless people, but more people came to the group because of money issues. Whoever had read histroy of LTTE knows this. Why doesnt majority of tamils support LTTE? Why LTTE doesnt get the tamil interlectual support?
ReplyDeleteSomeone might say that most tamils do help by giving money locally and overseas, but thats because they dont want to die soon being shot by LTTE.
So, I am fully in agreement with Mahasen on this. Politicains of both sides used things for their advantage and failed to keep the nicest country of the world out of war. Its not yet too late because LTTE doesnt have Tamil support, so if Govt pushes them to peacetable whilst weakening them, there is a good chance tamils and sinhalaese can start to live again together happily as usual.
The way you present the blog entries, questioning about day today problems is really good so far.(compared to the http://psiriwardena.blogspot.com/). Keep the same style. You have shown that you have the strength to stand up for every comment. Don't try to publish bullshits like other bloggers./Cheers\
ReplyDeleteVery busy right now.
ReplyDeleteIts a combination of racial and geographical.
Will explain later.
Interested to know why anon above, seems to only know about 1983 and not the periods before that? Is this typical among the Sri Lankan population?
Forgotten 1 things. dont given udvoices to foolish peouples.
ReplyDeleteAnononymous 2 : Pls give your opinion to the dicussion without talking nonsense. Why do u want to compare blogs here? If u dont like psiriwardena.blogspot.com, its a matter of not visiting it.
ReplyDeleteFact that this fellow reads blogs of both M & P, prove that he knows both and concerned abt both. Only difference of the comment made this time round is, he has made sure he doesnt use sinhala for commenting,but this is the same old mental case.
P: dont worry abt these, ur blogs are popular if u chk the Kottu websites most popular blog list. Be straight and write as usual and be hard where its required.
Readers, disregard these and put forward ur valuable opinions.....
This is a question that I too had in my mind for a long time. Actually I've made a blog post about this some time back. Happy to see that you too try to explore the matter. But be careful. This type of posts are highly prone to be labled as "racist" by some people.
ReplyDeleteHopefully I have made a fair amount of explanations in my previous posts to explain what my view is… :)
ReplyDeleteYou've explained that you neither know nor care what "racism" means, that's for sure.
ReplyDeleteI've explained that though I can awake a sleeper, I can not awake some one who pretends to sleep.
ReplyDeleteAnonymous2:
ReplyDelete"udvoices" / "peouples" -
English, Spanish... or what language? :(
When you get excited and write emotionally you do make these silly mistakes... hah..hah..ha..
Discrimination, by the majority community over the many minorities that live within a nation, is a fact of life we have to accept and live with, whether we live in Timbuktoo or Tucson.
ReplyDeleteDuring the British Colonial era the policy of divide and rule worked well for the Brits where they elevated the minorities to hold high positions in many areas while the many Sinhalese who curried favor with them were also given their due share, in exchange for converting to Christianity.
It was after Independence in 1948 that the visibility of real discrimination reared its ugly head with converted Sinhala politicains, who won favor by the Colonial Brits, now trying hard to win elections and stay in power by appeasing the majority public with a discrimninatory agenda.
SWRD, who started the Sinhala Only revolution didn't realize, even for a fleeting moment, that his big gamble to woo the Sinhala public would end up with a backlash as separatism. All he wanted was to win the elections by hook or by crook.
The damage that Sinhala only has done to the nation is absolutely irreparable. The quality of professionals coming to live and work in foreign lands is unbelievably putrid. All because they didn't get a chance to improve themselves through the medium of English.
Being a member of the minority community I can prouldy say that I have been extremely successful in my career overses for the past 40 years totally on account of my ability to converse, read, write and present myself in good English. Many today dont have that perk.
It seems to me that there is no alternative but separation now, sadly.
Hello there folks,
ReplyDeleteI hope we can have some sort of civilised discussion about a very emotionally charged topic. Lets see if we can be an example to people out there.
Mahasen, was hoping someone would have answered your question before me, but no-one seems to have.
Firstly, living overseas and not being part of the older generation, I havn't directly experienced some of these events but almost all members of my extended family and community who have lived through these times or are living currently in Sri Lanka have been affected by some sort of racial discrimination.
I agree with Mahasen that a centralised government inherited from the British results in underdevelopment and a lack of consultation with regional areas in Sri Lanka. I have been told that people from Galle and Matara for instance have been underepresented in government in the past, and their concerns have not been effectively addressed. I sense that part of Rajapakse's appeal may be the ability to connect to these people?
The other thing there is no dispute about is the entrenched social and cast systems in Sri Lanka that again have resulted in unequitable distribution of wealth and resources.
Now, with regard to the Tamil speaking people:
Like someone from Galle, Matara etc. a person from Jaffna, Trincomalee etc. has had to travel to Colombo to get access to employment and have had to settle down there. The difference is, irrespective of cast or socio-economic backgrounds they have been reminded that they could not call this their home, when they were targeted by racial riots actively or tacitly supported by the government in for instance, 1955, 1956, 1977 and we all know about 1983. These riots occured, not only in Colombo but in other Sinhalese areas, including Kandy. Some of these pograms occured before even the LTTE was formed and only just after Prabaharan was born.
Everytime these pograms occured, Tamils had to flee to the only place they were guaranteed safety: The Tamil areas in the North and the East. In fact the Sri Lankan governent used to setup refugee camps in these areas and transport them there. Even tamils of Indian origin, working in the Tea estates, had to flee to refugee camps in these areas. So this in itself, emphasised the importance of a safe haven for Tamils.
After the formation of the UNP government in 1977 and the start of war in the North and East, even those areas were not safe for Tamils. The 1983 racial riots were a turning point for Tamils in the South in particular, with their backs to the wall, the ranks of the LTTE and other millitant groups began to swell.
This is just with regard to racial riots. There are other areas of discrimination with regard to employment and education and I have to look up some facts before I go into it. But this is a start.
I don't think Tamils have faced any discrimination in Sri Lanka. They actually have more rights here than they do in their own country, ie: India.
ReplyDeleteThe perception of discrimination stems from the privileged favoured status that they had under European colonialists, especially the Brits, and the feeling that they should be entitled to this even after Sri Lanka received independence. What Tamils want is not equality, but special privileges, and when these are not forthcoming they feel they are being wronged. They were against democracy and universal suffrage and campaigned for 50:50 representation for Tamil led minorities and Sinhalese despite the fact that Sinhalese constitute 3/4rd of the population.
There are 2 million Tamils in Malaysia and they don't have a fraction of the rights as do their brethren in Sri Lanka. They are the poorest of all ethnic groups, are forced to learn Malay to study and work, and get discriminated against because of their dark skin.
Tamils in Sri Lanka are (despite having darker skin) like the White apartheid-ists in South Africa. What they see as fair is an Apartheid like system. I don't see any reason to placate their unreasonable demands.
Ok, someone has answered it about the same time as I have.
ReplyDeleteAm waiting for Bardo's new novel.
ReplyDeleteGot bullied in school, made my life a misery for much of my youth. Only a small minority of the class actively engaged in this but the rest looked the other way.
ReplyDeleteHave not encountered many personal instances of discrimination since then.
There is a lot of petty things, mostly with langauge, problems which are also experienced in country's such as Malaysia. The big issues of the 1950's - access to university and jobs are no longer important because there are plety of opportunities in the private sector or abroad.
The issues that remain are a nuisance but not, in my opinon, enough to fuel violent revolt.
Pre-1983, the LTTE, PLOTE, EPRLF, TELO etc were all seen as the lunatic fringe, nobody took them seriously. They were referred to as "the boys" and most of them were more like naughty boys than anything else.
What turned this ragtag lunatic fringe into a major force was 1983. The government crackdown on the tamils in an attempt to catch the militant elements backfired and created more recruits for the rebellion.
(they rounded up likely looking suspects, tortured them to extract information. Many were innocent and this is what created the LTTE's army) Since 1983, a whole generation has now grown up knowing nothing but war.
The CFA of 2002 opened people's eyes. They could see how far they had fallen back, and the possible benfits that could have been reaped . Prabha started losing his grip on his army and the people. Had teh CFA continued, prabha would have been left with no support or a minimal support.
This is why he wanted the war., this is why he wanted Ranil out - he felt it would be easier to start a battle with Mahinda. he and Anton balasingham said as much in the months following the election.
Tamil's own country is India? That is because the Tamil's came from India, right? But then where did the Sinhalese come from?
ReplyDeleteWhere you are born is where you belong
Mahasen,
ReplyDeleteWithout going into the history of this issue, let me put it to you very simply. Even today, if i have to go to a govt office/Grama Sevaka etc, I need to take along someone who can read/write sinhalese.
As a race, I don't believe Sinhalese are racists. Yes there are racist elements but then you get those in every society/race. However, for political reasons, Tamils have been discriminated against in the past. The Sinhala Only policy was a start, then came the tearing up of the Banda-Chelvanayakam pact etc. Anon 1 was correct when he/she said that the 83 riots were politically motivated, but that still doesn't take away the brutality of it and the trauma it caused many Tamils. Up until then, they felt secure in any part of the country but that was the catalyst to the mistrust between the two races. I don't really understand when the older folks get nervous about security checks etc because i have never lived through those experiences.
I think you have to separate the Tamil problem from the LTTE. The LTTE are terrorist no doubt about that. They may have had a nobler objective when they started out but, like similar such groups the world over, the means have become the end itself.
However, it is disappointing to read some of the comments above. Someone actually compared Tamils and White South Africans? I can handle a good debate with a well informed and open minded person anyday and actually would welcome one...but comments like the one I've read on this post only make me wonder whether there is actually a future for this country.
We are all paying the price for the acts of short sighted politicians. They have turned us against each other, and everybody is suffering.
ReplyDeleteThe benevolent dictator had mentioned that he needs to take a person who can read/write Sinhalese to get some work done from a govt office I totally agree. I'm saddened to hear that it has caused a lot of trouble to those who can't read/write in Sinhalese, it shouldn't be that way.
However you don't have to be tamil to face that problem. The thing happens because these people can't work in any other language. I once went to get a few documents for an overseas application, which obviously has to be in English. I was shocked at the service I got! I wasted so many weeks on trying to get a single document! Most of these people can't even read in English. And they don't want to admit it because they are ashamed of it. And who's fault is that?
As a Sinhalese I believe that making Sinhalese the official language of SL was by far the biggest blunder in political history. It has left the Tamils in a difficult situation 'feeling' discriminated as well as bringing up an incompetent generation of people who can't communicate with the rest of the world.
Anonymous (14th May) had said that as a member of a minority, he is proud to have been very successful overseas. Well, it's not just minority people who succeed in their life overseas. Many Sri Lankans make it big in economically and socially sound countries, and it's not just Sri Lankans, people from troubled countries all over the world make a good living if they manage to get out of that country and into a politically, economically and socially sound country.
Benevolent Dictator:
ReplyDeleteDon't want to keep harking back to the past, but, speaking to older Tamils living overseas, a number emigrated before 1983 due to a lack of security in the south (eg. the earlier pograms). Alot of people also went back to live in the North and the East. When the North and the East was occupied by the Sri Lankan army, the Tamils began to realise that there was no place for them in the country. Those who had the means left the country, and those who didn't stayed back and some of them joined the millitants.
But I suppose as you point out, the governement's crackdown, not just on the militants but the Tamil population in general exacerbated the situation.
People have compared this to what occured for instance in the insurgency in the south in the 1970s. These Sinhalese youth were called insurgents, not terrorists, and you didn't have a large number of innocent sinhalese men rounded up and interrogated, or sinhalese villages being bombed or occupied by the Sri Lankan army to get rid of the insurgents. I have heard the 1990s JVP time was a bit different, with a number of innocent sinhalese also being targeted. But, whole villages weren't bombed to flush them out.
Since someone brought up the apartheid system. Actually I was told for some time there was a kind of educational apartheid system. I don't know when or if the rules have changed, but I have been told even through the 1970s and 1980s Sinhalese children were not allowed to study in the Tamil medium and Tamil children were not allowed to study in the Sinhalese medium in government schools. Would someone have a source to back this up? And also details of the law etc.?
ReplyDeleteI am the anon 1. Really happy to read some inteligent comments. In summary, to Mahasens direct question, were you discriminated specifically bcos u were a tamil?,some have given few reasons.
ReplyDeleteThe Benevolent Dictator's gives some valid points. When going to a govt office, he needs a helping person, very valid. Apart from that he mentions abt security checks, I think if we dont have a war, that problem will be automatically solved.
However, the main thing that comes out of this discussion are the 1956 Sinhala only and 1983 riots. To be honest, I am not an expert on 1956. However, lets agree something bad happened. But does it operate even today? No. Tamil language has the same level as Sinhala. Yes, there is a slowness of teaching it and using it govt work. But since the legal framework is equal, if we dont have a war, those can be solved. The political solution should have elements to make sure in tamil areas, tamils can deal with the govt in Tamil and they should be allowed to manage their things including the culturals.
Apart from that, does a real problem exist today except for bad memeories of some historical events?
The coleuge who said he live 40 years overseas, I can understand the problems u had bcos ur youth was around 1956. But , isnt it solved now? The country changed those soon after you left.
Apart from few but critical reasons mentioned by our frindly tamils here, economic reason seems to be the crucial issue.
On the other hand, is the LTTE terrorism the solution for these issues now? Well may be it was a few decades back, but govt had understood there are things to be looked at some those already looked at. As Tamils themsleves mentioned, LTTE has moved away from the course. I again state that LTTE started as 'boys' when they were jobless, they didnt understand or represent real tamil probs, but unfortunately 1983 helped their undirected course and gave them a direction. But today, they have lost the direction. Its just another terrorist war headed by a dictator terrorist. Can tamils expect justice from such a group? If Elam is created, would LTTE let you have democratic country? No. Bcos its not a military arm of an directed interlectual course, but just a mere terrorist group.
And personally, dont agree to tamils being compared to SA whites. Tamils are nicer race and lived in SL for centuries, not like SA whites, who jst went there recently with Dutches. Tamil & Sinhala are close not like blacks and whites in SA!
My reading is, as some tamils mentioned, sinhalese have been very good to them, except for few extremists and political blunders. So, why cant we live together?
To be honest anon1, I get your point about reviving bad memories (frankly I find it unpleasant to recall these events) plus I know people want to look to the future.
ReplyDeleteThe primary reason I brought it up is to emphasise the reason the Tamils feel they need their own homeland. The feeling of insecurity is still there among many. Rememeber after 1956, there was no major race riot in Colombo till at least 1977. So even though currently there has been no pogram for some time Tamils are deeply insecure. The Sri Lankan army bombing them almost daily in their own homeland also makes them feel that the only solution is to fight it out.
Most people are aware of the prevention of terrorism act where people (usually Tamils) can be detained for long periods of time before they are proven innocent or guilty. Tamils are caught between a rock and a hard place.
The Sri Lankan govenment and leaders of most of its political parties are corrupt and support unethical and undemocratic practices. It is common practice for leaders to scapegoat ethnic groups for failures in a country and lack of transparency in Sri Lanka makes it easier to manipulate the average sinhalese. So Tamils in my opinion are going to be very vulnerable for some time.
There are racists in every country and community. But when the government of the country and the laws of the country make a particular ethnic group vulnerable to racism that is when the group has almost no hope but to fend for itself. Trust in the Sri Lankan government and the people who voted for them has been lost and it will take some time to earn that trust.
Anon1, I do appreciate you trying to get a grip of all of this.
Regarding the LTTE, the Tamils have mixed feelings. In my opinion the LTTE has made some efforts to change, and we have to give them a chance to demonstrate their willingness to move towards a peaceful solution. They also need to be held accountable, and it is very difficult to do this in the current climate of violence and corruption engulfing the entire country. I am sure that if Tamils are confident that the peace process is just, and the LTTE stuff up, then the LTTE will have a problem on their hands.
Negotiations with groups like the LTTE have been done successufuly in other countries and it is useful to look at some of these sucesses.
I also think a move towards more democratic, open and transparent governence would contribute a great deal to the peace process.
This comment may not be relevant to this post, but one concern I have is the strong link between religious leaders and politicians in this country, that has played a role in determining these racist policies.
ReplyDeleteExamples where this has happened in other countries are Northern Ireland (Catholics and protestants), Serbia (Kosovo is considered a religious site by Serbians), Israel and Palestine. Also in India with the BJP government where an increase in hindu fundemetatalism and the recent riots in Gujarat.
Hi all, I thank you very much for the healthy discussion here.
ReplyDeleteI did a little research through web/newspapers/old folks. Basically what I wanted to find out was whether government services in the north and the east (Tamil majority areas) were in Sinhalese or Tamil. It seems it was in Tamil and almost all the government servants and other officials there including the high rankers has been Tamil. Even the non Tamils have been fluent in the Tamil language.
So the language barrier for the Tamils was in the Sinhala majority areas while Sinhalese in the Tamil Majority areas probably had the same issue because of that fact that all officials were Tamil?
I have some first hand experience on this issue as my school, St. Sylvester’s college in Kandy, had a separate Tamil section. They were taught in Tamil and us in Sinhala. Most kids in the Tamil section could speak some Sinhalese but most couldn’t write or read. When it comes to us, shamefully we are much less fluent in Tamil. All the documents prepared within the school and received from the educational departments were given to us both in Sinhalese and Tamil but once in a while they receive some document that has to be filled in Sinhalese and less often we get the need to write some thing in Tamil. But they never wanted a separate school and never started to fight with the Sinhala section. In fact we competed together as St. Sylvester’s college. Most sports teams had children from both Sinhala and Tamil sections.
Hmm.. that story got a bit carried away.. any ways..
Apart from the language barrier, the other major issue raised so far are the shameful events took place in 1955, 1956, 1977 and 1983, put aside who motivated them and who actually did them, I have hear stories that many Tamils found asylum in Buddhist temples and Sinhalese houses. Any Tamils here to back those stories?
As a third, I would take the fact that while few Sinhalese were offensive towards Tamils, others did not do any thing to stop them. Has this bean the case in every incident? Does any one has experience or heard an incident where the majority stood up against such offences? Were these common? I haven’t experienced or heard much about some thing in this nature in my community.
I’ll also take a fourth where the implementers of the prevention of terrorism act are being more suspicious towards the Tamil speaking community. But would also like to point out that there were Sinhalese detained and convicted under this act. Also isn’t it natural that the suspicion weighs more towards the Tamils when LTTE is 99% Tamil? And, did any one miss the news that there are Sinhalese who are members of the LTTE?
So, my question is, while every thing put forward here are valid issues faced by the Tamils, are they strong enough to justify terrorism or demanding separation of the country?
Mahasen regarding the prevention of terrorism act:"Also isn’t it natural that the suspicion weighs more towards the Tamils when LTTE is 99% Tamil?"
ReplyDeleteThis is a commonly asked question and should be addressed.
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"When a community draws in on itself, that is bad news. For the few terrorists who may be plotting bomb outrages, there is likely to be far more opportunity to hide, and the feeling of collective isolation and threat will foster sympathy where there may have been none. When that happens, both community relations and the drive to prevent terrorism are damaged."
http://www.newstatesman.com/200508080010
We did it to the Irish first
Paul Donovan
Published 08 August 2005
"The South African Terrorism Act has been called 'a piece of legislation which must shock the conscience of a lawyer.' Many of the provisions of the Sri Lankan Act are equally contrary to accepted principles of the Rule of Law". - Virginia Leary: Ethnic Conflict and Violence in Sri Lanka - Report of a Mission to Sri Lanka on behalf of the International Commission of Jurists, July/August 1981
"These provisions (in the Prevention of Terrorism Act) are quite extraordinarily wide. No legislation conferring even remotely comparable powers is in force in any other free democracy operating under the Rule of Law, however troubled it may be by politically motivated violence. Indeed there is only one known precedent for the power to impose restriction orders under section 11 of the Sri Lankan P.T.A., and that - as Professor Leary rightly pointed out in her Report - is the comparable legislation currently in force in South Africa... such a provision is an ugly blot on the statute book of any civilised country." - Paul Sieghart: Sri Lanka: A Mounting Tragedy of Errors - Report of International Commission of Jurists 1984
Now as I have pointed out under one of your other posts, the west is carrying out similar policies.
See link below from Campaign against criminalising communities in Britain:
http://www.campacc.org.uk/report26may04.htm
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Mahasen
"did any one miss the news that there are Sinhalese who are members of the LTTE?"
I have. Only saw it stated in some blogs. Do you have any links. Am interested.
By the way, I don't want to "justify" terrorism of any kind. I think it is important to try and understand the root cause so we can stop it effectively. Not just use band aid measures to prevent it. The prevention of terrorism act has in my opinion increased terrorism by all parties in this country. We don't just have the LTTE, we have Karuna, and there is always the threat of the JVP.
ReplyDeleteBusy this morning, so posting links for L's last question,
ReplyDeletefrom defence.lk:
http://www.defence.lk/videos/20070208_01.wmv
http://www.defence.lk/new.asp?fname=20070210_03
http://www.defence.lk/new.asp?fname=20070212_07
Asian Tribune:
http://www.asiantribune.com/index.php?q=node/5481
Will post in the evening
Mahasen,
ReplyDeleteI would take the news that SInhalese were involved with the LTTE (given in the above post) with a very large pinch of salt.
There have been plenty of instances where information and help has been obtained by the LTTE for money. Recent allegations by Sriptahy Sooriarchichi suggest that this goes upto the very top.
In the instance above, my suspicion is that the government is "fixing" its opponents. I find it very strange that Trade Unionists and journalists have been identified. Of what use would they be to the lTTE? Informants within the army, certainly. People who have access to high security installations perhaps. But why TU and reporters?
Its easy enough to plant evidence and with draconian laws that allow sweeping powers of arrest and detention then the potential for abuse is great and I think they are doing just that. Anyone they find inconvenient they fix.
WHy the zeal to prosecute Sripathi only for misuse of public property when there are thousands of others who are guilty of the same or even graver offences who go free?
Thanks Mahasen for taking the time reply,
ReplyDeleteJust looked through the text versions of these.
To be honest, it doesn't sound very convincing because all the sources are from a government website, and also the only other publication that seems to publish it is the asia tribune which is known to be pro-government. I looked online just now and couldn't find any reliable sources.
As Jack Point also pointed out they are mainly tradeunion officials and journalists who we all know are disliked by ruling politicians. The LTTE also has had a reputation for threatening and assaulting journalists.
It looks like a witch hunt to me.
It reminds me of a play we studied in school called the Crucible by Arthur Miller an american playwright, which looks at a similar incident.
http://summarycentral.tripod.com/thecrucible.htm
L,
ReplyDeleteYou are correct. Many Tamils did see the writing on the wall earlier.
Mahasen,
I can confirm, from what I've heard from family and friends, that many Tamils were indeed saved by their Sinhalese friends and neighbours.
Anon 1,
I did mention the security checks but not as a problem. Just that the older generation worry about them because of past experiences.
Reading Lee Kian Yew's book is a real eye opener. If only the Sinhalese leaders had the foresight to assure Tamils of their place in the country and if only the Tamil leaders had the foresight to accept that as a minority we would be better off concentrating on business etc. Of course, these two things had to happen in tandem... if either group had the above mentioned foresight without it being reciprocated by the other side, it would have led to exploitation of one side!
Couldn’t post a comment last evening.
ReplyDeleteTrue, the support of Sinhalese to LTTE is questionable. I believe some do for money and some do because they are psychopaths who want to create violence. There’s one on that video for instance who claims that he has been a member of JVP during the 88/89 violent period and was dissatisfied with JVP when they moved out of terrorism.
Let’s please focus on why we need a separate Tamil country in this land.
I extracted four points so far from this thread.
1.) language barrier
2.) Incidents that took place in 1955, 1956, 1977 and 1983 (while some Sinhalese were violent on Tamils, some Sinhalese were protecting them from that violence.)
3.) Isolated incidents where small groups of Sinhalese showed violence against Tamils
4.) And lastly, the implementation of prevention of terrorism act - which would be void if LTTE wasn’t in existence and can not be regarded as a root cause for the armed conflict.
So friends, honestly, do you believe these are strong enough reasons for separatism and terrorism?
And secondly, do you believe that the above actions represent majority of the Sinhalese?
Anon1 again,,,,
ReplyDeleteThanks Mahasen for your nice summary. I also have wrap up below.
The Benevolent Dictator, Thanks a lot for your thoughtful comments. I think all agreed some mistakes were done and some incidents did occure. So, thats good, we are on the same pitch. Now, the fact thats being highlighted here is that our politicains did all these idiotic things and the whole country is paying the price. Politicains of both side did these to get mere poltical adavantage, and now my reading as a sinhalese is that sinhala politicians have made more mistakes than tamil politicos. So, cant we open the eyes of them atleast now? Majority of tamils do agree that Sinhalese are nice people even though there are some extremests and racists, which is the case with every community, specially Asian!
I support MR on most his policies, but not on peace, he is taking the war for granted and that will result in pushing tamils to LTTE. LTTE doesnt get majority tamils support,but if the North & East r continously bombed, would they have an alternative? So to isolate LTTE, peace talks are required, obviously LTTE has to be a part of it even though they are not the true reps but they are the ones who do the war, so they need to be pushed to peace discussions. On that note, I dont think MR/JVP/JHU r doing the right thing. Theorotically, their view is fair, LTTE is terrorism, dont represnt tamils,so need to solve that first, but practically that won't work. TNA as tamil politicains are doing incorrect thing as well. They shouldnt back LTTE, they should back Tamil people and try to get a solution to the tamil people. They should push LTTE towards peace.
All round, even today, its the politicos who are making it a mess.ISn't there are solution for that?
In an discussed peace solution, lnguage barrier has to be broken. I am ashamed that I cant speak a word of tamil in o country where 18% is tamil! As Mahasen pointed out tamil areas had services in tamil to certain extent but we should go even further, in sinhala areas, to solve that issue, education system should step up. Just solving languiage issue wont be enough, power needs to go into allow all parties to mange their own stuff such as culture, infrastructre etc. (Dont forget that we are not in pre 1983 era, tamils today expect more). Economic solutions should also be a part of it, if not nothing is going to work. and we will endup in the same situ later on.
The key postive here for me is that there seems to be very less gap/misunderstanding/anger about each other.
Hi I'm the anon who wrote:
ReplyDelete"got bullied in school, made my life a misery"
Anon1 (above) says "I am ashamed that I cant speak a word of tamil in a country where 18% is tamil!"
Can I tell you that I am a Tamil who cannot speak a word of tamil? Same goes for some other tamils who live in the south.
i studied in the sinhala stream in a buddhist vidyalaya. since i started working around 20 years ago and only use english (for written communication) in the office my sinhala has atrophied through disuse - i can speak but reading is very poor and writing is almost non existant.
Hi I'm the same anon as above,
ReplyDeleteTo answer your final quesions, no I don't think there is enough justification for terrorism or separate state.
I think many people in teh North and East just want to get on with their lives.
They tasted some measure of peace under the CFA and wanted that to continue.
People who had never known anything BUT war (remember that a whole generation of youth born from 1980 onwards have grown up knowing nothing else) tasted something of a normal life.
In my opinion, just holding the CFA for another 5 years (even with no permanent solution) would have been enough to wean all the population from Prabha.
Prabha felt the support evaporating and he felt he needed either a fast solution (which Ranil would not have given - he would have spent years talking but giving nothing) or start the war to try to rally support.
I don't think Praba's startegy worked because the tamils are now blaming HIM for most of the problems asociated with the war, not Mahinda.
However, when there are disappearances, sudden rounding up of people, severe security checks (coming to peoples houses in the middle of the night etc) the tamils will start feeling ill treated by the government and support for prabha will grow again.
Mahasen asked these two questions:
ReplyDeletehonestly, do you believe these are strong enough reasons for separatism and terrorism?
And secondly, do you believe that the above actions represent majority of the Sinhalese?
----------------------------
And I wanted to think about the answers and try and answer them honestly:
I will start with the second one.
Every society (Western and Eastern) has an element of racism (sexism, ageism, you name it). The laws of the country have to be just and equitable to ensure that people are protected from these natural human prejudices.
I think because of unjust laws in the country as well as the lack of knowledge and exposure to the truth it was easy to manipulate the Sinhalese into being suspicious of the Tamils. I doubt most Sinhalese participated in the violence itself but I think they had the most amount of say in the country to be able to hold their politicians accountable for their actions. I think speaking to some Tamils, this is what they find difficult to reconcile.
Going to the first question:
Personally, I can say that Terrorism cannot be justified. What is important as I said earlier is to understand why people become violent (for example even those Sinhalse mobs), so we can stop it effectively.
Regarding separatism. This is a very emotional topic and unfortunately hasn't been addressed in an objective way by various political groups. I think it is very difficult to say if seperatism is good or bad in the middle of a raging war.
Also, to put things into perspective, Sri Lanka is not unique in having a group of people who are asking to separate. Canada, and Britain have had to deal with these issues. They have been resolved peacefully. At the moment a party in Scotland has won a large number of seats in a recent election, and they wish to seperate from Britain. Again, Britain is dealing with it in a peaceful and just way. Britian will not stop them; the Scottish people will be given a right to decide. Britain and Canada also refrained from manipulative actions that would prevent the country from separating. Britain learnt the hard way through the situation in Ireland.
Also people should be of aware an international law that says:
"All peoples have the right of self-determination. By virtue of that right they freely determine their political status and freely pursue their economic, social and cultural development. .." Article 1.1, The International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, 1966
So even people in the southern districts who might have a unique cultural identity, have the right to decide if they want to separate from the country.
Thats why people in Quebec, Canada were given the right to decide for themselves if they wanted to seperate from Canada. They voted against seperation.
I live comfortably overseas, and I think the other Tamils commenting here have homes in the south and live reasonably prosperous lives. The people who probably should be given the most amount of say to decide this are the people living in the North/East and hundreds of refugees sheltering in camps in India who want to go back to their homes when the war stops.
If a seperation results, both parties should accept it peacefully. We know of two prosperous countries that co-exist peacefully: Singapore and Malaysia
On the otherhand, it is also likely that Tamils may decide they don't want to seperate, especially if they feel they will be treated fairly and justly. Again this should be accepted peacefully by those who wanted otherwise.
A war or laws preventing seperatism violates the right for these people to determine their future as stated in The International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights Adopted by the UN General Assembly.
Why would people want a separate state?
ReplyDeleteThis would only be needed if they felt that they cannot live normal lives in the state in which they live.
All the average human being wants to do is to be able to work, study or play like everyone else without fear or intimidation. If these can be gauranteed within the state that they live, then no one will want a separate state.
Minorities anywhere have a tendancy to feel vulnerable, if the state can reassure them - by means of fair policies and laws as well as effective policing etc that they are not in any danger most people will be happy to live within the same state.
Anon above:
ReplyDeleteCan't find any reason to disagree with you on that.
Hi,
ReplyDeleteI know it is ages since you have written this post but I think you will find these links below interesting because you have asked the question "While there are issues, is it really worth resorting to terrorism?"
While the links below don't justify terrorism, they may give you the idea why many young Tamils decided violence was the only way to solve the problem.
http://www.dailymirror.lk/DM_BLOG/Sections/frmNewsDetailView.aspx?ARTID=5597
and this
http://vindicated13.wordpress.com/2008/02/03/celebrating-60-years-of-political-myopia/